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NATGEOKIDS.COM • MAY 2019

COOL
POSTER

9 Animals
That Changed theWorld

CRITTER CHAT DECODING DREAMS WILD SUPERHEROES

 IN THIS ISSUE
Editor in Chief and Vice President,
Kids Magazines & Digital
Rachel Buchholz
Vice President, Visual Identity
Eva Absher-Schantz
Design Director, Magazines Eileen O’Tousa-Crowson
12 9 Animals
Editorial Kay Boatner, Senior Editor / Digital Producer; That Changed
Allyson Shaw, Associate Editor / Digital Producer
Photo Shannon Hibberd, Senior Photo Editor;
the World
Hillary Leo, Contributing Photo Editor Check out inspiring
Production Sean Philpotts, Director tales of furry friends,
Digital Laura Goertzel, Director; four-legged heroes,
Tirzah Weiskotten, Video Manager plus more amazing
animal antics.
PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC
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Gary E. Knell
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Peter Rice
Executive Vice President and General Manager, DEPARTMENTS
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20 What Your
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 Check out these
outrageous facts. BY MARILYN TERRELL

EST
R
A
FO
E SILL SATURN
SEAHORSE
can move its IR
F WNHIL
UPH L.
ter
is made partly of
HELIUM
the same
—
EYES tra
ve lfa
D
s
O
GAS used to
fill PARTY
in OPPOSITE an n
directions. c tha BALLOONS.

More than 2 MILLION ANIMALS FLY in AIRPLANES in the United States every year.

A The
QUEEN BEE SMALLEST BONE PEACHES
can lay 2,000 in the HUMAN BODY
is SHORTER than a
and
EGGS A DAY in ALMONDS
the SPRING.
GRAIN OF
RICE. are
RELATED.
A
SAND-
CASTLE
in MAINE
STOCK (SATURN); WESTEND61 / SUPERSTOCK (RICE); SUPERSTOCK RF /
BILL KENNEDY / SHUTTERSTOCK (SEAHORSE); TRISTAN3D / SHUTTER-

A
SUPERSTOCK (CLOVER); CREATAS / PHOTOLIBRARY (SANDCASTLE)

stood as
high as a
56-LEAF 3-STORY
CLOVER BUILDING.
was
discovered
in
JAPAN. Grab a parent to watch
Fast Facts for even
more crazy-fun facts.
youtube.com/natgeokids

4 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

GUINNESS
WORLD
RECORDS BY ALLI DICKEY

SUPER-
FAST
GOAT
L ooking like a white-and-black blur, Ninja the goat ran across
the backs of 26 people in just 9.4 seconds to set the record for
the fastest goat to climb over a human tunnel. Ninja’s not just
speedy—he’s also flexible. The talented animal is trained in both
yoga and acrobatics. Wonder what his backflip looks like.

DANCING LONGEST
ROBOTS CAKE
R obots are taking over—
the dance floor, that is!
In Rome, Italy, 1,372 robots waved
T alk about a berry delicious
treat. Pastry chefs in
Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne,
their arms and stomped their France, worked together
feet to set the record for the to create a 105-foot-7-inch
most robots dancing at the same French strawberry cake, the
time. The 1.3-foot-tall bots were world’s longest. The dessert
all controlled by a single smart- was about the length of a blue
phone that programmed their whale and contained about
moves. The song that got them 440 pounds of strawberries,
grooving? “Another Day of Sun” plus—wait for it—a whop-
from the movie La La Land. ping 59 pounds of sugar!

JAMES ELLERKER / GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (NINJA); GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

(ROBOTS, CAKE). INFORMATION PROVIDED BY © 2019 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED. MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 5
ALL
ABOUT
MONEY BY KRISTIN BAIRD RATTINI

The $20 bill is the most

widely counterfeited note
in the United States.

Guatemala’s
currency is named
King Tut appears the quetzal, after
on the Egyptian the national bird.
1-pound coin.

In India, the A janitor

slang term for at a
the amount of German
100,000 rupees is library
peti, or suitcase. found
You might need and
one to carry that turned
much money! in a box
of rare
coins
thought
A collection in the Smithsonian Institution to be worth
has 750,000 pieces of paper money.  hundreds of
thousands
of dollars.

DREAMSTIME (SUITCASE); MOHAMED OSAMA / DREAMSTIME (EGYPTIAN COIN); BRIAN HAGIWARA / GETTY
CHONES / SHUTTERSTOCK ($20 BILL); THOMAS MARENT / MINDEN PICTURES (QUETZAL); DANIEL KRYLOV /

IMAGES (COIN STACK); PNC / GETTY IMAGES (SMITHSONIAN); DOUG HUGHES (CAI-SHEN); USED WITH THE
PERMISSION OF THE BANK OF CANADA (CANADIAN NOTE); KELLEY MILLER / NG STAFF (PIGGY BANK)
MONEY TIP!
Any time you
buy something
on sale, put
what you saved
Canadian banknotes come with raised dot
During in your piggy
patterns for visually impaired people.
Chinese New bank.
Year, many
families make
offerings to
the Chinese
god of wealth,
Cai-Shen.

6 NAT GEO KIDS

 9 marvelous facts
about Mars BY ANDREA SILEN

3
1 The
average
MARS TEMPERATURE
has 2 small 2 on Mars is
MOONS. A
YEAR ON
-81˚F. 4
MARS lasts You
nearly twice could JUMP
5 as long as one 3 TIMES
on Earth.
HIGHER
It takes on Mars than
6 to11 7 on Earth.
MONTHS From
for a spacecraft Mars’s
to TRAVEL surface, the
from Earth to 6 SKY is the
Mars. By the
color of
BUTTERSCOTCH.
2040S,
astronauts
might VISIT
8 MARS. 9
One Mars
VOLCANO is nicknamed
on the planet is THE RED
about 3 TIMES PLANET
because it’s
TALLER covered in CHECK
OUT
than Mount RED DUST. THE
BOOK!
Everest.

DAVID AGUILAR MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 7

BY
theNUMBERS
SAHARA STATS
The Sahara, a desert in northern Africa, is one of the driest places on the
planet. Slather on some sunscreen and grab a few cool facts about this hot spot.

TEMPERATURE

122°F
CAN RISE HIGHER THAN

SIZE

3.47 MILLION SQUARE MILES

COVERAGE

6 % OF THE
WORLD’S
LAND AREA
THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES
WOULD FIT INSIDE THE SAHARA
WITH ROOM TO SPARE.

8 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019 CHANTAL DE BRUIJNE / SHUTTERSTOCK (SAHARA); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)
 CHECK
OUT THE
BOOK!
BY JEN ADRION

LOCATION AFRICA

11
COVERS MOST OF NORTH AFRICA, SPREADING ACROSS AT LA N T I C
OC EAN
INDI AN
OCEAN

AFRICAN
The Sahara

ATLANTIC
OCEAN Medite
rr

COUNTRIES:
ane
MOROCCO TUNISIA an Sea

ALGERIA
WESTERN LIBYA
SAHARA EGYPT

Re
(Morocco)

dS
LIBYA, ALGERIA, EGYPT, TUNISIA, MAURITANIA a

e
MALI NIGER SUDAN
CHAD

CHAD, MOROCCO, ERITREA, NIGER, ERITREA

MAURITANIA, MALI, AND SUDAN

2 STATUES OF LIBERTY
STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER.
LESS THAN
RAINFALL

THAT’S AS TALL AS

3 INCHES
A YEAR

HEIGHT

SAND DUNES CAN

RISE AS HIGH AS 600FEET.
MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 9
 I just
wanted to
take
a cruise.

Orca
Ste als
Boat
Vancouver Island, Canada
You’d need more
than 650 cans of
tuna each day to
keep an orca full.

As onlookers watched an unmanned sailboat glide around

the harbor, they wondered if ghosts were steering the ship. But
it wasn’t a supernatural force: It was a super-sneaky orca. The
killer whale—known as TO73B to scientists—was pulling the UNMANNED
SAILBOAT
boat by swimming with the anchor rope in its mouth.
Orca researcher Josh McInnes says his team of scientists
ORCA
has often spotted T073B playing with crab traps and buoys, so
they figured the whale was probably investigating the rope
when he started pulling the sailboat. “Top predators like orcas
are curious because they have to explore their environment in
search of prey,” McInnes says.
THE ORCA
T073B played with the boat for about five minutes before DRAGGED THE
releasing the rope and then leaping out of the water. Although 27-FOOT-LONG
SAILBOAT
the orca caused some damage to the vessel, the owners didn’t IN CIRCLES,
mind. “When we’re on our boat in the ocean, we’re in the orcas’ SIDESWIPING
ANOTHER
home,” owner Kendra Campbell says. Maybe they should VESSEL.
rename this whale Captain Orca. —Elizabeth Hilfrank

10 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

 Sun’s
out,
tongue’s
out!

Cat
Takes Trip
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
When Gracie Mae the cat spotted an open suitcase, she did what
many cats do: She hopped inside and burrowed under the
clothes. Not realizing she was inside, owner Seth Levy closed the
suitcase and headed to the airport. That’s when Gracie Mae’s
adventure began. Still in the suitcase, the cat went through an
x-ray machine and into the plane. She flew from Florida to Dallas,
Texas, then shot down the ramp into baggage claim, where the
wrong passenger picked up the suitcase. Finally, nine and a half
hours later, a hungry, cranky Gracie Mae stepped out—to the
surprise of the other passenger, who quickly called Levy’s wife,
Kelly.“She was back to her affectionate self the next day,” she
says. After that trip, Gracie Mae needed a stay-cation!
—Heather E. Schwartz

At least
the clothes
in the
suitcase
were clean.
St. Louis, Missouri
Rimba the sun bear reveals a shocking secret when he
opens his mouth at the St. Louis Zoo. It’s not bad
breath—it’s a foot-long tongue.
Rimba darts his tongue into logs to search for food.
“We drill holes in tree logs and hide things like peanut
butter and raisins,” mammal curator Steve Bircher says.
Rimba might look a little
unusual, but in the wild, sun
bears need their long
ORCA
tongues to survive. Unlike
Vancouver
other bears, which spend
Island,
most of their time on the
Canada
ground, sun bears hang
out in trees. They cling to
branches with their paws,
BEAR and they use their tongues
St. Louis, Missouri to lap up insects and honey.
You’d think such a long
tongue might trip up Rimba,
CAT but he’s actually quite grace-
Palm Beach ful. At least the bear isn’t
Gardens, tongue-tied!
Florida —Madaline Donnelly

CHRISTIAN MUSAT / SHUTTERSTOCK (ORCA, MAIN); ARA STEVENSON (ORCA AND SAILBOAT);
SHVAYGERT EKATERINA / SHUTTERSTOCK (CAT); JOELLEN TOLER / SAINT LOUIS ZOO (RIMBA) MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 11
9
Animals

»
That
Changed
the
World
BY BRENNA MALONEY

CHRIS P. BACON

WATCH CHRIS P. BACON IN ACTION.

natgeokids.com/may

12 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

»
LONESOME GEORGE

1
PIG GETS
WHEELS
SUMTERVILLE, FLORIDA
Chris P. Bacon just wanted
to run and play. But he was
born without the use of TORTOISE
his back legs. Luckily the
piglet was adopted by
veterinarian Len Lucero,
LIVES
who built him a different
pair of “legs.” He attached (ALMOST)
a wheeled cart behind
Chris so the pig could pull
himself along, sort of like
FOREVER 2
a miniature pig-mobile.
Lucero was so impressed GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS, OFF THE COAST OF ECUADOR
with Chris’ spirit that the Up until 1971, scientists thought that Pinta Island tortoises were
vet started bringing the extinct. Then a scientist studying snails in the Galápagos Islands
pig to visit children in wandered upon one! Dubbed Lonesome George, the tortoise
hospitals, hoping that became a conservation hero, reminding people that all species
he’d inspire them as well. need protection. Until his death at about a hundred years old in
This pig is really on a roll! 2012, Lonesome George lived on Santa Cruz Island in the
Galápagos, where he helped scientists make
another startling discovery: At least 17 GEORGE WAS
VETERINARIAN LEN ABOUT FIVE
LUCERO BOTTLE- tortoises on the Galápagos Islands have FEET LONG
FEEDS HIS ADOPTED similar genetic traits to George—and might AND WEIGHED
PIG, CHRIS P. BACON. NEARLY 200

DEN PICTURES (LONESOME GEORGE, TOP); ARTURO DE FRIAS / ALAMY (LONESOME GEORGE, BOTTOM)
even be related. Turns out George might not POUNDS.

TOM BENITEZ / ORLANDO SENTINEL / MCT / NEWSCOM (CHRIS P. BACON, BOTH); TUI DE ROY / MIN-
have been the last of his kind after all.

MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 13

 HIPPO
GOES ON
SAFARI 4
SOUTH AFRICA
People in the 1930s needed hope. Extreme financial
hardship, called a depression, had affected most of the
world, including South Africa. So what gave people
inspiration? A hippo! Huberta left her watering hole
one day in 1928 and just kept walking for the next
three years. As she passed through villages and by sur-
prised farmers working in fields, Huberta’s adventures
became famous. Nothing seemed to slow down the
hippo, and she ended up walking more than a thousand
miles before finally taking a break. The unstoppable
Huberta inspired people to keep moving forward, even
as they faced hard times. Wonder what was next for

3 FRED
Huberta … a Caribbean beach walk?

CAT WORKS
UNDERCOVER
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Fred the cat didn’t get off to a great start. Stricken with
pneumonia, the four-month-old kitten was wandering
alone on the streets before being adopted. But his new
owner gave Fred more than a home. She gave him a pur-
pose that would help save other animals. Hearing about a
man suspected of illegally treating sick animals without
proper training, Fred’s owner—whose job it was to over-
see animal cruelty cases for the city—had a clever idea.
She would send in Fred undercover, posing as a patient.
Working with a human detective, Fred became the “bait”
so the fake vet could be stopped. Looks like
Fred put a halt to the purr-fect crime. FRED THE CAT
RECEIVED AN
AWARD FOR
HELPING BUST
A PHONY VET.

14 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

 5
BEAR FIGHTS
FOREST FIRES
LINCOLN NATIONAL FOREST, NEW MEXICO
Firefighters were struggling to control two dangerous
wildfires in May 1950 when a 70-mile-an-hour wind
swept the flames into the heroes’ path. Thinking
quickly, they lay facedown on a rockslide and waited
for the fire to roar past them. The men survived—but
a black bear cub found nearby was in trouble. Clinging
to the side of a charred pine tree, the cub’s paws were
badly burned. Firefighters rescued the bear and
treated his injuries, and the cub, named Smokey,
made a full recovery. Soon this brave survivor became
the fire-safety mascot known as Smokey Bear for the
U.S. Forest Service. Today, a cartoon version of
Smokey Bear continues
to inspire kids and adults
to help prevent forest
fires in the United States.
SMOKEY BEAR HAS
SERVED AS THE U.S.
FOREST SERVICE’S
SMOKEY
FIRE-SAFETY MASCOT
FOR NEARLY 70 YEARS.

DOGS BATTLE WILDLIFE CRIME

KENYA AND TANZANIA,
IN AFRICA
6
Some dogs sniff out their food;
Bonnie, Clyde, and Didi sniff out
BONNIE bad guys. Trained by Big Life
DIDI Foundation, a conservation
group working in East Africa,
the dogs sniff out poachers
who hunt protected animals
such as elephants and rhinoc-
eroses. With their powerful
noses, the dogs have led han-
dlers straight to criminals’
doors and even sniffed out
weapons and traps, saving
countless animals. In fact, the
dogs are so good at their job
that conservation workers
have actually seen a drop in
the number of area poachers.
Hope these pooches are being
CLYDE rewarded with lots of toys!

ZUMA PRESS, INC. / ALAMY (FRED, TOP); DAVID HANDSCHUH / NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES (FRED, BOTTOM);
ERIC ISSELEE / SHUTTERSTOCK (HIPPO); FRANCINE SCHROEDER / SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ARCHIVES (SMOKEY BEAR,
MAIN); RUBENS ALARCON / ALAMY (SMOKEY BEAR, INSET); JEREMY GOSS, COURTESY OF BIG LIFE FOUNDATION (DOGS) MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 15
 BUTTERCUP

SLOTH OPENS
THREE-TOED SLOTHS
LIKE BUTTERCUP CAN
ROTATE THEIR HEADS
UP TO 300 DEGREES.

SANCTUARY
7 CAHUITA, COSTA RICA
Judy Avey-Arroyo didn’t quite know what to do when three
girls showed up with an orphaned baby sloth wrapped in a
blanket. She and her husband ran a small hotel and didn’t
know anything about sloths. But she couldn’t turn away the
animal, which she named Buttercup. Finding little advice from
experts, Avey-Arroyo let Buttercup teach her what the sloth
needed to grow into a healthy youngster. Soon more
orphaned sloths started showing up at Avey-Arroyo’s door,
and she eventually opened the Sloth Sanctuary. Thanks to WIN THE BOOK!
Buttercup’s lessons, Avey-Arroyo has helped many sloths live TRY ONLINE
APRIL 23-30.
better lives—even if most of their lives are spent sleeping. natgeokids.com
/may

16 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

 8
BIRD GETS COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO

NEW BEAK When Beauty the bald eagle was found

in the Alaskan mountains after a stray
bullet shattered her beak, rescuers
from Idaho’s Birds of Prey Northwest
BEAUTY rushed to save her. Rehabilitators
helped her get stronger, but after a BEFORE
few months she still couldn’t eat or drink
without help. But then an engineer came up with a crazy idea:
they would make Beauty a new beak, built from a 3-D printer.
It worked! Over time, her beak began regrowing so that she
needed her new beak less and less. And now Beauty has inspired
AFTER scientists and rescuers to use this technology on other injured
animals. It’s like a fairy tale: “Beauty and the Beak.”

PANDAS LING-LING
BECOME
PEACE-
MAKERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
9 HSING-HSING
It was panda-monium when two
giant pandas arrived in the United
States as a goodwill gift from China
in 1972. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing
drew more than 20,000 visitors on
their very first day at the National
Zoo, which soon became a leader in
panda conservation. Zookeepers
learned much about the species,
which they shared with other insti-
tutions to help protect all giant
pandas. But the gift didn’t help just
pandas—it helped the two coun-
tries become better friends.

LING-LING
(LEFT) AND
HSING-HSING
PLAY TOGETHER
AT THE
NATIONAL ZOO.

GET MORE AWESOME ANIMALS!

natgeokids.com/may
SUZI ESZTERHAS / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (BUTTERCUP, BOTH); YOSHIKAZU TSUNO / AFP / GETTY IMAGES (XIAO QIANG); YOUNG KWAK
/ AP / SHUTTERSTOCK (BEAUTY, BOTH); JESSIE COHEN / SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL ZOO / NEWSMAKERS / GETTY IMAGES (PANDAS,
MAIN); CHARLES TASNADI / AP / SHUTTERSTOCK (PANDAS, INSET). ELENA ELIACHEVITCH / GETTY IMAGES (GRAY SEAL, PAGES 18-19) MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 17
A gray seal can curl its flippers to tear food or grasp land. These sea mammals can swim 20 miles
an hour in short bursts. Native to the North Atlantic Ocean, gray seals see and hear better underwater.
 Your brain could be
telling you something.
BY SARAH WASSNER FLYNN
ART BY BLAKE THORNTON
How many times have you told someone, “I had the weirdest
dream last night”? Probably a lot. In fact, you can have up to THE THEME Being chased
six dreams a night. Some of them are bound to be crazy.
Dreams are created by the part of your brain that stores SAMPLE DREAM Maybe it’s a hairy, scary monster
memories, emotions, and thoughts. At night your brain blends or a gigantic, shapeless blob—or both. Whatever
what’s stored in your mind with what you’ve been thinking it is, you just can’t shake these guys.
about lately. The result can be wild but realistic dreams. WHAT IT MEANS The scary thing that’s chasing
Dreams hardly ever become reality, but they might contain you around is probably a symbol of a real-life
hints about what’s going on in your life. “Dreams help us get in problem you don’t want to deal with. But this
touch with our deeper feelings,” dream researcher Alan Siegel dream is telling you it’s time to stop running
says. “They can tell us a lot about ourselves and could even from the problem and start facing it.
help us figure out problems.”
Scientists have discovered that many dreams contain
common themes that have meaning. Here are nine types
of dreams that could tell you a lot about yourself—and what
might be happening in your life. You’ll
spend about
six years of
your life
dreaming.

20 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

 THE THEME Showing up in pajamas
SAMPLE DREAM As you run onto the soccer
field, you realize that instead of a uniform,
you’re wearing—yikes!—fuzzy footie
pajamas.(Or worse … you’re naked.)
WHAT IT MEANS Your brain might be
helping you recover from a real-life
embarrassing moment. If no one’s
making a big deal about the dream pj’s,
chances are your friends think you’re cool
no matter what. If they are laughing?
It could be time for some new friends!

Your
brain waves
are more active
when you’re THE THEME Not being
dreaming than able to move
when you’re
SAMPLE DREAM An angry
awake. elephant is charging you,
but it’s as if your feet are
superglued to the ground.
You try to scream, but you
have no voice.
WHAT IT MEANS You’re
probably feeling “stuck”
in life. (Maybe your parents
just grounded you.) You
need to think about how
you got into this sticky
situation, then try to make
smarter choices in the
future.

A
dream
usually lasts
from
10 to 40
minutes.

THE THEME Falling

SAMPLE DREAM You’re climbing
Mount Everest when you lose
your grip. You fall and fall and
fall … until you gently land in a
bed of daisies. THE THEME Losing something

WHAT IT MEANS You might have SAMPLE DREAM Your Selena Gomez concert tickets are
too much going on. It’s time to nowhere to be found. You’ve torn your room apart but
slow down and take a break from can’t find them anywhere.
whatever is stressing you out. WHAT IT MEANS You might be looking for an ego boost.
And the soft landing? It could Perhaps you want to try out a new sport or hobby, and
be a sign that you’ll soon get KEEP TRACK you’re not sure if you can do it. Search deep inside yourself
through this tough time. OF YOUR
DREAMS— for that confidence. It’s there—you just have to find it!
CHECK OUT
THE BOOK!

MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 21

 THE THEME Hanging with a celeb
SAMPLE DREAM You totally hit it off with Taylor Swift.
She even asks you to play keyboard on her next single.
WHAT IT MEANS Celebrities in dreams usually represent
good feelings you have about yourself. Perhaps you just
aced a test or landed the lead in your school play.
Things are going awesome for you—congrats!
Girls dream
about girls and guys
equally. Guys tend to
dream more about
other guys.

THE THEME Flying

SAMPLE DREAM You’re walking down the street
when all of a sudden you start to fly.
WHAT IT MEANS It’s likely you’re flying high in real
life as well. Maybe your friends see you as a leader,
or your parents have given you more freedom.

THE THEME Being lost

SAMPLE DREAM The normal path from home to school becomes a maze of
twists and turns. Where are you?
WHAT IT MEANS You’re probably feeling a little lost in life. Are you facing
a tough decision? You might be afraid of making the wrong choice. Think
carefully about your options to find your way out of this situation.

THE THEME Being unprepared or late

SAMPLE DREAM Uh-oh! Your teacher just passed out a major
One study found test, and you don’t know any of the answers.
that the longer Or worse—you show up after the test is over.
you sleep, the WHAT IT MEANS You’re worrying big-time about
stranger your an upcoming event or project. If you’re prepared, it’s
dreams become. just a sign that you’re nervous. That’s normal. But if you’ve
been slacking, take this dream as a hint and get to work!

A sleeping puppy’s nose wig- looked at the brain waves of

Do gles, its paws twitch, and it animals while asleep and

Animals
softly woofs—the pup must awake. In one experiment,
be dreaming, right? birds called zebra finches

Dream? Scientists aren’t so sure.

“It’s one of the greatest
mysteries in biology,” sleep
seemed to show the same
brain activity while sleeping
that they had while they
expert Marcos Frank says. were awake and singing.
CUTE KITTEN To find out, researchers In another study, the brain
 Moment of Snooze ...
ALL
THE OTHER
RED PANDAS
We made up some silly dreams that these animals might be having. WILL BE SO
JEALOUS OF
MY NEW
SEAL BLANKET.

RED PANDA

WHEE! I’M HE SHOOTS,

MMM … SPINNING HE SCORES!
BAMBOO LIKE A (SCORED
smoothies … DOLPHIN! THAT rat,
ANYWAY.)
LEOPARD

GIANT
PANDA

WHOA—
WHAT’S UP I won
WITH MY the lottery!
NEW PURPLE Free salmon
FUR? for life!

TIGER

BROWN BEAR

GET MORE MOMENT OF SNOOZE.

natgeokids.com/may

patterns of snoozing lab were awake,” Frank says. of chocolate pudding. But
rats appeared to be running But it’s hard to say if Frank says that most ani-
the maze that they’d moved animals have fantastical mals might not have that
through earlier that day— dreams like we do. Humans kind of awareness about
almost as if they were prac- understand that they’re themselves.
ticing in their sleep. “This dreaming when they wake Which means that you’re
strongly suggests that up and remember who they probably dreaming if you
they’re dreaming about are—not, say, a famous think that elephants tap
what they did while they astronaut on a planet made dance in their sleep. YOUNG ZEBRA FINCH

ALENA OZEROVA / SHUTTERSTOCK (KITTEN); J_KNAUPE / ISTOCKPHOTO / GETTY IMAGES (FINCH); ANDREW ASTBURY /
SHUTTERSTOCK (SEAL); MARTIN VRLIK / SHUTTERSTOCK (RED PANDA); LEE YIU TUNG / SHUTTERSTOCK (GIANT PANDA); VILLIERS
STEYN / SHUTTERSTOCK (LEOPARD); ATIGER / SHUTTERSTOCK (TIGER); ADAM VAN SPRONSEN / SHUTTERSTOCK (BEAR)
23
Meet three superheroes

»
inspired by real-life creatures. 
BY JAMIE KIFFEL-ALCHEH
Superheroes can swing from skyscrapers,
leap crazy high, and zoom through the
sky. But some animals can too. Check
out how these three superheroes
stack up to the real-life creatures
they’re named after.

ORB-WEAVER
SUPERHERO: SPIDER

SPIDER-MAN
ANIMAL INSPIRATION: Spiders
SHARED POWERS: Spider-Man and real
arachnids both release spider silk strong
enough to suspend them in the air. And both can
shoot different types of webbing: Spider-Man
uses one kind of silk to trap villains and another to swing REAL SPIDER
SILK IS 20
from buildings; some real spiders can produce up to seven TIMES TOUGHER
different types of webbing, including one for making egg sacs. THAN STEEL.
BIG-SCREEN BOOST: Spider-Man uses his superhuman
strength to lift a collapsed building. Most real spiders can’t carry objects
bigger than they are. But scientists have noted one possible exception:
PERSONALITY QUIZ: WHAT SUPERPOWER Jumping spiders might be able to carry 170 times their body weight.
SHOULD YOU HAVE? natgeokids.com/may That’s like a 10-year-old carrying an orca!

MARVEL / WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES / COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION (BLACK PANTHER

24 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

SUPERHERO); APPLE2499 / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES (LEOPARD); CHUCK ZLOTNICK / COLUMBIA PICTURES /
COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION (SPIDER-MAN); PAPKIN / SHUTTERSTOCK (SPIDER); MARVEL STUDIOS /
ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES / ALAMY (THE WASP); AKIYOKO / SHUTTERSTOCK (WASP)
EROES ANIMAL
ALTER EGOS
These superheroes weren’t inspired
by animals—but we matched their
standout powers to a creature anyway.

CAPTAIN MARVEL
» Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel,
gets her super-strength by sensing
and absorbing energy from her
surroundings. Then she uses her
hands to hurl blasts at bad guys.
Nice to heat you!
BLACK LEOPARDS ANIMAL MATCH Echidnas
STILL HAVE
SPOTS—THEY’RE can also sense energy in their
JUST HARDER surroundings—they just use it to
TO SEE ON THEIR
SUPERHERO: DARK COATS. find food instead of fight crime.
The egg-laying mammals use struc-
BLACK tures called electroreceptors in
their snouts to sniff out electrical

PANTHER
ANIMAL INSPIRATION: Leopards (“Black panther” can describe many wild
BLACK
LEOPARD
pulses given off by prey. ECHIDNA

cats with black coats, but it’s most commonly applied to leopards.)
SHARED POWERS: Black Panther can run up to 70 miles an hour, almost as
WONDER WOMAN
fast as the average speed of a passenger train. Real-life leopards can run fast, » Besides wielding a lasso that
but they’re not quite as speedy as the superhero. These cats have been clocked makes trapped villains tell the
sprinting at up to 40 miles an hour. truth, Wonder Woman can
BIG-SCREEN BOOST: Black Panther’s suit absorbs energy, then releases it with understand and speak any
just as much force. So if the superhero takes a hit, he absorbs the energy from the language she hears. That’s
punch and uses it to strike back harder. Real leopards don’t have super-suits, but handy for eavesdropping.
they can use built-up energy to attack prey. When they crouch to leap, they build up ANIMAL MATCH Barn
energy that helps them launch themselves up to 10 feet in the air. (Picture holding owls also eavesdrop with their
down a coil and releasing it.) Talk about making the fur fly. superpowered listening skills. The
feathered fliers’ excellent hearing
allows them to successfully hunt
even in total darkness. BARN OWL

SUPERHERO: WASPS CAN CHEW

SUPERGIRL
THE WASP
THROUGH WOOD
IN MINUTES.

» Kara Zor-El gets her powers—

ANIMAL INSPIRATION: Wasps like flying—from her ability to
SHARED POWERS: The insect-inspired superhero absorb radiation from the sun.
and real wasps can deliver painful stings, though the It runs in the family: She’s
Wasp doesn’t have an actual stinger. She harnesses her body to fire Superman’s cousin, after all.
blasts of energy to “sting” villains. Wasps, of course, have actual stingers—at least, ANIMAL MATCH Wallace’s
the females do. The insects keep their stingers covered until they’re threatened. flying frogs also benefit from
Then they coat their barbless stingers in venom before piercing their victim. solar power. Unlike warm-blooded
BIG-SCREEN BOOST: The Wasp can shrink down to an insect’s size to escape animals, these cold-blooded
danger. Real wasps can’t shrink, but they amphibians can’t make their own
still have slick tricks. For example, their body heat, so they rely on the sun
powerful jaws can break up the bodies for warmth. As for the “flying”
of their prey for smaller, uh, portion sizes. part, loose flaps on their limbs
WALLACE’S
Tiny can be tough. help them glide through the air. FLYING FROG

MARVEL STUDIOS / TCD / PROD.DB / ALAMY (CAPTAIN MARVEL); JUERGEN &

CHRISTINE SOHNS / GETTY IMAGES (ECHIDNA); CLAY ENOS / WARNER BROS. /
COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION (WONDER WOMAN); MILES AWAY PHOTOG-
RAPHY / SHUTTERSTOCK (BARN OWL); MONTY BRINTON / CBS / GETTY IMAGES
(SUPERGIRL); STEPHEN DALTON / MINDEN PICTURES (WALLACE’S FLYING FROG)
MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 25
 ou t w h a t w ould
Find
o d o w n i f t h ese
g ios
c ra z y s c e n a r
u a l ly c a m e t rue.
act BY JOE ROCCO
ER • ART
BY CRISPIN BOY

What if Neanderthals
never went extinct?
Neanderthals—a type of early human that
lived between 40,000 and 400,000 years
ago—disappeared some 10,000 years after
modern humans appeared. Competition
between the two species was likely a factor, but
what if Neanderthals had survived long enough
to trade in their cave dwellings for houses?
These guys didn’t react well to change, so they’d
probably find it hard to fit in and would find
today’s technology such as smartphones and
social media difficult to master. And since ani-
mals aren’t as plentiful, Neanderthals couldn’t
be picky eaters and would need to add more
plants to their plates. They’d be more likely to
live in remote, cold areas of the world because
their stockier bodies were better suited for life
in an Ice Age environment. It’s unlikely you’d
ever see a Neanderthal sunbathing!
What if you were
the first person
to land on Mars?
With crewed missions to Mars planned by the 2040s,
the first person to step foot on the planet is proba-
bly already on Earth—maybe it’s you! After a six-
month space flight, you’d depart your craft to visit
some must-see Mars attractions. Olympus Mons, the
tallest volcano in the entire solar system, is about
three times taller than Mount Everest. Trekking up
its slope would be easy in gravity that’s only one-
third of Earth’s. Or you might check out the Hale
crater. Astronomers recently discovered evidence of
salt water trickling down its walls. You’d help figure
out if the water might’ve once contained alien
microorganisms.

26 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

 CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!

What if the sun

suddenly disappeared?
Light from the sun takes about eight minutes to
reach Earth. So if the sun winked out of existence, its
final rays would reach us in eight minutes. Then, dark-
ness. The moon would go black once sunlight stopped
reflecting off its surface, and the only light on Earth
would be starlight and artificial light—electric light,
gaslight, and campfires. To survive the below-freezing
temperatures, humans would need to move their
cities deep underground near the Earth’s internal
heat, or geothermal energy. Luckily the sun disap-
pearing is impossible. But its core will run out of
hydrogen fuel … in about a billion years.

What if the internet

was never invented?
Bye-bye, Wi-Fi. Forget texting your friends. If you
want to connect without the internet, you’ll
need to talk on the phone or write a letter. A
world without the web wouldn’t necessarily have
to feel disconnected though. In the early 2000s,
people in Cuba shared movies and music through
a network of portable hard drives passed from
person to person, a semi-low-tech way of con-
necting without going online. But no internet
would mean a big change in getting homework
done. You’d need to go to the library or look
things up in a printed encyclopedia. Get ready to
study like it’s 1989.

What if Columbus never

landed in the Americas?
Christopher Columbus didn’t “discover” the New World. People
already lived there, after all. But Columbus, exploring on behalf
of Spain, was one of the first Europeans to set foot in the
Americas. So what would the world be like if he hadn’t set sail in
1492? Well, eight years after Columbus began his voyage, a
Portuguese explorer named Pedro Álvares Cabral made landfall
in Brazil and claimed it for Portugal, one of the most powerful
countries in the world at the time. So even if Columbus hadn’t
landed in the Americas, the New World wouldn’t have remained
unexplored for long. But with a different country leading the
way, today’s maps and history books could look a lot different.

MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 27

 STUFF
GAMES, LAUGHS, AND LOTS TO DO!

K
P L
Q M F
U G
V R N
S O H
W I
X T
J
Y

MIDDLE
Z

RING

INDEX
TEXT AND CODE BY GARETH MOORE LE A
B
T T
THE CODE: HAND SIGNAL C
LI

In the new book Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather, 12-year-old D

Cruz Coronado attends an exclusive school to learn how to be an
explorer. While at the Academy, he and his friends send each other E
secret messages by using codes, like these hand signals. In this
code, each finger represents a different group of letters. B
Check out the letters on the illustration to the right. Tap a
finger once to signal the first (top) letter in a group, twice for UM
the second letter, three times for the third, and so on.
TH
To say HEY, you’d tap your index finger three
times, your thumb five times, and your little
TRY finger five times. To indicate you’re starting
THIS! a new word, you can take a longer pause,
move your hand slightly, or switch hands.

CRACK THIS CODE!

BRYNDIS
While sitting in the library at the Academy, Cruz spots classmate Bryndis Jónsdóttir tapping her JÓNSDÓTTIR
fingers on a table. Could she be sending him a secret warning? Unlock her message with these
written finger taps. ANSWER ON PAGE 35

.
Ring finger: five taps Ring finger: four taps Index finger: four taps Middle finger: four taps
Index finger: three taps Ring finger: one tap Ring finger: four taps Thumb: five taps
Thumb: five taps Little finger: five taps Thumb: one tap
Ring finger: three taps

ANTONIO JAVIER CAPARO (IMAGE TOP LEFT); AFRICA STUDIO /

28 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019 SHUTTERSTOCK (HAND): SCOTT PLUMBE (BRYNDIS, LAB ART)
 Follow Cruz’s
adventure
and CRACK
MORE CODES
in this book.

TECH LAB CHIEF DR.

FANCHON QUILLS
(RIGHT) SHOWS
EMMETT LU(LEFT)
AND CRUZ ONE OF
HER EXPERIMENTS. LEARN MORE ABOUT EXPLORER ACADEMY.
ExplorerAcademy.com

MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 29

30
PMLBI

ETEBLE
YLELJ NEBA

NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

ALOP
DW N WO I

ASC’T YEE
AWESOME OVALS
These photographs show views of oval

letters to identify what’s in each picture.

ANSWERS ON PAGE 35
shapes you may recognize. Unscramble the

IHFS

UM I T S DA

W I I K I RT F U
TOP ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): ANDREW BURGESS / SHUTTERSTOCK; INGRAM PUBLISHING / AGE FOTOSTOCK; GAID KORNSILAPA /
SHUTTERSTOCK. MIDDLE ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): TONYZ20 / SHUTTERSTOCK; PURESTOCK / JUPITERIMAGES; KRYSJA / SHUTTERSTOCK.
BOTTOM ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): ALSLUTSKY / SHUTTERSTOCK; ALEXANDER HOFFMAN / SHUTTERSTOCK; SIMPLE STOCK SHOTS.
 FUNNY
FILLIN
FARM FRENZY
Ask a friend to give you words to fill in the
blanks in this story without showing it to PLAY MORE FUNNY FILL-IN!
him or her. Then read out loud for a laugh. natgeokids.com/ffi
BY MARGARET J. KRAUSS

At a.m., my family and I piled into the car for our annual camping trip. We were singing along to
small number
when we heard a(n) . Our car had a flat ! Soon a pickup
pop star loud noise noun
truck pulled over. “I’m Farmer . Can I offer y’all a ride?” the driver asked. That’s how we spent the
friend’s name
day on a farm. I sat on a(n) next to the farmer to learn to milk a cow. But the cow started
noun piece of furniture
my hair. So instead, I tried to run the milk machine. As I pulled a lever, my
verb ending in -ing adjective
disconnected a tube, and started everywhere. I
body part type of liquid verb ending in -ing
from the machine, right into a(n) pile of . A bunch
past-tense verb adjective something gross
of ran to lap up the spill, so I toward the door. On the way
animal, plural past-tense verb
I slipped and fell into the pen. I hope our next vacation is a little less exciting.
animal
DAN SIPPLE

MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 31

FROM THE PAGES OF ALMANAC 2020:

STUMP
YOUR PARENTS
If your parents can’t answer these questions,
maybe they should go to school instead of you!
ANSWERS ON PAGE 35

1 Niagara Falls is made up of three waterfalls:

the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, and

?
_______ Falls.
A. Wedding Gown C. Pocket Watch
B. Bridal Veil D. Running Shoe 6 Each November, macaques get a special
feast in their honor in which country?
A. Chile C. Japan
B. Thailand D. Iceland
2 The ancient Greek god Zeus
is most often shown with
what weapon?
A. a spear C. a shield 7 In which of the world’s oceans can
B. a fireball D. a thunderbolt you find sharks?
A. Atlantic C. Arctic
B. Pacific D. all of them

3 The Aztec people, who lived in central

Mexico during the 15th and 16th
centuries, used popcorn as 8 In which country are over 800
food and _______ . indigenous languages spoken,
A. jewelry more than in any other country?
B. ammunition A. Papua New Guinea C. Sudan
C. building material B. Norway D. China
D. sports equipment

9 Which animal would you not find in

4 The Washington Monument in Alaska’s Denali National Park?
Washington, D.C., was built in two phases: A. jackrabbit C. caribou
1848 to 1856 and 1876 to 1884. Which was B. Dall sheep D. grizzly bear
not a reason for the break?
AMELISSIMO / SHUTTERSTOCK (ZEUS); KTS / DREAMSTIME (POPCORN); PHOTODISC
A. lack of C. shortage of
SHUTTERSTOCK (MACAQUE); MARTIN PROCHAZKACZ / SHUTTERSTOCK (SHARK)
(WASHINGTON MONUMENT); LE DO / SHUTTERSTOCK (CARNATIONS); CUSON /

money white rocks

B. the Civil
War
D. uncertainty that the U.S.
government would last
BEE A
GEO-GENIUS!
Watch kid geography whizzes compete in the
National Geographic GeoBee, then watch some
5 What color carnation super science come to life in the National
Geographic GeoChallenge. Both will stream online
is the national flower starting May 22.
of Spain?
A. white C. pink Learn more!
B. red D. blue natgeoed.org/experiences

32 NAT GEO KIDS

 ADE
HOMEM
MAKE THIS ICE POPS
PLASTIC-WRAPPED
TO AVOID THAT FROZEN TREATS
BY ELLA SCHWARTZ

PLANET-FRIENDLY ICE POPS

Help keep the Earth » MATERIALS
healthy by ditching
single-use plastic items. • 2 cups of fresh fruit like
This month, make your strawberries, blueberries,
own ice pops so you can peaches, and bananas
skip the plastic-wrapped • 2 tablespoons honey
store-bought version. • ¼ cup juice or water
•

»
Left in outdoor trash Blender STEPS
cans, these wrappers • 8 small paper cups
can easily be blown into • Baking tin (optional) 1 2
the environment, where • Aluminum foil or 8 foil
animals might mistake muffin cups Grab a parent and put the Put the lid on the blender,
them for food. • 8 wooden craft sticks fruit, honey, and juice (or
water) into the blender.
then blend the mixture until
it’s smooth.

3 4 5
Fill the paper cups ¾ full Cover the top of each Carefully poke a craft stick
with the blended mixture. paper cup with a piece of through the center of the
(You can put the cups in a aluminum foil or a foil foil on each cup.
baking tin to keep them muffin cup.
stable while you pour.)

6 7 8
Slide each craft stick Place the cups on a flat Take the cups out of the
about halfway down surface in the freezer for freezer, remove the foil,
into the mixture. about four hours, or until peel away the paper
the mixture is fully frozen. cups, and enjoy!

PLANET
PROTECTOR
TIP You can reuse WATCH A STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO ON DIY ICE POPS! You can also take a
the wooden craft Planet Protector pledge and get tons more Earth-saving tips.
sticks next time you natgeokids.com/KidsVsPlastic
make these treats.

HILARY ANDREWS / NG STAFF (ALL) MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 33

 C RITTER
LEMURS
ARE THE
BEST
LEAPERS.

C HAT
If animals used social media,
what would they say? Follow this
ring-tailed lemur’s day as it
updates its feed. BY ALLYSON SHAW

Ring-Tailed Lemur That sounds gross even to me … and

LIVES IN: Southern Madagascar I live in rotten leaves. Try some
music. Male cockroaches sing—er,
SCREEN NAME: TallTails
hiss—to get my attention. HissHiss
»

FRIENDS:
LABORD’S FOSSA MADAGASCAR
CHAMELEON HISSING Fossas just yowl at each other
COCKROACH to get a date.
TopClaw
Lame much? For
my species, being
colorful is the
best way to
impress.
ColorChange TopClaw HissHiss
#CheckMeOut
ColorChange

10 p.m.

ALL); JAK WONDERLY / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (FOSSA PROFILE, ALL); ALEKSEY STEMMER / SHUTTERSTOCK (COCKROACH PROFILE, ALL); YK / SHUTTER-
PAVEL KOVACS / SHUTTERSTOCK (LEMUR JUMPING); JEARU / SHUTTERSTOCK (LEMUR PROFILE, ALL); NICK GARBUTT / OKAPIA / BIOSPHOTO (CHAMELEON PROFILE,

STOCK (LEMUR SUNBATHING); MARK MOFFETT / MINDEN PICTURES (COCKROACH IN LEAVES); PREMAPHOTOS / ALAMY (CHAMELEON ON BRANCH); ZOOLOGICAL
Z
Z
Z
6 a.m.
START

My troop is heading over to our

Wakey-wakey! sleep cave.
Who’s ready to take a

SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO (FOSSA PUPS); NICK GARBUTT / INDRI IMAGES (YOUNG CHAMELEON); PINGEBAT / SHUTTERSTOCK (CARTOON FACES, ALL)
#SunSalutationSelfie TallTails
with me?
TallTails
Oh, right ... which cave was it again?
TopClaw
I don’t do lemur yoga. But I wouldn’t
say no to lying around and warming
up my cold-blooded body. You know the lemurs keep that a
ColorChange secret—especially from you.
HissHiss
Leaf me out of that Cut me some
sunshine nonsense. slack. I’m just
My happy place is trying to feed my
the dark forest pups—they’re so
floor. HissHiss
cute!
TopClaw

Sunbathing lemurs? Sounds You want to

like a hot breakfast to me. see cute?
TopClaw Check out
this baby!
12 p.m. Ugh—I hate it when two male ColorChange
lemurs try to show off with a
stink fight. They use their smell
to win a date, but is that really Oh, yeah, ColorChange. She’s very …
winning? um ... cute.
TallTails TallTails

34 NAT GEO KIDS • MAY 2019

BACK
TALK
1. Fill in the thought balloon.
2. Cut out the entire picture (or make a photocopy of it).
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.

What do his
t
YOU thinkis
snail
thinking?

FROM THE MAY 2018 ISSUE

Cloudy with a chance Back up! It’s still the OK, next you guys Do you think your
of nose hair! gazelles’ turn! wash me. stripes will wash off?
Landon T., 11 Paige F., 10 Shivam S., 12 Sarah R., 12
Las Vegas, Nevada Anchorage, Alaska Katy, Texas Boardman, Ohio

Do you like my new Free water park!

shower setting? Julia W., 9
Wynne T., 11 Tavares, Florida
Freehold, New Jersey

You have entered the

splash zone. 6. B, 7. D, 8. A, 9. A.
(page 32): 1. B, 2. D, 3. A, 4. C, 5. B,
Ava L., 11 “Stump Your Parents”
Drums, Pennsylvania
beetle, opal, kiwi fruit.
Seriously, guys, how cat’s eye, stadium. Bottom row:
long have you gone window, fish. Middle row: blimp,
(page 30): Top row: jelly bean,
without a bath? “What in the World?”
Emory S., 12
Alabaster, Alabama (page 28): The spy is near.
“Explorer Academy”
Answers

MATEJ KOTULA / SHUTTERSTOCK (SNAILS); JOHAN

SWANEPOEL / SHUTTERSTOCK (ELEPHANT AND ZEBRAS) MAY 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS 35