2022-03-01 National Geographic Kids

NATGEOKIDS.COM • MARCH 2022

COOL

BOOK

GIVEAWAY

SAVING

RED PANDAS

How cool technology is giving these
critters a second chance

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IN
THIS
ISSUE

Editor in Chief, 12 Panda Patrol
Kids and Family, Magazines and Digital
Discover how scientists are using technology to track endangered red pandas.
Rachel Buchholz
Senior Design Editor, Magazines Eileen O’Tousa-Crowson 16 New Movie: DEPARTMENTS
Turning Red
Editorial Kay Boatner, Senior Editor / Digital Producer; 4 Weird
Allyson Shaw, Editor / Digital Producer See how this fantastical But True!
flick stacks up to red
Photo Shannon Hibberd, Senior Photo Editor panda reality. 5 Incredible Animal
Production Sean Philpotts, Manager Friends
20 Secrets of
Digital Laura Goertzel, Senior Manager Stonehenge 6 Guinness
World Records
PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC Could these uncovered
Chairman of the Board of Directors clues help solve this 7 Bet You Didn’t Know!
Peter Rice ancient puzzle? 8 By the Numbers
Editorial Director 10 Amazing Animals
Susan Goldberg 22 Clownin’ Around 28 Fun Stuff
Managing Editor, Magazines With Puffins
David Brindley PPOAFGUSETSN1E8–R19!
Find out why these fliers
Advertising Offices John Campbell, Senior Vice President, might be the world’s
Partnerships, [email protected] goofiest birds.

Detroit Karen Sarris, [email protected] 26 Sneak Peek! COVER: KATHERINE FENG / MINDEN PICTURES
Los Angeles Eric Josten, [email protected] (RED PANDA); SHANNON JOHNSTONE (DOG);
New York Hilary Halstead, [email protected] Check out a chapter JAMES YAMASAKI (SQUID ILLUSTRATION);
from Zeus the Mighty: THEO ALLOFS / MINDEN PICTURES (TUFTED
International Magazine Publishing Yulia Petrossian Boyle, The Epic Escape From PUFFIN). PAGE 3: NICK GARBUTT / MINDEN
Senior Vice President; Jennifer Jones, Director; the Underworld. PICTURES (RED PANDAS IN TREE); PIXAR ANI-
MATION STUDIOS (RED PANDA ILLUSTRATION);
Leanna Lakeram, Editorial and Marketing Coordinator JUST FOR PARENTS BRIAN JANNSEN / ALAMY (STONEHENGE); NY-
Finance Jeannette Swain, Director; IRAGONGO / GETTY IMAGES (PUFFINS); ANDY
For corrections and clarifications, ELKERTON (ATHENA THE CAT ILLUSTRATION)
Tammi Colleary-Loach, Senior Manager, Rights Clearance; go online. natgeo.com/corrections
Joey Wolfkill, Senior Business Specialist EXPLORATION HAPPENS
Follow us on Twitter@NGKids because of you.
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the work of our scientists, explorers, and
Janet H. Zavrel, Manager, Circulation Planning
educators around the world.
Consumer Insights and Analytics
Jessica Bates, Senior Director Parents, to learn more, visit natgeo.com/info

Advertising Production Kristin Semeniuk, Director;
Julie A. Ibinson, Manager

Publicity Anna Kukelhaus, [email protected];
Caitlin Holbrook, [email protected]

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Check out these CHECK OUT
outrageous facts. WEIRD
BUT TRUE!
STYLE ON DISNEY+.
IS MY
MIDDLE BY JULIE BEER
NAME.

The year PUFFY
COLLARS
1752
worn in the 1500s
Bbwryfirat1oas1misndhaacoyhnrsatowenlndghe-eeddn
tsotytlheecaolneendwaer in England could

use today. stretch to a

THE FIRST giraffe’s
TRAFFIC height.
at all! EAR
LIGHT MUASNAEYDS ABSNAPCINIEDNDETARPHWGYSEEICSBIA.SNS TAINOTYFHLWOAUEPASDALOTNGHDSIYNWEEEAURRRESOAAPSGEIOG. N,
APPEARED THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. © TISCHENKO IRINA / SHUTTERSTOCK (PARCHMENT); © NICKFREE /
DECADES Ad4irs,cc0hoav0eeor0elod-gaists LY CLOCKS had ISTOCK (GIRAFFE), WYNNTER / ISTOCK (PUFFY COLLAR), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; © OMERSUKRUGOKSU / ISTOCKPHOTO (TRAFFIC LIGHT); © CREATIVENATURE /
YEAR-OLD ISTOCK (SPIDER); © ERIC ISSELEE / SHUTTERSTOCK (DORMOUSE); © MINGCHAI LAW / DREAMSTIME (NOODLES); © VISUALFIELD / ISTOCKPHOTO (CLOCK)
BEFORE BNOOWOLDLOEFS only one hand
MOTORIZED —or NO HANDS
in China.
CARS HIT
THE ROAD.

I TASTE
BAD, I

PROMISE!

Dormouse was
considered a

DELICACY

in ancient Rome.

4 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

INCREDIBLE

ANIMAL FRIENDS BYELISABETH
DEFFNER

BIRD HANGS OUT YOU’RE
WITH BUNNY MY BFF:
Kildare, Ireland
Bunny the European rab- BIRD
FRIEND
FOREVER.

bit and Pidg the common

pigeon didn’t let anything come between their friendship—even a wall!

After being found weak and alone, the animals were brought separately

to what was then the Kildare Animal Foundation Wildlife Unit. Both needed

warmth to survive, but volunteer Aideen McGee only had one incubator.

So she put the rabbit and the bird inside together, setting a cardboard

wall between them so that they’d each have their own space. When McGee

went to check on the duo a little later, she saw that Bunny had knocked

down the barrier and was cuddling with Pidg!

McGee took the cardboard wall away so that the animals could snuggle

24/7. Soon after, Bunny became sick, and Pidg refused to leave the

rabbit’s side.

“The bird comforted Bunny and kept him going,” says animal EUROPEAN RABBIT
manager Dan Donoher. Once Bunny recovered, the friends spent

their time eating together, grooming each other, and curling up WEIGHT Up to 5 pounds

COMMON PIGEON at nap time. DIET Grass, bark, buds, and
After about six months, Pidg roots

LENGTH 13 inches and Bunny were released back ALL GROWN UP Bunnies
into the wild. They’re no longer become independent after
DIET Seeds, grains, and fruit side by side, but when they about a month.
needed it most, these critters
EGG ALERT It takes about 17 had each other’s backs. DISTRESS SIGNAL They
days for their eggs to hatch. thump their feet when

ROCK ON They’re sometimes threatened.
called rock doves.

PIDG BUNNY

KILDARE ANIMAL FOUNDATION (BOTH)

5MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

GUINNESS CHECK
OUT HOW
WORLD
FAST I
RECORDS BY KAY BOATNER CAN FETCH

MONSTER NOW!
YO-YO
WHATEVER.
This toy’s definitely too big for the
backyard. Beth Johnson’s Whoa-Yo PETS RIDE
is the world’s biggest wooden SCOOTER!
yo-yo. The towering toy
is nearly 12 feet across Lollipop the dog and
and weighs 4,620
pounds—about Sashimi the cat are the
the weight of
three cows. You speediest pets around—
need a crane
to lift, wind, on a scooter, at least. The
and release
the Whoa-Yo. Boston terrier and his
Johnson is stor-
ing the toy for feline pal hold the record
now but eventually
hopes to sell it. The for fastest five meters(16.4
buyer better have a
humongous toy box. feet) on a scooter by a dog

and a cat, traveling the

distance in 4.37 seconds.

The pair first learned

how to ride the vehicle

separately before hopping

on together. Who

says dogs and These pets

cats can’t get like performing
along?
tricks, but your pet

may not. Never force

your pet to do

something it does

not want to do.

SEE-THROUGH BRIDGE GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (ALL). INFORMATION PROVIDED
BY © 2022 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED.
If you hate heights, don’t look down while crossing this bridge. At 1,726 feet long, a walkway in Qingyuan, China, holds the
record for longest glass-bottomed bridge. It’s nearly five times longer than a football field! Still not scared? The bridge
dangles 660 feet above a river—the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., could fit under it, with room to spare.

6 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

7 gleamingfacts
about gold
BY PAIGE TOWLER
2 Atypeof
1
bacteria creates
A 3,000-year-old
gold by “eating” toxic
Egyptian mummy
metals and 3
was found wearing
“pooping” Pure
fakegolden “toes” gold is
out the
over each of his valuable stuff.
real ones.
edible.

4 5
A designer
Gold melts
once created a dress
at 1948˚F—
almost as hot as worth more than

lava. $1.5 million made
withover 10,000
gold sequins.

CHRIS RATCLIFFE / BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES 6 Scientists 7

recovered 3,100 A solid
gold toilet
gold coins and 45 gold bars
worth more than a
worth more than million dollars was once

$50 million stolen from

from an 1857 shipwreck. a British palace.

7MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

The truth about
Just like us, animals use their teeth for biting, chomping,

chewing, and gnawing. But not all adult animals have the same number

of teeth! Sink yourchompers into these sharp stats.

Your pet cat

has the same number

Elephant Human of teeth as the big
tusks are teeth
that never stop growing! adults have cats in the wild:
The biggest tusk
on record was more than 32 teeth; 30.
kids have
11 FEET
LONG. 20!

26 TEETH
30 TEETH
32 TEETH
42 TEETH

ELEPHANT LION HUMAN DOG

8 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

CHECK
OUT THE
BOOK!

BY JENNIFER ADRION AND OMAR NOORY

teeth

80 TEETH
100 TEETH
300 TEETH

ALLIGATOR DOLPHIN GREAT WHITE SHARK

FOUR OAKS / SHUTTERSTOCK (ELEPHANT, LION); ENTIENOU / ISTOCK (HUMAN); GELPI / SHUTTERSTOCK (DOG); ERIC ISSELEE / SHUTTERSTOCK 9MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS
(ALLIGATOR); BCRITCHLEY / DREAMSTIME.COM (DOLPHIN); SERGEY URYADNIKOV / SHUTTERSTOCK (GREAT WHITE SHARK)

Comeback Critter:
Pygmy Possum Found!

I’M REALLY Kangaroo Island, Australia
GOOD AT Smaller than mice, little pygmy possums can be hard to find: Scientists have
HIDE-AND- only ever counted 113 of them on Kangaroo Island. So when a bushfire swept
through this island, destroying almost 90 percent of the animal’s habitat,
SEEK. researchers feared the marsupial was extinct in one of its only homes.

After the fire burned out, conservationists explored the island to see
what wildlife remained. They dug deep pits in the ground and waited for
critters to harmlessly fall inside so that they could count the island’s ani-
mals. Amazingly, one little pygmy possum came down from the trees(where
they usually like to hang out) and scurried inside.

“Finding this pygmy possum gives us hope that this species is still out
there,” ecologist Di Pearson says.“It also shows us how resilient our

native wildlife is to natural disasters.”
The researchers will continue studying the species and

its habitat to learn how to keep these little animals safe.
Looks like anything is possum-ble for this pygmy!
—Elizabeth Hilfrank

SCIENTISTS HELD
THE LITTLE PYGMY
POSSUM TO CHECK
ITS HEALTH, BUT
YOU SHOULDN’T
PICK UP WILD
ANIMALS.

Check out more stories, tips, and
crafts to help the planet!
natgeokids.com/planet

10 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

NOW WHERE
CAN I GET A

MATCHING
HORN?

Dog SISU AND HER Turtles
UNICORN PAL Groom
s HANG OUT
Unicorn TOGETHER AT Warthog
AN ANIMAL
SHELTER. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park,South Africa
One African watering hole is more than
Mount Olive, North Carolina “We’ve received calls about dogs enter- just a place to cool off—it’s also a spa!
You can find anything at the dollar ing stores before, but never about dogs
store—even a new BFF. stealing toys!” says Joe Newburn, head of When a warthog waded into the
the animal services department. muddy pit,two South African helmeted
Sisu the stray Lab mix walked through turtles swam over to groom it,plucking
the automatic doors of a dollar store, When the officers arrived, one of them parasites off the warthog’s hide.“I
trotted past candy bars and toys,and then bought the toy for Sisu to keep. Then the couldn’t believe what I saw,”says Andy
snatched a plush purple unicorn off a shelf. pup and his unicorn pal made their way to Jones,who witnessed the interaction
an adoption center for a bit of training. and watched as the turtles ate ticks off
The one-year-old pup tried to bring the This friendship is straight out of a fairy the warthog’s face.The warthog even
unicorn outside,but store employees tale. —Elizabeth Hilfrank lowered himself deeper into the water to
stopped him,laughing it off. Then the help a turtle pluck a fly off his back.
sneaky pup came back, took the same uni-
corn, and tried to leave again. After the It’s not unusual for some animals,
dog tried to swipe the toy three more such as oxpecker birds and rhinoceroses,
times, employees realized Sisu wasn’t to form partnerships in which one ani-
going to leave without the plushie and mal gets a tasty snack and the other
called the local animal control office. gets clean. But this grooming behavior
is unexpected for turtles. Reptile
expert Bill Branch has heard of only a
few instances of reptiles grooming
other animals.

It may be unusual behavior, but at
least one lucky warthog knows these
turtles have its back! —Allyson Shaw

LITTLE PYGMY WARTHOG
POSSUM
Kangaroo Island, A TURTLE EATS
Australia PARASITES OFF A
WARTHOG’S BACK.
DOG
Mount Olive, TURTLE
North Carolina
11MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS
TURTLES
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Park, South
Africa

ASHLEE BENC (PYGMY POSSUM, BOTH); SHANNON JOHNSTONE (SISU, BOTH); TURGAY MALIKLI /
SHUTTERSTOCK (HEART EMOJI); MICHELLE LEIGHTY JONES (TURTLE GROOMING WARTHOG)

P

A RED PANDA Like house cats,
CHECKS OUT ITS red pandas groom
SURROUNDINGS themselves by using
IN CHINA’S their paws to wash
GUANGZHOU ZOO.
their bodies.
PAARU IS ONE OF
10 RED PANDAS A newborn red
SCIENTISTS WERE panda can fit in the
TRACKING WITH
GPS COLLARS IN palm of an adult
NEPAL. person’s hand.

12

PANDA
PATROL

How scientists are using
technology to track
endangered red pandas

BY JAMIE KIFFEL-ALCHEH

W ith a flick of his fluffy tail, Senehang the
red panda curls into a ball. Poof! Now he
looks just like any other bump on a branch in
the forested mountains of Nepal, a country in
South Asia.
This camouflage trick allows the red panda
to sleep without worrying about predators
like snow leopards. And the red panda needs
the nap for the journey he’s about to begin:
searching for a mate.
Senehang, which means “son” in Limbu, a
language spoken in Nepal, won’t be making
the journey alone. Around his neck is a GPS
collar that will send information to scientists so
they can track where he goes. It’s part of a plan
to learn as much as possible about red pandas
so that conservationists can protect them.
“These animals are endangered,” says
Sonam Tashi Lama, program coordinator for
the Red Panda Network, a conservation group
»in Nepal. “They need help from humans to
have a chance of survival in the future.”

CHINA
BHUTAN
IC
NEPAL
QIMING YAO / DREAMSTIME (MAIN IMAGE); JAMES HOUSTON /
RED PANDA NETWORK (PAARU); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)BANGLADESH

INDIA

MYA N M A R

ASIA PAOCCIEFAN Bay of
OINCEDAIANN Bengal

Where
red pandas
live

13MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

SHRINKING Lama and his team first had to make let us measure their necks and fit them
POPULATION sure the animals would be comfortable
wearing the collars. So in late 2018, with the collars by letting them choose a
About 20 years ago, some 15,000 red they partnered with Rotterdam
pandas roamed the treetops of the Zoo in the Netherlands to reward—grapes, apples, or bananas,”
Himalaya forests in South Asia. But test the collars on two
scientists think the population has captive red pandas: a zoological manager Janno
declined by more than 50 percent. male named Arjun and
a female named Yukiko. Weerman says.
Poachers hunt these creatures for
their fur, but a bigger problem is the large The secret to get- Once the bulky collars
number of people moving into red panda ting collars on the
habitat. As more people live near these animals? Giving them were attached, the team
once remote areas, they cut down trees a treat first.
to build houses and create farmland. watched the critters to
“We convinced them to
Without lots of trees to hide in, red ensure the lightweight
pandas can’t move around as much.“Even
if parts of their habitat remain, red foam devices didn’t
pandas will avoid crossing areas where
humans and livestock live,” Lama says.“If YUKIKO WEARS affect their behavior.
they can’t meet each other, they won’t A GPS COLLAR “But they didn’t mind at
be able to reproduce.” AT THE ROTTER- all,” Weerman says.“They
DAM ZOO IN THE just climbed the trees
To help, scientists need to understand NETHERLANDS.
how homes, roads, and other human
development are affecting red panda
behavior. But because these creatures
are shy and solitary, researchers don’t
know which parts of the forests the
remaining pandas are living in—or how
they’re spending their time. And that’s
where the tracking devices come in.

“Mapping the path they travel will let
us know which areas of the forest need to
be reforested to connect the most red
pandas to one another,” Lama says.

PRACTICE MAKES
PERFECT

Lama and his team had a great plan, but
they faced a challenge: Because red pan-
das can be hard to spot and catch, no one
had ever used GPS collars to study them
in the wild. So these scientists had a lot
of things to figure out.

Burning Questions Get the scoop on three things you might be wondering about the adorable red panda.

Are red pandas related So why are red pandas
to giant pandas? called pandas?

Red pandas and giant pandas Red pandas were named some
share similar names and live in 50 years before giant pandas!
the same mountain forests of The word “panda” is thought
Asia. But they’re only distantly to come from the Nepali word
related. Giant pandas are ponya, meaning “bamboo eater.”
bears—red pandas aren’t. When people realized later that
Red pandas are more closely the giant bears ate lots of
related to skunks, raccoons, bamboo—just like red pandas—
and weasels. they named them pandas, too.

14 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 NICK GARBUTT / MINDEN PICTURES (RED PANDAS IN TREE); WIENE VAN DE BUNTE (YUKIKO); SONAM TASHI
LAMA / RED PANDA NETWORK (1, 4); GYAJO LAMA BHOTE / RED PANDA NETWORK (2, 3); CHRIS WARE (COMIC)

When have an interesting way of tracking How to Collar a Red Panda
red pandas need these animals: through their poop. The
to cool off, they hang Guardians, er, sniffed out the panda poo, 1
their legs down then searched nearby trees for the pooper.
NGIMA
the sides of Once they spotted a red panda, a team
branches. of veterinarians and Guardians set up a After Ngima the red panda enters a box
tall, fence-like tarp around the base of the trap, she’s sedated and placed in a net.
TWO RED PANDAS tree with a box trap at the bottom. That
SPEND TIME IN way when the red panda climbed down the 2
THE TREETOPS tree surrounded by the tarp, it had no
OF A WILDLIFE choice but to enter the trap. It was then Next, scientists fit a GPS collar
RESERVE IN quickly sedated and collared, then released on the sedated red panda’s neck.
INDIA. as soon as it woke up.
3
and kept doing their red panda thing.” From September to December 2019, the
After a few months, the pandas were team trapped 10 red pandas—six females Researchers then measure Ngima so that
and four males—including Senehang, they can track her growth over time.
still wearing their collars without discom- Ngima, and Paaru. Their collars recorded
fort. It was time to test them in the wild. their location every two hours and sent 4
the information to researchers once a day.
THE SEARCH BEGINS Over the next year, the team tracked the COLLAR
red pandas’ movements. Finally, at the end
Then came the next challenge: finding 10 of 2020, the collars fell off.
red pandas in Panchthar-Ilam-Taplejung,
a protected forest in Nepal.“Finding and RED PANDAS FOREVER
catching just one red panda is hard,” Lama
says.“They’re small, crafty escape artists.” Researchers are still studying the data
and plan to release their findings later
That’s why the scientists teamed up this year. But based on some of the in-
with the Forest Guardians, local people formation, the team was able to identify
who protect the forest from poachers and where to plant new forests so that red
pandas could meet each other more easily.

“We had a goal of planting 100,000
trees, and we’ve already planted 115,000,”
Lama says.

And even more good news: All 10 red
pandas were alive—and three of the
females had cubs. As for Senehang?
Guardians have reported that he, too,
has found a potential mate during
his travels.

“This shows us that they can adapt
to the changes humans bring to their
habitat,” Lama says.“It’s a hopeful sign.”

What’s up with After about 15 minutes, the red panda
their fake thumbs? wakes up and scampers away. (This is
Senehang just after being collared.)
Red pandas have a special
thumb-like wrist bone TAKE A QUIZ ON ALL THINGS PANDA!
on each of their front natgeokids.com/march
paws that gives them an
extra grip when climbing
trees and balancing on
branches. The wrist bones
also help them grip their
favorite snack: bamboo.

15MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

THE TRUTTHHEBNEHEWINDMOVIE

Turning RedBYSTEPHANIEWARRENDRIMMER

In the new movie Turning Red,

13-year-old Meilin Lee wakes up one

‹‹ morningafteranargumentwithher
mother to discover … she’s turned

into a giant red panda! And though

that might seem cool, she can’t

always control when she transforms:

Angry? Happy? Sad? Poof! She’s a

red panda.

“In addition to having to deal with

the ups and downs of being 13, now

Mei has to figure out how to handle

being a red panda sometimes, too,” Going
director Domee Shi says. Solo

In real life, of course, red pandas

stay red pandas. But how much is After
Mei’s panda self like the actual crit- her mom embar-
ter? Nat Geo Kids goes behind the rasses her at school, a
scenes to find out. mortified Mei locks herself in

her room. Real red pandas also

Family tend to hide, but not because they’re
Connections
ashamed. They’re just shy, solitary
Mei’s
parents explain to animals. Each red panda sticks to its Size
her that her magical power own territory, which is at least one Surprise
is a family trait, passed down
through her female ancestors. So Mei square mile. It won’t seek out
relies on her mom to help her learn more
about her new ability. In the wild, another adult red panda When
red panda cubs also depend on their until it’s time to find Mei gets out of
mothers. For the first three months, a mate. bed as a seven-foot-tall red
Mom brings them bamboo leaves to
eat while they wait in their tree nest. panda, she bonks her head on
After that, she teaches them how
to climb until they’re about 18 her bedroom ceiling. Then at school,
months old. Then the cubs
PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS (ALL MOVIE IMAGES); are on their own. she awkwardly struggles to fit her fluff
ROBERT CHG / GETTY IMAGES (PENGUINS, PAGES 18-19)
and superlong tail into her chair. In real life,

red pandas are quite graceful, balancing

on branches in search of food and quickly

scaling tree trunks to escape predators like

snow leopards. And a red panda’s tail,

which they use to keep their balance

in the trees, is about the length

of the rest of their body,

just like Mei’s tail.

16 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS.

Above
It All

After Mei’s mom
unexpectedly shows up at her
school and gets into an argument
with a security guard, an embarrassed Mei
poofs into a panda in front of her classmates
for the first time. “Mei totally panics,” Shi says.
“So she scampers outside, climbs a ladder to the
top of a nearby building, and jumps from rooftop
to rooftop to escape.” Real red pandas also climb—in
fact, they spend about 90 percent of their lives in
the treetops of mountainous forests in South Asia.
But these acrobats don’t need ladders: Instead,
they use a thumb-like wrist bone to grip
branches. They can even climb down
tree trunks headfirst with super-

flexible ankles that rotate
180 degrees.

Plant
Power

“Even
before Mei
transforms into a red panda,
she’s passionate about animals
and the environment,” Shi says. “So
she’s a vegetarian.” Unlike Mei, real red
pandas aren’t vegetarians—they occasion-
ally eat small birds and mice. But their diet is
made up of mostly bamboo leaves. Since the
plant is hard to digest and doesn’t provide
the animals much energy, red pandas need
to eat a lot of it to survive: up to 20,000
leaves a day! And they can spend
about 13 hours every day
searching for and
eating food.

MORE MOVIE SCOOP!
Go online to check out photos

and other fun stuff from
Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red.
natgeokids.com/TurningRed

17MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

Yellow-eyed penguins live in New Zealand’s coastal forests and shrublands.
Instead of living in colonies like other penguins, these birds prefer to nest solo.

The bird is also called the hoiho, which means “noise shouter” in the Indigenous Maori language.



Could a new discovery help
solve this ancient puzzle?

BY ALLYSON SHAW AND ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS

Ancient stones form a circle on a grassy plain. Some of the rocks stand 20 feet tall, while others lie on the ground.
Thousands of years ago, people erected this monument to align perfectly with the sun: On the longest day of the
year, the sun rose between the tallest arch; on the shortest, it set on the opposite side. Why did people build this
monument, called Stonehenge? It’s still one of the world’s biggest mysteries.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS giants placed the monument on a hill to circular mound, people replaced the
the west of where Stonehenge is today, in wooden poles with a circle of bluestones,
For hundreds of years people have wondered what’s now Wales. Then a wizard named named for their slightly blue tint when
Merlin magically moved the stone circle broken or wet.
who built this massive stone structure on to England.
But after studying these 6,000-pound
England’s Salisbury Plain. Some have sug- While experts know that a spell didn’t stones, scientists discovered that they
move the stones, they wondered if maybe came from a quarry about 140 miles west
gested the Romans, the Vikings, an ancient Stonehenge had indeed been moved from of Stonehenge, in what’s now Wales—
somewhere else and reconstructed on this nowhere near the current site in England.
group of people called the Celts, and even spot. Taking a hint from the myth, archae- And according to new research, these
ologists started looking for the remains of rocks were once part of an older stone
aliens.(It’s definitely not the last one!)Now stone circles west of the monument. circle in Wales that had the same diame-
ter and alignment with the sun.
experts are taking a closer look at a magical STONEHENGE:
THE PREQUEL That means that another ancient monu-
myth about Stonehenge to discover the ment similar to Stonehenge had been built
The first part of Stonehenge—a raised circle perhaps 500 years before. Then those
truth. of dirt surrounding 56 wooden posts—was ancient people pulled, dragged, or maybe
created around 3000 B.C.(That makes it even floated the stones to the spot where
A tale much older than the theories about the they rest today.
ATLANTIC OCEAN Romans, Vikings, and Celts.)
from the Why would ancient people—who hadn’t
OPE About 500 years after first digging the yet invented the wheel—drag these rocks
SCOTLAND North 12th century
Sea says that

NIORUERNLTAIHTNEERDDNKINGDOM

IRELAND

WALES ENGLAND EUR

StonehengeOATCLEAANNTIC

AFRICA

20 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 ADAPTED FROM A FEBRUARY 2021 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ONLINE ARTICLE. BRIAN JANNSEN /
ALAMY (STONEHENGE); 4D NEWS (RAISING THE ROCKS ILLUSTRATION); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)

RAISING THE ROCKS

Here’s what Stonehenge looked like about 4,200 years ago.

all that way? Experts think that the blue- Thirty upright Up to 80 bluestone On the solstices, Experts think
stones must have represented something sandstone rocks rocks were the the sunlight these bluestones
very important—like their ancestors. called sarsen first large stones came through in a horseshoe
stones made up to be placed at the opening in formation were
CALENDAR, TEMPLE, the outer ring of Stonehenge, the largest arch, moved around
OR PARTY SPOT? Stonehenge. around 2600 B.C. called the Great a few times.
Trilithon.
A few hundred years after placing the
bluestones in the current location, ancient
people added heavier sandstone blocks
called sarsen stones, which were quarried
nearby. These 50,000-pound stones make
up the widest part of the circle, plus the
inner horseshoe shape.

But experts still don’t know for sure
why ancient people built the monument.
Could it have been a giant calendar, help-
ing to mark the summer and winter
solstices as the sun rose and set? Or per-
haps a place to worship the dead, since
archaeologists have found cremated
remains nearby? They’ve also found pig
remains from livestock that came from
all over Britain, so maybe Stonehenge
was actually a gathering place for huge
celebrations.

For now, the story isn’t written in stone.

21MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

CLOWNIN’ AROUND

Why these fliers might be the world’s

goofiest birds

BY ALLYSON SHAW

An Atlantic puffin waddles across a rocky cliff, bumping into its pals. These cute
and clumsy birds are called the clowns of the sea—and it’s easy to see why. Their
funny features and bumbling moves make them natural jesters.

“They look a bit like clowns, and their behavior is very charming,” puffin
researcher Tony Diamond says. “They almost remind us of ourselves.” Check
out five ways these birds live up to their nickname.

AN ATLANTIC 1 SILLY STUNTS
PUFFIN SCORES
SOME SAND AN ATLANTIC Puffins pull off incredible
EELS. PUFFIN TAKES acrobatics to get into the
OFF FROM A air. “They run up to the
A group CLIFF ON THE highest point they can find,
of puffins is ISLE OF MAY IN face the wind, and jump off,”
sometimes called SCOTLAND. Diamond says. Then the
birds quickly flap their
a circus. wings on the way down until
they take flight. Once air-
borne, they have to flap
between 300 and 400
times a minute to stay up.

That’s not their only
amusing antic. Like a clown
with pie on his face, puffins
also stuff their faces—with
fish. Other birds usually eat
one fish at a time, but puf-
fins cram loads of seafood
into their beaks. One puffin
carried 62 fish all at once!
How do they hold on to their
treats? Puffins have rough
tongues and backward-
facing spikes on the top
of their mouths that hold
the snacks in place.

22 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 MARIO SUAREZ PORRAS / BIA / MINDEN PICTURES (WITH FISH); ADRIAN PLUMB / ALAMY (ON ROCKS); NYIRAGONGO /
GETTY IMAGES (BIG IMAGE); OTTO PLANTEMA / BUITEN-BEELD / MINDEN PICTURES (HORNED PUFFIN)

Hey!
Whoa!
Look out!

DId
you hear
somethIng?

AN ATLANTIC
PUFFIN COMES IN
FOR A LANDING
ON ENGLAND’S
FARNE ISLANDS.

2 CLOWN COSTUME
A puffin’s white face, bright beak, and eye markings almost look

like clown makeup. Horned puffins even have fleshy spikes above

their eyes that look like the triangles that jesters sometimes

draw on their faces. But their orange beaks and feet are no

joke—puffins sport their brightest colors only in the summer

when they’re ashore to find mates.

Scientists think that the coloring shows how healthy a puffin

is so it can attract other birds. That’s because it takes a lot of

energy for the puffins’ bodies to produce the pigment, so only

the healthiest ones show off the orange features. The rest of the

A HORNED PUFFIN’S year, when the birds are living out on the open ocean,
FLESHY SPIKE most of their orange color fades to gray, allowing

their bodies to focus energy on things like

healing wounds. They can’t put on a show all

the time!

23MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

3 WACKY HAIRDOS
Puffins don’t need rainbow clown wigs—they’ve got their
own funky feather-dos. Tufted puffins have a swoop of yel-
low feathers running above and beyond their eyes, kind of
like way-overgrown eyebrows. But the best facial feathers
might be on the rhinoceros auklet. These puffins sport
funny eyebrows and goofy mustaches, all made of fine
feathers. Just like the orange beaks and feet in some
puffins, experts think these styles are likely a way to win
a mate.

LOOKIN’ GOOD! A DON’T WORRY:
TUFTED PUFFIN THIS ATLANTIC
(ABOVE) AND PUFFIN IN
A RHINOCEROS SCOTLAND IS
AUKLET SPORT JUST LANDING,
FANCY FEATHERS. NOT KICKING.

THEO ALLOFS / MINDEN PICTURES (TUFTED PUFFIN); GRAHAM EATON / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (AUKLET); DANNY GREEN / NPL / 5 GOOFY PUFFLINGS Puffins are
MINDEN PICTURES (4); SCOTLAND: THE BIG PICTURE / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (FEEDING); RICHARDOM / ALAMY (PUFFLING); ALEX Puffin parenting is a bit silly: First, the two mates dig sometimes called
MUSTARD / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (SWIMMING); J DUNNING (SUNGLASSES, GLOWING BEAK); MARTIN WALZ (MAPS, ALL) a burrow a few feet deep with their beaks and claws.
Then instead of sitting on top of their egg, as other birds sea parrots.
do, puffins tuck the egg under a wing and lean against it
until the fuzz ball arrives.
Pufflings spend their first 40 days of life in the
burrow. And just like in an old-timey comedy, the chicks
keep their parents running around: The young birds
eat so much that a parent might make 276
dives a day to gather enough food.
After leaving the burrow, pufflings
hop right into the sea and won’t
return till they’re ready to find
a mate—and put on a show
of their own.

ATLANTIC
PUFFLING TO
PARENT: FEED
ME FISH!

24 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

4 FUNNY FAILS SPECIAL
Puffins don’t just look like SUNGLASSES
clowns. They’ve got a goofy
act, too—except these GLOWING
birds aren’t pretending BEAK
to fall for laughs.
When puffins come in for PUFFINS IN SUNGLASSES
a landing, they often tumble
and crash: into the water, What’s black, white, and glowing? Turns out, puffins!
onto the grass, and even After scientists discovered that a dead puffin’s beak
into other birds!
“Slowing down for a glowed blue-green under an ultraviolet light (the puffin
landing seems to be beyond had died of natural causes), they wanted to see if living
their ability,” Diamond says. puffin beaks glowed, too. So to protect the puffins’
“And then they get up and peepers during the study, they asked a university to
look around, almost hoping develop special sunglasses made of superlight foam
that nobody noticed.” and rubber. Turns out, those birds’ beaks also glow!
Just like a good prank-
ster, puffins pop right back Now scientists are wondering why: The light—which
up after a fall.“They’re very humans can’t see—might be visible to puffins in dark
strong and beefy birds, so burrows to help chicks find their parents. Another idea
they can withstand a lot,” is that the rays might shine underwater, where puffins
Diamond says. Their power- feed and even impress their mates.
ful chest muscles provide
some flex to keep them
healthy during all those
crash landings.

THIS ATLANTIC WHERE PUFFINS LIVE ARCTIC OCEAN
PUFFLING ON ARCTIC OCEAN
SKOMER ISLAND
IN WALES WILL NORTH SIA NORTH AMER
SOON BE READY AMERICA A
TO FLY.
ATLANTIC EUROPE ASIA ICA ICA
WEIGHING JUST OCEAN ICA
ABOUT A POUND, PACIFIC OCEAN
PUFFINS CAN Atlantic puffin AFRICA
DIVE AROUND Rhinoceros auklet
200 FEET DEEP.

ARCTIC OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN

SIA NORTH AMER SIA NORTH AMER
A A

PACIFIC OCEAN PACIFIC OCEAN

Tufted puffin Horned puffin

SEE MORE SUPER-SILLY ANIMALS.
natgeokids.com/march

25MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

The Epic Escape From
the Underworld

BY CRISPIN BOYER • ART BY ANDY ELKERTON

In this excerpt from Zeus the Mighty: The Epic Escape From
the Underworld, the animals from the Mount Olympus
Pet Center are trying to cross the River Styx into the
Underworld. There they’ll search for the Cap of Shadows,
a treasure that will protect them from the Underworld’s
ruler, Hades, whose three-headed hound is battling Zeus
back home. Poseidon is underwater, trying to sneak past
the river’s guardian, Charon the boatman. But no one can
find the pufferfish …

“Poseidon!” Hermes the chicken called.“What’s he doing?” from his shock.“That’s … that’s cheating!” Charon sputtered as he
“He’ll be fine,” Athena the cat whispered. “He’s in his coiled once again into his boulder shape and rolled down the steep
element. Literally.” riverbank—straight toward Poseidon.
The Olympians and Charon the boatman watched the
surface for any sign of Poseidon the pufferfish. All they saw “Don’t dally, friends,” Poseidon warned.“I can’t stop up this river
forever.”
was that his lifeline had stopped moving. The armadillo turned from the
Demeter and Hermes had reached the opposite riverbank. CRACK!
River Styx and glowered at the Olympians, his tiny mouth smirking. They turned just in time to see Charon smack into Poseidon like a cue
ball.“Take that, you cheating cheater!” Charon screamed.
“Your sea lord is in over his head. Now he’s just another soul lost to the
Poseidon’s helmet was knocked from its spot. Water erupted from
river. Anyone else wish to follow him?” the pipe in a torrent. The full force of the River Styx was rushing toward
Athena and Ares the pug as they struggled up the slick rocks.
Athena kept her eyes on the unmoving lifeline.
“Hurry!” Hermes yelled.
“Should we maybe try to pull Poseidon out by his hose thingy?” “Jump!” Demeter screamed.
Both Athena and Ares leapt ashore just a moment before the river
Hermes suggested. swept behind them.
“Anyone see Poseidon?” Demeter asked.
“You will do no such thing,” Charon commanded.“Your sea lord “Or Charon?” Hermes added.
The Olympians sat in tense silence, their eyes darting across the
refused to pay my price to cross the River Styx. Now he is paying the roiling surface. Ares plopped down and began licking the river muck
off his paws. “Rahhh!” he bellowed. His eyes had become angry red pits
ultimate price.” inside his Spartan war helmet.
“Ares, quit licking river stuff!” Athena yelled.
“We can’t just leave Poseidon down there!” Demeter exclaimed. The pug tucked his tail and whimpered as his eyes returned to
normal.
Athena’s face lit up.“Olympians, look—the river!” SPLISH! A bulbous shape had popped up just offshore. Black water
roiled around it, making it hard to tell if it was Charon or Poseidon in
The rushing current of the river had slowed, at least by half, the his helmet. The shape rolled up the riverbank. The Olympians held
their breath.
black water less turbulent. Not only that, the water level had begun “I told that Charon fellow this was my realm,” came a familiar voice.
The pufferfish gave a triumphant smile to his fellow Olympians. He had
to drop, exposing more of the rocky bank. The River Styx was draining deflated back to his normal size.
There was still no sign of Charon. The guardian of the Styx had washed
before their eyes! Within a minute, it was more like a creek than a away in his own river.
“This is no time for a beach picnic,” Poseidon said, raising his trident
raging river. and pointing toward a path leading deeper into the vast Underworld.
“Onward to the Cap of Shadows.”
Charon stared in disbelief. “How … how is this possible?”
Will the team foil the Underworld’s ruler? Will they return
“There he is! Poseidon!” Demeter the grasshopper pointed upstream to Mount Olympus with the Cap of Shadows to help Zeus in
his battle against the three-headed hound? Find out in the
to the crack in the cavern wall from which the river seemed to flow. The book Zeus the Mighty: The Epic Escape From the Underworld.

top of Poseidon’s helmet was visible now that the river was draining ZeusTheMighty.com

around it. They could see Poseidon inside, puffed up to the capacity of

his habitat. He had wedged his helmet into a large, round pipe protrud-

ing from the cavern wall just above the river bottom. Water continued

to flow around his helmet and below it, but it was just a trickle, barely

an inch deep. Poseidon had plugged up the source of the River Styx.

Demeter shook her head in wonder. “Cunning move, Poseidon.”

The pufferfish calmly turned in his helmet toward the Olympians

watching him from the riverbank.“Now would be a good time to cross.”

Leaving Charon flabbergasted,

WIN THE BOOK! they all slid down the wet rock
GO ONLINE and dashed across the soggy
muck of the river bottom, splash-
FEBRUARY 9-16. ing in the puddles and the slow
natgeokids trickle that remained of the
.com/march

drained River Styx.

They were barely halfway

across when Charon recovered

26 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022

CHARON

POSEIDON

ATHENA

THE OLYMPIANS
SCAMPER ACROSS
THE DRAINED RIVER
STYX WITH CHARON
IN PURSUIT.

HERMES

ARES

DEMETER

GAMES,
LAUGHS,
AND LOTS
TO DO!

STUFF

PLAY! JUST
SQUID-DING
AROUND

These dancing squid
don’t have two left
feet—they have eight
left arms! And now
some of them have
misplaced their
partners at this crazy
dance-off. Reunite
each creature with its
partner by finding the
12 matching pairs
based on their dance
moves. The first one has
been done for you.

1. G 7.

2. 8.

3. 9.

4. 10.

5. 11.

6. 12.

BONUS Find six
things that start with
squ besides squid!

ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

28 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 JAMES YAMASAKI (ART); RUTH A. MUSGRAVE (CONCEPT)

29MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

6 5 1 OF THE

30 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 SIGNS TIMES

7

34 2

Seeing isn’t always believing. Two of
these funny signs aren’t real. Can you
spot which two are fake?

ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

TOMMY (LOUTH) / ALAMY (1, IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED); ROLF ADLERCREUTZ / ALAMY (2);
COLIN MONTEATH / AGE FOTOSTOCK (3); KIM HAMMAR / ALAMY (4, IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED);
JOSEPH SOHM / AGE FOTOSTOCK (5); LAWRENCE WILES / ALAMY (6); PHILIP J HILL / ALAMY (7)

Check out how Nat Geo Kids readers
responded to this poll, then go online
to vote in the next one!

natgeokids.com/whatchathink

10% 12% 29%

HONEYDEW PEAR KIWI

Which 18%
green fruit
APPLE
is the
SUCHARUT CHOUNYOO / SHUTTERSTOCK (PEAR); MAKS NARODENKO / SHUTTERSTOCK (KIWI, APPLE); greatest?
RAHULDSILVA / GETTY IMAGES (HONEYDEW); EVGENY KARANDAEV / SHUTTERSTOCK (GRAPES)
31%

GRAPES

31MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

32 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 PHGNOISP ASTCR UAMRDST OESSR

ANRI SBTOO ORGF LSDIGNKCU

RUFBTLSITEE NSAISRI AAANBN HELLO, YELLOW

These images show close-up views of things that are
yellow. Unscramble the letters to identify what’s in
each picture. Not feeling very sunny?

ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

TOP ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): ANN STRYZHEKIN / SHUTTERSTOCK; IMAGE SOURCE / GETTY IMAGES; FOODCOLLECTION RF / GETTY IMAGES. MIDDLE
ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): FFOLAS / SHUTTERSTOCK; JOEL SARTORE / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION; ASADYKOV / GETTY IMAGES. BOT-
TOM ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): © RADIUS IMAGES / ALAMY; MICHELLEGIBSON / GETTY IMAGES; © MICHAEL & PATRICIA FOGDEN / MINDEN PICTURES.

MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 33

Answers “I’M ON VACATION.” CHRIS WARE (ALL)

“Just Squid-ding Around” (pages 28-29):

1. G, 2. E, 3. H, 4. K, 5. B, 6. I, 7. D, 8. L, 9. A,
10. F, 11. J, 12. C.
Bonus game: squirrel, square, squeak, squash,
squirt, squeeze.

“Signs of the Times” (page 30):

Signs 1 and 4 are fake.

“What in the World?” (page 32):

Top row: roses, ducklings, banana.
Middle row: mustard, frog, raisins.
Bottom row: shopping carts, rain boots,
butterflies.

“OH, BOY! I CAN’T WAIT
TO SEE WHAT IT IS!”

“WHY DIDN’T I THINK
OF THIS BEFORE?”

“HE LIKES TO GO FAST.”

LAUGH LOOUUTD

AFRICAN LION

KKNNOOCCKK,.

Who’s there?
Amos.

Amos who?
Amos-quito

bit me!

Q

What part of
the fish weighs
the most?

WAITER: Why do you laugh
while cooking breakfast?

CHEF: Say this fast three times: MIKE HILL / GETTY IMAGES (LION); YANN HUBERT / BIOSPHOTO / MINDEN PICTURES (FISH); © SKIP CAPLAN /
Because the ALAMY (FRYING PAN); © THOMAS MARENT / ARDEA (FROGS); IMAGEBROKER RF / PHOTOLIBRARY (HORSE)
egg always THREE FREE-THINKING
cracks a yolk. FROGS THINK

FRIENDLY THOUGHTS.

AThe scales. YOU’VE
GOT TO BE
CHECK JOKING ...
OUT
THIS Q Why did the
colt have a
BOOK! sore throat?

34 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2022 A He was a
little horse.

FFUNINLYL IN PLAY MORE FUNNY FILL-IN!
natgeokids.com/ffi
RAINFOREST
FUN

BY ALLYSON SHAW

Ask a friend to give
you words to fill in the
blanks in this story
without showing it to
him or her. Then read
out loud for a laugh.

I was deep in the rainforest of country with my friend famous person , searching for an

ancient ruin called the Lost noun of the animal . But just number minutes into the

journey, we realized we’d forgotten our type of insect spray! A swarm of adjective bugs

was us! We through the trees and soon smacked
verb ending in –ing adverb ending in –ly
past-tense verb

into a(n) something hard . I pulled back some type of plant, plural and couldn’t believe my body part, plural . It

was a part of the ruin—and we could hear sound ending in –ing coming from inside! We peeked through a hole in the

wall and saw a group of animal, plural . They were lounging on stone type of furniture, plural , snacking on

, and even swimming in a pool filled with liquid . I guess this ruin isn’t really lost at all!

favorite food, plural

DAN SIPPLE

35MARCH 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS

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