National Geographic Kids_March 2020

NATGEOKIDS.COM • MARCH 2020

FUN

GIVEAWAY

WELCOME
HOME,

Jaguars!

These spotted cats are on the move
to find new land.

20 NEW CRITTER
MOVIE: CHAT
CUTE ONWARD
ANIMALS

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MOUNTAIN GORILLAS AND Jolle codeCfl_J.U.J.'m' g andmysten·es
FIERCE BIG CATS. LUSH JUNGLES
AND ENDLESS DESERTS that may """""''to kids who __...,.,. -Bool<tist
'S(JI'tto ...w...i-th cCJtt.ll1! d~ ttch~'
be hiding more than meets the eye.
An adventurer's dream come true
for the students aboard the Explorer
Academy ship Orion.

But no sooner do they arrive than
danger strikes again, and this time,
one of Cruz's closest friends becomes
the unintended victim.

Discover book fo ur, Explorer Academy: Th e St ar Dunes, TTWOI rnum
a nd the fi rst t hree b ooks in the thrilling seven-book
series, along with an awesome w rite-in jo urna l a nd fun
act ivit y books featuring the cha racters a nd themes of
Explo rer Acad e my.

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor in Chief and Vice President, 20 Journey of the Jaguar
Kids Magazines & Digital
Rachel Buchholz These spotted cats are on the move to find new homes.

Design Director, Magazines Eileen O’Tousa-Crowson 12 20 Cute Animals DEPARTMENTS

Editorial Kay Boatner, Senior Editor / Digital Producer; You’ll aw over these 4 Weird But True!
Allyson Shaw, Associate Editor / Digital Producer adorable critters. 5 Guinness

Photo Shannon Hibberd, Senior Photo Editor; 18 New Movie: World Records
Hillary Leo, Contributing Photo Editor Onward 6 Bet You

Production Sean Philpotts, Director See how this flick stacks Didn’t Know!
up to reality. 7 All About Money
Digital Laura Goertzel, Director; 8 Awesome 8
Lisa Bosley, Content Liaison 10 Amazing Animals
28 Fun Stuff
PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC
24 30 Cool Things COVER: PALKO72 / DREAMSTIME (JAG-
Chairman of the Board of Directors About China UAR); INGO ARNDT / MINDEN PICTURES
Peter Rice (BEAR); © 2019 DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Get fantastic facts about ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (ONWARD MOVIE
Chief Executive Officer this amazing country. IMAGE); DIRK ERCKEN / SHUTTERSTOCK
Gary E. Knell (FROG). PAGE 3: KRIS WIKTOR / SHUT-
26 Sneak Peek! TERSTOCK (JAGUAR CUBS AND MOM);
Editorial Director GETTY IMAGES / GALLO IMAGES (GIANT
Susan Goldberg Check out an excerpt PANDA); © 2019 DISNEY ENTERPRISES,
from Explorer Academy: INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (ONWARD
Managing Editor, Magazines The Star Dunes. MOVIE IMAGE); DONKEYRU / DREAMS-
David Brindley TIME (TERRA-COTTA SOLDIERS)
JUST FOR PARENTS
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Check out these CHECK OUT
outrageous facts. THE BOOK!

BY MARILYN TERRELL

SMOOTH Between

PEANUT 1912 and 1918,
BUTTER
you could take
is more popular on
your money to
the East Coast of
Washington, D.C.,
the United States;
to be
CHUNKY
WASHED
rules on the West Coast.
and
About
IRONED.
A BILLION
BACTERIA

could be in your
mouth right now.

MEN One of the world’s MOST EXPENSIVE TREE HOUSES, BRAND X PICTURES / PUNCHSTOCK (PEANUT BUTTER); DIGITAL VISION / GETTY IMAGES (DOLLAR BILL), CULLEN MACIAS / SHUTTER-
get the located in Scotland, cost about $4 MILLION to build. STOCK (IRON), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; VIOLETKAIPA / SHUTTERSTOCK (GLASS); THE ALNWICK GARDEN TRUST (TREE HOUSE);
PHOTODISC / SUPERSTOCK (BRANCH); ANDREW BURGESS / SHUTTERSTOCK (CROCODILE); PHOTODISC / PUNCHSTOCK (ICE CREAM)
HICCUPS Thomas Scientists Some fish
more often Jefferson’s believe that
than recipe for can change from
SATURN’S
WOMEN VANILLA RINGS FEMALE
do. ICE CREAM to MALE.
will eventually
Crocodiles is in the disappear.
Library of
have been around Congress.
for about

200
MILLION
YEARS.

4 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

GUINNESS I could do
thIs all
WORLD day.

RECORDS BY BRANDON McINTYRE

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS NORTH AMERICA (XIE); RICHARD VOGEL / AP / SHUTTERSTOCK (U.S. ONE-FINGER PUSH-UPS
BANK TOWER); LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS / NEWSCOM (SLIDE CLOSE-UP); FLPA / SHUTTER-
STOCK (SHEEP). INFORMATION PROVIDED BY © 2020 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED. Tackling 41 push-ups in 30 seconds is impressive. But doing 41 push-ups in 30 seconds on just
one finger? That’s mind-boggling. Xie Guizhong of Beijing, China, set the record for the most
one-finger push-ups in 30 seconds. Xie also holds the record for the fastest time to push a car
165 feet with one digit. He’s definitely got his fingers all over the record books.

SUPER-HIGH SLIDEired of taking the stairs? Take the slide SO MANY
HORNS
Tinstead! That’s what visitors to the U.S.
Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California, can do. Not to toot its
THE SLIDE! own horns, but

At 918 feet aboveground, the Skyslide is the

highest slide on the outside of a building, with the Jacob sheep—a THIS SHEEP HAS
domestic breed found FOUR HORNS: TWO
its enclosed glass tube sending sliders from the in both the United ON TOP OF ITS
States and the United HEAD, PLUS ONE
70th floor to the 69th. Call us when they add a ON EACH SIDE.

teeter-totter to this sky-high playground.

Kingdom—has the most

horns on an animal. Most

of these sheep have four

horns, but some have up

to six. At least one pair

typically grows vertically,

often reaching more than

two feet tall. So you

might want to stay on

this sheep’s good side.

5MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

fortunate facts

7about luck

2

1 Pigs

Only are signs of

1 in 10,000 prosperity
clovers has andgood luck
four leaves.
inChina.

4 People 5
In
in Spaineat
Germany,
3 12 grapeson it’sgood luckto
New Year’s Eve
toucha
Triskaidekaphobia for luck.
chimney sweep’s

brush.

is the fear of the

number 13. 7

6 InEngland,
a bride finding a
Several cultures
believe that spider in her
wedding dressis
getting pooped on
considered lucky.

by a bird brings CHECK
good fortune. OUT
THE

BOOK!

6 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 SEROFF / SHUTTERTOCK (BACKGROUND), DANIEL HURST /
SHUTTERSTOCK (FOUR-LEAF CLOVER), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED

ALL BY KRISTIN BAIRD RATTINI AND C.M. TOMLIN

ABOUT A Chinese A stack of
emperor had his currency
MONEY own calligraphy one mile
engraved on high
Ancient Greeks believed many of the coins would
that placing a coin in a minted during his contain
dead person’s mouth reign. more than
would pay for the ferry 14 million
ride to the afterlife. bills.

One tribe in what’s now
the Democratic Republic
of the Congo used strips
of a fabric called raffia as
currency until the 1950s.

In 2018, travelers MY TFHOOUMNDAISNJGEFFAFTEHRSEORN Legend has it GEORGIOS KOLLIDAS / ALAMY (GREEK COIN); © THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM (RAFFIA, CHINESE COIN); PHOTODISC / SUPERSTOCK (BILL STACK); CAROLYN
left $960,105 THOUGHTS that Martha FRANKS / SHUTTERSTOCK (LOOSE CHANGE); RSOOLL / DREAMSTIME (PENNY); MPI / STRINGER / GETTY IMAGES (THOMAS JEFFERSON), WINTERLING / DREAMSTIME
in loose change ARE WORTH Washington (ART FRAME), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED; MAMA_MIA / SHUTTERSTOCK (SILVERWARE), CCAT82 / SHUTTERSTOCK (LINEN TABLECLOTH), IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED;
at security WAY MORE donated her JOE PEPLER / REX USA / SHUTTERSTOCK (MONOPOLY MONEY); CAROL WALKER / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (HORSE); KELLEY MILLER / NG STAFF (PIGGY BANK)
checkpoints silverware
in U.S. airports. THAN A to make the
PENNY. country’s
More than first coins.
$5 trillion in The U.S.
Monopoly money Founding MONEY TIP!
has been printed Fathers
since 1935. objected to SAVING FOR
the one-cent SOMETHING
coin being COOL? ON A
called a penny CALENDAR,
because that WRITE THE
was also the AMOUNT YOU’LL
name of a SAVE EACH
British coin. WEEK SO YOU
KNOW EXACTLY
WHEN YOU CAN
BUY THE ITEM.
MARK THAT DATE
WITH A GIANT

STAR.

Until 1816,
horses, oxen,
and people
powered the
machines that
made coins at
the U.S. Mint.

7MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

awesoome BY JULIE BEER AND MICHELLE HARRIS

Boca Ciega Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida, comes alive with lighted boats during a floating

NIGHT celebration of the winter holidays. Participants in the annual St. Pete Beach holiday boat

1 LIGHTS parade also donate toys to kids in need. Sounds like a perfect parade!

THESE SUPER SPECTACLES WILL
PUT YOU IN A PARTY MOOD.

8 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 2 FLOWER
POWER

For more than a
century, fantastic
flower-covered
floats and marching
bands have dazzled
crowds at the annual
Rose Parade on New
Year’s Day. Not a fan
of flowers? Stick
around for a college
football game that
follows the parade.

ZUMA PRESS INC / ALAMY (1); MARIE APPERT / SHUTTERSTOCK (2); VISITBRITAIN / JOHN COUTTS /
GETTY IMAGES (3); CR SHELARE / GETTY IMAGES (4); LEV RADIN / SHUTTERSTOCK (5)

3 4 CHECK
BLAZING OUT
BOAT COLORFUL THE
RITUAL
The Up Helly Aa BOOK!
festival in Lerwick, Millions of people of the
Scotland, ends Hindu faith come together 5 BALLOON
every January in a to take a ritual dip in one BONANZA
blaze.Harking back of four sacred rivers in
to a Viking ritual, India as part of the Kumbh More than three
hundreds of torch- Mela festival.The religious million people lined
bearers march procession can include the streets of New
through the town’s elephants and camels,and York City to watch the
streets before festival organizers often debut of this Hello
setting a 30-foot- provide music and dance Kitty balloon in the
long galley—a type performances. Macy’s Thanksgiving
of ship—on fire. Day Parade. The
parade has been held
7 FLOATING FESTIVAL on the morning of
Thanksgiving almost
People in Venice, Italy, take their parades to the water. every year since 1924.
That’s because this city is built in a lagoon with canals
for streets. Revelers float down the Grand Canal in dec- 6DANCE PARTY
orated gondolas and other boats, like this giant mouse
gondola, during the annual Carnival festival. With elaborate headdresses
and costumes,dancers perform
VIVIANE PONTI / GETTY IMAGES (6); EPA EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY B.V. / ALAMY (7); the samba, an Afro-Brazilian
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION, WASHINGTON, DC (8) group dance, in front of a
crowd at the Carnival parade
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Carnival, a festival of merry-
making and feasting, allows
people to let loose after a
couple months of winter.

8 CLOWN
REVELRY

Giant jesters parade
through the streets of
the historic French
Quarter in New Orleans,
Louisiana. During the
annual Mardi Gras
celebration, nearly a
hundred krewes—or
festive groups—toss
goodies including toys,
stuffed animals, and
Mardi Gras beads to
the people who come
to watch.

9MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

I Love
my

look.

Polka-Dotted Zebra!
Let’s play
a game: Masai Mara, Kenya
STRIPES
versus This zebra is easy to spot: The foal’s dark coat is covered in
SPOTS!
white polka dots! “At first it looked like a different species
TIRA THE POLKA-
DOTTED ZEBRA altogether,” photographer Frank Liu says.
WALKS WITH
HER MOM. The odd pattern is caused by a rare condition called

pseudomelanism(pronounced soo-DOH-mel-uh-nih-zum). This

means that the cells that create the red, yellow, brown, or

black pigment in the mammal’s hair and skin aren’t working

like they do in most animals. So instead of the colors running

together to form stripes, they form dots.

The condition doesn’t hurt the foal, now named Tira after

the tour guide who first spotted her. But bugs might bite her

more than the other zebras because scientists think that bit-

ing flies don’t like landing on striped surfaces. Plus her speck-

led pattern makes her stand out from the herd, which could

make her a target for predators like lions.

But the other zebras don’t seem to mind Tira’s funky coat—

they probably think she’s spot-on. —Katie Stacey

10 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 Adapted from a National Geogrphic article published September 18, 2019.
FRANK LIU (ZEBRA, BOTH); © JIM INCLEDON (CAT, BOTH); COURTESY ROLAND ADAM (PIGLET, BOTH)

Adorable
ANIMAL
ALERT!

check out Cat
my fancy

footwork.

GBeitosnic
Feet Dog
Protects
Piglet

Hörstel, Germany

Roland Adam wasn’t sure

what to do when he found

an orphaned newborn

Vietnamese potbellied pig

alone and shivering on his

Surrey, England farm. But Katjinga the

When Oscar the cat lost his back Rhodesian ridgeback did. She snug-

feet in an accident, his owners gled up to the pint-size pig(now called Paulinchen), clean-

worried that he wouldn’t make it ing the pig with her tongue and nursing her as she would

because cats need their back feet her own puppy.“Katjinga lay down, fed her, and kept her

for survival. But veterinarian Noel warm,” Adam says. In fact, this isn’t the first time Katjinga

Fitzpatrick had an idea. cuddled up with orphaned animals: She’s also tended rab-

Fitzpatrick and a team of engineers bits and ducks.“We even found her warming up one of our

created the first ever realistic prosthetic NEW FEET! sheep that was sick,” Adam says. Sounds like Katjinga was

cat feet for Oscar. The new feet were based on one protective pooch! —Sarah Wassner Flynn

the way antlers grow from a deer’s head. The

cat’s skin and bones could grow

into the prosthetics so they’d

become part of his body. C AT
Rods were fused into Oscar’s leg Surrey,
England
bones, then special curved “feet”
were attached.(Cats rock on their

feet to move themselves forward.)

Finally, Fitzpatrick attached tire- DOG AND
like rubber to the bottom of each PIGLET
foot so Oscar wouldn’t slip.

Today Oscar does anything that Hörstel, Germany

four-footed cats do, including

jumping onto beds, crawling up

curtains, and even scratching his ZEBRA
ears with his plastic feet. Mice, Masai Mara,
beware: Oscar is on the prowl! Kenya

—Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh

11MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

DEER BY JEN RINI

Deer often sniff to identify HARP SEAL
each other or just to say
hello. And by now these If you’re ever in snowy
fawns may need a friendly Arctic Russia or Canada, be
face—they’ve spent their sure to walk carefully—you
first few weeks almost com- might mistake a newborn
pletely hidden, their spotted harp seal for a pile of snow!
coats blending in with their At about two weeks old, the
forest homes. After three or pup sheds its furry white
four months, the spots fade coat for one that’s gray and
and the brown coat grows smooth, perfect for skim-
thick for the winter. ming through the ocean to
hunt for small fish. When
12 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 hunting, harp seals can
hold their breath for up to
20 minutes while they dive
to depths of 800 feet or
more. That’s almost as deep
as the Eiffel Tower is tall.

FRED BRUEMMER / GETTY IMAGES (HARP SEAL); TONY CAMPBELL / SHUTTERSTOCK (DEER); INGO ARNDT / MINDEN
PICTURES (BEARS); GERRY ELLIS / DIGITAL VISION (RACCOON); © SUZI ESZTERHAS / MINDEN PICTURES (ORANGUTAN)

ORANGUTAN

This baby orangutan may
have figured out the best
part of life in the trees: just
hanging out! Orangutans
spend up to 95 percent of
their time high up in trees
on the Indonesian islands of
Borneo and Sumatra. They
sleep, eat, and play in nests
that are big enough for a
10-year-old kid to stretch
out in.

BEARS

In the fall, brown bear cubs will start packing on about
three pounds a day to prepare for their deep winter
sleep. Those pounds of fat are what the bears will live
on while snoozing. Luckily, Mom is an expert at sniffing
out meals in their northwestern United States habitat
and can detect food from 18 miles away.

RACCOON

This young raccoon might
be an expert climber—
many raccoons spend their
first few months living in a
nest in a tree hole. As
adults, raccoons rely more
on their sense of touch
than their senses of sight
and smell to find meals
such as frogs, bird eggs,
insects, and even snakes.

13MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

HEDGEHOG

This European hedgehog
may look cute, but getting
too close would be a prob-
lem. About 7,000 spiky
quills cover its body. When
they’re attacked by preda-
tors such as owls, hedge-
hogs curl up into prickly
balls—ouch!—that are
nearly impossible to budge.
Badgers are one of the few
predators strong enough
to pry open a hedgehog.

WALLABY

Uh-oh … better watch out or this cute wallaby might mob
you! But that just means you’ll be meeting its family.
Wallabies and their young, called joeys, live in groups called
mobs. These cute-looking creatures are no pushovers,
though. Males will box each other over a mate. Plus they can
survive for long periods of time without water in the dry
Australian climate, gathering moisture from plants.

CHEETAH

Under the shield of tall African grass, a cheetah cub is
hidden from hungry lions and hyenas. The cub’s long,
fuzzy coat, called a mantle, camouflages it from danger.
As the animal grows, the mantle gets smaller, but the
cub will keep its mane until it’s about two years old.

14 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

LUAMDUAN / GETTY IMAGES (HEDGEHOG); SUZI ESZTERHAS / MINDEN PICTURES (CHEETAH); FRED OLIVIER / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (WALLABY); WILD BOARS
© DUNCAN USHER / MINDEN PICTURES (BOARS); © JAMES D. WATT / SEAPICS.COM (SEA TURTLE); DANITA DELIMONT / GETTY IMAGES (GIANT PANDA)
You wouldn’t want to mess with these little guys
after they’re about a year old. That’s when wild
boars start growing permanent tusks. They use
them to scratch trees(wild boar code for “This is
my space”) and defend themselves from predators
or other boars. Like their pig cousins, wild boars
are thought to be supersmart and communicate
with a complex set of grunts and squeals.

SEA TURTLE

This baby loggerhead sea turtle is a true survivor. First it broke
out of an egg the size of a Ping-Pong ball. Then it dug itself out
from a buried nest on a beach. After that, it scurried from the
beach to the ocean, dodging predators such as crabs and her-
ons.(You try doing that with flippers instead of feet!) And still
no sigh of relief—once it reached the surf, the turtle swam for
24 hours straight to move farther out to sea, where it will have
an easier time avoiding predators.

GIANT PANDA

You could say a giant panda’s
stomach is a bottomless bamboo
pit. Pandas chomp on bamboo
plants up to 14 hours a day,
moving only to search for more
bamboo in China’s forests.
They’ve even developed a “false
thumb”—an enlarged wrist
bone that helps them grip the
plants. All that eating doesn’t
leave much time for rest—they
sleep for only two to four hours
at a time.

Which cute baby animal are you?
Take our personality quiz to find out.

natgeokids.com/march

15

COYOTES ERMINE

A howl from a coyote pup may sound more like a high-pitched Hares, beware!
squeal, but hearing howls from the entire pack can sound a little This critter could be
spooky. Don’t worry—they’re mostly just checking on their pals. your enemy. Silent
Coyotes use certain types of vocalizations to communicate in and sneaky, the
different situations. One type of howl rallies the pack for a hunt. foot-long ermine
Another helps a lost coyote find its friends. No wonder coyotes are can pounce on prey
often portrayed as extremely brainy in Native American folklore. that’s larger than it
is, such as an arctic
hare. The stealthy DANITA DELIMONT CREATIVE / ALAMY (COYOTES); © THOMAS MANGELSEN / MINDEN PICTURES (ERMINE); ARCO IMAGES GMBH / ALAMY (BOBCAT); HOWARD NOEL / SHUTTERSTOCK
stalker gets help (OWL); © KLEIN-HUBERT / KIMBALL STOCK (PIG, DONKEY); N.N. BIRKS / ARDEA (LAMBS); © ARCO / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (DUCK); © DUNCAN USHER / ARDEA (CALF)
from its changing
coat, which is white
during winter and
brown in spring and
summer—perfect
for blending in with
its surroundings.

OWL

Hear the sound of a saw being sharpened on a stone? If
you’re in the woods of the western and northeastern
United States or Canada, it could be the alarm call of a
saw-whet owl. This bird may be small, but the seven- to
eight-inch-tall owl is a swift and fierce night hunter,
swooping down on unsuspecting mice, chipmunks, and
squirrels under the cover of darkness.

BOBCAT

This bobcat may have one of the finest fur coats in the
animal world, but it’s not for show. The spotted fur helps
North America’s most common wild cat blend in with many
habitats, from swamps to deserts to mountains. Those ear
tufts? Bobcats may twitch them to communicate with
other bobcats.

WATCH A VIDEO TO SEE BOBCAT BABIES PLAYING.
natgeokids.com/march

16 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

Cute Barnyard Animals!

DONKEY

This type of miniature
donkey once lived in
wild herds on the
Italian islands of Sicily
and Sardinia. Today they
are mostly kept as pets
and have friendly
reputations.

PIG LAMBS

This little guy may not look so cute once he The wool from these
finds himself a mud hole. Pigs love to wallow in adorable lambs is used
mud—it’s like natural air-conditioning. They to make carpets, but
can’t sweat, so rolling around in a giant mud wool from other kinds
bath is like blasting a fan on their bodies. The of sheep is often used
mud also acts as a natural sunscreen. to make clothing.
Depending on the
breed, one sheep can
produce enough wool
each year for about 10
sweaters. They keep
you warm and warm
your heart.

CALF

This calf may help its buddies take over the world!
About one billion cows live on Earth—that’s three
times as many cows as people in the United States.
In fact, cows outnumber people in some U.S. states,
including Oklahoma and Idaho.

DUCK

A duckling is a true copycat. When ducklings hatch, they mimic their
mother’s every action, from eating to swimming to waddling.(The
mimicking behavior is called imprinting.) But they don’t copy Mom’s
look. Ducklings’ yellow fuzz won’t be replaced with adult feathers till
they’re about two months old.

17MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

OTHnE TRUTTwHHEBNEHEWINaDMOVrIE dnthenewmovieOnward,NewMushroomtonisfull Unicorns
of mythical creatures who’ve lost their magic mojo.
I  Mermaids don’t swim,and sprites ride motorcycles instead Unicorns
are the pesky city
raccoons of New
Mushroomton, using their horns
to flip lids off garbage cans to grab a
meal. In the real world, people thought
that the mythical unicorn had powerful,

BY JOHNNA RIZZO of fly. But elf brothers Barley and Ian Lightfoot want to find magical horns that could even stop poisons.

the old-world magic. Nat Geo Kids goes behind the scenes to Royalty would stir the “horns” into food or

see how Mushroomton’s residents measure up against the drinks, or grind them up as medicine to

creatures that real-world humans once believed in. keep toxins from taking effect. (Of

course, it didn’t work. And the

“horns” were likely from

ORIGIN STORY rhinos or narwhals.)

A mythical creature often appears in stories NORTH EUROPE ASIA
from many different cultures all over the AMERICA
world—but that myth started somewhere! AFRICA PACIFIC
Check out some of the real places where PACIFIC SOUTH OCEAN
these fantasy figures likely first showed up. OCEAN AMERICA ATLANTIC
OCEAN INDIAN
OCEAN

AUSTRALIA

NORTH ARCTIC OCEAN ANTARCTICA Colt
AMERICA NORWAY Bronco

Colt Bronco,

SWEDEN ASIA the boyfriend of Barley and
Ian’s mom, is a centaur who’s also a
DENMARK police officer. He’s a stickler for rules,

EUROPE IRAN and even lectures Barley after he stages a
protest to prevent an old-world fountain from

ATLANTIC GREECE CHINA being torn down. But in real-world mythology,
OCEAN AFRICA INDIA centaurs could get wild—really wild. The Greek
half-men, half-horses were said to throw crazy
PACIFIC parties in the woods and preferred using giant
OCEAN
rocks and huge tree branches in battle. One

exception was the calm and wise centaur

SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN Chiron, who legend says taught ancient
AMERICA Greek heroes like Hercules and
Achilles.
AUSTRALIA

ELVES CENTAURS MANTICORES UNICORNS
Norse territory(modern-day
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) Greece Persia(modern- India and

day Iran) China

18 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL PHOTO CREDITS TO GO HERE
GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. © 2019 DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. (ALL MOVIE IMAGES); MARTIN WALZ (MAPS)

Manticore

Ian The
Lightfoot first thing Barley and
Ian search for in their quest is a
When map that will lead them to a magic
awkward teenager gem they need for a spell. That takes them
Ian wants to invite kids from to Manticore, a thousand-year-old part-human,
school to his 16th birthday party, part-lion, part-scorpion, part-bat warrior. She
the elf writes words on his hands so he might sound scary, but this manticore now runs a
won’t forget them. But he’s so nervous family restaurant complete with a kids’ menu—which
and sweaty, he ends up clumsily smearing looks just like the map the brothers need. Real-world
ink on his face! Unlike Ian, elves from real mythological manticores were said to be a bit more
mythology were thought to be graceful. In monstrous. In the fifth century B.C., a Greek physician
fact, legend says that when elves danced named Ctesias(pronounced TEE-zee-us) supposedly
among toadstools in misty fields, people described manticores as having three rows of
who watched them were so entranced shark-like teeth and the ability to shoot
that several years would pass—even venomous spines forward and backward,
though they thought it had depending on the arc of its
been only a few hours!
scorpion tail.

Barley
Lightfoot

Big
brother Barley is
loud, mostly because he
drives a van named Guinevere
that backfires, rumbles, and honks.
Real-world mythological elves were said
to be pretty rowdy too—but not because
of noisiness. These naughty creatures were
thought to cause knots in hair, rashes, and
even nightmares by sitting on a sleeping
person’s chest. In fact, the German
word for “nightmare” is Alpdruck
(pronounced ahlp-drook), which
translates to “elf

pressure.”

PHOTO CREDITS TO GO HERE 19MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

A jaguar’s
eyesight is nearly
twice as powerful
at night to help
them stalk prey in

the dark.

Journeyof theThesespottedcats

JAGUAareonthemove

to find new homes.

BY JAMIE KIFFEL-ALCHEH

20 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

A JAGUAR SWIMS
ACROSS THE
PARAGUAY RIVER
IN BRAZIL.

Ayoung jaguar swims territories running through 18 coun- range now barely extends into
across a muddy river, tries and two continents. The goal is to Argentina.“Because of development
his spotted coat barely stop jaguar numbers from declining— by humans, populations of the cats
visible above the water. and protect the cats’ massive range, have been cut off from each other,”
The wild cat’s eyes focus on a tasty which is nearly four million square miles. says John Polisar, jaguar conservation
crocodile sunning itself on a nearby program coordinator for the Wildlife
bank. Suddenly the jaguar springs SHRINKING HABITAT Conservation Society. The separation
and latches on to the reptile with of these scattered pockets of jaguars
one bite. The big lunch will give the North and South America’s biggest means fewer mates will meet—and
cat fuel for the journey he’s about cat once prowled, climbed, and swam fewer cubs will be born each year.
to begin: searching for a mate. through more than seven million
square miles stretching from the BIG-CAT HIGHWAY
But the route the jaguar needs to southwestern United States, through
travel is a dangerous one, taking the Mexico and Central America, and well Scientists once assumed protecting
cat away from the dense jungle and out into Argentina. But in the past century, these pockets of land that jaguars
into open land, closer to humans. To things like cattle ranching and the settled in—called Jaguar Conserva-
help jaguars safely make this journey, growth of cities have cut this territory tion Units—was the key to helping the
scientists have come up with a plan. in half. Few jaguars have been seen in species survive. But sometimes young
Their bold idea? A network of linked the United States, and the southern males trek up to a hundred miles to find
a mate, traveling from pocket to pocket
UAR NORTH on a kind of jaguar superhighway made
AMERICA up of stretches of land called corridors.
THIERRY MONTFORD / GETTY IMAGES (MAIN); NICK GARBUTT / NPL /
MINDEN PICTURES (SWIMMING JAGUAR); MARTIN WALZ (MAP) ATLANTIC Protecting the larger pockets of land
OCEAN where jaguars live is important. But
so is making sure that they can safely
PACIFIC SOUTH travel on these corridors—which can
OCEAN AMERICA be as narrow as a line of trees along
a fence or nearly as big as Yosemite
Where National Park.
jaguars
used to Over the years, humans have cleared
live much of the rainforest on these con-
necting corridors to build new towns
Where and farms. Without trees, shrubs, and
jaguars grass to hide in, jaguars are less likely to
live now use the corridors to travel from pocket
to pocket—and the ones that do are
putting themselves in danger. Fewer

21MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

jaguars using the corridors means A JAGUAR STALKS
fewer mates meeting. That has led PREY IN BRAZIL’S
to a decline in the jaguar population. CUIABÁ RIVER.
As of 2015, these big cats were already
extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay. being cut down at a high rate—we figured the jaguar moves on without an attack.
out which countries to focus on first.” By Thanks to encouragement from the
Wildlife ecologist Alan Rabinowitz 2015, many local communities had put
realized that preserving these corridors protections in place along the various Wildlife Conservation Society, Panthera,
was a way to keep jaguars from becoming corridors. and other organizations, ranchers from
cut off from each other. So working more than half of the jaguar’s 18 range
alongside multiple governments, environ- HOME ON THE RANCH countries agreed to follow guidelines to
mental agencies, and local communities, keep the cats safe. One of those guide-
Rabinowitz launched the Jaguar Corridor The jaguar slinks out of the dense Amazon lines is keeping certain livestock fenced
Initiative(JCI) to protect the super- rainforest not far from a pasture of cattle. in at night so they don’t wander off and
highway that the jaguars were using— In the past, the jaguar might have tried to tempt the cats with an easy meal.“If a
and therefore their entire range. eat the easy prey, which would make it a jaguar can’t see the livestock, it’s not
target for ranchers protecting their herd. likely to hunt it,” Salom says.
MAKING CONNECTIONS But these cattle are safely fenced in, and
Other guidelines include placing flashing
Launched over 10 years ago, the JCI sent
scientists to visit 14 countries inhabited
by jaguars to pinpoint exactly where they
lived.“We also needed to identify which
corridors the animals used most,” says
Roberto Salom, Costa Rica’s program
director for Panthera, an organization
that works to protect wild cats.“By
focusing on the most threatened areas—
such as Nicaragua, where forests were

JAK WONDERLY / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (STALKING JAGUAR); NICK NORTH ATLANTIC
GARBUTT / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (JAGUAR PROFILE); KRIS WIKTOR / SHUTTERSTOCK (CUBS AMERICA OCEAN
AND MOM); PETE OXFORD / MINDEN PICTURES (SPIDER MONKEYS); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)
Jaguar SOUTH
Conservation AMERICA
Units: Protected
areas of land
where jaguars
can live and
safely raise
cubs.

PACIFIC
OCEAN

Jaguar
Corridors:
Stretches of land
that connect one
Jaguar Conser-
vation Unit to
another. Jaguars
travel on these
corridors to get
to protected land.

TAKE A FUN BIG CATS QUIZ.
natgeokids.com/march

22 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

Forest
On Fire
A jaguar’s
spots are called S outh America’s Amazon
rosettes because rainforest is home to about
they’re shaped
one in 10 of all species on
like roses.

Earth—including jaguars. But

in 2019, some 200,000 fires

lights close to livestock enclosures to rainforest. He dashes past cattle—all burned there, the highest
scare the cats into staying closer to the fenced in—and doesn’t stop until he
property’s edge.“Jaguars are part of sci- reaches the trees. number since 2010 and more
entists’ and ranchers’ shared culture out
here,” Polisar says.“Ranchers want to The cat smells something new. A pair of than an 80 percent increase
work with us, which has made a very big eyes peer out at him. He tenses, ready to
difference.” claim the territory from another male. from 2018.
But it’s a female. At last, thanks to the
SAFE PASSAGE JCI’s efforts, this pair of potential mates What caused these fires?
is about to meet.
The young male jaguar’s journey is almost People. Mostly set on purpose
over. He’s safely made it across farmland “The jaguar is an incredibly adaptable
and past dozens of villages. In the dis- species,” says Diana Friedeberg, Mexico’s by loggers, cattle ranchers, and
tance, he spots the edge of an unfamiliar Panthera program director. “But they still
need our help to survive.” farmers trying to clear land,

several of the fires could even

be seen from space.

If the forests continue to

burn at this rate, animals that

survive will eventually have to

adapt to a new way of life. For

example, a jaguar’s fur

camouflages it among

Jaguar the forest trees. If too
moms typically
give birth to many trees burn, the
two to four cubs
cat will need to find
at a time.
another way to hide.

Spider monkeys that

eat fruit from the

treetops will need to

develop a different

diet. And since much

of the rainforest hasn’t A WHITE-
been fully explored, BELLIED
species we didn’t SPIDER MON-
know existed might KEY CLIMBS
have already disap- TREES IN
peared from the THE AMAZON
RAINFOREST
IN ECUADOR.

planet forever.

“It’s not too late to

save rainforest animals,” says

the Wildlife Conservation

Society’s Carlos César Durigan.

“Recent fires have put a spot-

light on the problem and

encouraged people to take

action. But we have to keep

taking action.”

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Check out

what small things you can do that will have a big
impact for jaguars. natgeokids.com/march

23MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

1 2 In China, 3 ELEVATOR
every year is China’s
The new movie represented
by one of Bailong Elevator
Mulan 12 animals.
2020is the carries visitors
is based on a sixth-century year of the rat.
more than a
Chinese poem called 4 thousand feet
You can buy
“The Ballad of Mulan.” up a cliff’s edge.
green-bean-flavored
In both the poem and the 5 In ancient China,
ice pops soldiers sometimes
movie, the character
in this country. wore armor made
Hua Mulan disguises from paper.
herself as a man to take
her sick father’s place 6
in the army. In 2010, a 2,400-year-
old pot of soup was
unearthed in
Xian, China.

THINGS

ABOUT

8 9 10
Put together, all of
People race Chinese China’s railway lines
boats with
monal birds could loop around
dragon sometimes build Earth twice.
designs nests in caves.
7
Found in at a Chinese festival

northern China, in the spring.

long-eared jerboas 12 14

have ears that are Half of all pigs Asiatic
one-third longer on Earth golden
than their heads.
live in China. cats in
11 South
13 China
The mortar sometimes
used to bind Temperatures in communicate
the Great Wall’s China’s Turpan
Depression can by spitting.
stones was
range from 120°F
made with in summer to

sticky rice. minus 20°F
in winter.

24 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. © 2019 DISNEY
ENTERPRISES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (1); LIBO TANG / DREAMSTIME (3); INDIGOLOTOS / DREAMSTIME

(4); PT1 / WENN.COM / NEWSCOM (6); ROLAND SEITRE / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (7); DONG LEI /
NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (9); JF123 / DREAMSTIME (11); JUNIORS BILDARCHIV GMBH / ALAMY (14)

•15 Developed 16 17 China 18
about China’s
Chinese white is close to the size
5,000 years ago, dolphins, which live of the continental Yunnan
off of southern China, snub-nosed
the earliest monkeys
are often pink.
chopsticks live at a

were used higher
for cooking, altitude

not eating. than any other
primate except
19 United States
humans.
People speak Mandarin, a Chinese dialect, as their but has only one
first language more than any other language in official time zone. •21 China is home to a
the world.
cluster of ancient rock pillars

called the Stone Forest.

20

The Forbidden City, a palacecomplexinBeijing,contains about9,000rooms. (LLII2B2G);RHADTREZYSIO(1GO8N);MS/SSTODORNCEGKAQ/MUSDATRINEMDAEE(M1NS5TG)I;/MMDEA(R2EXI4A);MIMLNSITAAITNMUERW(AE2IL0)N;VIZISCIEHROULNN/S /AGLUAALOAM/YMD(Y1R (6E)2;A5)T;MASHTNIUGNMDEGU(C2C1H)M;IUJNNAHSGI/CNDHBIROHELA/ASMNSHDTUIT©MT2EE0(R11S79)T;DIOSWCINKLE(L2YB7)EU;RNDRTOEARRNPKD-REILSYUERCSU,AI/SND/C.RNEAAALTLMUSRIRTEIGPMHIETC(ST2RU8)ERSEERVED.

CHINA
23 25 Giant pandas are good
22
China’s Grand Buddha, swimmers.
No one knows if Mulan was a real person.
a giant stone statue, has ·26 -----~
If she was, she likely would’ve been a warrior
18-foot-long eyebrows. Chinese brides oftenwearred,
during China’s Northern Wei dynasty, a color considered to be lucky.
which lasted from A.D. 386 to 535. 24
Chinese ice-cream
trucks can play music
only when parked.

27 ManyChinese 29 30
emperors thought
The word The cityof
themselves to be
“ketchup” Xinxiang
descendants in northeastern
may come China has an
of dragons. from a
Chinese iron statue of
•28 word for Mulan being
It took around 37 YEARS to make the
TERRA-COTTA ARMY, pickled- welcomed home
a set of more than 7,000 clay soldiers fish sauce. from war.
built to guard an emperor’s tomb.
GET MORE MOVIE SCOOP!
Go online to watch a trailer and
check out photos from Mulan.

natgeokids.com/march

25MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

FROM
THE
PAGES
OF

In this excerpt from BY TRUDI TRUEIT
Explorer Academy:
The Star Dunes, Cruz h … Cruz?” Dugan cleared his throat. onto his right shoulder, Cruz closed his eyes and
and his classmate “I think somebody’s coming. Make tossed the sand into the air. A man began to cough.
Dugan are exploring that a couple of somebodies.” Cruz felt his grip loosen.
the Namib Desert,
a coastal desert in Cruz’s neck snapped up. Two Twisting free, Cruz tucked his head and legs in
southern Africa, when people, wearing scarves to cover and hurtled his body down the dune, toward the
they suddenly find their faces, dark shirts, and jeans, were sprinting base of the dune where he and Dugan had left the
themselves being toward him and Dugan. car they arrived in. He felt like a human beach ball,
chased … “Let’s get out of here.” bouncing over the sand. Cruz had no idea how long
“Which way?” Dugan’s head was ping-ponging. it took him to tumble to the bottom. It felt like
TsAgathuflbeordoibcEeaaaxnrlpadteslsotxpahrpraeeeerrsdtnAhiooticpfiwaotdOnhineermiior ny. “Up!” ages but was probably only a few minutes.
And that’s where He didn’t need to repeat himself. Dugan took
1Cuo3bBcon-fyauyrcaloetohlepnaavisdurane-ddzroNozeotlreldahgeibdesaCluetnnmrrlfuiaeytzozxiwabnttthegiiploehltidrnieo.nocde off, racing for the closest sand dune—the one Once Cruz could tell sky from sand, he clumsily
anything to stop known as Big Daddy. sprang to his feet. The men in black were charging
Cruz from finding Cruz wasn’t far behind. The boys did their best down the dune on their feet. Being upright was
to scramble up a ridge, but running on a surface slowing them down. Dugan was rolling to a stop
that was constantly shifting wasn’t easy. For every about 20 feet away.
three feet Cruz ran, he slid back one foot. Thirty
feet up the ridge and he was out of breath. Cruz ran to him, pulled him up, and they raced
“Hurry!” Dugan shouted over his shoulder. down the trail and across the scrublands toward
“They’re gaining on us.” their vehicle. Once there, the two explorers jumped
“I’m trying ...” said Cruz, feeling himself slip inside the car.
once again.
“Lean forward,” called Dugan.“Use your hands.” “Auto Auto, on!” Cruz cried, addressing their
Cruz put his left hand in Dugan’s left footprint, self-driving smart car. “Lock all the doors … return
then his right hand in Dugan’s right footprint. to Egumbo Guest House, now!” huffed Cruz, lower-
Climbing like a monkey did give him some stability, ing his head for biometric identification.“And
but still, he wasn’t going nearly fast enough. Their please … hurry.”
pursuers were quickly closing the distance.
Cruz felt a jerk. Someone had a hold of his pack “They’re coming!” cried Dugan.“Go, go, go!”
now. He tried to pull away but couldn’t. He was The Auto Auto pulled out and headed away from
stuck, pedaling in place at the top of the dune. the dunes. Dugan and Cruz craned their necks to
Cruz had no choice but to let the pack fall from see where the men were. But there were too many
his shoulder. people around. Too many cars. They lost track of
Suddenly, his feet were out from under him. He their pursuers.
was on his stomach and being dragged backward. The car got onto the main road. A chain of three
Cruz was choking on sand. He tried to spit it out, RVs trailed them out. Yes! Cruz knew the bigger
even as he struggled to break free of his captor. vehicles would slow any traffic behind them. Even
“Tuck and roll,” yelled Dugan. so, he wouldn’t feel totally safe until they were
“Huh?” back with their classmates.
“ROLL!” Cruz attempted to smile, but couldn’t. They may
Cruz closed his fist around the sand. Flipping have evaded their pursuers, but Cruz had lost
something very valuable in the battle: his pack.
Inside was his tablet, and it contained something
that could never be replaced … something he
hadn’t told anybody about.

it.

26 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 SCOTT PLUMBE (MAIN ILLUSTRATION); ANTONIO JAVIER CAPARO (BOOK COVER ART); CAESART /
SHUTTERSTOCK (PAPER BACKGROUND); PUPKIS / DREAMSTIME (RAINBOW BACKGROUND)

WEXhWToPgHhhLeaaOEtstiiwtStRbanTEsaoARcowknR—?ACaCDCrnhudAUezc’wsNDktiloaElEbuhMStleeteY?v:er Go online February 12-19
to get a key to crack a code.
to find out! The secret message could win
you an autographed copy of

Explorer Academy:
The Star Dunes!

natgeokids.com/march

27MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

»PLAY DOWN UNDERWATER

These two scenes in the Great Barrier Reef may
seem the same, but look again! Find and circle at
least 20 differences between them.

ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

-- -...-.... -
-- - ...

...-.--

28 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 JAMES YAMASAKI

~

~y

~

.......... !P

("

-------~-~~- L2- '

29MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

FUNNY PLAY MORE FUNNY FILL-IN!
BIRDS TO THE RESCUE! natgeokids.com/ffi
Ask a friend to give you words to fill in the

blanks in this story without showing it to

FILL IN himorher.Thenreadoutloudforalaugh.
BY BECKY BAINES

~~

l/1/ ~~'~,<

My family went on safari in to ride a raft down the and check out

country body of water

. I boarded first. Suddenly the raft began to . I was

water animal, plural verb verb ending in -ing

down the by myself! miles later a bunch of

liquid large number something that flies, plural

surrounded me. They flapped their , then without warning they grabbed my

animal body part, plural article of clothing

and lifted me high into the air. “ !” I yelled. When I finally got the nerve to look down,

exclamation

I saw some cubs and a(n) that could run

furry animal color spotted animal

faster than . Then I spotted my parents. “Thanks!” I called to the fliers as they

famous athlete

me on the ground. No one at home will believe this tale.

past-tense verb adjective

30 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 JASON THARP

TOP ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): ELDORADOSUPERVECTOR / SHUTTERSTOCK; ELENA SCHWEITZER / SHUTTERSTOCK; JEFFREY HAMILTON / DIGITAL VISION /
GETTY IMAGES. MIDDLE ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): PETE TURNER / GETTY IMAGES; OLEKSANDRA NAUMENKO / SHUTTERSTOCK; BOTULINUM21 / SHUTTERSTOCK.
BOTTOM ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): SHANNON ALEXANDER / SHUTTERSTOCK; ANDRIY BONDAREV / GETTY IMAGES; © GARRY GAY / ALAMY.

KSSRNLEPI TRAORP APNTI EST

LABMRELU AKEC KSOCS

NKISYL YOCARSN POLPLIOL OVER THE RAINBOW

MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO 31KIDS These photographs show close-up views of
rainbow-colored objects. Unscramble the letters
to identify what’s in each picture.

ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

LAUGH OUT
LOUD

I

j

I

I

“I’m takIng my frog for a walk.”

“dIdn’t I tell you to “It’s just untIl the
clean off your belly braces come off.”
before snack tIme?”
CHRIS WARE (FROG, BEAVER, ANTEATER);
“the GARY FIELDS (OTTERS, GIRAFFE, FISH, CAT, DOG)
baby’s
bottle
Is almost
ready!”

32 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020

“aw, mom. do I really
have to go to
school today?”

“Your mom sent me up so The new
you won’t be late for neIghbors
school agaIn!”
must be
door
mIce.

Don’t tell Answers
the kItty, but I’m
“Down Underwater” (pages 28-29):
going to take
a catnap. “What in the World?” (page 31): Top row:

paint set, socks, lollipop. Middle row: parrot, cake,
crayons. Bottom row: sprinkles, umbrella, Slinky.

33MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

CHOOSE Do your part to help prevent single-use plastic items
THIS from reaching the ocean. Check out ideas here, then
go online for more. natgeokids.com/KidsVsPlastic

NOT
THAT

WHY? At a recent Make a difference!
international
Y ou might use plastic bags for coastal cleanup, Check out how many kids
snacks, but for many animals, volunteers collected have pledged to reduce
the plastic bag is the snack! 938,929 plastic their single-use plastic
The glint of a plastic goodie bag bags(not including trash, then go online to
floating in the water can look like a grocery bags). take the pledge too!
fish. As the plastic fills the animal’s
stomach, it blocks food from travel- natgeokids.com/
ing through its intestines, causing KidsVsPlastic
it to starve. In fact, one Cuvier’s
beaked whale was recently discov- Pledges Year
ered with more than 88 pounds of
plastic—including snack bags, gro- 11,721
cery bags, and nylon ropes—in its 2018 2019 2020
stomach.
STEVEN SANDERS / ALAMY (SANDWICH IN CLOTH BAG); FUSE / GETTY IMAGES (SANDWICH IN PLASTIC BAG);
So instead, store your treats UNKAS_PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES (BIRD); AC_BNPHOTOS / GETTY IMAGES (STURDY CONTAINER); YELLOWDAFFS /
in reusable containers, then toss SHUTTERSTOCK (CLOTH WRAP); JENIFOTO / GETTY IMAGES (GLASS JAR); SHANNON HIBBERD / NG STAFF (SILICONE BAG)
them in your backpack for on-the-
go grub.

SNACK 1,000

SACK.Pick Your Perfect Find a reusable food container by choosing the phrase that fits you best.

12 3 4

I don’t Stash it I want a Use cloth I need a Grab a I want a Stuff it in
want my in a sturdy light and or beeswax container glass jar. pouch that’s a silicone
sandwich container. flexible wrap. for messy flexible yet sack.
to get wrap. munchies. sturdy.
squished.

TAKE THE PLASTIC PLEDGE! LAST BAG If you have a few plastic snack bags left at home, keep using
natgeokids.com/KidsVsPlastic
them! After each use, wash the bags with soap and water, let them air-dry,
34 NAT GEO KIDS • MARCH 2020 then keep reusing. Once they wear out, find a place to recycle them: Many
grocery stores accept the bags for recycling.

I’M A
LEAN, GREEN,
BUG-EATING

C RITTERMACHINE!

CHAT Ifanimalsusedsocialmedia,
what would they say? Follow
this red-eyed tree frog’s day as
it updates its feed. BY ALLYSON SHAW
Red-Eyed
Tree Frog That looks like a lot of
work when you could
LIVES IN: Southern Mexico just hang out. Tails are KinkaWoo
for winners. BananaBeak
and Central America ForestFriend
You’re all just bummed you’re stuck
SCREEN NAME FabFrog to the trees. I’m a sky princess.
FRIENDS
» The forest floor is good
enough for me. I like my
KETEOL-UBCILALNED CENTRAAGL OAMUTEIRICAN KINKAJOU home so much I rub my
butt all over it so it
smells like me. #Normal
START
BananaBeak ForestFriend KinkaWoo
PHOTOLUKACS / SHUTTERSTOCK (FROG, LARGE IMAGE); DIRK ERCKEN / SHUTTERSTOCK (FROG PROFILE, ALL); EDUARDO RIVERO / SHUTTERSTOCK (TOUCAN PROFILE, ALL); JAYMI HEIMBUCH /
MINDEN PICTURES (AGOUTI PROFILE, ALL); ROLAND SEITRE / MINDEN PICTURES (KINKAJOU PROFILE, ALL); VISUALS UNLIMITED, INC. / GREGORY BASCO / GETTY IMAGES (TOUCAN EATING);7:20 p.m.FabFrogThat’s so gross, even for me—and I
ALI ATMACA / ANADOLU AGENCY / GETTY IMAGES (KINKAJOU TONGUE); INGO ARNDT / MINDEN PICTURES (FROG FOOT); ROLAND SEITRE / MINDEN PICTURES (KINKAJOU HANGING);ooze smelly slime.
THOMAS HERTWIG / ALAMY (AGOUTI BACKSIDE); CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER / MINDEN PICTURES (FROG CAMOUFLAGE); PINGEBAT / SHUTTERSTOCK (CARTOON FACES, ALL)
5 a.m.

New profile pic alert! How do I look?

FabFrog Now you see me—
now you don’t.
Uh, like a snack. But I’ve #PerfectCamouflage
found a different treat, so
you can chill out … for now. FabFrog

BananaBeak Are we playing hide-and-seek? I’m
pretty great at disappearing in
Hey @BananaBeak, where’s that the brush. ForestFriend
tree you’re tasting from? I’ll munch
up whatever fruit you drop. ForestFriend Oh, that reminds me … I’ve got to go
find my hide-and-sleep tree hole.
Now I’m in the mood See y’all tomorrow!
for something sweet.
Anybody seen a beehive? KinkaWoo
#AskingForMyTongue
KinkaWoo
10 p.m.
PSYCH! I was only hiding to jump out
and ambush a moth. #Crunchy

FabFrog

Thanks to my suction- Whoa—you’ve got some serious
cup toes, I’m totally an leaping skills. And I thought I was
acrobat—er, acro-frog! the only one that could fly!

FabFrog BananaBeak

35MARCH 2020 • NAT GEO KIDS

BACK 1. Fill in the thought balloon.
2. Cut out the entire picture(or make a photocopy of it).
TALK 3. Mail it along with your name, address, phone number, and date of birth

to Nat Geo Kids, Back Talk, P.O. Box 96000, Washington, DC 20090-6000.
Selection for publication in a future issue will be at the discretion of Nat Geo Kids.

YcOhWtUahmhitnhaekitnliendkogotn?hiiss

FROM THE MAY 2019 ISSUE

First one to the grass wins! This might take awhile. Traffic is slow today. The GPS says we’ll be
there in a couple of
Hannah C., 6 Austin Z., 11 Brendan K., 11 years.
Riverside, California
Eugene, Oregon Middlebury, Indiana Ava R., 10
Portland, Texas
KURITAFSHEEN / GETTY IMAGES (CHAMELEON);
This is the 100-millimeter MATEJ KOTULA / SHUTTERSTOCK (SNAILS)
dash!

Miyah G., 11
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Let’s go to the slow-
motion replay!

Diesel B., 11
Harrodsburg, Kentucky

I’m snailing away.

Allison J., 12
Boulder, Colorado

I’m gonna win! Eventually.

Seth V., 13
Vancouver, Washington