Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

Islands can be tropical or arctic or anywhere in between. Living on an island has its own challenges and rewards. Here are five facts to get you started. 1 The tree kangaroo is aptly named because it is the only kangaroo known to live in trees. The Matschie’s tree kangaroo lives in the trees on the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea. These endangered macropods spend about 60% of their time sleeping. 2 To help meet its need for water, Singapore uses a process called water reclamation, which recycles water from liquid waste. Water from industrial plants, kitchens, and even bathrooms is filtered and treated with ultraviolet light to remove unwanted particles. The process supplies about 40% of the country’s water usage. 3 When an island called Krakatau (also called…

Water, essential for life, surrounds the island of Singapore in Southeast Asia. Yet, because it is salty, no one can drink it. From where, then, do Singaporeans get their water? Water Worries Until the 1960s, Singapore drew on two sources for drinkable water. Rain was one. Drenching the island almost daily, it feeds the city’s lakes and rivers. But these reservoirs proved too tiny for Singapore’s burgeoning population. They were also very polluted. In fact, residents joked that blind people could “see” the main Singapore River by its smell. The bulk of the water, however, was imported from neighboring Malaysia. Pipes carried groundwater across Malaysia's Strait of Malacca to Singapore. After Singapore's independence, Malaysia threatened to stop sending water if the new nation's foreign policies didn’t favor it. Additionally, the…

“What’s for breakfast?” you ask. “Ackee and saltfish, mon,” your Jamaican host replies. “Plantation breakfast and matrimony, okay?” “Matrimony? Wait a minute, I’m too young to get married . . . “ “This is matrimony,” he laughs, pointing to a large bowl of sliced tropical fish soaking in sweetened cream. “Tonight, we feast on Solomon Grundy and bammy [BA-mee].” “Solomon Grundy? Who’s he?” To nyam, or eat Jamaican-style, is both a delicious—and humorous—experience. Homegrown Jamaican cuisine is a mixture of African, Chinese, Indian, and European influences combined with a bountiful assortment of the island’s fruits and vegetables. The Taino were the first Jamaicans to grill fish and meat over open flames. Taino boats carried cassava, corn, yams, callaloo (a spinach-like plant), and several tropical fruits to the island. Spanish and…

Materials: Canvas and acrylic paint Paint palette Acrylic paint brushes Easel or table surface or Watercolor paper and paint Paint palette Watercolor paint brushes Water Painting board and masking tape or painter’s tape STEP 1—Pick an Island Decide what kind of island you would like to create. Is it calm and relaxing or wild and adventurous? Maybe the island is mysterious, dangerous, and full of harsh elements. The colors you select will help convey a mood. When we think of island living, we might imagine clear turquoise waters surrounding cream-colored beaches and palm trees waving in the warm ocean breeze. The sun turns all the colors light and pastel. Other islands might be foreboding with high cliffs plunging down to giant waves crashing against huge rocks. The wind is raging,…

About one in six people on EARTH lives on an island. GREENLAND (836,300 square miles) is the world’s largest island. MANITOULIN ISLAND in ONTARIO, CANADA, is the largest island in a lake. PUNCAK JAYA (16,024 feet) on NEW GUINEA is the highest point on an island. The largest uninhabited island is DEVON ISLAND in NUNAVUT, CANADA. FRASER ISLAND is the largest sand island. FRANCHETTI ISLAND in ETHIOPIA is the lowest-lying island. INDONESIA is the world’s largest island country by area and population. More than 130 million people live on JAVA, the world’s most populated island. An ARCHIPELAGO is a group of islands. The largest archipelago on Earth is INDONESIA. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection was greatly influenced b the research he did on the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. NAURU…

Imagine an island where cats outnumber people. Does it sound like something from a cartoon or a Japanese manga story? Welcome to Tashirojima, a small island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan’s To¯hoku region. It’s a great place to be a cat. Not only does the cat population number in the thousands, much larger than the island’s human population of about 100 people, but these cats are fed and taken care of by both residents and tourists. The Japanese in general have had a long relationship with cats. There are other cat shrines all over Japan, and many folktales feature cats as well. But how did Tashirojima get to be Cat Island? At one time, the island’s main industry was fishing. The fishing nets were woven from…

Game On! The Island Games is a biannual, multi-sport competition that features athletes from islands around the world that are part of the International Islands Games Association (IIGA). Events include archery, swimming, volleyball, and basketball. The first games were held in 1985 as the “Inter-Island Games.” They were intended to be a one-time celebration for the Isle of Man International Year of Sport. The most recent games were held in Gibraltar in 2019. About 2,000 athletes from 22 islands competed in 14 sports. The island of Jersey, located in the English Channel, has won the most gold medals in the Games’ 18-year history. Of the 23 current IIGA members, only Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have also sent athletes to the Olympic games. Mark Cavendish, who won gold in cycling…

Question: What do you get when you cross a kangaroo, a koala, and a bear? Answer: A tree kangaroo You read that correctly. The tree kangaroo is the only macropod (kangaroo or one of its relatives) that is known to live in trees. Let’s find out about Matschie's tree kangaroo, which is found on the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea. Climbing High Matschie’s tree kangaroos live in mountainous cloud forests at elevations of up to 11,000 feet. They spend a lot of time munching on leaves, fruit, flowers, ferns, and mosses in treetops that tower as high as ten-story buildings. That leaves about 60% of their time for their favorite activity—catnapping in the canopy. These solitary animals live on their own or in small groups, often made up of…

LET’S TALK GEOGRAPHY You probably know that an island is a piece of land with water all around it, but did you know that the land does NOT float on the water? It is actually land that sticks up from the bottom of the sea. There are two main types of islands: oceanic and continental. Oceanic islands, located far out in the ocean, are usually the tops of underwater volcanoes. These volcanic islands are formed when underwater volcanoes erupt. Red-hot, molten rock pours over the mound, quickly cools, and then hardens in the water. Over time, the layers build up into a big, cone-shaped mountain. At the top of the cone is the island. But not all islands are volcanoes. Continental islands are close to continents because they used to…