Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 119: Minibeast Safari

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

Build a bug hotel Make an insect pooter

t s a e b i n i M i r a f Sa

Meet jungle creepy crawlies

C ra f t a g ba l a n c i n b u t t e rf l y WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 119

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

Emmi

WELCOME!

Let’s go on a minibeast safari!

Get set for a bug-tastic adve nture! In this edition of Whizz Pop Bang, we’re heading into the undergrowth to explore a hidden world of incredible cr eatures. Make a pooter and a pit fall trap to collect minibea sts. At tract insects to your garden with a bug hotel and a butterfly banq uet. Experimen t with surface tension – pond sk aters’ secret to walking on water. Cut out and make a ba lancing butterfly, plus loads of creepy crawly puzzles!

EXPERT SCIENCE ADVISERS

As well as our writers, we also have a team of science advisers who help to ensure that our content is accurate, up-to-date and relevant. Our advisers include: palaeontologist Steve Brusatte; molecular microbiologist Matt Hutchings; robotics engineer Abbie Hutty; mechanical engineer Aimee Morgans; GP Dr Cathy Scott; astronomer Mark Thompson; physicist Dr Jess Wade; child psychologist Dr Naira Wilson.

To find out more, go to whizzpopbang.com/about

Where you see this symbol, use a QR code reader on a phone or tablet to visit a relevant web page.

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WHIZZ POP BANG is only available by subscription. If you haven’t subscribed yet, simply go to whizzpopbang.com and sign up for as little as £4.59 per magazine, including UK delivery.

Back issues are available to purchase at whizzpopbang.com/shop With the help of Whizz Pop Bang magazine, just imagine what your child might one day discover!

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EDUCATORS

Welcome to WHIZZ POP BANG – the magazine bursting with enticing articles, mind-boggling facts and hands-on experiments to get your child hooked on science! Whizz Pop Bang is a gender-neutral magazine with plenty of inspirational male and female scientists and content that appeals to all children.

The magazine is ideal for home educators and it’s linked to the National Curriculum too, for use in schools. Whizz Pop Bang will help with literacy development as well. Transform science teaching in your school with our hands-on science and reading resources. Our downloadable lesson packs link fun science experiments and reading with key curriculum topics for years 2-6. Subscribe at whizzpopbang.com/schools

!

All experiments have been tried and tested by our team.

The activities should be done under close adult supervision and are done at your own risk. Launchpad Publishing Ltd cannot accept liability for damage done.

Indicates content linked to the National Curriculum

Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ © 2025 Launchpad Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents of WHIZZ POP BANG without written permission is prohibited. Illustrations: © 2025 Clive Goodyer

©S hu tt

Editor-in-Chief: Jenny Inglis Editor: Tammy Osborne Designer: Rachael Fisher Illustrator: Clive Goodyer Contributors: Anna Emslie, Joe Inglis, Tara Pardo, Harry Pettit and Joanna Tubbs

I’m looking for butterflies, like Margaret Fountaine!

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WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

CONTENTS k.

AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS Nature’s superdads, hints of an alien world and a caterpillar with a gruesome disguise!

MINIBEAST SAFARI

Make a pooter and a pitfall trap and head outside to discover some magnificent minibeasts.

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ANIMAL ANTICS

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6

4

Are you scared of spiders? Confront your fears and meet some of these incredible creatures.

14 16 17

12

HOW STUFF WORKS

Find out how tiny termites build mighty mounds taller than you!

Atom

EMMI’S ECO CLUB

Welcome wildlife into your garden by building a bug hotel.

PULLOUT

Craft a balancing butterfly and record the minibeasts you find in our pullout worksheet.

22

WALKING ON WATER

Make your own pond skater and put surface tension to the test.

TEN AWESOMELY AMAZING…

jungle creepy crawlies! Check out these mind-boggling minibeasts.

26

SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS

Meet Margaret Fountaine, a Victorian rebel who chased butterflies around the world.

30

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I’d love to see pictures of your experiments! Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com – they could be featured in the magazine!

35

SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

32 34

The giant swallowtail butterfly is a beauty. But when it’s a caterpillar, it looks like a pile of poo!

28

Y’S WONDER CLUB

Ask our robot, Y, your burning science questions and share all of your adventures in science with the club.

QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION

Test your knowledge with our super-duper science quiz and win a copy of the new Beastie Bros adventure.

JOKES AND ANSWERS

Laugh out loud at some awesome jokes and find the answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

FIND THE SCIENCE EQUIPMENT Hidden on each double page is a piece of science equipment. Tick each one to find the complete kit!

s Awesome New cts and Amazing Fa

S D A D R E P U S NATURE’S It’s Father’s Day on June 15th, when we celebrate our dads and others who help to take care of us. So, let’s take a look at some of nature’s best dads!

While the mums swim off in search of food,

Emperor penguin

Emu dads build nests for their eggs then

guard them for eight weeks until they hatch. Dad then follows his chicks around for the next six or seven months, teaching them how to find food and defending them fiercely when necessary, until they are old enough to survive alone.

Male seahorses are one of the only animal dads to get pregnant and give birth. The female lays her eggs in dad’s pouch and 20 days later he gives birth to not one but hundreds of baby seahorses!

Golden lion tamarin dads help to look after their babies by carrying them around on their backs and feeding them fruit when they’re big enough to eat solid food.

© By Greg Hume - Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons . wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid =17771082

dads patiently wait for two months, with their precious egg balanced on their feet against their warm tummies.

When the chick hatches, dad feeds it special milk from his throat until mum returns.

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© A. Smith/N. Mandhusudhan

Those lumps on the back of a male giant water bug are his children! After mating, the female glues the eggs onto dad’s back. He keeps them clean and safe until they’re ready to hatch.

CREEPY CATERPILLAR’S GRISLY DISGUISE

wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid

=17771082

ALIEN EVIDENCE?

© A. Smith/N. Mandhusudhan

Astrophysicists have said they may have found evidence of life on a faraway planet. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the researchers claim to have detected chemicals in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b that are only produced by living organisms here on Earth. But, having re-analysed the data, other scientists think these chemicals may not be there at all. K2-18b lies 124 light years away (around 744 trillion miles), in the constellation of Leo. Because it is so far away, astrophysicists can’t visit it – they can only analyse light that has passed through the planet’s atmosphere for tell-tale signs of these chemicals. Other scientists think that K2-18b might be too hot to support life.

A pair of ‘bone collector’ caterpillars.

© University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

Scientists have discovered a caterpillar in Hawaii that lives in spiderwebs and wears a disguise made from the body parts of the spider’s prey! Almost all caterpillars are herbivores (plant eaters), but this one – nicknamed the ‘bone collector’ – is a carnivore (meat eater).

It stalks spiderwebs for food whilst dressed in the remains of its prey so that the hungry spider won’t spot it. As if that wasn’t gruesome enough, the bone collector is also a cannibal, feasting on other caterpillars if given half a chance! Sadly, these unlikely creatures are already critically endangered. Scientists think they used to be more widespread, but they’re now only found in one patch of Hawaiian forest.

BOY DIGS UP FOSSILS… IN HIS OWN GARDEN! Seven-year-old Elliot, from Matlock in Derbyshire, was digging in his front garden when he unearthed limestone rocks containing ammonite fossils thought to be at least 140 million years old! Ammonites were ocean creatures which lived when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

All other photographs © Shutterstock.com

You can find loads of

fossils on beaches or in quarries.

If you’d like to find an ammonite fossil, try Lyme Regis in Dorset or Runswick Bay in Yorkshire.

t s a e b i n i M i r a f Sa

Let’s go on a...

Pith helmets g and magnifyin glasses at the ready - we’re i! going on safar

Some insects c an bite or st ing, so avoid ha ndling them dire ctly!

A SECRET WORLD AWAITS YOU… Your garden and local park are home to multitudes of amazing creatures! Head outside to see what you can find.

Use the flow chart and worksheet in the pullout section (pages 17-20) to identify and record your findings.

All you really need is a curious mind and a bit of patience, but these things will also come in handy: A magnifying glass A paintbrush to pick up minibeasts without

hurting them

A rake or stick for moving dead leaves and stones Some see-through plastic pots or jars to collect

minibeasts in

WHAT IS A MINIBEAST?

Not all bugs are insects! Although insects come in thousands of shapes and sizes, they all have some features in common: six legs, a hard exoskeleton (like a suit of armour) and three body sections (called the head, thorax and abdomen). Most (but not all) have wings.

Gardens and parks are also home to many other minibeasts – small invertebrates (animals without backbones) like spiders, woodlice, centipedes, millipedes, slugs, snails and worms.

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t

E H W

R E TO LO O K

Here are some ideas to get you started…

Under piles of dead leaves Under rotting logs, stones Tip: and flowerpots Keep your creepy crawly specimens In trees and shrubs separate from your In the grass slimy specimens On walls and paving stones In the soil In nettle patches Around flowers

LAY A PITFALL TRAP This is a great way of co llecting minibeasts – just make sur e you check it regularly and rel ease anything you’ve caught.

Yo u will need

jam jar or a large, clean yogurt pot A A trowel A small piece of food for bait (e.g. fruit or cheese) A few large leaves Four similar sized stones A tile, piece of wood or large plastic lid

W h a t y o u do

About 75% of all known animal species are insects.

Answer on page 34

This worm is heading to the surface but there are hungry birds about!

Which route should the worm take to avoid becoming a bird’s breakfast?

Check your answer on page 34.

1. Choose a location close to varied vegetation (i.e. wild plants and bushes. Not in the middle of the lawn).

2. Dig a hole in the ground the same size as your jar and push the jar into the hole, making sure that the top is exactly level with the ground.

3. Place the bait in the jar and arrange the leaves over the top, to provide shelter and somewhere to hide from predators.

4. Position the four stones around the trap and place the roof over the top to protect the animals you catch from the rain. If you use a plastic lid, put another stone on top to stop it blowing away.

5. Check your trap the following day and see what you’ve caught! If you leave your trap there you’ll need to check it every couple of hours to rescue any creatures that fall in.

Remove the trap when you’ve finished using it.

ON THE TRAIL

You might spot a trail of ants, all following each other like a class on their way to assembly. They are actually following pheromones – smelly chemicals that other ants leave behind to guide the rest of the colony towards food or back home to their nest.

Try placing a piece of fruit nearby and watching them create a new trail towards it!

THE GALL OF IT! Have a look underneath leaves on trees and bushes – oak trees are especially good – and see if you can spot any strange little growths.

These are called galls. Some insects release chemicals that make plants grow a home for their grubs (babies) to develop inside.

These galls on an oak leaf are made by a tiny wasp

Rearrange the letters below to reveal some minibeasts you might find on your safari. Check your answers on page 34.

STAN

––––

MOWSR

–––––

PRIDSES

–––––––

PIDNECEETS – – – – – – – – – – CELDOIOW

What do you call a fly without wings?

A walk!

––––––––

Crickets have ears on their feet.

Answer on page 34

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Line a baking tray with white paper.

Hold it under a leafy branch and ask a friend to give the branch a good shake (or hit it with a stick if it’s too high to reach). Any minibeasts that fall out of the branch will be much easier to see against the white background.

MAKE YOUR OWN POOTER What’s a pooter?

It’s a handy devic e for collecting insects, so that you can lo ok at them without touc hing or harming th em.

Yo u will need

clear plastic tub A with a lid, such as a clean, dry hummus pot Sticky tape A ballpoint pen Modelling clay or sticky tack

S cissors A paper straw (the wider the better), or make one by rolling up and taping thin card Some old, thin tights or muslin

What you do 1. Make a hole in each side of the tub by pushing the pen through the plastic into a large lump of modelling clay or sticky tack.

2. Cut the straw in half and push one half into one of the holes, holding it in place with sticky tack if necessary.

Match the bug shadows on Riley's tray. Check your answers on page 34.

3. Cut 2-3 cm off the other half of the straw, put to one side and cut a 2-cm-long slit down one side of the piece that’s left. Push this through the other hole in the tub (slit end first).

4. Cut out a small piece of fabric from the tights or muslin, about 3 cm x 3 cm. Cover the slit end of the straw with the fabric, then push the 2 cm section over it to hold it on (the slit should make this section narrower, so that it fits inside). Replace the lid.

5. To catch small insects, point the uncovered straw at the insect and suck gently on the other straw to pull it into the tub.

Remember to set us free after you’ve had a good look!

The pooter is named after American entomologist (insect scientist) Dr William Poos!

He invented it in the 1920s.

MINIBEAST BABIES When you were a baby, you looked pretty much the same as you do now – just a lot smaller! Some minibeast babies, like worms, spiders and woodlice, look like small versions of the adults. But some minibeast babies look VERY different. Minibeasts like butterflies, beetles and flies hatch as larvae (e.g. caterpillars and maggots), then undergo metamorphosis. They emerge from their hard pupa looking completely different!

Most of a caterpillar’s body turns to liquid inside the chrysalis.

WHOSE BABY? Can you match these insects to their babies?

Check your answers on page 34.

All photography © Shutterstock.com

1

A

2

B

3

C

4

D

5

E

6

F

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Answer on page 34

What happens if you eat caterpillars?

You get butterflies in your tummy!

BUTTERFLY BANQUET

DISAPPEARING MINIBEASTS

Over recent years, the number of minibeasts in the UK – particularly insects like bees, ants and butterflies – has fallen.

These insects do important work pollinating plants. Without them, crops like apples, cucumbers and cocoa beans (for making chocolate) could disappear too. Insects also provide food for birds, bats and frogs, so their loss affects other wildlife too.

Here’s how you can

help

Choose organic food

er Grow a wildflow jungle for bees and

rden, butterflies in your ga nt pla a window box or a lower pot. You can buy wildf res. nt ce seeds from garden

et your grass grow L to long – minibeasts love hide in it.

-killing

Say no to insect

sprays – welcome

minibeasts into your

garden.

own when you can. It’s gr without the use of cides. insect-harming pesti

t

Leave piles of logs ou

their for beetles to make bug a ild homes in – or bu to hotel (turn to page 16 find out how!).

Butterflies normal ly feed on the swee t nectar found insid e flowers, but you ca n attract more butt erflies to your gard en or window ledge with this tasty trea t.

Yo u will need n old sponge A ¼ cup of sugar 1 cup of warm water

What you do 1. Mix the sugar into the warm water and stir until it is completely dissolved.

2. Break the sponge into pieces.

3. Soak the pieces of sponge in the sugar solution.

4. Place the sugary sponges on a branch or an outside windowsill and wait for the butterflies to visit.

Send photos of any butterflies you spot to Y@whizzpopbang.com – they could be featured in the magazine!

Spiders

AL ANIM S TIC

AN

You may think of spiders as creepy and scary, but in fact they are amazing animals with some awesome super-powers!

Spiders belong to a group of animals called arachnids.

They have two body segments (a cephalothorax – say sef-a-lo-thor-ax – and an abdomen), eight legs and no wings. There are a whopping 43,000 different species of spider in the world!

Wonderful webs Spiders spin silk from special glands called spinnerets at the back end of their abdomen.

Many spiders use this amazingly strong material to build webs to catch insects, but some use it for climbing, building protective sacs for their eggs and making ropes called draglines that they can use to climb up if they fall. Most spiders’ vision isn’t that good, so many of them also use their silk fibres to find their prey, feeling the vibrations through their legs when animals get trapped in their webs.

Meet the family Spiders are part of the arthropod family of animals and their relations include lobsters, crabs, shrimps and barnacles. Imagine what a family Christmas would be like with all the arthropod family together! © Garmasheva Natalia / Shutterstock.com

Spiders turn their prey into soup.

Answer on page 34

12 whizzpopbang.com

I’m surfing the web!

Fangs very much

Growing pains

Spiders are carnivores, which means they eat other animals, and most spiders use poison to paralyse or kill their prey. The poison is injected into their victims through their fangs. Luckily most spider poison is too weak to hurt people, but there are some species whose venom can be fatal. Luckily none of these live in the UK!

Unlike mammals, spiders don’t have bones inside their body.

Instead they have a hard outer shell or exoskeleton to support their weight. The trouble with exoskeletons is that they can’t grow, so young spiders have to shed their outer shells and make new ones every few months as they get bigger. This process is called moulting.

Hunters Not all spiders use webs to catch prey. Some are hunters that chase or jump on their prey. Others lay traps. Most spiders eat insects but some species have evolved to prey on much bigger animals including bats, mice, fish, birds and even snakes.

The world’s largest recorded spider was a male goliath bird-eating spider collected in Venezuela in April 1965. It had a leg span of 28 cm – enough to cover a dinner plate!

How many spiders can you spot? Write your answer here and check it on page 34.

HOW STUFF

WORKS 1 2

Termite Mounds Built by millions of tiny insects, termite mounds are huge structures reaching up to 3 m tall and 10 m across at the base.

They are found across South America as well as in Africa and Australia and they can be hundreds of years old. Here’s how these miniature builders create such incredible homes…

Termite mounds are built by colonies of mound-building termites, which are small insects each around 5-10 mm in length.

Construction work is done by blind, wingless worker termites who collect soil, animal dung and plant material in their mouths. They mix it with their saliva to create balls of material called boluses.

3

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The worker termites drop the sticky boluses at the construction site, adding them to the growing structure, like bricks being laid as a house is built.

Scientists have found a region in Northeast Brazil around the size of Great Britain that contains an amazing 200 million termite mounds, some of which are nearly 4,000 years old!

The mound grows over many years as generations of workers add to the structure and repair damage from rain and predators, such as giant anteaters, who dig into the walls of termite mounds and suck up the insects with their super-long tongues. © esdeem / Shutterstock.com

4

Although they look solid, termite mounds are full of tiny holes which allow air to circulate around inside.

5

At the heart of each mound is a central chimney, which is connected to lots of smaller passageways throughout the walls of the mound.

6

The chimney and smaller passages are the mound’s

ventilation system. The difference in temperature between

the hot day and the cooler night drives air currents through the inside of the mound and makes sure the inhabitants have plenty of fresh air to breathe, even in the deepest chambers.

7

Despite building such amazing structures above ground, the termites actually spend most of their lives living in the nest chambers beneath the surface of the ground where they store their food (mainly bits of wood – yum!).

8 9

The nest chambers are also home to fungus gardens, which the termites cultivate and eat as an additional food source.

At the bottom of the nest is the royal chamber where the king and queen termites live. The queen spends her whole life producing eggs – as often as one every three seconds, for up to 15 years!

10

Tunnels from the nest to the outside world are used by the termites to head out in search of building materials or food.

11

Below the nest, up to 1.5 m underground, is the cellar, which is specially designed to absorb moisture from the colony above and use it to cool the air around the nest.

whizzpopbang.com 15

b... clu O C E

Emmi’s Welcome wildlife into your garden by building a minibeast haven!

B U G H OT E L

Yo u will need Drill Saw Gardening gloves Scissors

hree wooden planks of the same T size (we used 50 cm x 20 cm) One larger wooden plank (we used 60 cm x 25 cm) Four matching pairs of objects (e.g. bricks, pieces of wood, old flower pots, stones) to use as ‘shelf spacers’ Clean plastic bottles Bamboo canes Thick cardboard Ruler

1

A selection of the following: Old pots, tiles, mugs, etc Small logs Dry leaves Bark Sticks Feathers Dry grass Stones

2 Wear gardening gloves for this activity, especially when handling wood and broken pots!

ious sizes Ask an adult to drill holes of var any logs and (between 2 mm and 10 mm) into e collected. wooden ‘shelf spacers’ you hav

3

16 whizzpopbang.com

Use scissors to cut the top and bottom off a plastic bottle to make a tube. Measure it, then ask an adult to saw some bamboo canes into pieces 2 cm shorter than this measurement.

Line the tube with a piece of cardboard, then pack the pieces of bamboo inside.

Use pairs of ‘shelf spacers’ and the three smaller planks to bui ld a frame for your bug hotel.

4

stic Make another tube from a pla stuff it bottle, as in step 3. This time, . with coiled strips of cardboard

Continued on page 21 ➜

5

Now fill your bug hotel with the drilled logs, filled plastic tubes and everything els e you have collected!

and Add old pots, crockery, bricks s. ble peb on larger stones balanced k, bar , Fill any gaps with sticks, leaves g dry grass, cardboard and anythin ! else you find around the garden

Cardboard makes a good home for lacewings.

Mason bees nest in small holes.

If, in time, you notice that any of the holes in your hote l have been plugged with mud, th ere may be bee larvae growing inside!

Once it is full, place the largest shelf on top of the bug hotel to make a roof to keep the rain out.

Straw and dry leaves could attract ladybirds.

All sorts of minibeasts (including woodlice, ants and ! spiders) love dark hiding places

Leaves and cardboard will sta rt to decompose after a while, so car efully replace them with fresh mater ials.

Leave the old parts close by for a while so any inhabitants can find new homes.

Holes and tubes that bees hav e nested in need to be cleaned out every year in late spring and replaced eve ry two years. Ask an adult to help.

Continued from page 16

I’d love to see your bug hotel! Take a photo and email it to Y@whizzpopbang.com — it could be featured in the magazine!

whizzpopbang.com 21

➜

WHICH MINIBEAST?

Flow charts can help scientists to identify their finds. Simply answer the questions and follow the arrows on this flow chart to see if you can identify the minibeasts that you find. If you arrive at a picture of a creature that looks different to the one that you’ve found, then it must be one of the many other minibeasts that roam our country.

YES Does it have six legs?

YES YES

It could be a...

FLY

NO

Does it only have one pair of wings?

Does it have eight legs?

NO It could be a...

YES

BEETLE

YES

Does it have a hard case over its wings?

It could be a...

SPIDER

NO It could be a...

BEE

YES

WASP

YES

NO

Is it fuzzy with thick legs?

Does it have a narrow waist?

It could be a...

Does it have yellow and black stripes?

YES

NO It could be an... ANT

NO Does it have big, colourful wings?

YES

It could be a...

BUTTERFLY

Riddles

Check your answers on page 34.

1) From small in size to as whoppers, we hop in big the grass so we’re called. ..

t midnight, but a g in in ra ’s It 2) orrow and the m o t r o f t s a c e the for d sunny. n a r a le c is y a next d collecting e b l il w s e e b y How man ours’ time? h 8 4 in r a t c e n 18 whizzpopbang.com

N

Start here

Find a printable version of the pullout here: bit.ly/4iLea3D

It could be a...

Does it have legs?

SNAIL

NO It could be a...

Is the body segmented?

YES

NO

It could be an...

SLUG

YES

NO

Does it have a shell?

EARTHWORM

If you find a minibeast that you can't identify using the flow chart, take a photograph and then look it up in a wildlife field guide from your local library.

NO

Does it have an oval body?

YES It could be a...

WOODLOUSE

NO

Does it have four legs per segment?

In the UK, we have around 30,000 different species of minibeasts!

It could be a...

YES

MILLIPEDE

NO

It could be a... CENTIPEDE

MAKE A POND SKATER BUG Follow the instructions on page 25 to float your very own pond skater!

Real pond skaters are dull colours to blend in with their surroundings. But since yours doesn’t have to hide from predators, why not make it brightly coloured?

whizzpopbang.com 19

Worksheet

Minibeast Habitats Draw a picture of your minibeast

A habitat is the kind of environment an animal lives in. Make sure you return each animal to the place you found it.

20 whizzpopbang.com

Use this worksheet to record your minibeast discoveries. Choose three words to describe the habitat you found your minibeast in. You can use this list to help you:

Where did you find it?

Dark Light Cold Warm Wet Damp Dry

Leafy Muddy Grassy Stony Sandy Underground Shady

Describe its habitat, using the list above to help you

Worksheet

PULL OUT pages 17-20 and get making!

Minibeast Habitats Draw a picture of your minibeast and use the ‘Which Minibeast?’ chart overleaf to help you find out what it is

Where did you find it?

Describe its habitat, using the list on page 20 to help you

BALANCING BUTTERFLY Colour and cut out these butterflies and tape small coins onto the two circles on the back of their two front wings. Can you balance a butterfly on the tip of a pencil by finding its balancing point? What happens if you add another coin under one side of the butterfly?

Can you balance the butterfly now?

Has the balancing point moved?

whizzpopbang.com 17

Walking on Water Not all insects creep, scuttle or buzz around. You may have seen pond skaters glide across the water as if it were ice - what’s their secret?

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT The pond skater is one of a tiny proportion of insects that can move on the surface of water. Far from being ‘creepy crawlies’, pond-skaters get around a little differently to your average bug. Like all insects, they have three pairs of legs.

They use the front and back pairs to float and the middle pair to push themselves through the water – like a rower’s oars.

Their legs are covered with hairs that have waxy tips to keep the water off, a bit like a pair of fisherman’s wellies.

STICKY WATER

But how do pond skaters stay afloat? What stops them from falling through the water like you do when you jump into the swimming pool? Their secret is surface tension. Water molecules like to stick together – they each hold on tightly to the other water molecules around them. The water molecules at the surface hold more strongly to the water molecules below the surface than they do to the air molecules above the surface. This pulls them inwards, creating surface tension and making the surface of water behave a bit like a stretched elastic skin. Pond skaters are so light that they can rest on top of this elastic skin without breaking through it.

22 whizzpopbang.com

Pond skaters use their hairy feet for hunting.

Answer on page 34

TEST SURFACE TENSION Try these quick, easy experiments to see surface tension in action!

Yo u will need A penny A pipette (optional)

W h a t y o u do

1. Drip water onto the penny a drop at a time using a pipette or by letting drops drip from your finger.

2. The water should form a small dome on the top of the penny. The water is held in place by surface tension.

3. How many drops can you fit on the penny?

Eventually, when the volume of water becomes too much, the dome will break, leaving you with a wet table!

WHOOSHING PEPPER Yo u will need

round pepper G A small bowl of water S oap A cotton bud (or use a twisted piece of kitchen towel)

W h a t y o u do 1. Sprinkle some ground pepper onto the surface of a bowl of water. The surface tension allows the pepper to sit on the surface.

2. Rub the cotton bud on some wet soap.

3. Now try touching the surface with a soapy cotton bud and watch the pepper zoom away!

FIREWORKS W hat you do ON A PLATE Yo u will need

Gel-based food colourings A plate with high enough edges to hold liquid Full-fat milk at room temperature Soap A cotton bud (or use a twisted piece of kitchen towel)

1. Pour a puddle of milk onto the plate.

2. Add several drops of food colouring.

3. Rub the cotton bud on some wet soap.

4. Touch the drops of colour with the soapy cotton bud and watch the fireworks!

The surface tension of water is stronger than that of soap, so the water pulls away from the soap, taking the pepper or food colouring with it.

FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES

Have you ever wondered why bubbles form in soapy water but not in ordinary water? Yep, you’ve guessed it – it’s because of surface tension! The surface tension of water is too strong for bubbles to last – the water molecules pull each other together and the bubbles quickly burst.

When water is mixed with soap, the surface tension becomes weaker and the liquid can be ‘stretched’ more, allowing bubbles to form.

WHAT MAKES THE BEST BUBBLES? Make a base mixture of water mixed with washing up liquid. If you don’t already have one, you can make a bubble wand using a pipe cleaner.

Experiment with blowing bubbles, and then try adding sugar, baking powder, glucose syrup or glycerine to your mixture, one at a time. Test how each ingredient changes the surface tension and affects the bubbles.

24 whizzpopbang.com

rt

a St

F inish

MAKE YOUR OWN POND SKATER! See if you can get a pond skater of your own creation to walk on water using surface tens ion!

Yo u will need

he template from page 19 of T the pullout section.

Scissors Oil or butter A large bowl (or use the sink) Thick paper, thin card or waterproof juice cartons

What you do

1. Carefully cut around the pond skater at the bottom of page 19.

2. Fold the pond skater in half and then fold all of the feet outwards so that the pond skater can stand up.

3. Spread some oil or butter over all six feet to make them a little water resistant.

4. Fill a large bowl or sink full of water and place your insect on the surface so that all of its feet touch the surface at once, making sure the feet are all flat on the surface.

5. Can you blow your bug along the water? When its feet become water-logged it will start to sink.

6. Create more bugs of your own designs on paper or card or waterproof juice cartons. What happens if you make their feet bigger or smaller?

Help the pond skater find a route to the riverbank.

Check your answer on page 34.

whizzpopbang.com 25

. .. g in z a m A ly e m o s e w A 10

C Y P E E R C E L JUNG to some incredible Tropical rainforests are home t-so-mini beasts! minibeasts – as well as some no

1

The Crown Jewels have nothing on

jewel beetles for

2

beauty. Their metallic iridescence is produced by multiple layers of chitin (a type of carbohydrate).

Each layer reflects a different colour of light.

3 4

The red-legged fire millipede is only found in one tiny patch of forest in Madagascar. Slash-and-burn farming in the area has put it at serious risk of extinction.

Not much time for writing anyway – we only live for a few weeks!

These saturniid moth caterpillars are found in the jungles of Central America. Their strange hairs are thought to keep beetles beyond biting distance from the squidgy body beneath!

We’re eco-friendly – we bring our own straw!

Enchanting lanternflies are known as the unicorns of the jungle, but their ‘horn’ is more like a trunk!

It’s used to pierce tree bark and suck up the sugary sap below.

5

The Amazon rainforest is home to the titan beetle, one of the largest beetles ever found, with jaws that can snap a pencil in half.

Y CRAWLIES

6

Spiny orb-weaver spiders look like jewels on

legs, but their bright colours put predators off. After getting a beakful of painful spines, birds will avoid this snack for the rest of their lives.

7

8

They look pretty enough to wear. But don’t even try. Each beautiful bump on a Drury’s jewel

moth caterpillar produces droplets of toxic cyanide.

9

Big, bad bullet ants don’t bother with warning colours – they just deliver the world’s most painful insect sting. The ant’s toxin causes fever, vomiting and heart problems – and takes up to 24 hours to wear off.

I don’t think you’ll forget me in a hurry!

Atlas moths

are one of the world’s biggest insects, with a whopping 27 cm wingspan – almost the length of this page!

10

© 1. Shutterstock.com, 2. Shutterstock.com, 3. Shutterstock.com, 4. Shutterstock.com, 5. Didier Descouens and Shutterstock.com, 6. Shutterstock.com, 7. Graham Wise, 8. Shutterstock.com, 9. Shutterstock.com, 10. Geoff Gallice

Some of the most amazing-looking jungle insects are the hardest to spot!

These leaf-mimicking katydids have wings that look like they’ve been nibbled by another insect!

whizzpopbang.com 27

margaret e n i a t n u o f rian scientist Meet the fearless Victo flies took whose passion for butter her all over the world.

blogspot.com http://thetanjara. ild and Fearless" untaine.html © Biography "W iog-of-margaret-fo /2007/01/first-b

Sensational Scientists

U N TA IN E M A RGA RET FO 1862 IN IN RN BO AS W GL A N D. NOR FOLK, EN

Margaret love d the beauti ful Norfolk coun tryside arou nd South Acre, where she g rew up.

She spent he r days explo ring, collecting flo wers and ske tc hing in her noteb ook. She wa s the daughte r of a countr y clergyman a nd had a very traditional V ictorian upb ringing.

Young wome n were expe cted to marry and stay at hom e . But Margaret wa s a free spirit . She wanted to e xplore the w orld!

the plants and insects she found.

eum

© Natural History Mus

When Margaret was 15 years old she began to keep a diary, detailing her adventures and describing

After inheriting a large amount of money from an uncle at the age of 27, Margaret was finally free to explore further afield. She visited France and Switzerland where she fell in love with butterfly collecting, a popular hobby in Victorian times. Margaret loved butterflies and was inspired by their freedom to go wherever they pleased.

28 whizzpopbang.com

Margaret wanted to be more than just a butterfly collector – she wanted to be recognised as a serious lepidopterist (a butterfly scientist).

How many butterflies can you spot? Check your answer on page 34.

Over the next 50 years, Margaret would travel to over 60 countries, across six continents, studying and collecting butterflies wherever she went. She often travelled by bicycle and was a fearless adventurer. She got lost in the African jungle, encountered bandits in Corsica and even jumped from a crashing train!

I was a born naturalist! g at collectin erstood th d n u t to re ts a Marg er scientis helped oth s e li rf e tt u b ies and t new spec u o b a rn a le but she life cycles, ir e th d n rflies understa wild butte g n ri tu p a c at tions. worried th eir popula th rm a h ld cou reeding e began b Instead, sh om ecimens fr her own sp n u she fo d. caterpillars

In 1897, Margaret published the first of many articles in The Entomologist, a scientific research journal, and her butterflies were displayed in the British Museum. The following year, she became one of the first women to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society.

eum

Margaret’s sketch books of butterfly life cycles can be seen in the Natural History Museum in London.

© Natural History Mus

Margaret died in 1940 at the age of 77 while looking for butterflies in Trinidad. According to her wishes, her collection of 22,000 carefully preserved butterflies was donated to the Norwich Castle Museum in Norfolk. She also left behind a sealed box with instructions for it to be opened in 1978. Inside were the diaries she had started writing 100 years earlier, along with this message: “To the Reader, maybe yet unborn, I leave this record of the wild and fearless life of one of the ‘South Acre children’.”

Entomology is the study of insects. An entomologist is an insect scientist.

whizzpopbang.com 29

Email me at Y@whizzpopbang.com

der Club!

Welcome to Y’s Won to share your This page is for you with our robot, adventures in science p Bang readers!

Y, and other Whizz Po ce question Everyone whose scien is page gets answered on th ng wins a Whizz Pop Ba Science Joke Book, ome available in our awes at online science shop

whizzpopbang.com/shop

F oR

Hi Y, Why do dark colours absorb heat?

CURIoUS K I DS

Lily, aged 11

Look at all these awesome doggy draught excluders you made!

You can find instructions to make your own in the Make Some Noise edition (Issue 115).

Maisie, aged 9, made ‘Derek the Dog’!

Ashton, aged 10, named hers ‘Patricia’!

elengths. Light White light is made up of different wav different travels in waves, and different colours have which on nds depe ur colo wavelengths. An object’s it reflects. h whic and s orb wavelengths of light it abs red, which they Red objects absorb all wavelengths except , while white light le visib all rb reflect. Black objects abso t and heat are objects reflect all visible wavelengths. Ligh absorbs light, irt T-sh k blac a n Whe both types of energy. fabric and the air it converts it into heat, which warms the e T-shirt keeps you around it, making you feel hotter. A whit , absorbing less heat. cooler because it reflects most of the light Lily and Iris, aged 9

enamel badges Y’s Wonder Club Badges Collectable for you to earn!

Help local wildlife to earn your Wildlife Watcher badge.

Investigate scientific questions to earn your Super Scientist badge.

Help save the planet to earn your Eco Hero badge.

E

Dear Y, Why do my ears hurt when a plane is landing?

Grayson, aged 6, made the chocolate ‘nice cream’ featured in the Amazon Adventure edition (Issue 109).

Manuel, aged 8 ge, and even hurt, You’re right Manuel – your ears can feel stran call it barotrauma when a plane goes up or down. Scientists ssure. Your ears are and it’s caused by a rapid change in air pre hian tubes. These connected to your throat by the Eustac ear drums. But help balance pressure on either side of your quickly, they can’t very ges chan when the pressure around you on one side of your adjust fast enough and pressure builds up ing sounds seem mak and ache to eardrums, causing your ears or swallowing. If ning yaw try can muffled. To make it stop, you closed, closing your that doesn’t work, try pinching your nose until nose your ugh mouth and trying to blow thro er! bett feel you feel your ears ‘pop’ and

Air is thicker near the ground because Earth’s gravity pulls it down. As you go higher, the air gets thinner, and there’s less pressure. That’s why air pressure changes when a plane goes up or down!

Oscar, aged 4, wanted to share his scientist costume with Y’s Wonder Club.

He wore it when his class were asked to dress up as heroes for the day.

Hello Y, Why do I get wrinkly fingers in the bath?

Jemima, aged 6 For a long time, nobody knew the answer to this question! Some scientists think it might be an adaptation that gives us better grip in wet conditions. Experiments have shown that wrinkled fingers helped people to transfer fiddly objects more quickly underwater.

Lucas, aged 7, made the paper cup telephone (from the Make Some Noise edition, Issue 115), to talk about secrets with his brother Theo without his parents hearing!

Why not carry out your own experiment?

Time how long it takes you to transfer smooth objects (like marbles) from one bowl to another underwater at the start of your bath, then try again at the end of your bath when your fingers are wrinkly. Let us know what you find out!

Send your experiments, ideas, photos, reviews and questions to Y@whizzpopbang.com or Y, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Don’t forget to include your name, age and address. We can’t return any post, sorry.

Get problem solving to earn your Epic Engineer badge.

Write a report or a review to earn your Science Reporter badge.

To find out how to earn your badges, go to whizzpopbang.com/wonder-club. Schools can get involved too! Find out how here: bit.ly/39xNQ Q qV

whizzpopbang.com 31

Test your m um/ dad/ pet tara ntula

see what they know!

1 3

How much can you remember from this issue? to

How many legs does an insect have?

5 7

a) 4 b) 6 c) 8

Test your knowledge with our super-duper quiz. Just tick the answers you think are correct, mark them using the answers on page 34 and then add up your score. If you need some help, check out the hints at the bottom of the page.

2 4

Where would you find a cricket’s ears?

What did a seven-year-old from Derbyshire recently dig up? ssils a) Ammonite fo

eth

b) Megalodon te c) A T rex

a) On its legs b) On its head c) On its bottom

What are insects’ three body sections called? a) Head, body and legs b) H ead, abdomen

and cephalothorax

c) Head, thorax and abdomen

6 8

Which insects can walk on water?

What do butterflies normally feed on?

a) Pond skaters

a) Pollen

b) River runners

b) Nectar

c) Stream strollers

c) Strawberries

Where would you find a red-legged fire millipede? a) Madagascar b) New Zealand c) Borneo

What do you get if you cross a centipede and a parrot?

A walkie talkie!

What was the leg span of the largest spider ever found?

I scored...

a) 7 cm b) 14 cm c) 28 cm

Need a hint? Find the answers by reading these pages…

1) Page 6 2) Page 8 3) Page 5 4) Page 6 5) Page 22 6) Page 11 7) Page 26 8) Page 13

1-3: Worker ant 4-6: Busy bee 7-8: Mighty moth

!

IN

CREEPY CRAWLY COMPETITION

W

We’ve got six copies of the brand-new Beastie Bros book, The Cabbage Juice Crime, to give away. See if you can find these minibeast-related words in the word search below. They might be written forwards, backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Once you’ve circled them all, write the leftover letters in the spaces below to reveal the answer to the question.

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ANTENNAE BEDBUG BUTTERFLY COCKROACH ENTOMOLOGIST FLEA INVERTEBRATE LADYBIRD MILLIPEDE MINIBEAST

MOTH PHEROMONES SLUG SNAIL SPIDER THORAX TICK WINGS WOODLICE WORM

Which species can pull 1,141 times their own body weight, making them the strongest insect in the world (relative to body weight)?

Beastie Bros: The Cabbage Juice Crime

Find out how to draw Dash the firefly on the Whizz Pop Bang blog!

bit.ly/41U0e1Z

By David O’Connell

Join Dash the firefly and Dribble the snail on their first adventure as they foil a master criminal plot involving a crystal worm, ancient custard, a stolen Roboslug and some dastardly dung beetles! This accessible, funny, black-and-white highly illustrated young fiction series is perfect for readers aged 6+ and fans of Jamie Smart, Toto the Ninja Cat and Dave Pigeon.

WINNER Issue 117 competition winners Thank you to everyone who entered our Candy floss competition. The answer was Emmi. These five lucky winners will each receive a copy of A Fact for Every Day of the Year.

Chloe, aged 8 Henok, aged 7 Elliot Nicholas, aged 6

Amelia Leach, aged 10 Buckley Górski-Bryant, aged 11

Send your entry to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Colour competition’ as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post it to Colour competition, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Please don’t forget to include your name, age and address. Deadline: July 8th 2025.

UK residents only. Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com. Sorry we are unable to return any post.

whizzpopbang.com 33

S E K O J bed bugs Where do train? e get off th station! s e f in e h At t

What is worse than finding a worm in your apple?

Finding half a w orm in your apple!

Page 7 – True/Untrue TRUE: Insects are the most common creatures on the planet.

es How do be ir? ha brush their combs!

With honey

Page 9 – Shadow puzzle

Page 7 – Worm maze

1) E 2) C 3) F 4) A 5) D 6) B Page 10 – True/Untrue TRUE: Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar releases enzymes that break down most of its body into a ‘caterpillar soup’. Only special structures called imaginal discs remain intact – these contain the instructions to rebuild the body into a butterfly.

Page 28 – Butterfly puzzle There are nine butterflies on pages 28-29.

margaret fountaine scientist Meet the fearless Victorian took whose passion for butterflies her all over the world.

Over the next 50 years, Margaret would travel to over 60 countries, across six continents, studying and collecting butterflies wherever she went. She often travelled by bicycle and was a fearless adventurer. She got lost in the African jungle, encountered bandits in Corsica and even jumped from a crashing train!

MARGARET FOUNTAINE 1862 IN WAS BORN IN NORFOLK, ENGLAND.

I was a born naturalist! g that collectin understood Margaret scientists to helped other and butterflies new species learn about but she their life cycles, s understand wild butterflie capturing ons. worried that their populati could harm began breeding Instead, she s from her own specimenfound. she caterpillars

Margaret loved the beautiful Norfolk countrysid e around South Acre, where she grew up.

She spent her days exploring, collecting flowers and sketching in her notebook.

She was the daughter of a country clergyman and had a very traditional Victorian upbringing.

Young women were expected to marry and stay at home.

But Margaret was a free spirit.

She wanted to explore the world!

Page 13 – Spider puzzle There are 14 spiders.

When Margaret was 15 years old she began to keep a diary, detailing her adventures and describing

Page 18 – Riddles 1) Grasshoppers 2) None. In 48 hours it will be midnight again, so it will be dark and no bees will be out.

Sensational Scientists

After inheriting a large amount of money from an uncle at the age of 27, Margaret was finally free to explore further afield. She visited France and Switzerland where she fell in love with butterfly collecting, a popular hobby in Victorian times. Margaret loved butterflies and was inspired by their freedom to go wherever they pleased.

28 whizzpopbang.com

In 1897, Margaret published the first of many articles in The Entomologist, a scientific research journal, and her butterflies were displayed in the British Museum. The following year, she became one of the first women to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society.

the plants and insects she found.

Margaret wanted to be more than just a butterfly collector – she wanted to be recognised as a serious lepidopterist (a butterfly scientist).

How many butterflies can you spot? Check your answer on page 34.

Margaret died in 1940 at the age of 77 while looking for butterflies in Trinidad. According to her wishes, her collection of 22,000 carefully preserved butterflies was donated to the Norwich Castle Museum in Norfolk. She also left behind a sealed box with instructions for it to be opened in 1978. Inside were the diaries she had started writing 100 years earlier, along with this message: “To the Reader, maybe yet unborn, I leave this record of the wild and fearless life of one of the ‘South Acre children’.”

Page 32 – Quiz 1) b 2) a 3) a 4) c 5) a 6) b 7) a 8) c

Entomology is the study of insects. An entomologist is an insect scientist.

Margaret’s sketch books of butterfly life cycles can be seen in the Natural History Museum in

© Natural History Museum

UNTRUE: But they do have ears just below their knees where openings in their exoskeleton lead into sound chambers inside their legs.

TRUE: Spiders can’t chew, so instead they inject poison into their prey, which dissolves the prey’s insides into a soup that the spider can suck up.

Page 25 – Pond skater maze

© Natural History Museum

Page 8 – True/Untrue

Page 12 – True/Untrue

TRUE: As well as allowing pond skaters to walk on water, the water-repellent hairs on the bottom of their feet also allow them to detect vibrations in the water so they can locate their prey.

pot.com and Fearless" http://thetanjara.blogs ml © Biography "Wild margaret-fountaine.ht /2007/01/first-biog-of-

ANTS WORMS SPIDERS CENTIPEDES WOODLICE

Answers Page 22 – True/Untrue

Page 10 – Whose baby?

Page 8 – ANAGRAMS

What’s the best job for a spider?

Web designer!

Doctor, do I keep think ctor! ing a caterpilla I’m r!

Don’t wo you’ll soon rry, change!

London.

whizzpopbang.com 29

Bird Poo OR Caterpillar?

This juicy caterpillar has evolved a clever way of hiding in plain sight – it looks just like bird poo! Its markings help the caterpillar to hide from hungry predators, including birds and insects. This type of camouflage is called masquerade. It helps animals look like inedible objects, such as twigs, stones or bird droppings.

R A L U C A T C E SP

e c n e i c s

One day, this caterpillar will become a beautiful giant swallowtail butterfly, with huge black and yellow wings.

© D. Gordon E. Robertson - CC BY-SA 3.0, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33484737

If the caterpillar is attacked, it can inflate a red Y-shaped organ from behind its head, which looks like a snake’s forked tongue.

© Ianaré Sévi - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3434608

© Tyler Fox / Shutterstock.com

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