Innehållsförteckning för Issue 247 från National Geographic Kids (UK)

OCT 12 Each year on the second Sunday of October, contestants from around the world go bonkers for conkers! Ever since 1965, competitors have gathered in the small village of Southwick, Northamptonshire, to try and smash each other’s horse chestnuts off a string. All the conkers are supplied readydrilled and laced by organisers Ashton Conker Club so that no cheating takes place! The winners are crowned King and Queen Conker and are given conker crowns. There's even a junior champ, too. Yay!…

1 WHAT A RACKET Imagine a burp so loud it makes you jump, followed by a snore that rattles the rafters. That’s what the typical bellow of a koala sounds like! “The noise they make is so loud that campers complain about koalas keeping them up all night,” laughs Deborah Tabart, head of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF). So why are they so noisy? Male koalas grunt with gusto to broadcast their whereabouts to distant females or to scare off rivals! 2 MEGA MUNCHERS Koalas don’t live in tall eucalyptus trees just to enjoy the view! They climb up the branches to munch leaves one at a time, eating up to a kilogram each day – that’s the same as ten small bags of salad! The leaves are poisonous to most creatures and…

Stare Down Aaryan Dhakal, 16 “In the heart of the outback, an intense gaze met my lens – an emu, unwavering and unafraid. Its piercing orange eyes locked on to me, a silent challenge in the midday heat. This portrait captures a fleeting moment of curiosity and wild resilience – a stare-down with nature itself.” Powerful Maya Hughes, 15 “‘Birds in flight’ is a favourite photographic subject. This photo conveys strength, grace and adaptation, as the Australian pelican navigates this web of steel and wires to reach its natural habitat. A powerful representation of nature amongst the enormity of transmission towers.” Battle Scarred Oliver Lacey, 15 “This striking male jumping spider carries a battle scar - he’s missing his right-hand palp. Whenever I got too close, he would wave his…

AUSTRALIA SPECIAL! This issue, we hear from our readers down under about their local wildlife… ANIMAL RESCUE! Inspiring stories of kids helping wildlife… BABY BANDICOOTS! Dear Nat Geo Kids, When my dad was mowing the lawn, he found a dead bandicoot (a type of small marsupial). But then, its tummy started to move! We hoped it was still alive. Sadly, no. But… a little pink nose started poking out of her pouch – a baby! We called WIRES (Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service) to find out how to help. We then wrapped mummy bandicoot in a warm towel, put her in a box and drove her to a rescuer nearby. The rescuer discovered FOUR healthy baby bandicoots inside the pouch! After being cared for, they will be released into…

Right now, an uncrewed spacecraft is zooming through our solar system on its way to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. In about 4.5 years, the spacecraft will reach its destination: a moon that’s thought to have a massive liquid ocean underneath its thick, icy crust. The spacecraft – called Europa Clipper – will try to uncover some of the mysterious moon’s secrets. One of the biggest puzzles scientists hope to solve is whether there could be life on Europa. Life doesn’t exist on any other planets or moons that we know of, but scientists want to find out whether the building blocks of life might be hiding in Europa’s ocean. The frozen moon is roughly the size of Earth’s moon, but scientists think its hidden ocean could hold twice as…

1 There are six sloth species, split into two types – two-toed sloths and smaller three-toed sloths. You can tell them apart by counting the number of claws on their hands! All wild sloths live in the rainforests of Central and South America. 2 In the treetops, sloths are famously slow movers – travelling just 35m per day to forage for leaves, twigs and buds. But in water, they're strong swimmers! After dropping out of trees into rivers, they use their long arms to paddle along in search of a mate or new territory. 3 The forest floor is a risky place for a sloth, as they can't walk or run — only drag themselves along with their hooklike claws. Yet, once a week, all three-toed sloths take a long trip…

Aboriginal Peoples have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years – and their rich and diverse cultures are still alive today! There are over 250 distinct groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,* each with their own languages, laws, beliefs and customs. But what links them all is a deep connection to the land, kinship, and an ancient philosophy known as the Dreaming. Read on to learn more… *The Torres Strait Islands are between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. AN ANCIENT LIVING HISTORY Scientists and archaeologists have found evidence of First Peoples going back for millennia, in rock art, ancient tools, and stone shelters. But Aboriginal Peoples have always kept their history alive, through song, dance and storytelling, passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Together,…

Did you know that the Moon’s orbit (movement around the Earth) ISN’T in the shape of a circle? It’s actually elliptical, more like an oval, and that means the Moon’s distance from Earth varies as it travels around our planet. At its furthest point, the Moon is about 406,000km away from Earth. But at its closest, it’s around 356,000km away. When the Moon is at its closest point AND is also full, it looks extra big and bright and we call it a supermoon. Superstition says that a supermoon causes everything from madness to flooding. But don’t worry – there’s zero evidence that this phenomenon has any effect on people’s behaviour! Supermoons can, however, slightly affect our ocean’s tides. The pull of the Moon’s gravity causes oceans to bulge out towards…

You might want to work together with a grown-up to complete this puzzle! TOP TIP! If you get stuck on one of the clues, move on to some others. You can go back to it when you’ve got extra letters! CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Stick or fix to (6) 4 Someone who claims they can read minds or predict what will happen in the future (7) 9 Say. Also complete or total (5) 10 The things that go into a recipe (11) 13 A plantation of fruit trees (7) 14 Armed conflict (3) 15 Sign up for something, like a course or school (5) 16 A challenge to do something brave (or silly!) (4) 17 A measurement of electricity named after Italian scientist Alessandro Volta (4) 18 Type of power obtained from splitting atoms (7) 21 Classical musical theatre with powerful…

'Cute' ancient whale discovery! Palaeontologists have identied a new species of prehistoric whale – describing the 2m-long mammal as 'cute, but definitely not harmless!' Though it's small compared to many modern whales, which can grow up to 30m long, scientists say the dolphin-sized beast was a fearsome predator with razor-sharp teeth, tennis-ball-sized eyes and a powerful, compact body. Gulp! Named Janjucetus dullardi, it swam in the warm, shallow seas off the coast of Victoria, Australia, over 24 million years ago. The species was described from a single skull fossil found in 2019 by amateur fossil hunter Ross Dullard. His discovery is recognisedin the creature's scientic name – dullardi! Longest lightning flash! News flash! There's a new record for the longest ever bolt of lightning - a whopping 829km long. This 'megaflash'…

Rainbow Lorikeet on a Grass Tree Brandon Pasowicz Wow, we can see why this colourful bird got its name! Photographer Brandon spotted the bright rainbow lorikeet feeding on the tall flowering buds of grass trees in Western Australia. Its vibrant shades contrast beautifully with the towering spikes and blue sky. Making a Splash Etienne Littlefair Etienne was exhilarated to see this secretive predator – an Australian freshwater crocodile – walking directly towards him in the Northern Territory. “Staying VERY still, I cautiously captured its distinctive arched walk,” he recalls. “Suddenly, the croc lunged, seizing a fish. It then retreated to deeper water.” Phew! Bonnets Hugh Percival These intriguing plants are bonnet orchids, lit up by UV light on a summer night in Sydney’s bushland. Under this strange light, a striking…

1872–1879 David Unaipon was born on 8 September 1872, the fourth of nine children. His home in Point McLeay, near Adelaide, South Australia, was the site of a ‘mission’ – a place where First Nations Australians were given a ‘western’ style education and converted to Christianity. His dad, a Ngarrindjeri man, had become a preacher there, and so David started at the mission’s school aged seven, where, as well as learning about the religion, he gained practical skills like how to make boots and play the church organ. He was a natural and it took him no time at all to learn how to play tricky tunes! The mission also had lots of science books in its library and David loved to get stuck into them. 1885–1890 David left school…

This astonishing image shows the swirling remains of a dead star, nicknamed the Spaghetti Nebula because of its tangled strands of gas and dust. Also known as Simeis 147, this mysterious area of the Milky Way contains leftovers from a giant explosion over 40,000 years ago. It was created when a massive star, at least eight times larger than our Sun, went supernova – producing a powerful blast of light and heat that marked the end of the star's life. After the cosmic catastrophe ended, this vast, billowing cloud was left behind. To capture the dim light of the nebula, astrophotographer Shaoyu Zhang used a powerful telescope and special filters that intensified its bright blue hues. They spent over six days taking photos to eventually capture the full image. Epic!…

MATHS MIX Can you find the answer to each of these sums? CLUE! The answers are all here… INSECT HUNT Can you place the types of insect listed here in this grid? We’ve added some letters to get you started! ATLAS MOTH BOTANY BAY WEEVIL DAMSELFLY FIREFLY LADYBIRD  ORCHID MANTIS RAILROAD WORM THORN BUG TIGER BEETLE TRAP-JAW ANT SEARCH & FIND Take a look at this picture and see if you can find all the things listed! WORD LADDER Can you change 'DOG' to 'CAT' by changing one letter at a time? Each step must form a real word and have the same number of letters. WORD SWAPS Can you spot the synonyms in these panels? Draw a line from each word in the blue panel to the word that…