What on Earth! Magazine February 2024

TH F CHILASTESTE UK’S DRE -GRO N’S M WI AGA NG ZINE

BRITANNICA’S

What on Earth!

MAGAZINE

February 2O24

O O B M K !

A

THE FIERY WORLD OF V OLCANOES ISSN 2976-7601

£5.99

whatonearth.co.uk

HOW TO SPEAK DOG LOTS TO READ : LOADS TO LOOK AT : TREASURE HUNT : QUIZ : JOKES : AND MORE!

WHAT ON EARTH!

CONTENTS

Marvel at Las Vegas’s extraordinary Sphere and its gigantic LED screen on page 8.

A wild and wonderful world awaits you inside!

HOW TO CHAT... DOG Have you ever wondered what your family pet has to say? Learn to speak fluent dog on page 12.

DO IT YOURSELF

Learn more about Chinese New Year and how to make your own beautiful paper lantern on page 45.

REGULARS FACTOPIA!

Follow the trail of crazily connected facts on page 4 all the way from robotic boots to a collection of parasites!

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ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING

Meet China’s first emperor and learn about the construction of the Great Wall of China on page 38.

EUREKA! Page 10

THE WHAT ON EARTH! QUIZ Page 42

PUZZLES & GAMES Page 28

COLOUR IT IN! Page 41

WORD UP!

THE EIFFEL TOWER

Language isn’t all about spoken or written words.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!

You can learn about pictograms, logograms and ideograms on page 15.

Journey to Paris for a look inside France’s famous Eiffel Tower on page 32. Find out when and why it was built – and what colour the tower was originally painted!

COMPETITION! To win ALL the brilliant books featured in our February issue, just answer this question: Where is Olympus Mons?

Send your answer to editor@whatonearth.co.uk and a winner will be chosen at random by our jokes editor May. Good luck!

EVOLUTION

Head over to page 34 to find out more about how birds have evolved to survive – and once evolved from dinosaurs!

SEND IT IN!

Meet the winners of the 2023 What on Earth! Quiz Challenge on page 48.

JOKES & RIDDLES

Look out for this month’s selection, hand-picked by our jokes editor May, on page 50.

SEND IT IN! Email us your letters, photos and favourite facts to: editor@whatonearth.co.uk

You can also find all these books (and more!) at whatonearthbooks.com/ shop

ZANY FACTS

One of the first virtual-reality experiences was created in the late 1950s. Called the Sensorama, it simulated a motorcycle ride through a city – even allowing viewers to smell the motor’s exhaust

Some doctors use virtual reality to train for surgery

Follow the trail of crazily connected facts all the way from robotic boots… to a collection of millions of parasites!

By Kate Hale, Paige Towler, Julie Beer and Rose Davidson Illustrations by Andy Smith

There’s a company creating

robotic boots START HERE

that, while you’re wearing virtual reality gear, will make you feel like you’re walking around – even though you’re not moving anywhere

Virtual-reality technology tricks your brain into thinking you’re looking at the real world, not a screen. It does this by projecting a slightly different image into each of your eyes, which mimics the way your real vision works

The colugo is called a ‘flying lemur’, even though it can’t actually fly and it isn’t a lemur. Instead of jumping, colugos glide from tree to tree using the skin between their limbs like a wingsuit, looking for their next meal of leaves and fruit

The largest species of flying squirrels, which glide between trees, is as big as a house cat

Fly

4

fork-shaped tails -like fins and g n i w r i e the length of about h use th Some can ‘fly’ ing fis

Your eyes send images to the brain that are

upside down

.

Your brain, though, interprets the images the

right way up

Inste ad of liv uses e animals, Circus Roncalli in Germany 3D ima e mor ges of elepha nts, lions, horses and

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly upside down

One company is working on using augmented-reality technology to make contact lenses that could display text messages and the weather forecast, or even help us see better in low light

Wallace’s flying frogs have extra skin between their toes to help them glide between tree branches, and oversized toe pads to help them stick when they land

A type of flatworm parasite can cause frogs to grow extra legs

A parasitic fish called the candiru enters another fish’s body through its gills and then slurps its blood.

to glide through the air.

15 double-decker buses

The U.S. National Parasite Collection, located in Washington, D.C., has more than 20 million parasite specimens!

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PHOTOS

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Astonishin g photos f rom around th e world

GEE WHISKERS!

This male walrus got up close and personal with photographer Paul Souders near Lågøya, Svalbard, Norway. Its bristly whiskers are more than a fashion accessory – the whiskers help the walrus to sense and catch its next meal!

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PHOTOS

SPHERE OF INTEREST

The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, is a new venue that holds live shows and concerts inside.

Its outside, the Exosphere, is the largest LED screen on Earth and is made up of more than one million LED lights. The Exosphere is used to display art and advertising to the city’s millions of annual visitors.

!

H A A A BOLTS FROM THE BLUE

This photograph taken near Lake Puma Yumco, Tibet, China, captured a dazzling display of lightning sprites, which are brief yet beautiful electrical discharges in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

ASTRONOMY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR / ANGEL AN

ROCKIN’ ROO

Who knew kangaroos could rock out?

This cuddly kangaroo was caught making a pose that looks as if it’s strumming on an air guitar by photographer Jason Moore. Jason’s hilarious photo won first prize in the 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

To see more funny animal photos like this one, go to: comedywildlifephoto.com 8

FASTER THAN SOUND!

OW!

W

This F/A-18F Super Hornet is shown at the moment it broke the sound barrier.

This means the jet was travelling faster than the speed of sound – which is about 1,280 km/h!

When an object does this, it creates a loud noise called a sonic boom and forms the air effect shown in this photo.

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Eureka!

The latest astonishing discoveries, inventions and scientific breakthroughs.

PLIOSAUR SKULL

How to see a sea monster

Third eye

Nasal hole

The skull of an enormous prehistoric sea monster is now on display at the Etches Collection in Dorset, UK. The skull belonged to a pliosaur, a marine reptile that lived 150 million years ago. The skull is 2 metres long, more than most humans are tall!

Discovered in the cliffs of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, it is one of the most complete fossils of its kind. Scientists hope to learn a lot more about pliosaurs by studying it. They already know the pliosaur had a powerful bite, with 130 razor-sharp teeth!

Sensory pits

Teeth roots

BITE FORCE COMPARISON

(measured in newtons) Human

700

Dog

1,000

Lion

4,000

Hippopotamus

8,000

Saltwater crocodile

16,000

Pliosaur

33,000

Scientists have discovered that chimpanzees and bonobos are able to recognise fellow animals they had known years before – sometimes even after entire decades have passed.

Researchers tested this ability, called ‘social memory’, by showing chimps and bonobos photos of apes they had lived with before (at least one year earlier) alongside photos of apes who were strangers. They tracked the animals’ eye movements using 10

a machine to see how long they looked at each photo.

On average, the chimps looked at the familiar apes for about 0.25 seconds longer than the strangers. This told scientists that they remembered the apes pictured in those photos.

One bonobo, named Louise, recognised her sister and nephew after not having seen them for more than 26 years.

This is the longest ‘social memory’ ever recorded in a non-human animal.

Is that you,

Colin?!

BBC; PROFESSOR ED HAWKINS MBE; AGAMESCOUT/YOUTUBE

Chimps can recognise faces they haven’t seen for decades!

NEWS

How some snails are able to make a speedy getaway

Left eye

The moment Willis ‘beat’ the video game.

Teen triumphs over Tetris!

Tyrannosaurus rex

45,000

An American teenager named Willis Gibson has become the first human player to beat the classic video game Tetris.

The game, originally created in 1984 in the Soviet Union, is played by arranging falling blocks into complete horizontal lines. The speed of the falling blocks increases as a player progresses through the levels.

Until only a few years ago, many players thought it was only possible to play the game up to level 29.

In 2010, a professional

gamer used a technique that involves vibrating the fingers, called hypertapping, which allowed him to get to level 30.

Other gamers developed their own techniques to tackle the falling blocks. However, until Willis’s amazing feat, only AI programs had managed to ‘beat’ the game.

After 38 minutes of play, the 13 year-old reached the ‘kill screen’, shown when a player causes a game to crash, at level 157. After his triumph, Willis said: ‘I’m going to pass out. I can’t feel my fingers!’

Snails are often associated with being slow. But a study in Japan has just proved that some snails can really hustle when they need to!

Researchers studied two different types of snail, Karaftohelix editha and Karaftohelix gainesi. K. editha snails, when tested with a stimulus that made them think a predator was nearby, shrank into their shells to hide. But K. gainesi snails, when they thought they were in danger, sped up to get away. In fact, they increased their average speeds by 20 to 30 per cent!

Climate stripes need new colour to highlight global warming The infographic on the right uses different colours to show Earth’s temperatures from 1850 to today. Blues represent cooler temperatures; reds represent warmer ones. The chart was created by Prof Ed Hawkins to show the truth about global warming: that average temperatures have been rising in recent years.

This year, however, Prof Hawkins said the graph needs a brand new colour. The year 2023 was so hot that it can’t be represented by even the darkest red on his infographic.

The coloured lines show how average global temperatures have risen in recent years.

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How to chat...

DOG

By Dr Nick Crumpton Illustration by Adrienne Barman

Today’s pet dogs make many of the same noises as their wolf ancestors to communicate with each other, and with us! For a special treat, find out how dogs use smells as a form of communication – and why they sniff each other’s bums!

Ooouuuuuu (Hello!)

GRRRRRRRRR (Stay back!)

n n n n n n ! n i H (I’m so excited!)

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H m m m m!

(This is fun!)

AROHOOOOOO! (This is super interest ing!)

uuuw l!

Shiba Inus can make a high-pitched scream when they are frustrated or overexcited.

Take care if a dog shows its teeth.

R R(RY RdAn’ReFl Fn A Re!)F F ! o g her ou o t b

Barks can mean many different things. They also sound different depending on which breed is making the noise.

A low bark is usually a sign that the dog is angry.

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Send It Iny!our

hear We want to Record pressions! im g o d st e b og noises aking the d yourself m the file to and email listed here h.co.uk hatoneart editor@w copy of the g will win a The top do hicken! w to Chat C o H k o o b new

Talking with smells Some animals use special types of chemicals called pheromones to communicate. Pheromones are given off by organs in an animal’s body, or in their pee or poo. They can be used to attract mates, mark territory or find prey.

Pheromones give out information about an animal. They can tell others whether it is male or female or what type of animal it is.

Animals such as dogs will spray their pheromones onto surfaces, such as lamp posts, so that other dogs will know that they have been there. Lamp posts can become like doggy chat rooms with lots of different pheromones from lots of different dogs.

Animals can detect pheromones using a special organ inside their nose or mouth. Pheromones can also be sniffed directly from the animals’ scent glands. A dog’s scent glands are right next to its bottom, which is why dogs will always sniff each other’s bums!

W R U !

Say hello to all things language and linguistics.

A

C

B

NO WORDS NEEDED...

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elcome back to Word Up! This month we’re exploring ideograms, pictograms and logograms. The word ideogram comes from the Greek ‘idea’, which means ‘idea’(!) and ‘grapho’, which means ‘to write’. If you tuned in last month, you know that where a word comes from is called its etymology. Can you guess the etymology of pictogram? How about logogram? (Hint: ‘logo’ means ‘word’.)

S s represent idea IDEOGs RareAM m sy bols that tied to

Ideogram ithout needing to be or concepts wguage, word or phrase. For a specific lan erals and mathematical ‘one, instance, numideograms. 1,2,3 represent er symbols are ‘uno, dos, tres’, or any othys two, three’, stem of counting. + alwa language’s syion, and = always means u use! means addit matter what language yo ‘equals’, no

1+2 = 3

D

E

F

G

PICTOGRAMS

shān (mountain) yuè (moon) yŭ (rain)

H

Similar to ideograms are pictograms, which are pictures that are meant to look like the words or phrases they stand for. Early languages sometimes started with pictograms and evolved over time. But modern people use

How Chinese characters changed from early to modern times:

yú (fish)

Do you recognise any of the pictograms here? These are all symbols commonly used around the world. Can you guess what they mean?

Check the answers on page 49 to see if you are right!

pictograms to communicate, too! ‘No smoking’ signs and bathroom signs are good examples of pictograms. A new system of pictograms is still being developed today. Can you guess what it is? That’s right – emoji!

LOGOGRAM

S

Logograms are symbols that represent words or part s of words. Th ey may resemble what the word refers to, but many of them do not. They have to be memorised specifically. Ch in ese characters are logograms. So me o them evolved over time from f pictograms, as shown here.

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are left-handed

11

are right-handed

89

Infographics by Valentina D’Efilippo

H A ND E DN

S ES

100 people...

If the world had just

LITERACY

Numbers based on people over the age of 15

can read and write

86

cannot read or write

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Imagine that the total global population of 8 billion people was scaled down and represented by just 100 people. For example, as 89 per cent of humans are right-handed, 89 of these 100 representative people would also be right-handed. Now that we’ve imagined the world as 100 people, what else can we say about them?

are aged 60 to 79

12

are aged 40 to 59

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The world as 100 people

E AG

are aged 20 to 39

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are under the age of 20. Of these, eight are children under five years old

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This inf ograph ic imagine s the wo rld as 100 peo ple. In re ality, 100 new people a re b o r every 2 n 5 secon ds!

are aged 80 or older

2

live in the Southern Hemisphere

11

live in the Northern Hemisphere

89

5 live in South America

0 live in Antarctica

1 lives in Oceania

CO NT INE NT

59 live in Asia

8 live in North America

9 live in Europe

18 live in Africa

RE E H SP I M HE do not have access to safe drinking water

6

have safe drinking water at home

74

live in the countryside

44

live in towns, cities and suburbs

56

can access safe drinking water outside their homes, from sources such as protected drinking wells

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DRINKING WATER

N O I T ISA N A URB

do not

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have internet access

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I N TE R NE T

V OL OLCCA Have you ever wondered why volcanoes erupt? People have been learning how to understand and predict them for thousands of years. So get ready to have your mind blown as we explore the science and facts behind the fascinating – and explosive! – world of volcanoes.

Infographics by Valentina D’Efilippo

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WHY do VOLCANOES ERUPT?

3 TYPES OF VOLCANO

A volcano is formed by molten rock called magma that rises towards Earth’s surface.

During an eruption, the magma escapes from an opening in Earth’s crust. Bubbles of gas often form inside the magma as it rises. In some volcanoes, the gas bubbles can’t escape, so the pressure builds up. When the volcano erupts, it sends hot gases, ash, lava and rock spewing into the air. Eruptions may be very destructive, but they can create new landforms.

Active volcanoes have erupted recently and may erupt again.

Dormant volcanoes have not erupted for a very long time but may still erupt in the future.

Extinct volcanoes erupted thousands of years ago and will probably never erupt again.

ANOES! WHAT’S INSIDE A VOLCANO?

Layers of ash and lava

Vent

Fumaroles

Magma chamber

t riously ho Lava is se h c a re n ca stuff and res of up to tu ra e p tem .

Volcanoes are made mainly of lava and ash.

Some, such as shield volcanoes, are made almost entirely of lava. Others have different proportions of ash and lava. Beneath most mountain volcanoes, there is a reservoir of molten rock called a magma chamber. Gases may leak from the magma chamber to the surface through cracks called fumaroles.

Over time, magma wells up from underneath the magma chamber and pressure builds.

Eventually, the magma is driven out through the vent. At this point, it becomes lava. Lava glows red as it flows out of the volcano’s opening. As it cools, it hardens into rock.

1,250°C

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VOLCANOES

BLOWII NG THEIR TOPS BLOW

Discover how scientists describe and measure major volcanic eruptions.

D

uring a volcanic eruption, magma escapes from an opening in Earth’s crust. Magma released by a volcano is called lava. In some eruptions, lava

flows slowly out of a crack in the ground. In others, lava, rock, ash and other materials are thrown high into the air.

The type of eruption depends on several things, including

the stickiness of the magma, the size and upwards thrust of the bubbles of hot gases it contains, and the rock formation through which the magma escapes.

When a v olcano eru pts, ash and la va can sh o ot up into th e air at sp e e ds of up to 7 00 km/h .

We use the volcanic explosivity index (VEI) to compare volcanic explosions. The index ranges from 0 to 8, with each number representing an eruption ten times more powerful than the last.

Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI)

0

1

2

3

4

EFFUSIVE

SEVERE

EXPLOSIVE

CATASTROPHIC

CATACLYSMIC

<0.0001

0.0001–0.001

0.001–0.01

0.01–0.1

0.1–1

<0.1

0.1–1

1–5

3–15

10–25

Mauna Loa Hawaii, USA

Kīlauea Hawaii, USA

Fourpeaked Alaska, USA

Nevado del Ruiz Colombia

Lakagigar Iceland

Volume of ash cubic kilometres

Eruption column height kilometres

Example <1

1

5

1984

1961

2006

1985

Eruption type

Hawaiian Eruption (VEI of 0 and 1)

Though small and gentle compared to stronger eruptions, these can still send fountains of hot rock reaching 50 metres into the air!

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Vulcanian Eruption (VEI of 2, 3 and 4)

These types of eruption are named after Vulcano Island near Stromboli, Italy. They have dense clouds of billowing ash that explode into the sky.

1783

Ash cloud

Eruption column height

5

6

7

8

PAROXYSMAL

COLOSSAL

MEGA-COLOSSAL

APOCALYPTIC

10–100

100–1,000

1,000+

25+

25+

25+

25+

Vesuvius Italy

Krakatoa Indonesia

Mount Tambora Indonesia

Yellowstone Caldera Wyoming, USA

1–10

79 CE

1883

1815

640,000 years ago

Crater

Plinian Eruption (VEI of 4 or higher)

These strong eruptions are so explosive that they send huge columns of rock and gas more than 20 kilometres high – into the stratosphere!

Layers of ash

Magma 21

VOLCANOES

DID YOU KNOW? Strap on your amateur volcanologist hat and visit volcanoes around the world – and even in space! – with these 25 fascinating facts.

The word volcano comes from the name of Vulcan, the ancient Roman god of fire and metalworking. The Romans believed that volcanic eruptions resulted when Vulcan made thunderbolts and weapons for the gods. Other cultures explained volcanoes as outbursts of anger from a god or goddess.

Predicting when volcanoes will erupt is difficult. They can give warning signs, such as leaking gases and spouting lava. But sometimes volcanoes erupt with no warning at all.

More than 80 per cent of Earth’s surface, both above and below sea level, is made from cooled volcanic rock.

Hawaiian volcanoes can form a type of volcanic glass called Pele’s hair, named after the native Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes. The long, thin glass threads form as molten basaltic glass stretches out.

Volcanology is the branch of geology that focuses on volcanoes. Scientists who study it are known as volcanologists.

INSIDE A LAVA TUBE

A lava tube, like the one shown above, is a channel that is formed by flowing lava. When the lava empties out, it leaves a cave. Lava tubes are studied by scientists and visited by tourists.

Scientists have even discovered lava tubes on the Moon, and have studied them as possible places for humans to live.

The heat within Earth that is released in volcanoes is an enormous potential source of energy. This energy, called geothermal energy, is difficult for people to control. However, hot water and steam trapped below the surface have been used to heat homes and greenhouses and to produce electric power.

Hot springs and geysers are caused by volcanic activity and happen in places where magma heats underground water.

A hot spring is a place where warm water comes up through the ground. A geyser is a kind of hot spring that shoots water and steam into the air.

Volcanic eruptions can send ash shooting up to 30 kilometres into the air.

A herd of goats living on the slopes of Mount Etna, a volcano in Italy, start behaving oddly a few hours before a large eruption. Scientists think the goats may be able to smell gases and magma rising below the ground.

VOLCANOES IN SPACE! On certain moons of Jupiter and Saturn, there are volcanoes that erupt ice.

They’re called cryovolcanoes, and they blast out watery mixtures as cold as -177°F, or -116°C, which freeze as soon as they come out.

The largest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars. Olympus Mons is as wide as the state of Arizona, and nearly 3 times taller than

Mount Everest 29,035 ft (8,850 metres) CROSS SECTION 0 22

20 miles

Mt Everest! Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, like Mauna Kea in Hawaii, so it’s very wide and flat-shaped (like a shield). It was formed over billions of years.

There is more volcanic activity on Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, than anywhere else in the solar system. The volcanoes on Io shoot hot gases more than 300 kilometres out into space.

Olympus Mons 86,610 ft (26,400 metres)

10 miles 100 miles

200 miles

300 miles

UNDERWATER VOLCANOES Many of Earth’s volcanoes are underwater. In fact, scientists estimate that about one million volcanoes can be found under the sea, although most of them are now extinct.

Underwater volcanoes often behave differently to volcanoes on land. Volcanoes deep underneath the ocean have the weight and pressure of so much water on them that they can’t explode past the surface, even if the eruption is very large. Volcanoes in shallow water, as pictured here, may have enough force to produce mighty watery explosions and waves.

Volcanic lightning at Japan’s Sakurajima volcano.

Bolts of volcanic lightning can occasionally be seen during an eruption. Volcanic lightning is caused by a build-up of static electricity from the collision and breaking apart of particles of ash within the volcanic plume.

Around the world, approximately 350 million people live within the ‘danger range’ of an active volcano.

Scientists estimate that 80 per cent of the volcanic eruptions on Earth take place in the ocean.

The effects of volcanoes are not all harmful. Over time volcanic rocks and ash break down into nutrient-rich soil that is good for growing crops.

Volcanic glass called obsidian has been used by many of the world’s peoples for weapons, tools and ornaments. And the volcanic stone called pumice is used for cleaning wood, metal and other surfaces and in producing building materials.

The United States has the most volcanoes of any country – about 165. However, many of these have not erupted in a long time. Indonesia is the country that has the most active volcanoes. Fifty-eight volcanoes have been active there since 1950. Japan has the next most, at 44 active since 1950, and the US comes in at number 3, with 42 active volcanoes in that time period.

There’s a restaurant on Spain’s Canary Islands that uses heat from a volcano to cook its food!

WHAT IS ‘BLUE LAVA’?

Sometimes volcanoes can look like they have blue lava streaming down the sides!

But this isn’t really lava. It’s a type of fire that looks like lava. The blue flame is caused by the burning of sulphur gas.

It can often be seen on the Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia (pictured), which is a site for sulphur mining.

Volcanoes can erupt with magma that contains diamonds – the last one known to have occurred on Earth was about 25 million years ago.

The leading edges of lava flows can travel up to 10 kilometres per hour on steeper slopes. However, on gentler terrain they typically advance less than 1 kilometre per hour.

Pieces of lava that fly through the air from an erupting volcano are called spatter.

A chef grills chicken over volcanic heat at El Diablo restaurant in the Canary Islands.

Instead of sitting on its eggs, the maleo bird, which lives on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Buton, buries its eggs in volcanic ash in order to keep them warm.

6 Sundhnúkur 5 EyjafjallajÖkull

7 Mount Fuji

Eurasian Plate

ArabIan Plate African Plate 4 Mount Vesuvius

2 Mount Pinatubo

3 NyamulagIra

Indo-Australian Plate

1 Krakatoa

VOLCANO WORLD!

Learn more about these 12 famous volcanoes and where to find them…

W

here do volcanoes happen on Earth?

Earth’s crust is divided into giant slabs of rock called tectonic plates. These are slowly moving around on the liquid rock beneath. Most volcanoes and earthquakes occur at the plate edges (margins), where different tectonic plates meet and grind against each other. About 75 per cent of all volcanoes

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erupt at the margins of the Pacific Plate, around what is known as the Ring of Fire.

1. Krakatoa (Indonesia) When this huge volcano erupted in 1883, it made the loudest sound in recorded history. The sound was heard in Perth, Australia, which is 3,000 kilometres away. The dust and ash that was thrown into the atmosphere caused red

sunsets all around the world for up to three years afterwards. It also created a giant wave – or tsunami – the height of a ten-storey building that carried a steamship 1.5 kilometres inland.

2. Mount Pinatubo (PhIlIppines) Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991 after being dormant for 600 years. It was the second

largest eruption of the 20th century. The eruption happened at the same time as a typhoon hit the Philippines, which caused huge destruction.

3. NyamulagIra (Democratic republic of the congo) This is the most active volcano in Africa. It has erupted over 40 times since 1882. Sometimes its eruptions form smaller volcanoes out of its sides!

You can see the Ring of Fire tracing the edge of the Pacific Plate.

9 Mount St. Helens

8 Mauna Loa

North AmerIcan Plate

10 Yellowstone

Caribbean Plate

11 Paricutín

Cocos Plate

Pacific Plate

HOW TO READ IT

olcanoes that have been V active during the last 10,000 years

South AmerIcan Plate

he margins of the major T tectonic plates

Nazca Plate

Volcanic eruptions in 2021 are highlighted with a red circle. The bigger the red circle, the bigger the eruption.

1

ScotIa Plate

Antarctic Plate

4. Mount Vesuvius (Italy) Mount Vesuvius famously erupted in 79 CE and destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii, which people still visit today.

5. EyjafjallajÖkull (Iceland) This volcano in Iceland erupted in 2010 and its ash caused major disruptions to aeroplane travel in Europe for a whole week.

lava began spewing from a 4 km-long fissure, or opening, in the ground.

7. Mount Fuji (Japan) Mount Fuji is a symbol of Japan, frequently the subject of art. It has not erupted since 1707, so many people don’t know it’s a volcano.

3

4

4-5

Major volcanic eruption

8. Mauna Loa (united states)

10. Yellowstone (UnIted States)

Mauna Loa is the world’s largest active volcano. In fact, measured from its base at the bottom of the ocean to its summit, Mauna Loa is 9,750 metres tall, making it almost 1,000 metres taller than Mount Everest (8,849 metres)! This huge volcano last erupted in 1984.

Yellowstone National Park in the United States is home to what is known as a supervolcano –– a volcano that has erupted with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8, the highest possible score.

9. Mount St. Helens (UnIted States)

6. Sundhnúkur (Iceland) One of the most recent volcanic eruptions happened in Iceland in December 2023, when orange jets of

2

12 El MistI

This volcano famously erupted in 1980 after many years without activity.

It was the most destructive eruption in US history.

11. Paricutín (Mexico) This is one of Earth’s youngest volcanoes, formed by an eruption that lasted from 1943 to 1952. When Paricutín first erupted, it grew 50 metres in a single day!

12. El MistI (Peru) This volcano is thought to have been important to the Inca people and is the subject of art and legend.

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Treasure Hunt!

1

2

3

4

5

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Can you spot these 28 things hidden in the picture below? Plus, figure out what the 7 hidden letters spe

TO YS

Illustration by Rod Hunt

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TO R

E

YS TO

R TO

E

1O

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

X 10 Bananas

x10

ell. Clue:x10 A fun ride. Don’t worry if you get stuck – all the answers are revealed on page 48.

C PIZ

EDITOR M ES

UR JOK DO

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YOU FIN AN

9

?

AY

8

ZA

27

x

Stumped? Don’t worry, you can find the answers to all the puzzles on page 48.

ANIMAL WORD SEARCH Can you spot the names of 22 animals hidden in our jumbo word search puzzle? Good luck!

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DOLPHIN EARWIG FALCON GLASS FROG HORNET

ORANGUTAN PEACOCK RATTLESNAKE SNAIL TORTOISE

CUBE IT! The six-sided shape on the left can be folded up to form a cube. Only two of the cubes below can be made by it.

Which are they?

28

A

B

24

a b c C SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Can you spot all 2O differences between these two toy shop illustrations?

25

a b c d WORD WHEEL Use the word wheel to help find the answers to the six clues below. All the answers contain the middle letter, and each letter can only be used once.

Clue: a group of musicians who play together using a range of instruments (9 letters).

Answer: Clue: a person who shoots a bow and arrows (6 letters).

Answer:

O S

Clue: an orange vegetable (6 letters).

Answer: Clue: to give a portion of something to another person or people (5 letters).

Answer: Clue: the organ that pumps blood around the body (5 letters).

Answer: Clue: another name for a killer whale (4 letters).

Answer:

E R A C T R H

29

Picture Quiz

CHANGING ROOMS Can you find your way through our maze of square rooms?

Enter through the door marked with the red arrow, then try to find your way to the exit by going through the correct sequence of open doors. Good luck!

1

2

3

FUTOSHIKI! Fill in the missing numbers so that every row and column includes the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Use the inequality signs as clues and make sure numbers always obey the inequality sign between them. This means that the arrows between the numbers always point towards the smaller number.

30

Here is an example:

B

A

A  3

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

B In the three squares shown above, the number A must be less than 3 and greater than the missing number B. We know all the numbers must be between 1 and 4 , so therefore A must be 2 and B must be 1.

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

  

3

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 

1

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Can you work out what you are looking at in each of these seven photos?

NUMBER TRIANGLES!

5

In the triangles below, the numbers inside the squares are the sum of the two numbers in the connected circles. For example:

1

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Can you work out which number should appear in each of the circles? All the numbers in the circles are between 1 and 10 and a number can only be used once in each triangle.

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CONNECT THE PLANETS Draw a line to connect each pair of planets. You can’t use diagonal lines and the lines can’t cross or touch each other. You must fill the whole grid with lines but only one line is allowed in each square.

SUDOKU! Fill all the empty squares so that every row, column and 3x2 box contains each of the numbers 1 to 6.

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6 2 31

● A newspaper had an office on the second floor of the tower. The tower also once had a post office.

● The tower used to have a scientific laboratory in it, and Gustave Eiffel (shown above) used a wind tunnel there to test equipment, including Wright Brothers aeroplanes.

It took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days to construct.

● Because cold can cause materials to shrink and heat can cause them to expand, the height of the tower varies.

The difference can be up to 15 centimetres!

● It was built to be a gateway for the 1889 World’s Fair, which celebrated 100 years since the beginning of the French Revolution.

● It was the world’s tallest structure from 1889 to 1930.

● The tower was originally painted red. It was also yellow for a time.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Eiffel Tower, located in Paris, France, is one of the world’s most iconic structures. Find out more about this metal marvel and what it has inside!

TOP

The tower was supposed to stay up for only 20 years but was repurposed for TV and radio broadcasting.

The tower’s first floor is mostly transparent, including a glass floor. It has restaurants and shops for people to visit. There was once a spiral staircase that led from the second floor to the top, which Gustave Eiffel used to get to his office. It was removed in 1983 but a piece of it remains on the tower’s first floor.

FIRST FLOOR

Here are more restaurants and shops, including the fancy Jules Verne restaurant 125 metres above the ground.

SECOND FLOOR

20 YEARS

At the tower’s top are two floors with spectacular views. One is open-air and the other is enclosed. Here also is Gustave Eiffel’s office, which has wax models of Eiffel and his daughter, Claire, with inventor Thomas Edison. There is also a model of the top of the tower from when it was built in 1889.

T O L W E F E F I R E !

INSIDE THE...

● The tower is home to more than 100 antennas for radio and television broadcasts. Its top antenna is 6 metres tall.

● It takes 60 tons of paint to cover the whole tower. It is repainted every seven years.

330 metres

Eiffel Tower

93 metres

Statue of Liberty

More than 300 million people have visited the Eiffel Tower since it was completed in 1889.

300m

135 metres

London Eye

JUST HOW TALL IS THE EIFFEL TOWER?

● The tower sways in storms and high winds.

● It weighs more than 10,000 tons, with 2,500,000 rivets.

● In the evening, the tower’s lights sparkle every hour.

In the basement are impressive hydraulic machines installed in 1899 that still power the tower’s lifts at the east and west pillars! They have been updated over time, but the original machinery is still down there.

BASEMENT

The esplanade is the ground level. Here you can find a sculpture of Gustave Eiffel – an engineer and entrepreneur who oversaw the building of the tower – and the information desk. Visitors can climb higher into the tower using lifts and stairs housed in its four legs.

ESPLANADE

THE SUCCESS OF BIRDS In a fascinating extract from the brilliant new book by scientists Sarah Darwin and Eva-Maria Sadowski, we explore the story of evolution and how it has shaped the natural world – including you!

S

cientists and bird lovers alike have long been impressed by the beautiful and interesting characteristics of our feathered friends. Some birds have brightly coloured feathers, others have beautiful

songs or impressive dance moves and some use their beaks in very clever ways.

Birds have taught us a lot about evolution – from the ways in which they

CHOOSING A MATE Many animals choose their mates based on certain characteristics that they find attractive – this is called sexual selection. Sexual selection is an important driver for evolution.

Animals with certain ‘attractive’ features or habits are more likely to be selected by a mate.

They will then have young who will inherit their characteristics. Here are a few characteristics and behaviours that male birds can have that allow them to really stand out from the crowd.

34

A peacock and its colourful tail.

find food to how they choose their mates. They are also an evolutionary link to dinosaurs!

Getting in the groove Male blue manakin birds impress females with their organised dance moves. They can spend years perfecting their routines, ready to perform as a group when the time is right. The males take turns flying over one another in the hope of encouraging the watching female to mate with the lead male dancer.

If a female is impressed by the bower she will enter it.

Blue manakins impressing a female.

The male performs a dance for the female while holding an object.

Taking to the stage

The male satin bowerbird builds a structure, called a bower, which he decorates with flowers. He dances back and forth across his stage, while puffing up his feathers and buzzing. His aim is to attract a mate. If the bird lives near humans, the floor of the bower might also be decorated with colourful objects, such as bottle tops and children’s hair ties!

Getting attention!

Singing superstars

The peacock’s tail evolved because of sexual selection. Females, called peahens, find males with long, pretty tails very attractive. So, peacocks with fancy tails are more successful in finding a mate and fathering lots of young who can inherit the long-tailed characteristic. Peahens, on the other hand, have brown feathers that allow them to remain hidden.

Birds can sing for several reasons, such as to mark their territory or attract a mate. The male nightingale’s song is particularly beautiful and is an example of both of these things. Female nightingales will often select a male singer with an especially complex song.

Research has shown that these males tend to make good fathers, as they provide more food for their chicks.

Common nightingale

35

Are dinosaurs extinct?

B irds are an evolutionary link to dinosaurs. Modern birds are descended from dinosaurs, and most palaeontologists agree that birds are actually a type of dinosaur. Shortly after the scientists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

presented their theory of evolution, a bird-like fossil from the Jurassic period was found. The fossil creature was named Archaeopteryx. It had characteristics of both birds and dinosaurs: dinosaur-like claws, teeth and a bony tail as well as bird-like wings and

This famous fossil of Archaeopteryx is kept at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in Germany.

feathers. It offered an exciting evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs.

The woodpecker finch has a narrow beak to pull insects from tree crevices. It can also use a cactus spine as a tool!

Darwin’s finches W hile visiting the Galápagos Islands, Charles Darwin made a collection of small birds that are now known as Darwin’s finches. These finches represent about 13 different species in the Galápagos.

Scientists believe that a single species

arrived on these islands around 2-3 million years ago. Once there, the finches would have found new food sources.

Finches with different variations would have had access to different food.

Natural selection took advantage of any small variations and the

The large ground finch has an impressive, strong beak to crack hard seeds.

36

birds developed different beak shapes. This process is called adaptive radiation. Finch populations probably became isolated from each other, perhaps as some flew to different islands. This meant that they evolved into many new species. Now, several species of finch can be found in the same area, each feeding on different food sources.

Above: the Galápagos Islands, which are located off the coast of South America.

Some scientists believe that Archaeopteryx could fly for short distances. It could also use its wings to glide through the air.

Bony tail Claws

Feathers

The cactus finch has a long, straight beak that it uses to feed on cactus pollen and nectar.

Rosemary Grant

Peter Grant

PIONEERING PEOPLE Peter and Rosemary Grant (1936–present) are evolutionary biologists who have been studying evolution in action in Darwin’s finches for more than 40 years. Along with their children, they have lived for many months at a time on a small, deserted Galápagos Island called Daphne Major.

Evolution, written by Sarah Darwin and Eva-Maria Sadowski and illustrated by Olga Baumert, is out now.

The sharp-beaked ground finch mainly feeds on seeds and insects.

However, some of these finches also use their sharp beaks to drink the blood of other birds – they are known as vampire finches.

Evolution, written by Sarah Darwin and Eva-Maria Sadowski and illustrated by Olga Baumert, is out now.

37

THE BIG READ

Absolutely Everything!

Each month we feature an amazing story from world history taken from the bestselling book

by Christopher Lloyd, with illustrations by Andy Forshaw.

This month: China’s first emperor and building the Great Wall!

T

he world is an enormous place, and lots of things are happening in it at the same time. In ancient times, while the Egyptians were trading on the Nile, the Nazca in what is now Peru were drawing mysterious giant pictures in the ground and King Ashoka was bringing the religion of Buddhism to India, another huge event was happening in China.

The subjects of the Nazca Lines include monkeys, hummingbirds, lizards and spiders (seen here).

38

A warrior king named Ying Zheng led the Chinese state of Qin (pronounced ‘Chin’) in defeating all the rest of China’s states to create a single giant empire. When Ying became emperor in 221 BCE, he took the name Qin Shi Huang, which means ‘first emperor of China’. Qin Shi Huang was a lot like Alexander the Great, an ancient king of Greece (you may have read about him in a previous issue!). Qin Shi Huang became king in his teens, took over the army at the age of twenty-two, and finished building his empire by the time he was thirty-eight.

Qin Shi Huang wanted to make sure the country didn’t fall apart again. He took back power from the nobles who had ruled the separate states and built up a strong army. He also ordered a set of walls to

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA The Great Wall of China, shown in pink, is the largest structure ever built by humans. It is thousands of kilometres long and took more than 2,000 years to build. It was designed to protect against attacks from the north.

the north to be connected together. The idea was to defend the empire against attacks from nomads. This job took thousands of workers and continued many years after his death. The structure is now known as the Great Wall of China. It is the largest defensive wall ever built.

Qin Shi Huang was a tyrant.

He rejected philosophies and

500 miles RUSSIA

MONGOLIA

The Great Wall

NORTH KOREA

Beijing

JAPAN

SOUTH KOREA

CHINA

M YANM A R

PACIFIC

VIETNAM LAOS

THAILAND

The Great Wall of China began as a collection of individual walls and natural formations.

philosophers aside from the ones that would uphold his right to harshly punish and even kill people who disobeyed him. But he was also very creative. He decided that China needed shared systems to make it easy for different parts of the empire to work well together. He ordered the creation of money that could be used all over the country.

He ordered a system of standard weights and measures to make trade easier.

He also ordered the creation of a written language that would allow educated people to communicate clearly with one another.

OCEAN PHILIPPINES

As you might imagine, not everyone liked Qin Shi Huang.

In fact, he survived several attempts to kill him. As he got older, the emperor became desperate to find a magic potion that would make him live forever. Qin Shi Huang was on a tour of eastern China, looking for this potion, when he died. It is thought that his doctors gave him some pills that they believed would give the emperor everlasting life.

Continued on next page 

d create Huang r o f Qin Shi m r ese te the Chin which was or’, ‘emper ands r thous o f d e s u . s after of year

39

THE BIG READ

The Terracotta Army was discovered in four pits that in total cover an area of more than 20,000 square metres.

Pit 4 Pit 3 Pit 1

Pit 2

Experts think Emperor Qin Shi Huang employed as many as 700,000 workers over a period of forty years to create the Terracotta Army, which he believed would protect him in the afterlife.

Excavated part of Pit 1

Earth wall (dashed lines are unexcavated)

62 metres

Pit 1

216 metres

THE TERRACOTTA ARMY

Armoured warrior (facing direction indicated by point)

Unarmoured warrior

 Continued from previous page Unfortunately, they contained mercury, which is a highly poisonous metal.

For over 2,000 years, no one knew where Qin Shi Huang was buried. That is, until one day in 1974, when some farmers who were digging a well struck an unusual object buried deep underground.

What they found led to an archaeological discovery as amazing as King Tut’s tomb or the ruins of Nineveh. It was a 40

Ramp

buried city spread out over about ninety-eight square kilometres. That’s as big as modern Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal.

But this was not an ordinary city. It was a necropolis, a city-sized tomb. When archaeologists dug up a part of the necropolis, they found a huge army of clay soldiers.

Like the figures buried with Egyptians rulers, these were

Each of the warriors is unique.

They were originally painted in bright colours.

War chariot drawn by four horses

meant to help the emperor in the next life. But these aren’t miniature figures. They are life-sized statues, at least 8,000 of them. Each soldier is a separate work of art that looks like an individual person. They are made of terracotta, a kind of red clay. They carry bronze weapons and are lined up, all ready for battle. And with the soldiers are 600 clay horses and more than a hundred life-sized wooden chariots.

Qin Shi Huang’s body lies somewhere in the necropolis, but it hasn’t been found yet.:

Colour it in!

It’s time to get creative with your colouring pens and pencils.

Plus, don’t forget to send your finished artwork to editor@whatonearth.co.uk. We’d love to see it!

QUIZ

ANIMALS 4

1

Only one of the following four bird species is able to fly. Which is it? a. Penguin b. Swan c. Kiwi d. Ostrich

2

How many humps does a Bactrian camel have? a. None b. One c. Two d. Three

3

Lemurs are primates found only on the island of Madagascar. Which of these words is a collective name for a group of lemurs? a. Leap b. Gang c. Posse d. Conspiracy

The What on Test your family’s brainpower by playing the What on Earth!

Quiz together. Regular readers may have an advantage because some of the facts appeared in previous issues of the magazine. Don’t worry if you don’t know them all, though – the answers are at the end of the quiz!

4

How many times a second can a woodpecker peck on a tree trunk? a. 2 b. 5 c. 10 d. 20

5

Which animal has the largest number of legs? a. Millipede b. Woodlouse c. Caterpillar d. Centipede

5

42

9

3

9

12

10

HUMAN WORLD

What is the most powerful space rocket ever launched? a. Space Shuttle (NASA) b. Space Launch System (NASA) c. Starship (SpaceX) d. Falcon Heavy (SpaceX)

Including glaciers and the polar ice caps, what percentage of Earth’s surface is covered in ice? a. 2% b. 5% c. 10% d. 20%

The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, is found off the coast of which country? a. Australia b. India c. New Zealand d. United States

11

Forming approximately 50 million years before Earth, what is the oldest planet in our solar system? a. Mars b. Uranus c. Venus d. Jupiter

13

Approximately how many climbers have reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain? a. 66 b. 660 c. 6,660 d. 16,660

14

In tennis, what is it called when the score is 40 all and each player needs two consecutive points to win the game?

Earth! Quiz 6

What do male penguins often give to female penguins during courtship? a. A starfish b. A pebble c. A rose d. A hug

14

SPACE & NATURE

7

How many planets in our solar system have rings around them? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5

8

Stratus, cirrus and cumulus are all examples of what natural phenomenon? a. Lightning b. Waterfalls c. Waves d. Clouds

a. Love b. Ace c. Set d. Deuce

15

In which part of the human body would you find small bones sometimes referred to as the hammer and the anvil? a. Feet b. Ear c. Nose d. Heart

Continued on next page  43

QUIZ

16

23

 Continued from previous page

16

Which of these foods contains the highest percentage of water? a. Watermelon b. Cucumber c. Tomato d. Celery

17

Which of these inventions was invented first? a. Telephone b. Car c. Radio d. Television

18

Introduced in 1978, what was the first LEGO Minifigure? a. Astronaut b. Knight c. Police officer d. Maraca Man

GEOGRAPHY

19

What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea? a. Cyprus b. Mallorca c. Malta d. Sicily

20

Which of these colour combinations is used

18

in the largest number of national flags? a. Red, white and blue b. Red, white and green c. Red, green and yellow d. Red and white

21

Oslo is the capital city of which European country? a. Denmark b. Norway c. Finland d. Hungary

22

How many countries does the United States of America share a border with? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4

20

EMOJI MOVIES

25 23

What is the world’s longest mountain range on land? a. Himalayas b. Urals c. Rockies d. Andes

24

Which of the following four major cities lies furthest to the north? a. Toronto, Canada b. London, UK c. Amsterdam, Netherlands d. Chicago, USA

Each of these emoji sequences represents the title of a popular animated children’s film. Can you work out the name of each movie?

A B

C

D

E

Answers: 1. b, 2. c, 3. d, 4. d, 5. a, 6. b, 7. c, 8. d, 9. c, 10. a, 11. d, 12. c, 13. c, 14. d, 15. b, 16. b, 17. a, 18. c, 19. d, 20. a, 21. b, 22. b, 23. d, 24. c, 25. A – Cars; B – Finding Nemo; C – Chicken Run; D – Frozen; E – Kung Fu Panda.

44 44

DO IT YOURSELF

A huge lantern in the shape of a dragon floats on a river.

Light up the night!

Learn more about the traditions of Chinese New Year, including the beautiful Lantern Festival – then make your own paper lantern.

H

appy Chinese New Year!

Chinese communities and families around the world observe this annual holiday with many activities and traditions, including special foods and family gatherings and rituals. One of these customs is the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the new year celebrations.

The Lantern Festival has been part of Chinese New Year celebrations for about 2,000 years! (For more ancient Chinese history, be sure to

check out this month’s Absolutely Everything on page 38.) There are many legends about how the festival started. It is likely that the tradition came from an earlier religious practice.

The lanterns can be made in all shapes and sizes. Some are simple and some have complex decorations. They are usually made from paper.

Some people make their own at home, and others buy them from shops. Red is a very popular colour for the

lanterns, as it is considered lucky in Chinese culture.

One fun Lantern Festival tradition is guessing the answers to riddles. People write riddles on pieces of paper and paste them to their lantern. Other people guess the answers to the riddles.

If they get the correct answer, they win a prize!

And it’s not all just about lanterns. During the Lantern Festival, special foods are enjoyed. One of these is sweet dumplings made of rice flour.

There are also parades and dance performances, including dragon dances or lion dances, and other fun activities. In the evening, many people set off fireworks to light up the sky along with all the lanterns.

Are you ready to try making a paper lantern of your own?

Turn the page to find out how!

Continued on next page  45

DO IT YOURSELF

TOP TIP!

Happy New Year!

Not all new years start on 1st January. China and other countries celebrate the Lunar New Year sometime between 21st January and 20th February. People there traditionally use a type of calendar that tracks the phases of the Moon and the position of the Sun. This year, Chinese New Year begins on 10th February.

It will be the year of the dragon! Here are some other New Year festivals from around the world and when they are celebrated:

If you have some wrapping paper and ribbons left over from Christmas, you could use them for this project.

• Diwali marks the Hindu New

Year with a five-day festival of lights in late October or early November.

• Rosh Hashanah starts the

Jewish New Year with a solemn holiday at the start of the Hebrew month Tishri, between 5th September and 5th October.

• Enkutatash, the Ethiopian

New Year, celebrated with hymns, prayers and colourful processions, comes at the end of the rainy season in September.

• Nowruz, the Persian New

Year, is celebrated in Iran, India and other countries on 21st March.

TOP TIP!

No need to hang your lantern. Place the lantern on a table, and add a battery-powered tea light inside.

WHAT YOU NEED Scissors

Red is a very lucky colour in Chinese culture.

46

White paper (25 x 30 cm) Pencil

INSTRUCTIONS Choose a sheet of square craft paper and fold the paper in half so that the top and bottom edges line up. Make sure the pattern is facing in.

off every 3 Mark centimetre

1

along the line.

Then do the same along what is for now the bottom edge (the fold).

Keeping the sheet folded, use a pencil and a ruler to draw a line one centimetre from the top.

2

the ruler and 4 Using pencil, draw a line

scissors, 5 Using cut from the

through the first top and bottom markers. Repeat this across the paper with all markers, so you have lines that are parallel to the side of the sheet.

folded edge along the parallel lines, stopping at the 1 cm top edge. Your paper will now be divided into strips joined by the top.

two lengths 7 Cut of double-sided sticky tape, to match the longer sides of your rectangular white sheet of paper.

Peeling one side at a time, stick along the top edge. Repeat along the bottom.

out the 6 Cut very last strip to create a gap. Unfold your page and set aside.

the backing from 8 Peel the top strip of tape and

the short sides 9 Line of the white paper

carefully line up the top of the white paper with the top of the craft paper (pattern side up). Repeat on the bottom side. The white paper is smaller in size, so the craft paper will billow out.

with double-sided tape and roll inwards to stick the ends together.

Stick the side of the paper you just rolled onto the gap you created previously (6).

get a better 10 To finish on your Ruler

Double-sided sticky tape

Craft paper (30 x 30 cm)

lantern, cut out three more strips of white paper. You can line two of those strips with double-sided tape and stick them around the top and bottom of the lantern.

Leave the outward-facing side of each adhesive strip covered for now.

The third strip can be folded into a handle and then stuck onto the top.

47

SEND IT IN!

2023 quiz champions

Top of the class: our schools finalists celebrate in style.

Congratulations to all the stars of our recent Quiz Challenge live finals.

Could you lift the trophy in 2024?

After two thrilling days of fierce, fact-filled competition, the winners of the second annual What on Earth! Quiz Challenge have been crowned.

Held at the 350-year-old Stationers’ Hall in London, this year’s live finals saw teams and individuals from all parts of the country do battle by quiz buzzer as they answered quick-fire questions on topics ranging from space, animals

and science, to art, history and sport.

On the right, you can find out who won the trophies in the different age categories. But all the finalists should be hugely proud of their performances. As 9-year-old Holly from Thorn Grove Primary said: ‘Today is a day I’ll never forget. Win or lose, I’ll remember it. It was really fun!’

PUZZLE ANSWERS Treasure Hunt Hidden word: BICYCLE

Changing Rooms

Futoshiki!

A

2

 1 3 4

3 4  3  2

1 4

1  2

4

2

1

3

B

2  1

4

1

3

3

4

2

3

1  2  4

4  2

3

Word Wheel 1. Orchestra 2. Archer 3. Carrot 4. Share 5. Heart 6. Orca

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1

crowned!

SCIENCE fact of the month Send your favourite fact to: editor@whatonearth.co.uk

If your photo, drawing, lett er or favourite fact is featured in a future issu e of What on Earth! Magaz ine, you will win a copy of the brilliantly bizarre Scienc e FACTopia!

Scientists found that when music is played for some plants, those plants will grow faster than plants left in silence!

RESULTS SCHOOLS QUIZ CHALLENGE 8-11 year-olds Edge Grove School (Hertfordshire)       

11-14 year-olds Wymondham High Academy (Norfolk)

INDIVIDUALS QUIZ CHALLENGE Junior category winner Mikhail, age 10 St Faith’s School (Cambridge)       

To find out how you and your school can enter our 2024 Quiz Challenge for free, register your interest now at: www.whatonearth. co.uk/quizinterest

Senior category winner Joseph Mallion, age 14 Bullers Wood School for Boys (Bromley)

Animal Word Search

Spot the Difference

D J K P Q V I M K J N A N M V R R L T E V Y F L O W F T V F P I N I O L R B E K Y B W Q I F G I W R A E H L H K N B J A V G K K B Z S I V U J Z H K S P E C O N B D N W A G W K Z O K Z V R N Z L I X S Q E E S I O T R O T S Y V T A V B O Y E X N Y L M R X F P Z G U F R I G Y E D L S I E C B F A B R T L O R N L C T E T T H R M Y P S H A L T O N F V O I B E Y T O T K P E S T P U A T N Q L C C G Q A A R J D A A A Z R P R Z N B R P Y L I P R N D L J C L E B F E Z B A C Q M H A C S E C J H O G A R U L E B J X R F G K F F T Z U A C X Z G F O M O N G O O S E F W V X L T K P R Z S M O P I I J P P R H K U E Y E Y X Y I W D C K J A J A I C V C W O K E F Q E E B E L B M U B K G K N U R K X H E L Z J V K F E R T N N R U R H G S R C S Y N O R A N G U T A N R T A T K R A V D R A A L N U W D C X C N N W R

Connect the Planets

2

5

24

Sudoku!

Word Up!

Sunflower

A. Exit B. Falling rocks C. Recycle D. Deer crossing E. Wheelchair access F. No photography G. Lift H. Battery charging

Aeroplane engine Parrot

8

3

9

B

3 11

a b c C

Picture Quiz

Kilt & sporran

Number Triangles!

A

Snooker balls

Bubble wrap

Honeycomb

6

2

4

3

5

1

5

3

1

6

2

4

2

6

3

1

4

5

1

4

5

2

6

3

4

1

2

5

3

6

3

5

6

4

1

2

6

7

8

12

C

10 19

9

Cube It! B

4

17 16

7

C

49

It didn’t know how to

conduct

Why did the

estra orchhave bad

itself!

manners?

What do you call a

moose

!

A H HA! He

a skeleton An

anonymoose!

Why was

the man fired

from his job at the

calendar factory?

k too a day off!

50

Answer: A cloud!

How does

with no

name?

Ques What flie tion: s wings an without d without cries eyes?

call her

friends?

On the

tele-bone!

Tickle your ribs and tease your brain with our favourite gags and riddles, hand-picked by our jokes editor May.

BRITANNICA’S

What on Earth!

MAGAZINE

Published by What on Earth Magazines Ltd, The Black Barn, Wickhurst Farm, Leigh, Tonbridge, Kent, TN11 8PS

A navi-

What do you call an

Editor-in-Chief Andrew Pettie

gator!

alligator

Editor Alison Eldridge Art & Design Director Mark Hickling

with a map?

Senior Designer & Illustrator Susanna Hickling Production Sarah Epton Contributors Andy Forshaw, Andy Smith, Paige Towler, Christopher Lloyd, Rose Davidson, Julie Beer, Susanna Hickling, May, Valentina D’Efilippo, Rod Hunt, Dr Nick Crumpton, Adrienne Barman, Olga Baumert, Eva-Maria Sadowski, Sarah Darwin, Dan Knight With thanks to Andy Forshaw, Natalie Bellos, Helen Thewlis and the whole team at What on Earth Publishing Editorial Consultant Nancy Feresten Marketing Director Luise Mulholland Business Development David Falzani CEO, What on Earth Magazines Christopher Lloyd For Encyclopaedia Britannica Mary McCudden, Director, Middle School and Elementary Products

Question: make the How do you 9 = 80I x equation 8I cally ti a m e math correct?

What should you do if you’re

scared of elevators?

Take steps to avoid

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDY SMITH

them!

Question: What is right in front of you b u t can never be seen?

Answer: Your future!

Answer: e down!

Read it upsid

What is a

shark’s

favourite place to go on holiday?

Fin-land!

Printing and distribution Warners Midlands PLC, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH Editorial enquiries editor@whatonearth.co.uk Subscriptions 01778 392479 whatonearth.co.uk Picture credits Selected library images from: Getty Images; iStock; Shutterstock; Alamy; NASA. What on Earth: Astronomy Photographer of the Year/ Angel An. Eureka: BBC; Professor Ed Hawkins MBE/ University of Reading; Agamescout/ YouTube Copyright 2024 What on Earth Magazines Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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