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3 Check It Out! 4 Humpy, Stiff-Legged Cud Chewer 6 10 Wild Facts 8 Scaly, Armored Beast 9 Magnificent Marsupials 10 Sticky Water 11 The Non-Boring Wild Boar 12 Tracking Wild Animals 16 Eats Ninety Pounds of Food a Day! 18 Puzzles 20 Babies of Antarctica 21 African Animal Artists 22 Draw an African Elephant 24 Long-Necked Wonders 25 Giraffe Manor 26 Riddles & Rhymes 27 Max & Gracie 28 Kids Corner 29 Big, Ugly, and Scary 30 Puzzle Solutions 2
Answer each question with an animal found in this issue.
H
ey, kids, suppose we hop on a plane and take a trip around our Earth. If we landed on each continent, we’d discover a variety of animals. (Look by the page numbers to see the shape and name of a continent they call home.) Some may only live in one place. Come with me. Visit our Wild Animal Planet. After reading this issue, enter the contest. If you answer all the questions correctly, we will send you a surprise with your next issue of Fun For Kidz. You will find all the answers in this issue. Check our Facebook page for extra hints. Good luck!
Which animal: 1. has teeth that never stop growing? 2. has a long purple-black tongue and can go for days without drinking water? 3. has two toes on each broad foot? 4. lives in a rookery and stands on its parent’s feet? 5. is weighed down with body armor like a knight but doesn’t ride a horse? 6. has big feet and cannot walk backward? 7. is furry and climbs and hugs trees but is not a bear? 8. was once used to predict the weather before the groundhog? 9. uses its tongue to keep its ears cleaned out? 10. jumps straight up vertically to scare others away?
Email your answers to: contest@funforkidz.com Or, mail your answers to: Contest, Fun For Kidz, PO Box 227, Bluffton, OH 45817-0227. Your answers must be received by June 15, 2016.
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. ith, Ed.D m S e v ie Genev
Imagine walking across the hot desert carrying 500 pounds. Think how thirsty and tired you would get! The camel travels across the sands of the world carrying heavy loads. Both legs move forward on one side at the same time. Then the legs on the other side move forward. The ride is rocky and can make you seasick. You can describe a camel like this: pop-up eyes, droopy jaws, a split upper lip, stiff legs, and a shaggy coat. His disposition is as sour as a lemon. He grumbles when he moves, squealing and grunting continually. Sometimes, he kicks or bites. A cud chewer like a cow, he may spit a mouthful in your face. He is smelly too! The camel’s famous hump is his pantry. It weighs about 80 pounds and is made of tissue and fat. When the camel has plenty to eat, the hump fills up with fat. Camels do not store water in their humps. But when food and water are scarce, the fat turns into energy and water. Then the hump shrivels up. Camels can drink as much as 25 gallons of water at a time. Their bodies keep most of the water they drink instead of sweating it out. People have used camels to carry things far distances for thousands of years. The hair is spun and woven into cloth to make garments, tents, rugs, or rope. His droppings are used for building huts or making fuel. Camels who are working animals are fed grain, dates, and dried hay. When moving across the desert, camels eat seeds, pods, and dried leaves. A camel’s upper lip reaches out to grab the thorny branches of desert plants.
Asia
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Babies are called calves. They have wooly coats and can stand up when born. In a week, their wobbly legs get stronger. When a baby is a few months old, he learns to have a blanket put on his back. He also learns how to stand and kneel on command. At the age of six years, camels will learn to carry baggage. Camels are called the “ships of the desert” because they carry people, baggage, and produce. People could not live in the deserts of North Africa, Arabia, and Mongolia if it weren’t for camels. Today airplanes and motor vehicles transport things in these areas, but the camel is an expert on sandy roads. They are treasured because they perform work that no other animal can do and have been servants longer than any other creature.
Two Kinds of Camels The Dromedary camel has one hump on its back. Thick hair protects it from blowing sands in North Africa, the Middle East, and countries like India and Pakistan. Callouses on its knees protect the legs when it kneels. Broad feet with two toes keep it from sinking in the sand. Two sets of long lashes protect the eyes during sandstorms. They can shut their slanted nostrils to keep out flying sand. Camels with longer legs and a slimmer build are used for riding. They can be seven feet tall at the hump and can weigh over 1000 pounds. Bactrian camels have two humps on their back. They have longer hair and heavier bodies to help them live in the cold winters of North Central Asia. The Bactrian camel also has tough footpads and kneepads and long eyelashes. The female’s rich milk is used for drinking and making cheese. The camel meat is eaten too. These camels are shorter than Dromedaries, but can weigh 2000 pounds!
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Scaly, Armored Beast by Susan Richardson Dressed in a suit of scaly armor, the nine-banded armadillo snorts and snuffles along the forest floor. The strange animal is looking for ants, worms, and other tasty morsels hiding beneath the leaves. As it forages, the armadillo pauses to dig and explore more thoroughly. Something squirms under the loose dirt. Immediately, a long, sticky tongue extends to grab the fat, juicy grub. Yum! Gentle and strangely adorable, the armadillo is a fascinating wild animal. It is the only North American mammal covered with bony plates and small, hard scales. The protective shell does not cover the armadillo’s soft belly, though. Although it cannot see very well, the armadillo senses that a predator is watching. A hungry hawk swoops low. The armadillo bolts toward a thicket of thorny vines and frantically starts digging a burrow to hide in. With strong front legs and large, sharp claws, the armadillo throws up soil with amazing speed, kicking it away with its hind feet. Soon the frightened armadillo is “Armadillo” means “little armored safe. When there’s no time to escape predators, the armadillo one” in Spanish. presses its belly firmly to the ground and holds on tight, like a tough lump. When startled, an armadillo jumps vertically into the air, scaring a predator. This little mammal can hold its breath for six minutes! This is very useful when digging or walking across a shallow stream. The armadillo swallows air to inflate its stomach and intestines. This makes it able to float! By floating and paddling like a dog, the armadillo swims across small creeks and ponds. Usually, though, the armadillo keeps its long snout to the ground and its big claws in the earth.
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Can you see the nine bands of scales around the middle?
Australia is home to extraordinary wild animals found nowhere else on Earth. Some are marsupials, animals with pouches. Marsupial babies, called “joeys,” are born undeveloped. They are blind, hairless, and as small as a jelly bean. A joey spends months in its mother’s pouch until it’s fully developed.
Koalas • Don’t call them “koala bears”! These tree-hugging mammals are not bears at all. • Koalas survive on a diet of leaves from certain eucalyptus and gum trees. The leaves provide so little energy, koalas sleep 20 hours a day! • To help with digestion, koalas eat dirt once in a while.
Kangaroos • A kangaroo’s springy hind legs are much larger and stronger than its forelimbs. Its powerful tail is used for balance and steering. Large feet help kangaroos achieve those pogo-stick leaps. • When grazing for grass, leaves, and flowers to eat, a kangaroo forms a tripod with its tail and two forelimbs. Then it moves its feet forward and “crawl-walks.” • Kangaroos cannot walk backward!
Wallabies • Wallabies use their hind legs and tail for hopping, like their kangaroo cousins. Also like kangaroos, they can swim! • Some kinds of wallabies are as small as a rabbit. Others grow to be almost six feet long from head to tail. They are shy, but curious. • Wallabies thump their tails or hind legs to warn other wallabies of danger.
Wombats • These pudgy, stubby-tailed animals dig burrows with their sharp claws. Most wombats live alone in their burrows. • Wombats are expert kickers! They use their strong hind legs to drive off predators. • Their front teeth never stop growing. A diet of bark and roots keeps the teeth filed down.
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