NATGEOKIDS.

COM • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

FREE
COLLECTOR’S
CARDS

Snow y
Owls
How fluffy chicks
become fierce fliers

COOL EXTREME
INVENTIONS FUN COMIC PUMAS
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12 From Fluffy to Fierce
Partnerships, john.campbell@natgeo.com Find out how snowy owl chicks become powerful predators.
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Please recycle.
 CHECK OUT
SEASON 3

Check out these OF WEIRD

BUT TRUE!
ON DISNEY+.
outrageous facts.
BY JEANNETTE KIMMEL

To celebrate
Cows
can drink a
International
MELTED SNOW
from the Australian Alps
Pancake Day,
runners
bathtub
full of water in a day.
GENERATES race with
ELECTRICITY
for parts of the country.
pancakes
in frying pans.

England has an entire

museum devoted to Aulophobia
dog collars.
is the fear of
flutes.

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. MARGOUILLAT PHOTO / SHUTTERSTOCK
(PANCAKES); © GEORGE KROLL / DREAMSTIME (COW), © NOMADSOUL1 / DREAMSTIME (BATHTUB), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED;
© VACLAV VOLRAB / DREAMSTIME (GIRAFFE); JULIDE DENGEL / NG STAFF (DOG TAG); © UDW / UPPA / ZUMA PRESS / NEWSCOM
(LOLLIPOP); PHOTO BY MAURICE EMETSHU (MONKEY); © NATHALIE SPELIERS UFERMANN / DREAMSTIME (MOSQUITOES)
Giraffe
“horns”
are actually Male lesula monkeys
You can buy LOLLIPOPS
called are known for their
made with FLECKS of bright blue
ossicones. 24-karat GOLD. bottoms.

ing soun
buzz ds.
Love-struck mosq eir
uitoe th
s harmonize

4
GUINNESS
WORLD
RECORDS BY BRANDON McINTYRE

DOG UNTIES paws

crossed

BOWS
that chew
toys are
InsIde!

Give this pooch all the

presents! Simba the Jack
Russell terrier holds the
record for the most
ribbon bows undone by
a dog in one minute.
Taking the ribbons’ ends
in her mouth, the pup
undid the bows off of
eight wrapped boxes to
claim the record. Better
keep Simba away from
your birthday gifts.

PRICEY
CHEESECAKE
You won’t find this treat in a bakery.
The world’s most expensive cheese-
cake sells for $4,592.42 at a New York
City restaurant. Made with formaggio
cheese and white truffles from Italy,
the cake has a homemade biscotti
crust and is topped with lighted spar-
klers. What, no ice cream on the side?

HUUUGE
HUL A
How long
HOOP
does it take
to master
spinning a
hula hoop that’s approximately five times bigger than the average
hoop? For Getti Kehayova, the record holder for largest hula hoop
spun by a woman, it took about a year to learn to handle the
17-foot-wide contraption. Her first attempt at the record didn’t
go well: The circle bumped her in the face—ouch. But her second
try was a success. Hoop, hoop, hooray!

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (ALL). INFORMATION PROVIDED

BY © 2020 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED. DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 5
ALL
ABOUT
MONEY BY KRISTIN BAIRD RATTINI

In Spain, “PASTA” is a slang term for In 2005, thieves stole

$70 MILLION
“MONEY.” from a bank in
Fortaleza, Brazil, after
posing as landscapers In 2013,
and digging a
a 1794 U.S. silver
262-FOOT-LONG
dollar sold for
TUNNEL
under the building. $10,016,875.

e Bahamas.
s used in
th During the 2002 Winter Olympics
A $3 bill i in Salt Lake City, Utah, a Canadian

$1 COIN
was secretly placed under
the ice in the hockey rink
to bring Canadian athletes

LUCK.
A porcupine appears

COIN), © ISTOCK / WALIK (HOCKEY STICK), © ISTOCK / FRANCISBLACK (ICE), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; KIEV.VICTOR / SHUTTERSTOCK
© ISTOCK / ALEAIMAGE (PASTA); STACK’S BOWERS GALLERIES / PCGS (1794 SILVER DOLLAR); © ISTOCK / APOMARE (WATER), B.A.E. INC. /
Soldiers in

ALAMY ($3 BILL, FRONT AND BACK), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR VIA GETTY IMAGES (CANADIAN
on a collectible 50-tenge coin
ANCIENT ROME MONEY TIP!
from Kazakhstan. were paid in

(50-TENGE COIN); © ISTOCK / PIXWORK (SALT); © ISTOCK / MLENNY (PUFFIN); KELLEY MILLER / NG STAFF (PIGGY BANK)
SALT. BEFORE
BUYING AN ITEM,
RESEARCH
ITS PRICE
ONLINE OR USE A
A British
PRICE-
businessman
COMPARISON
created APP TO SEE WHICH
his own STORE HAS THE
CURRENCY— LEAST
named the A California couple EXPENSIVE
found nearly
PUFFIN— $11 million
OPTION.

for an worth of
ISLAND 19th-century
HE OWNED gold coins buried
off of England. in their
backyard.

6 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 6 Antarctic facts that
will give you chills
BY ERIN WHITMER

2
1 Some No dogs
penguins can are allowed in
Antarctica.
dive 1,000 feet deep—
that’s about 150
times
deeper than an Olympic
swimming pool.

4
The
ozone hole
3 About over Antarctica
is larger than
400 lakes Australia.
are hidden
under Antarctic
ice.
5
KING PENGUIN
Wind gusts
here can blow more
than 200 miles an hour—
6 about as fast as a
Antarctica
was located near
race car’s
top speed.
the Equator
hundreds of millions
of years ago.
© PAUL SOUDERS / WORLDFOTO DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 7
 BY JULIE BEER AND CHELSEA LIN

C A N D Y

SOME ANIMALS

FEMALE
ANGLERFISH
ATTRACT PREY WITH
A GLOWING LURE
EXTENDING FROM
THEIR HEADS.

8 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!

WANT TO
“GLOW”OUT
VAMPIRE SOMETIME? FIREFLIES
SQUID EJECT GLOW
BIOLUMINESCENT TO HELP
MUCUS FROM THEIR THEM FIND
ARMS TO DEFEND A MATE.
THEMSELVES.
Bioluminescent
animals can produce
light from chemical
reactions in their
bodies.

MORE THAN
80 PERCENT
OF DEEP-SEA
CREATURES ARE
CYCLOSERIS EROSA,
A TYPE OF CORAL BIOLUMINESCENT.
SOME

SQUID); TED KINSMAN / SCIENCE SOURCE (CORAL); DWIGHT KUHN (FIREFLY); HOWARD CHEW /
SUPERJOSEPH / SHUTTERSTOCK (ANGLERFISH); STEVE DOWNER / SCIENCE SOURCE (VAMPIRE
MILLIPEDES
GLOW UNDER
BLACK LIGHT.
ALAMY (MANDARINFISH); DANTÉ FENOLIO / SCIENCE SOURCE (MILLIPEDE)

MANDARINFISH

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 9

AMAZING
ANIMALS
SIGn my
Casts!

Hedgehog
Fashion
Statement
Buckinghamshire, England
When Trifle the hedgehog injured three
of his legs, he received a lot of TLC—and
some fancy-looking footwear. To help the
prickly animal recover, veterinarians
at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital fitted
his legs with miniature blue casts.
Trifle had been rushed to the hospital
after he was found limping badly. An x-ray
showed that the hedgehog’s front leg
was broken and his two back legs were
fractured. So vets wrapped the limbs in
bandages and plaster, just like casts
made for humans. Soon Trifle was on the
move again. “This little guy had so much
energy, even casts couldn’t stop him
from running around,” nurse Clare
Campbell said. “And they positioned his
bones so they could heal more quickly.”
After a couple of months, Trifle’s casts
came off and the hedgehog was set free
in the hospital’s garden so vets could
keep an eye on him. “Trifle is coping very
well without the casts,” Campbell said.
“He doesn’t miss them—even though
they did make him look pretty stylish!”
—John Micklos, Jr.

10 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 I’M
BUZZING
WITH
EXCITEMENT!

MIGUEL WATTSON

MIGUEL

What’s in a
name? “Miguel” is a

Zappy Holidays! common one in South

America, where these
fish live; “Wattson” is all
about electricity(like
Chattanooga, Tennessee a 100-watt bulb).
This electric eel is in charge of spreading holiday cheer. The flashy
fish, named Miguel Wattson, lights up a Christmas tree next to his
tank at the Tennessee Aquarium with pulses of electrical discharge called shocks.
As Miguel explores his tank, he gives off electric energy. Then metal wires conduct
the energy in the water and transmit it to a light-covered tree. “You can see the tree
faintly flickering when Miguel’s just checking out his environment,” says Miguel’s
caretaker, Kimberly Hurt. “But he gives off really bright flashes when he’s eating,
since electric eels use their charge to stun prey.”
Electric eels aren’t technically eels—they’re a type of knifefish that live in South
American rivers. They use pulses of electricity to sense their environment, stun their
prey, and defend themselves. “Electric eels can produce enough electricity to power
10 lightbulbs,” says C. David de Santana, a fish researcher with the Smithsonian
Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
Thanks to Miguel, the aquarium is absolutely electrifying. —Bethany Augliere

ELECTRIC EEL
Chattanooga,
Tennessee

HEDGEHOG
Buckinghamshire,
England

JEFF MOORE / SPLASH NEWS / NEWSCOM (TRIFLE); TENNESSEE AQUARIUM (MIGUEL, BOTH) NAT GEO KIDS 11
‹ How snowy owl
chicks become
powerful predators
BY SCOTT ELDER
A brown lemming cautiously steps
out of its burrow into the 24-hour
sunlight of the summer Arctic. The
small, mouselike animal scampers
across an open field to munch on
short grasses, sure that it’s safe.
It’s not.
A male snowy owl swoops down
from a tree branch he was perched
on, his golden eyes locked on his
prey. He drops low and glides just
above the flat ground. Then the
winged hunter extends his legs,
snatches the rodent in his long
black talons, and turns around to
return home with his catch.
A female snowy owl greets her
arriving mate. He lands and pres-
ents her with the freshly killed lem-
ming. Nestled beside the female
owl are seven fuzzy, temporarily
blind hatchlings, each smaller than
a tennis ball. The youngest, which
hatched earlier that day, only weighs
as much as 10 nickels.
The mother tears off bite-size
pieces of meat and feeds the babies
beak-to-beak. The father flies off to
continue his hunt. He’ll need to catch
about 250 more lemmings for each
of his hungry hatchlings before they
can feed themselves in roughly two
months, when they’ll leave their par-
ents to live on their own. At four
months old, the nearly full-grown
birds will take to the Arctic skies for
their first migration—and leave
behind the only home they’ve
ever known.
TO STAY EXTRA WARM,
YOUNG SNOWY OWLS
HAVE BOTH DOWNY
FEATHERS THEY HAD
AS NEWBORNS AND
THE BLACK-AND-
12 NAT GEO KIDS
WHITE FEATHERS OF
ADULT SNOWY OWLS.
AN ADULT
SNOWY OWL
WALKS ACROSS An adult snowy
THE SNOW IN
CANADA. owl can eat
1,600 lemmings
each year.

IMAGEBROKER / ALAMY (OWLET, LEFT); MARKUS

VARESVUO / MINDEN PICTURES (OWL, RIGHT)
13
 GROWING UP OWLET
Most people imagine owls nesting in
trees and hooting in the woods. But
snowy owls breed far north on flat,
mostly treeless land called tundra. With
few trees to shelter in, the females dig
a shallow, bowl-like nest on high ground
for laying eggs and raising their young. SNOWY OWLETS
REMAIN IN THE
That way the home won’t flood from NEST WITH THEIR
MOTHER FOR ABOUT
snow or rain, which could be dangerous THREE WEEKS AFTER
for the baby owls, called owlets. THEY HATCH.
Even though snow is melting, Arctic
temperatures in June can still dip below
freezing. The seven chicks—whose only
feathers are a short, fluffy layer called
down—press against their mother for
warmth. “They’re not big enough to keep
themselves warm yet,” says J.F. Therrien,
a scientist who studies the owls in the
Canadian Arctic. “So the female will
cover them with her body like a blanket.”
When a wet snow begins to fall, she
extends her large wings over them like
an umbrella.

OWLET

dive-bombed himself. “They strike you on

the head, the back, the butt, wherever
they can get you,” he says. “One even Though rare,
grabbed my hat and flew away with it.” snowy owls have
been spotted as
© DANIEL J. COX / NATURALEXPOSURES (NEWBORN OWLETS); MICHIO HOSHINO / MINDEN PICTURES (MOTHER WITH CHICK
UNDER WING); MARKUS VARESVUO / MINDEN PICTURES (MOTHER OBSERVING OWLETS); COURTESY OF BLACK SWAMP BIRD

NEWBORN SNOWY OWLETS far south as

Thanks to the OPEN THEIR EYES BETWEEN READY FOR TAKEOFF Florida.
3 AND 14 DAYS AFTER
lemmings that It’s now August. The owlets take turns
OBSERVATORY (OWL WITH BACKPACK); © ALAN RICHARD (FLYING OWL WITH BACKPACK); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)

HATCHING.
the owls’ father venturing away from the nest, going for
brings, the birds triple their weight in short runs to practice using their legs.
the first week after hatching. By two Mom keeps an eye on them, while Dad
weeks old, their eyes have opened and continues to make regular food drops.
they begin to sprout a heavier, smoky- But instead of feeding from Mom’s beak,
gray layer of down. “At this stage, they the chicks must gulp down the lemmings
look a little odd,” Therrien says. “Sort of on their own. They pounce excitedly on
like a work in progress!” the dead rodents with their claws to
At three weeks old, the one-pound practice their hunting skills.
chicks can walk—but that won’t help
them escape predators like arctic foxes.
So if a predator gets too close, Mom and NORTH OP
E
AMERICA E UR ASIA
Dad fly into action. The pair aggressively ATLANTIC
PACIFIC
dive-bomb and scratch the intruder with OCEAN
AFRICA OCEAN
their supersharp talons until it finally SOUTH INDIAN
PACIFIC
leaves the area. OCEAN AMERICA OCEAN
AUSTRALIA
“Snowy owls are very protective of
their young,” says Denver Holt, founder
of the Owl Research Institute. Holt, who ANTARCTICA
visits snowy owl nests in Alaska to count Where
snowy owls
chicks and assess their health, has been live

14 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 These birds lay
3 to 11 eggs at
a time.

BACKPACKS FOR BIRDS

In the Arctic, snowy owls stick close to their
nests, so scientists can easily observe them.
But once the owls fly south for the winter,
experts aren’t exactly sure where they go or
what they do. Project SNOWstorm is trying to
solve these mysteries.
Launched in 2013, the program uses GPS
tracking devices to follow snowy owls across
the United States and Canada on their winter
migration paths. But where do you put a tiny
tracker on a big bird? In a tiny backpack,
of course.
First, scientists catch an owl using a harmless
net trap. Then they fit the bird with a light-
weight backpack that won’t affect its ability
to fly. The solar-powered tracker transmits BACKPACK
the bird’s location back
to scientists through cell-
phone towers.
Project SNOWstorm
has so far tracked nearly
a hundred owls. Scien-
A SNOWY OWL
MOTHER OBSERVES tists have discovered
HER CHICKS AS THEY that though some birds
EXPLORE OUTSIDE
THEIR NEST IN remain in the same small
FINLAND. patch of land every
winter, others travel hun- THIS OWL’S BACK-
dreds of miles in a few weeks. Many PACK WEIGHS
ABOUT AS MUCH AS
of the owls stay near water, with some SEVEN QUARTERS.
camping out by openings in the frozen
Great Lakes to hunt waterbirds such as
ducks and geese.
The tracking data also shows that owls in
some areas are making lots of short flights.
Project SNOWstorm co-founder Scott Weiden-
saul thinks that’s because the birds keep having
to fly away from curious people in populous
areas. “Humans might love snowy owls a little
too much,” Weidensaul says. “If you’re lucky
enough to see one, give it plenty of space.”

WATCH A VIDEO OF OTHER BIRDS IN ACTION.

natgeokids.com/december

NAT GEO KIDS 15

LEAVING THE NEST
Snowy owls don’t hatch from their
eggs looking like fierce predators.
Check out how these birds go from
clumsy chicks to fearless fliers.
1
About three weeks after hatching,
owlets leave the nest to toddle around
the tundra on their wobbly legs.
,,,
'' ,, ..
2
..~
\
\ female, sprints forward on her tiny, thin
Young snowies take their first real flight
when they’re about six or seven weeks
old—after a lot of practice.
3
After two months, the owls are almost
fully independent and will soon migrate
to a warmer habitat. They’ll return to
the Arctic in the spring to have chicks of
their own.
16 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021
Snowy owls
have been
recorded flying
over 800 miles
in 10 days.
The oldest owlet, an eight-week-old
legs. For days, she’s been running and
flapping her wings, trying to fly for more
than a few seconds. She pumps her
black-speckled white wings and eventu-
ally catches some air. Like a kid who’s fig-
ured out how to ride a bike, she’s finally
doing it! She triumphantly swoops to the
ground some 20 feet from where she
started, before crashing to a stop. She’ll
practice a little more tomorrow.
Flying comes naturally to the young
owls, now called fledglings, but hunting
doesn’t. Scientists believe that the
birds are born with the instinct—but
that they also learn a lot by imitating
their parents.
They also have some secret weapons
to help them hunt. Their huge eyes work
like binoculars, spotting scurrying prey
from far away, even at night.(If your
eyes were as big as a snowy owl’s, they’d
be about the size of grapefruits!) Their
flight feathers have comb-like fringes
that quiet the noise from flapping wings,
and velvety down on their bodies muffles
other sounds they make. Prey don’t even
realize stealthy snowy owls are around
until the moment they strike.
FLYING SOLO
Before the end of summer, the three-
month-old owls are catching their
own rodents and swallowing them in
one gulp like their parents. By early
October, the young adults have mostly
mastered flying and hunting.
Once helpless babies, the owls are now
stealthy predators. It’s time to spread
their wings and leave their birthplace
behind by making their first migration
south for the winter. Next spring they’ll
fly back to the Arctic to find mates, dig
nests, and raise owlets of their own.
“People are naturally fascinated by
snowy owls,” Holt says. “Like animals in
a fairy tale, there’s something magical
about them.”
 PLAY!
GUESS THE BEAK
Snowy owls use their sharp
beaks to, um, tear apart
their prey. Other birds have
1
distinctive beaks that they
use to help them eat too.
Match the pictures of the
beaks with the animals they
belong to.

2
3

4 5

A B C D E
Yellow-billed King Pileated Keel-billed Great
oxpecker vulture wood- toucan white
They use Their hooked pecker They use pelican
A YOUNG their beaks beaks are They use their long Their huge
SNOWY OWL
TRIES TO TAKE like tweezers strong their bills to bills to pluck beaks help
FLIGHT IN to pry ticks enough to drill holes in and peel dif- them snag
ALASKA.
out of other tear into trees to get ferent kinds fish out of
animals. tough hide. insects to eat. of fruit. water.
ANSWERS: 1. B, 2. A, 3. D, 4. E, 5. C.

IF THIS SNOWY OWL’S

WINGS WERE STRETCHED
OUT, THEY’D MEASURE
ALMOST FIVE FEET FROM
TIP TO TIP.

'

SEE MORE BABY ANIMALS!

natgeokids.com/december

MICHIO HOSHINO / MINDEN PICTURES (OWL IN TUNDRA); MLORENZPHOTOGRAPHY / GETTY IMAGES (FLYING OWL); NICK FOX / GETTY
IMAGES (BEAK 1); BERND WESNER / GETTY IMAGES (BEAK 2); ©JUAN CARLOS VINDAS / GETTY IMAGES (BEAK 3); SENG CHYE TEO / GETTY
IMAGES (BEAK 4); KYLE KRAJNYAK / GETTY IMAGES (BEAK 5); CHRIS WARE (COMIC). © IMAGEBROKER / FLPA (RED PANDA, PAGES 18-19)
NAT GEO KIDS 17
Red pandas have extra-long wrist bones that work like thumbs. The animals wrap themselves in their fluffy tails
for warmth. One of the red panda’s calls sounds like a “quack-snort.” Thick fur covers the red panda’s paw pads.
 10 COOL
INVENTIONS
SUPERSMART
GADGETS,
ROBOTS,
AND VEHICLES
THAT COULD
CHANGE
YOUR LIFE
BY CHRIS TOMLIN

1
WATER
BIKE
An off-road bike is pretty
cool, but what’s even better?
An on-water bicycle! Just
wade into a lake or calm
sea and then hop on the
Hydrofoiler XE-1 to cycle on
the water’s surface. Riders
activate a battery-powered
propeller by pedaling their
feet, while two long gliders
attached to the bottom of the
vehicle keep it afloat. The
craft can move up to 13 miles
an hour, about as fast as the
average cyclist. Just don’t
try to catch a big wave—
you’ll definitely wipe out.

20 NAT GEO KIDS

MARCO KOTHE / MANTA 5 (1); NEXTMIND (2, BOTH); PUDU TECH (BELLABOT), MICHAEL
FLIPPO / DREAMSTIME (SANDWICH), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; PIX (4, BOTH)
 How meow
I help you?

2
MIND-
CONTROLLED
REMOTE
Tired of losing the TV MIND-READING
remote? That won’t be a DEVICE

problem once you’re

able to change the
channel with your
mind. A device called
NextMind clips to a
headband or the band of
a hat and uses a comb-
shaped device(so it can move 3
through your hair to get to your
scalp) that reads the activity generated by
your brain’s visual cortex. For instance, when
you concentrate on a shape on the screen that
ROBOT WAITER
represents volume, the device picks up on Next time you go out to eat, your food might be delivered by
waves of electrical signals transmitted by a robot … with a cat’s face. Using sensors, BellaBot rolls over
neurons in your brain. Then it translates your to your table without bumping into guests, tables, or other
brain’s signals into commands, and sends them bots. Once it arrives, grab your food off its built-in trays. If
to the TV. Presto! You’ve just turned up the TV. you’re happy with the service, pat your waiter on the head
Being a couch potato has never been easier. and listen to it purr. But don’t take too long. BellaBot will roll
away once it’s had too much affection—just like a real cat.

LIGHT-UP BACKPACK
YOU CAN CREATE
YOUR OWN
BACKPACK
DESIGN USING
AN APP.

Create a wild light show on your back

with the Pix Backpack. Just beneath its
water-repellent fabric, the bag has 320
lights that can create over 16 million color
combinations. Using an app, you can create
your own art or choose an emoticon or
cartoon—then change it anytime you want.
You can even display video games or rolling
text on the backpack. You’ll never lose your
bag in the pile again.

21
 A SENSOR INSIDE THE
DEVICE PICKS UP ON
CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS,
WHILE ALL YOU SEE IS A
6
CUTE BEAR FACE(BOTTOM).

TOOT
DETECTOR
Save your sniffer from stinky
bathrooms with SmellSense, a
two-part device that includes a
SENSOR sensor mounted to your bath-
room wall and a display panel
5 you can place outside. The

POCKET electronic sensor detects

airborne traces of carbon dioxide

MOVIE THEATER
and hydrogen sulfide—gaseous
chemical compounds that are
present in the average bathroom
toot. Then a panel display outside
It’s movie night! Grab the popcorn, reach the bathroom alerts you with a
into your backpack, and pull out the “go” or “no go” indicator. Your
Nebula Capsule Max, a portable projector. nose will thank you.
About the size of a soda can, this device
can display a seven-foot-wide image
wherever you find a flat surface. Just pair
the device with a streaming app or video
website to start watching. The Nebula
Capsule Max also acts as a speaker, giving
off sound from all sides of the device.
Going to the movies might soon mean
going to your own backyard.

7 SWIMMING
VACUUM
8
VIRTUAL AN AVATAR

HANGOUT
SHOWS OFF
DRAWINGS OF
PENGUINS IN A
VIRTUAL ROOM.

Spatial lets you and your friends create a high-tech

Scientists estimate about 17.6 billion pounds of trash enter
the ocean each year. Beach cleanups are great, but we’re
going to need a bit more help to clean the seas. Enter
WasteShark, a water drone modeled off of the wide mouth
of a whale shark. It skims the water’s surface, sucking up
trash and monitoring the water quality as it moves. Each
go-cart-size WasteShark can remove up to half a ton of
waste each day. That’s one helpful shark!
clubhouse. Just slip on a virtual-reality headset,
create an avatar, then meet up with 3D holograms
of your pals. You can stand next to your friends’ avatars,
move around a virtual room, and even pick up virtual
objects. Want to hang out at your house? Spatial
can also layer the holograms of your friends’ avatars
on top of the room you’re sitting in. Go ahead and
give your friends a virtual high five.

22 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

ANKER INNOVATIONS (5, BOTH); CHARMIN (6, BOTH); RANMARINE (7);
SPATIAL (8); BELL (9); SCS DIRECT PHOTO DEPT. (10, BOTH)
 9
FLYING Take a ride in the car of the future with the Bell Nexus air taxi. The five-
seat vehicle—which sits four passengers and a pilot—uses tilting fan-
like propellers to fly horizontally and vertically. (Think of it like a

TAXI car-size version of the Avengers’ Helicarrier!) Inside the taxi, you can
wear special augmented-reality goggles that point out landmarks and
provide information about what’s below. It’ll probably be a lot more fun
than being stuck in the back seat of a minivan.

10 BUILD WITH
WAFFLES
Who says you can’t play with your food? Pour some batter
into the Building Block Waffle Maker, and in just a few
minutes you’ll have edible, stackable blocks you can use
to create delicious sculptures. The bricks fit into
each other for stability, and you can even build
(and eat!) off of special plates with notches
that the waffles fit onto, giving your
stacks a solid foundation. The only
TAKE A COOL INVENTIONS QUIZ!
downside? Really sticky fingers. natgeokids.com/december

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 23

 THE
PERFECT
Puma
‹ These mountain lions thrive
in an extreme habitat.
BY KITSON JAZYNKA

A mother puma, trailed by three cubs, walks

along a snow-capped hill in Chile’s Patagonia region.
A large group of llama-like animals called guanacos
graze nearby, stretching their long, furry necks to nibble
on the grass. The cats pause—and watch. Their patience
pays off when a guanaco calf strays from the herd. PARK
The mother puma tenses. She crouches on her
legs and feet before launching herself toward the
PROTECTIONS
guanaco. She lands directly on the prey and Before the Chilean government
subdues it before bringing it back to her established Torres del Paine National Park
cubs for dinner. in 1959, pumas in the area were hunted almost
Found all the way from Canada to southern Chile,  to extinction by farmers protecting their live-
pumas live in more places than any other land- stock. But then Chile banned hunting the cats, with
dwelling mammal in the Western Hemisphere. They’re help from park officials to enforce the rules. This
considered among the most adaptable animals in the allowed more of the felines in the park to survive to
world and can survive almost anywhere. About 50 adulthood and have cubs, ensuring that the puma popu-
of these wild cats can be found in an especially harsh spot: lation could keep growing. Today about 50 of the ani-
Patagonia’s Torres del Paine (pronounced TOR-ays del PIE- mals live in the park. The no-hunting
nay) National Park, a super-dry habitat known for its high rule has been so successful that
peaks and 100-mile-an-hour winds. Check out four reasons Patagonia is one of the few
why Patagonia’s pumas are able to thrive in this extreme places in the world where
environment. visitors are likely
to spot one of
the cats.

BRING
ON THE
BIG CATS
Pumas may be the top
predator in Patagonia,
but they’re only the
fourth-heaviest wild cat
in the world. See which
cats outweigh them and
where other felines fall
on the size scale.

24 NAT GEO KIDS •

1 TIGER
200-660 pounds 2

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

LION
265-420 pounds

•
3 JAGUAR
100-250 pounds 4 PUMA
65-230 pounds 5 LEOPARD
66-176 pounds

SEBASTIAN KENNERKNECHT / MINDEN PICTURES (MAIN, CAMOUFLAGE, GUANACO); INGO ARNDT /

MINDEN PICTURES (CUBS); MARTIN WALZ (MAP); SUZI ESZTERHAS / MINDEN PICTURES (TIGER); WINFRIED
WISNIEWSKI / MINDEN PICTURES (LION); NICK HAWKINS / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (JAGUAR);
 A puma TOP
is also called a
mountain lion, PREDATORS
cougar, and Pumas in other parts of the world
panther. compete for food against other preda-
tors like wolves, jaguars, and bears. But in
Patagonia, pumas have little competition
when it comes to snatching prey. “Aside
from condors and other pumas, pumas
don’t have to share much of their food
source,” says Mark Elbroch, puma pro- GUANACO
gram director for Panthera, a wild cat
conservation organization. “They’ve
been the number one predator in
Patagonia for 10,000 years now,
aside from humans.” PREY BUFFET
Pumas aren’t the only animals
protected in the park—guanacos are
too. That means the wild cats get regular
feasts. But these llama-like creatures aren’t
exactly willing prey. “Guanacos can be danger-
ous,” Elbroch says. They often outweigh pumas
and can run longer distances. They’re also not
afraid to fight back with claw-like toes that
can tear into a puma’s skin. But because the
PUMAS
guanacos are protected, they’re in high
supply in the park. If a puma can’t
catch one, plenty more are on
the menu.

CAMOUFLAGE CATS
In places like Yellowstone National Park,
pumas have a golden-brown fur color that
helps them hide in their habitat’s tall, golden N OR T H
A M E R IC A
grasses. But Patagonia’s pumas have developed a
A TL A N T I C
duller hue that helps them blend in better with OCEAN
PACIFIC
Torres del Paine’s craggy rock formations, called OC E A N
stromatolites (stroh-MA-toh-lites). “When I try to
find one with binoculars, I look for a rock with Where
S OU T H
legs,” Elbroch says. Their fur also blends in pumas
live A M E RI C A
with the region’s sun-bleached grasses,
letting the big cats sneak up on unsus-
pecting prey like guanacos ARGENTINA
PACIFIC OCEA

or hares.
N
n i a

A puma’s
CEA

paw is as large
TIC O

CHILE
P a t a g o

as a big
N

ATLAN

pancake.
Torres
del Paine
National
Park

SNOW LEOPARD CHEETAH EURASIAN LYNX CLOUDED LEOPARD SERVAL

6 60-165 pounds 7 75-140 pounds 8 40-66 pounds 9 25-50 pounds 10 18-40 pounds

GABRIEL ROJO / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (PUMA); ANN AND STEVE TOON / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (LEOPARD); THOMAS MARENT /
MINDEN PICTURES (SNOW LEOPARD); BILDAGENTUR ZOONAR GMBH / SHUTTERSTOCK (CHEETAH); RUDMER ZWERVER / SHUTTERSTOCK
(EURASIAN LYNX); SANDESH KADUR / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (CLOUDED LEOPARD); SUZI ESZTERHAS / MINDEN PICTURES (SERVAL) NAT GEO KIDS 25
 1 2 3

90
DURING THE LAST ICE AGE
11,500 YEARS AGO, Icebergs are formed from glaciers
on land and drift out to sea.
one-third of Earth’s surface was PERCENT THEY ARE MOSTLY
covered in ice. Today, OF ALL RECOVERED
ice covers only a 10th. MADE OF FRESHWATER.
METEORITES
4 COME FROM ANTARCTICA.
5
HAWAII’S MAUNA KEA VOLCANO

Snowflakes
GET SMALLER AS THE
TEMPERATURE DROPS.
IT’S POSSIBLE
TO SNOW SKI ON
VOLCANOES IN HAWAII.

30 COOL YOU C TO MAKE

THINGS
7 8
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME:
6 SNOW If you touch your tongue to a metal pole
An ICE PALACE CONES on a below-freezing day,

built in St. Petersburg, sold during the

Great Depression IT COULD
(6); JENNIE BOOK / SHUTTERSTOCK (7); JOEY BOYLAN / ISTOCKPHOTO (8); IGOR SHPILENOK / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (9);

Russia, was an exact

STEVEN COLING / SHUTTERSTOCK (10); DMITRYND / GETTY IMAGES (12); CAROLINA K. SMITH, M.D. / SHUTTERSTOCK (13)
TERSTOCK (3); ROBERT MADDEN / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (5); SEMEN LIXODEEV / SHUTTERSTOCK

were called “hard

GET STUCK
THANK YOU / SHUTTERSTOCK (SNOWFLAKE, 4); MARCELCLEMENS / SHUTTERSTOCK (2); GEN PRODUCTIONS / SHUT-

replica of one built by times sundaes”

Empress Anna Ivanovna because they were
some 200 years ago. cheap to make. THERE.
9 THE ARCTIC-DWELLING
WOLVERINE
HAS PAWS LIKE
SNOWSHOES
•
10 ON MARS, WATER BOILS
AT 10 DEGREES ABOVE
FREEZING.
11

800
REINDEER can
travel more than
miles
12 AN ARCTIC FOX
HAS A BUSHY TAIL
THAT
CURLS
AROUND
SO IT CAN round trip during
their yearly ITS BODY
WALK ON TOP FOR WARMTH.
OF DEEP SNOW. migration in
the Arctic.

13 14
WOOD FROGS
have special antifreeze-like chemicals
BRAIN FREEZE
HAS NOTHING TO DO
that allow them to WITH YOUR BRAIN. IT
FREEZE NEARLY SOLID OCCURS WHEN THE
IN THE WINTER, BLOOD VESSELS IN
then thaw out in
warmer weather. YOUR HEAD SWELL.

26 NAT GEO KIDS

15
Each year,
a hotel in
.-------
16
SIBERIA
17
An 11-year-old
left a soda-
Sweden is
rebuilt from GETS SO COLD THAT filled cup with
a stick in it
a mixture of
ice and snow.
YOUR BREATH CAN outside on a

TURN TO ICE IN MIDAIR.

cold night,
EVEN THE accidentally
CHAIRS, inventing the
TABLES, ICE POP.
AND BEDS 19 20
A MAN SET On average,

20
ARE MADE
OF ICE!
A RECORD BY
BALANCING
120 FROZEN
WAFFLES INCHES
18 POLAR BEARS CLEAN
IN HIS of SNOW
THEMSELVES by RUBBING THEIR HANDS.
BODIES on the ARCTIC SNOW. equals 1 INCH of WATER.

CHiLLOUT
MARCO REGALIA / ISTOCKPHOTO (15); TIM UR / SHUTTERSTOCK (16); STEPHEN COBURN / SHUTTERSTOCK (17);
JOSHUA LEWIS / SHUTTERSTOCK (19); ANDRZEJ GIBASIEWICZ / SHUTTERSTOCK (22); IPGGUTENBERGUKLTD /
21 A Dutch artist made 22 23 24
an ice sculpture called An ICEBERG is a chunk of ice larger IN SOME PARTS OF EMPEROR

“SUNGLACIER”
than 16 feet across. BERGY BITS are
chunks between 6.6 feet and 16 feet ANTARCTICA, PENGUINS
can stay

GETTY IMAGES (24); ARTMIM / SHUTTERSTOCK (27); FANTUZ / SHUTTERSTOCK (29)

IN THE MIDDLE OF A
across. GROWLERS are chunks less THE ICE IS UNDERWATER
than 6.6 feet across.
3 MILES for up to

DESERT
to bring attention to THICK. 20
CLIMATE CHANGE. MINUTES.

25
IN THE
ANTARCTIC, THERE’S A
30-30-30 RULE:
26

WHEN LIGHTNING
OCCURS WITH A SNOW-
•27
ICEBERG
LETTUCE IS
When the temperature is STORM, IT’S CALLED ALSO CALLED
minus 30°F and the wind is
30 miles an hour, human THUNDERSNOW. “CRISPHEAD.”
skin freezes in 30 seconds.

28 29 Earth’s two ice sheets 30

The lowest temperature cover most of Early hockey pucks
were made of CHECK
ever recorded on Earth was GREENLAND and
minus 144°F, ANTARCTICA, FROZEN OUT
THE

IN ANTARCTICA. -· and make up about

99 percent COW DUNG
(er, poop).
BOOK!

of the world’s glacial ice.

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 27

 STUFF
GAMES, LAUGHS, AND LOTS TO DO!

Peep the Plastic

Your home is probably full of plastic. And it’s
not all bad—just don’t leave the stuff outside
(where it could become litter or ocean trash)
or toss it before you absolutely need to!
Find at least 15 items in this bathroom made
partly of plastic. ANSWERS ON PAGE 35

YOU CAN SAVE THE EARTH FROM PLASTIC TRASH!

natgeokids.com/KidsVsPlastic

28 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 MASEZDROMADERI / DREAMSTIME

 CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 29

 1

2 3 4
DO YOU
THINK At.r6N5
HAV~ P675? 7H6IIl
CH~W TOY$ MUST B~
ottrOP rHrs
WOilt.P!

5 7

CAN We.
U$~ MY WA761l
PI5H FORTH~

-iili
5A76Uir6
PI5H?

30 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 8 9

10 11

12 13
GUYS, GII6S5
WHAT? MAJOIZ I5
STAYING WITH 115
WHII.~ HI S OWN~R5
AR~ AWAY.

YOUR M6S5AG65
DIDN'T MAK~ IT
TO OIIT61Z 5PAC6, ~UT
TH~Y DID MAK~ IT
OV~R TH6 r6NC6!

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 31

 1

32
6
SIGNS

NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

3
2
TIMES
OF THE
ANSWERS ON PAGE 35
these funny signs and signals aren’t
Seeing isn’t always believing. Two of

real. Can you spot which two are fake?

TRAVEL PICTURES / ALAMY, IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED (1); THOMAS WINZ / GETTY IMAGES (2); RICHARD NEWSTEAD /
GETTY IMAGES (3); CHARLES GULLUNG / GETTY IMAGES (4); OWAKI / KULLA / GETTY IMAGES (5); ANDREW HOLT /
GETTY IMAGES, IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED (6); MYLOUPE / UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES (7)
 In the new book Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes,
13-year-old Cruz Coronado breaks secret codes in order
to fight dangerous villains and solve mysteries. Test your
own skills by cracking the maze on this page, then check
out more about the book at ExplorerAcademy.com .
BY TRACEY WEST AND GARETH MOORE

START
SAILOR

PLAY! ON THE RUN

Cruz and two of his classmates,
Sailor York and Emmett Lu, are
being chased by a mysterious
agent through the winding
lower decks of the ship Orion.
Help them find a way out.
ANSWER ON PAGE 35

EMMETT

CRUZ

CHECK
FINISH OUT
THE
BOOK!

SCOTT PLUMBE (CHARACTER ART); PAVEL MITROFANOV / SHUTTERSTOCK (BACKGROUND) DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 33
ART ZONE
SUPERHEROES
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a
bunch of new superheroes drawn
by Nat Geo Kids readers!

S Ballet Girl
Liberty H., 10
Lilburn, Georgia

Recycling Rachel X W Super Aardvark

Adelaide K., 12 Lydia L., 12
Denver, Colorado Rockledge, Florida

34 NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021

 Nat Geo Kids— Include your name, address, phone number, date of birth, a title for your drawing, a statement that

Draw a vacation
postcard.
Send us
your
original
drawings:
Postcard Art Zone
P.O. Box 98002
Washington, DC
20090-8002
it is your own work, and the name of your parent or guardian. Your parent or guardian must sign a
release for publication if your illustration is selected. Submissions become the property of National
Geographic Partners, and all rights thereto are transferred to National Geographic Partners. Submis-
sions cannot be acknowledged or returned. Selection will be at the discretion of Nat Geo Kids.

S Mighty Lightning Chicken

Reese W., 12
Lockwood, Missouri

S Super Cheetah
Emily P., 11
Newberg, Oregon

S Nature Girl
Päivi V., 13
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Ocean Man X
Marcus A., 13
Leola, Pennsylvania

Statement of ownership, management, and monthly circulation of

National Geographic Kids
OWNER AND PUBLISHER: National Geographic Partners, LLC
Gary E. Knell, Chairman “Signs of the Times” (page 32): Signs 3 and 6 are fake.
Susan Goldberg, Editorial Director
David Brindley, Managing Editor, Magazines
Rachel Buchholz, Editor in Chief
HEADQUARTERS OF PUBLISHER AND PUBLICATION: 15. mouthwash bottle bottle
1145 Seventeenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 14. contact solution nail polish remover 7.
STOCKHOLDERS; BONDHOLDERS; MORTGAGE;
OTHER SECURITY HOLDERS: National Geographic Society 13. nail polish lotion bottle 6.
and The Walt Disney Company 12. duck toy toilet scrubber 5.
Average no. copies Single issue 11. mascara tube razor 4.
each issue during nearest to 10. hair dryer toothbrushes 3.
preceding 12 mos. filing date
A. TOTAL COPIES PRINTED Oct. 2019-Sept. 2020 Sept. 2020 9. soap dish comb 2.
(Net Press Run) 762,628 722,558 8. cream container glasses 1.
B. PAID CIRCULATION
1. Outside-County Mail Subscriptions 641,953 623,170
2. In-County Mail Subscriptions - -
3. Non USPS Distributed 59,721 59,522 2
4. Other Classes Mailed Through USPS - - 11 1
C. TOTAL PAID CIRCULATION 701,674 682,692 9 13 12 8
D. FREE DISTRIBUTION BY MAIL
(includes samples, no news agents) 5
7 14 3 6
4
1. Outside-County 6,385 5,881
15
2. In-County - - 10
3. Other Classes Mailed Through USPS - -
TOTAL FREE DISTRIBUTION BY MAIL 6,385 5,881
E. FREE DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE THE MAIL - -
S Super Star F. TOTAL FREE DISTRIBUTION (Sum of D and E)
G. TOTAL DISTRIBUTION (Sum of C and F)
6,385
708,059
5,881
688,573
(page 33):
Dane V., 8 H. OFFICE USE, LEFTOVER, ETC. 54,569 33,985
Academy”
Brookfield, Wisconsin I. TOTAL (Sum of G and H) 762,628 722,558
“Explorer “Peep the Plastic” (pages 28-29):
J. PERCENT PAID 99% 99%
Answers

DECEMBER 2020 | JANUARY 2021 • NAT GEO KIDS 35

 Awesome
An mals!

RED-EYED TREE FROG

TEXT BY RUTH A MUSGRAVE COPYRIGHT © 2020 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC

 RED-EYED TREE FROG
A This tree frog is a picky eater.
FALSE: It’ll eat any insect—or even
a frog—that fits into its mouth.
B These frogs are great swimmers.
FALSE: They spend most of their lives
climbing and jumping in trees.
Mom lays eggs within dropping
C distance of water.
TRUE: She lays 20 to 60 eggs on the under-
side of a leaf over water.
One look from a red-eyed tree
frog stops a predator in its tracks.
D TRUE: Its red eyes and flashy colors may
startle a hunter and give the frog a split
second to hop away.

E If an unhatched frog gets a bad

feeling, it escapes from its egg.
TRUE: It can tell the difference between
vibrations caused by a moving snake or
rain. If it’s a snake, the tadpole hatches
early and drops into the water to escape.

MICHAEL DURHAM / MINDEN PICTURES

 Awesome
An mals!

SERVAL
The serval could win the "best
hunter" award among wild cats.
TRUE: A serval catches prey one out of
two tries. Other cats aren't nearly as suc-
cessful. For example, it can take a tiger 10
or even 20 tries to catch its food.
This cool cat hangs out in Africa.
TRUE: Servais live throughout
central and southern Africa.
f you're serving a serva , you'll
eed a couple doze • g
TRUE: Scientists watched one eat 28
frogs in three hours. Servais also eat
reptiles, rodents, insects, fish, and birds.
Servais should let sleeping dogs
lie.
TRUE: African wild dogs eat servals. Other
predators include hyenas and leopards.
The wind helps servals hunt.
FALSE: Wind makes it harder for a
serval to listen for the rustling sounds
of moving prey.

DOUG CHEESEMAN I PHOTOLIBRARY

 An mals!
Awesome

EMPEROR PENGUINS
An adult emperor penguin is as
tall as a seven-year-old child.
TRUE: An emperor penguin can be
nearly four feet tall and weigh as much as
88 pounds.
Emperor parents build elaborate
rock nests for their egg.
FALSE: The father incubates the egg nes-
tled inside a patch of skin on top
of his feet, keeping it a toasty 87.8oF even
when it's minus 58 0F outside.
A penguin chick·s warm, downy
f a hers are not at r f
TRUE: They stay out of the water until
waterproof feathers grow in.
A parent spends a week teaching
the chick how to swim and hunt.
FALSE: Parents stop caring for the chick
before it can even swim.
An emperor penguin's eggs weigh
twice as much as a chicken's.
FALSE: It's more than seven times heavier.

RADIUS I SUPERSTOCK
 Awesome
An mals!

CARIBOU
 CARIBOU
A Caribou and reindeer are the
same species.
TRUE: But caribou are native to North
America, and reindeer are native to north-
ern Europe and Asia.
B Caribou, a kind of deer, are slow.
FALSE: They can run up to 48 miles
an hour.
C It’d be cheap to cater their spring
gathering.
FALSE: A spring herd might have 500,000
caribou, which could eat six million
pounds of food a day.
D A caribou’s flexible hoofed foot
is an all-purpose tool.
TRUE: It’s a paddle in water, a snowshoe,
and a shovel for digging up food in the
snow. Its sharp edges grip rocks and ice.
E Only male caribou have antlers.
FALSE: Caribou are the only kind of deer
in which both females and males have
antlers.

DONALD M. JONES / MINDEN PICTURES

 Awesome
An mals!

WALRUS
 WALRUS
A A walrus’s delicate tusks are only
for looks.
FALSE: Walruses use their strong tusks
as weapons and to help them climb out
of the water. Males also use their tusks to
establish who’s boss.
B The tusks can be as long as
baseball bats.
TRUE: A large walrus can have tusks that
are 39 inches long. Both males and fe-
males have tusks.
C Walruses compete with penguins
for food.
FALSE: Walruses live only in the North-
ern Hemisphere. Penguins live in the
Southern Hemisphere.
D Polar bears eat walrus pups.
TRUE: Young, ill, or injured walruses
can become dinner for polar bears.
E A walrus avoids cold water.
FALSE: It spends about two-thirds of its
life at sea in Arctic waters. Its thick layer
of blubber keeps it warm.

AGE FOTOSTOCK / SUPERSTOCK

 Awesome
An mals!

SKIMMER DRAGONFLY
Birds can easily catch dragonflies.
FALSE: Dragonflies can accelerate and
change direction too fast for most birds.
The skimmer dragonfly is a
predator and carnivore, like
a tiger or wolf.
TRUE: Dragonflies hunt and eat insects
they catch in midair.
If dragonflies cou d blog, some
s i mers would blog o g.
TRUE: Skimmers live throughout the
world near streams, lakes, rivers, and
creeks flowing through bogs.
A dragonfly's sting burns like fire
from a dragon.
FALSE: Dragonflies don't have stingers.
They don't bite people, either.
Most adult dragonflies live only
one to two weeks.
TRUE: Although some may live as long as
eight weeks.

CISCA CASTELIJNS I SUPER STOCK

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