DiscoveryBox196

ÂŁ5.50 (UK only) Issue 196 September 2015 - ISSN 1366-9028

I explore t he world

Latest news on

dinosaurs Mary Anning, fossil collector

Pterosaurs: birds’ ancestors?

and

Reporting for DiscoveryBox Yes, DiscoveryBox! We are at the museum to take photos of T-rex!

Be careful, Skoop!

You are so clumsy, I’m worried you might knock something over in here!

Look at this skeleton!

Putting all the bones in the right place must have been a massive job!

Oh no!

That spotlight is in the wrong position.

Uh-oh!

Let me do it!

Wha

2

ck

Text and illustration: Éric Gasté.

It’s heavy!

Contents zoom in

pics & facts

Were pterosaurs birds’ ancestors?

At the time of the dinosaurs

Find out with Joris.

Did you think dinosaurs had all disappeared?

You might have to think again…

Page

Page

13

4

investigate!

wild life

Mary Anning This young English girl found some amazing fossils.

© Bayard Presse – Images Doc June 2015.

Cover: illustrations: Franco Tempesta, P. Deubelbeiss (Mary Anning). Photos: © M. Beynié (Pterosaurs).

Contents: illustrations: Marc-Olivier Nadel (Zoom in), Patrick Deubelbeiss (Pics & facts), Martin Desbat. (Games). Photos: © M. Beynié (Investigate!), © F. de Nooyer (Wild life).

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19

Hoatzins

Colourful rainforest birds

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28

and much more

Funfacts, cartoons, experiment, pet care, games Take part in our competition to celebrate 200 issues of DiscoveryBox. See page 48.

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At the time of In the Triassic period, 245 million years ago, dinosaurs lived on dry land alongside insects and the first mammals.

Plateosaurus*

This was a herbivorous (planteating) dinosaur. Although it weighed 4 tonnes, it could run on its back legs. * you say ‘plat-ee-o-saw-rus’.

Megazostrodon

It was one of the first mammals.

It evolved from cynodonts (reptiles with some mammal features whose name means ‘dog-teeth’) that lived before there were any dinosaurs. Megazostrodon was the size of a mouse and mostly came out at night.

Nothosaurus*

It was not a dinosaur. It was a large reptile that lived in water and sometimes pulled itself up onto land. * you say ‘no-ter-saw-rus’.

What were dinosaurs?

They were animals with a backbone and four legs that lived on land. Their strong legs were directly under their body, unlike crocodiles that had legs to the side of their body. Dinosaurs laid eggs with a hard Show-off! shell. For 135 million years they were the dominant animals living on Earth.

4

During the Triassic period on Earth, there was just one continent.

Scientists call it Pangea.

Pangea

Triassic

Jurassic

250 200 m.y.a million years ago

Cretaceous

145 m.y.a

65 m.y.a

the dinosaurs Insects

They had already been on Earth for 150 million years. During the Triassic there were lots of dragonflies and mosquitos.

Tanystropheus*

This water reptile was not a dinosaur. It had a long neck that helped it snatch fish out of the water. * you say ‘tanis-tro-fee-us’.

Coelophysis*

This was a carnivorous (meat-eating) dinosaur.

It hunted in small packs to catch prey that was bigger than itself. * you say ‘see-low-fy-sis’.

Eoraptor*

This is one of the earliest dinosaurs.

It weighed around 10kg and ate leaves, fruit and small animals. * you say ‘ee-o-rap-tor’.

News flash

New way of classifying dinosaurs In the past, scientists believed dinosaurs were reptiles along with lizards, tortoises, turtles, snakes and crocodiles. Their name means ‘terrible lizard’. But now we know that they are not lizards. Some scientists don’t even use the word reptile anymore.

Hey! Thanks for the lift!

Cousins must help each other out!

Scientists today group together animals with common ancestors. They have proved that dinosaurs, tortoises and crocodiles have the same ancestors as birds and mammals! As they find and study more fossils scientists are able to come up with new theories.

5

The first birds During the Jurassic,

there were more dinosaurs and new types appeared.

Diplodocus

This sauropod dinosaur didn’t have to go far to find food. It just bent its long neck to graze on plants day and night.

Compsognathus*

This theropod dinosaur was one of the smallest known.

It lived by the sea and hunted lizards for food. * you say ‘comp-sog-nathus’.

Two great families • Dinosaurs with pelvic bones like a bird are called ornithischians*. They were herbivores (plant-eaters).

• Dinosaurs with a pelvis like a lizard are saurischians**.

Yum The herbivorous ones are called sauropods.

0% 10 g. e The carnivorous (meatV eating) ones are called theropods.

6

* you say ‘or-nith-is-key-an’. ** you say ‘saw-ris-key-an’.

Laurasia Gondwana

Triassic 250 m.y.a

Jurassic

200 m.y.a

In the Jurassic Pangea broke into two continents: Laurasia and Gondwana.

Cretaceous

145 m.y.a

65 m.y.a

appeared Archaeopteryx* This dinosaur was the size of a pigeon. Its body was covered in feathers. It’s one of the earliest known birds.

* you say ‘ar-kee-op-ter-ix’.

Pterosaurs*

These were the first flying vertebrates (animals with back bones). They were neither dinosaurs nor birds. Some were hairy. Depending on the species, they ate fish, shellfish and insects or the tiny creatures that live in water. * you say ‘tero-saws’.

Stegosaurus

This was a herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur. Its tail had spikes for defence. The plates on its back helped to control its body temperature.

News Flash

The feathers prove it!

For a long time, palaeontologists (scientists who study fossils of extinct animals) had A suspected that birds are feather! descended from dinosaurs. But it was not until the 1990s that dinosaur fossils with feathers were discovered during digs in China.

Give it back!

The fossils were of carnivorous dinosaurs from the end of the Jurassic period. They had strong teeth as well as… feathers on their front legs!

Today we know of more than It’s 20 dinosaur families that had from my hat! feathers! Scientists think the feathers may have been brightly coloured too but fossils don’t tell us anything about colours.

7

At last there were Ankylosaurus*

Spinosaurus*

This was a carnivorous dinosaur that moved around on all fours. It was also a good swimmer and ate fish. It was the biggest carnivorous dinosaur. * you say ‘spy-no-saw-rus’.

This was a herbivorous ornithischian. Its back was covered in bony plates.

It defended itself by lashing out with the large club on the end of its tail.

Triceratops

This herbivorous dinosaur had a bony collar that protected its neck. Males had bigger horns above their eyes than females. These were probably to impress rivals.

* you say ‘ank-ee-low-saw-rus’.

Velociraptors*

They were carnivorous dinosaurs.

Their body was covered in feathers but they could not fly. Their feathers may have kept them warm or may have been for courtship display. * you say ‘vel-o-seerap-tor’.

Dinosaur families All dinosaurs laid eggs but we don’t know much about how they cared for them. Oviraptors got their name (which means Wakey ‘egg thief’) because their wakey! first fossils were found near a nest. Scientists thought they were stealing the eggs.

It now seems they were protecting the nest!

By the Cretaceous there were South India several America separate Australia continents.

Antarctica Animals evolved in different ways on each one.

Africa

Knock

Knock

8

Eurasia

North America

Triassic 250 m.y.a

Jurassic

200 m.y.a

Cretaceous

145 m.y.a

65 m.y.a

flowers!

During the Cretaceous, dinosaurs lived on

different continents. They developed different ways of hunting. Herbivorous dinosaurs tasted the first plants with flowers.

Parasaurolophus*

It was a herbivorous ornithischian with a duck’s beak. Its large, bony crest made its calls sound louder. * you say ‘para-saw-row-low-fus’.

News flash

How giants grew Dinosaur eggs were small.

Baby dinosaurs were too, even though their parents were huge!

If the eggs had been larger, the shells would have been too thick to let oxygen through for the babies to breathe. Also the hatchlings would not have been strong enough to break the shell!

Cheat! You are standing on tiptoes!

Once they were hatched, baby dinosaurs grew very quickly. A baby maiasaura that measured 30cm when it was born was 3m tall by the time it was a year and a half old. If you grew at that speed, you would have been 5m tall before you were 2 years old!

9

Did you know?

Not all dinosaurs

Text: N. Tordjman. Illustrations: Marc-Olivier Nadel (dinosaurs). Anne Simon (small pics).

Over a few million years, almost all dinosaurs disappeared. But some continued to evolve.

We call them birds!

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disappeared!

Dramatic end to the Cretaceous

We know that volcanoes

were very active because there are thick lava flows that date back to around 65 million years ago in India.

A meteorite hit the Earth

where Mexico is now. Scientists think this because a rare chemical element called iridium dating from 65 million years ago was found in the ground.

No light, no plants!

Rock and ash from volcanoes and the meteorite blocked the Sun’s rays.

Without light, plants died.

At the end of the Cretaceous

65 million years ago, huge changes happened on Earth. More than half of plant and animal species disappeared! Some types of dinosaurs became extinct. Some insects, frogs, crocodiles, birds and mammals also died out. Those that survived adapted by finding new places to live.

No plants meant starvation!

Herbivorous dinosaurs died because there were no plants for them to eat.

Carnivorous dinosaurs died because there were no herbivorous dinosaurs for them to eat. Only small creatures that ate dead flesh survived.

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Joris

Were pterosaurs birds’ ancestors?

Hello, Joris!

Welcome to Pterosaur Beach.

Photo: Š Marc BeyniÊ. Illustration: Franco Tempesta.

Hello, Jean-Michel!

Joris is fascinated by pterosaurs, flying vertebrates that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

Were they the first birds? Joris has come to find out all about it from scientist Jean-Michel Mazin*. * a palaeontologist (you say pally-en-tol-low-jist) who studies fossils. In 1989, he helped to discover Pterosaur Beach in France.

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1

“ 150 million years ago,

in the Jurassic period, this was a muddy beach,” says Jean-Michel.

“Dinosaurs and pterosaurs left their footprints in the mud.

Today the mud is limestone rock.

The footprints that we are studying are under this building.”

© Alexandre Itier

The pterosaur that left this trail of footprints was the size of a pigeon.

2

“ Why did you put up this building?” asks Joris.

“To protect the footprints from acid in rain and from frost,” answers Jean-Michel. “Limestone dissolves in water. A piece the size of a sugar lump will dissolve in just a hundred years!”

Why is it dark in here?

So we can see the footprints better.

Crack

3

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“ Look at the ground,” says

Jean-Michel. “What do you see?”

“Cracks,” answers Joris.

“Yes. They formed millions of years ago when the mud dried in the sun between two high tides,” explains Jean-Michel.

“Wow! I can see a trail of tiny prints!” says Joris.

Pterosaur prints

4

About 50 small pterosaur trails have been found.

Giant pterosaurs appeared later, in the Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago).

J ean-Michel holds a lamp

high above the floor.

“I can’t see the prints anymore,” says Joris.

Jean-Michel puts the lamp down on the ground.

“Oh, I can see them again!”

“Yes,” explains Jean-Michel.

“The low light makes shadows so the prints show up.”

ove Light from ab

lt’s amazing! lt looks like a pterosaur walked this way just a few minutes ago! level Light at ground

Pterosaur found in G fossil ermany

Beak with teeth This is not . a bird’s bea k.

Pteroid bo neither din ne – nor birds h osaurs ave this.

Three finger with claws s o the left ha n nd.

Fossil from

the town of

Solnhofen.

Its skull is lik a reptile’s sk e ull.

This is a rep pelvis (hip tile’s bo It’s differe ne). nt a dinosaur to o a bird’s pel r vis.

The 4th fing er the left ha on nd is very long!

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5

A fter the pterosaurs walked along the beach, their footprints dried in the sun. At the following high tide, they were filled and covered by mud that protected them for millions of years.

“You can uncover a footprint,” says Jean-Michel to Joris.

lt takes me about a month to uncover an area of 1m2.

lt’s hard!

Last summer we stopped our work here. You can do the next bit for us!

6

L ooking for clues…

Jean-Michel suggests that Joris copy the prints.

He puts a plastic sheet over them and Joris traces them with a felt-tip pen.

Jean-Michel also projects a photo of the prints onto a screen so he and Joris can study them closely.

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This print has four toes.

It must be a back foot.

Here you can see three fingers.

This is a hand.

3 D models Jean-Michel and his team used the prints to work out

how a pterosaur walked.

They made computer models of its body and matched it to

the prints. They discovered that pterosaurs walked on all fours!

8

Eudimorphodon the smallest

Hatzegopteryx the biggest: 12m wingspan!

M ore clues! Jean-Michel shows Joris the drawing below. It compares the arm bones of a pterosaur, a bird and a person. Take a look…

Pterosaur Fingers 2 1 Giant 4 finger

Rhamphorhynchus

th

Bird

9

3

Radius Humerus Membrane (skin) Fingers 1 2

Radius Cubitus Feathers Humerus 3

Pterodactylus

l am ten times smaller than the biggest pterosaurs of the Cretaceous period.

Pteroid bone

… and Joris!

Human

Fingers 1 2 3 4 5

Humerus Radius Cubitus

“ So, what have we found out so far?” asks Jean-Michel.

“As pterosaurs and birds both have wings, let’s compare them.

Can you see how different they are?

The pterosaur fossil has a giant 4th finger to which its wing membrane was attached. On a chicken wing the first three fingers have feathers and there is no 4th finger!”

So pterosaurs CAN’T BE birds’ ancestors!

Well spotted, Joris!

Birds’ ancestors are dinosaurs.

Text and photos: M. Beynié. Illustrations Raphaëlle Tchoukriel.

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Mary Anning Fossil collector

Mary Anning lived in England in the 19th century.

She loved looking for fossils and discovered huge skeletons of animals that nobody knew about…

1810. Mary is 11 years old. She AND HER FAMILY LIVE BY THE SEA.

How will we manage now that Dad is dead, Mary?

I’m too young to make furniture like he did…

We will sell fossils!

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Do you recognise her? That’s Mary Anning and her brother Joseph.

Oh yes, the girl who was hit by lightning and survived!

Dad taught me how to find fossils.

Yes! What a tale!

Tourists are getting more and more interested in them.

Look at this lovely ammonite, Joseph…

Wow, it’s huge.

We will get loads of money for that!

Look at my fish!

This fish fossil is wonderful.

I will take it.

I’m having this one.

It looks like a ram’s horn.

1811

The wind is howling!

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Let’s hope that no fishermen die at sea…

The beach will be churned up after that storm. We should find some new fossils.

At the end of the day

Better get to work!

What a discovery!

Joseph dug up a skull a few months ago. Maybe this is the body that goes with the skull.

But… this bone is huge! And there are others too!

A few days later

Hello, Mrs Philpot. Sorry, I could not come for our lesson yesterday.

I read about your amazing discovery in the newspapers!

I am a collector and I want to buy this fossilised skeleton so that I can sell it in London.

See you tomorrow, Mary!

The next day at Elizabeth Philpot’s house

It’s important not to miss your lessons, Mary.

I know. A lot of children never learn how to read or write!

Soon you will be able to read books about the fossils you are so interested in.

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1820. Mary is 21 years old.

I’m not selling anything at the moment, Mr Birch.

How is business, Mary?

Joseph is no longer digging with me.

He is learning to be an upholsterer.

I must help Mary.

She is good at finding fossils.

Mr Birch organises a sale.

A few days later

Me! Me!

Who wants to buy this starfish fossil?

I sold my fossil collection to help you, Mary.

They say some fossils have magic powers….

The following year

OH !

Oh my goodness!

Is this possible?

Do you need help, young lady?

That sounds like Mary’s voice!

Let’s go and see!

22

Thank you Mr Birch!

That’s very kind of you!

Look!

Don’t come any further!

My God!

A few months later

Sign this paper, Mary. The Duke of Buckingham wants to buy the skeleton you discovered.

Never seen anything like it!

This fossil does not look like any creature living now!

Gently, boys! We don’t want to lose any of the bones along the way!

Oops!

It looks like it comes from another world!

A few years later, Mary and Elizabeth Philpot have become friends.

Did you know that the Duke of Buckingham has given your fossilised skeleton to some scientists?

Why is it that only men get to study fossils?

Look at this belemnite* fossil. I have discovered something‌

*a prehistoric sea creature that looked a little like an octopus.

We know as much as they do and we were the ones who found them!

You are right.

Men study and learn and take all the glory! We get nothing!

Pour water into this little hole and dip the paintbrush in it.

23

Amazing!

You have found the creature’s ink sack.

some time later

What does this man want?

Artists will want to use this new colour!

Another great discovery… made by two women!

Pleased to meet you, Mr Agassiz. We have heard that you travel around the world to study geology.

Yes, I have been trying to solve the mystery of how the Earth started.

He is coming all the way from London to see us, Mary!

I study sea creatures and your fossils have helped me greatly with my work, Miss Anning…

Madam, in my next book, I would like to name two fish species after you. Acrodus anningiae and Belenostomus anningiae*.

That’s a great honour!

I am happy that my discoveries have helped science.

London 2015. Natural History Museum

This is the plesiosaurus that Marry Anning discovered!

* you say ‘ann-in-gee-ee’)

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In the 19th century, people thought these animals were monsters! We now know that they lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Fossil stories Unknown traces

Since ancient times, humans have found fossilised bones, footprints, shells, feathers and droppings. These remains of dead plants and animals fascinated people. But it wasn’t until the 19th century that scientists worked out what they were. The word fossil simply means ‘something dug out of the ground’ in Latin.

The science of fossils

Dinosaur fossils helped the development of geology (the study of the Earth). Scientists began to realise that the Earth is millions of years old. The study of fossils became a science called palaeontology.

People started to compare dinosaur bones. They tried to piece skeletons together to find out more about these animals from long ago.

The theory of evolution Strange ideas

For a long time people made up stories to explain what fossils were. They said that shark teeth were stone tongues that had fallen from the sky. They believed that huge dinosaur bones belonged to giants that lived underground. They found ancient elephant skulls with a hole in the middle for the trunk and said they were the head of one-eyed giants.

At that time, most Europeans were Christians. They thought that God had made animals and humans in seven days and that animals had been the same ever since then.

In 1869 Englishman Charles Darwin published a book* that caused an uproar. He wrote that humans had evolved (developed and changed over a long period of time) and so had animals!

! ution l o v e s It’

Text: Catherine Loizeau. Illustrations: Patrick Deubelbeiss. Colours : Dominique Thomas.

Small illustrations: Aurélien Cantou.

Discovering dinosaurs

By the 19th century people were very interested in fossils. Englishman William Buckland found the bones of a giant creature and called it Megalosaurus. Mary Anning discovered the whole skeleton of a huge sea animal and those of two flying vertebrates.

In 1842, the word ‘dinosaur’ was invented to describe these prehistoric animals. It comes from the Greek words deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard).

I’m totally terrible, aren’t I?

Dinosaurs everywhere!

Slowly, scientists accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution. We now know that all animals are related to ancestors that lived at the time r Anothe of the dinosaurs. ! o ne Palaeontologists have recorded 1,000 dinosaur species as well as many other kinds of animals that lived at that time.

Each year, more fossils are found and new species are discovered. * On the origin of species.

25

did you know?

No fossils, no dinosaurs If fossils didn’t exist, we would not know anything about the dinosaurs that walked the Earth millions of years ago. This is how fossils formed.

1. 100 million years ago,

an iguanodon lived on the Earth.

Then one day…

2. The iguanodon died beside a watery marsh.

Its body sank into the mud.

3. The iguanodon’s skin

and flesh quickly rotted.

Its bones were harder so they kept their shape.

Putting the iguanodon’s skeleton back together In 1809 An Englishman called Gideon Mantell found some teeth and bones, including a tibia (shin bone).

He studied iguanas and rhinoceroses to help him piece together the dinosaur. He put a horn on its snout and called it iguanodon.

26

End of 19th century Palaeontologists studied other fossils. They came to realise that Gideon Mantell was wrong.

What he thought was iguanodon’s horn was, in fact, a thumb!

Fossils only form when an animal dies quickly and its body is covered in mud and soil. The correct conditions are needed for fossilisation to happen.

6. Today

palaeontologists discover fossilised iguanodon bones.

They try to put them together, like pieces of a puzzle.

4. The skeleton was

buried deeper in mud and rocks. As

5. Time passed.

Water and frost and earthquakes buckled and tore at the ground.

This moved the fossilised bones about. Some broke or disappeared.

Today Palaeontologists have studied a large number of iguanodons.

They know that these dinosaurs were herbivores (plant-eaters) that weighed between 4 and 5 tonnes and walked on two and four legs.

I can ce balan even e on on leg!

Text: Catherine Loizeau. Illustration: Emmanuelle Étienne, (small) AurÊlien Cantou.

the bones rotted, water seeped into them. Over time the water dried out leaving behind the minerals it carried.

These minerals turned hard as stone, fossilising the bones.

27

Wild life

H

28

Hoatzins These strange-looking birds live near rivers in the rainforest of South America.

Dazzling!

Adult hoatzins* look stunning with their large orange crest, blue cheeks with no feathers and red eyes. Their chicks are not so elegant! Turn the page to see them in action! * you say ‘ho-at-sins’.

29

Call that a nest?

Hoatzin chicks are born in a nest made of dry twigs piled up in the fork of a branch.

The chicks have dullcoloured, thin, downy feathers that are good camouflage.

Ready-meals

The parents feed their chicks halfdigested food that they regurgitate (bring back up) into their mouth.

30

Plant eaters

The parents gather leaves from plants that grow in marshes. They swallow them then sit in the sun to digest.

Sometimes, they bring back a twig to add to the nest.

Family life

Hoatzins live in groups and move around together near their nest.

They communicate with hoarse calls. Young adults help to defend the territory and build the nest.

They even help to feed the chicks!

31

Danger!

A snake is dangling down over the nest!

The chicks know they are in danger.

They start to get out of the way.

They have a surprise for the snake!

32

Quick getaway!

One chick climbs onto a branch and clings on with its hooked claws. It also uses the two claws on its wings. Birds that lived at the time of the dinosaurs had claws on their wings too! The chick can even use its beak to climb.

Thanks Dad, thanks Mum!

Suddenly the chick lets go and drops into the water. It has escaped the snake and is safe.

Its parents knew what they were doing when they built their nest above the water!

The chick can swim.

It then uses its claws, wings and beak to climb back up to its nest.

33

.

did you know?

Hoatzins are beautiful but… they smell!

Large wings

Hoatzins have big wings but they can’t fly very far. They can glide short distances.

When they are fully grown, adults lose the claws on their wings.

Strong toes

Their feet have four fingers.

Three point forwards and one points back. This helps hoatzins to perch. Hoatzins waddle on the ground.

From dinosaur to chicken?

Scientists now think birds evolved from dinosaurs. They have found many similarities between them.

For example, Coelophysis had light bones like birds. Chickens have wings and feathers but they don’t fly.

34

Coelophysis

- 200 million years ago They had light bones.

Archaeopteryx

- 150 million years They glided with their wings spread out.

Hoat zin facts

sthocomus

Opi Latin name: ocomus comes from

’. hoazin - opisth ns ‘with long hair behind in le op Greek and mea name the pe Hoazin is the lled it. ca on az the Am ird or Canje AMES: stinkb COMMON N

pheasant hocomidae mily.

FAMILY: Opist e only species in this fa th e ar s in ar Hoatz arshes ound America, in m h ut So : SS RE rs ADD d Orinoco rive the Amazon an ers and fruit ow fl , es av le w ne , ds MENU: bu

Beautiful crest

Short beak

Hoatzins gather mostly mangrove and arum lily leaves. Some of these plants are poisonous but hoatzins can digest them without any trouble.

Special crop

130cm

Hoatzins have a special organ, called a crop, near their throat. Bacteria in their crop break down the food they eat. The rotting food smells bad!

60 to 70cm long Weight: 700g

Dromaeosaurus

- 75 million years ago They had feathers but we don’t know if they could fly.

Chicken

- today They don’t fly.

Text: N. Tordjman. © Photos: F. de Nooyer/Minden Pictures-Biosphoto, except p.31 bottom (M. Cooper/Minden Pictures-Biosphoto). Illustrations: Emmanuelle Tchoukriel.

It has several straight feathers 4 to 8cm long that can stand up separately. Males have larger crests.

35

Š S. Stammers/SPL/Cosmos

1 baked potatoes

2 cannon balls

3 fossilised dinosaur eggs 36

4 pottery from prehistoric times Answer on page 51.

Tusko Livingroom Leopold Stanley

Tarzine Careful… we are passing through the valley of the dinosaurs…

Amazing!

That proves that they have evolved over time, like us.

Oh! That’s crazy!

They are wearing trainers!

And huge socks!

Maybe one day they will wear jeans and chew gum.

Aaaaah… the best moment of the day is when you can take off your shoes!

Okay!

Time to set up camp for the night.

Text and illustrations: Corcal.

Oooh yesss! There’s nothing better than letting our little feet breathe before we go to bed!

Rhaaa!

Oh well!

We were lucky we had brought these gas masks!

Ooh yes!

My poor little feet have walked such a long way!

Let’s get out of here. Our oxygen supply is running low…

Jurassic Poo-ark!

37

© de.academic.ru

Frogs’ puffy cheeks

Illustrations : Anne Simon

Frogs have vocal sacs on each side of their mouth. They are little bags or pockets that fill with air and make the frog's croak sound louder.

The vocal sacs are made of thin, soft skin. Only male frogs have them.

They puff them out when they croak to make the sound resonate.

38

Oh no, not another awful toy's tea party!

MUMMY! MUMMY! MUMMY!

GOO GOO GA GA

I am the king of the universe!

During the mating season, males croak to let other frogs know where they are. Males in a pond sing in chorus so that females can recognise the males of their own species. They go to find them and lay their eggs. Some species of frogs have just one sac under their mouth.

Soft bear!

The first commercial soft toy was a bear. It was made in 1902 by Margarete Steiff, a German seamstress, and her nephew Richard who loved bears. They invented a toy with jointed arms and legs in the shape of a bear. The first one was made of mohair wool and stuffed with straw. It was 55cm tall. It very quickly became popular and today Steiff is a big German toy company.

First to climb Mount Everest Mount Everest is the highest peak in the Himalayas… and in the world!

It’s 8,848 metres high. Two people reached the top on the 29th of May 1953. They were Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tensing Norgay from Nepal. They had oxygen equipment with them so that they could breathe at that altitude.

Illustration: Fred Sochard

Cleopatra had 4 children.

Cesarion the oldest was the child she had with Julius Caesar. When Cleopatra died, the Roman leader Octavius thought Cesarion was a dangerous rival and had him murdered. He was 15 years old.

Cleopatra also had three children with Mark Anthony. They were twins Cleopatra Selene and Alexander and the youngest, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Octavius gave the children to his sister Octavia. They were brought up in Rome. When Cleopatra Selene was 20 she married Juba II, king of Mauritania. We don’t know what happened to the boys.

© Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Darjeeling

Cleopatra’s children

Salty sea water!

Seeder drone

The Earth’s crust has salt in it.

Salt dissolves easily in water. Water appeared on Earth 4 billion years ago.

Since then, whenever it rains, the falling water washes small amounts of salt into rivers. The rivers carry it to the sea where it slowly collects. When sea water evaporates, the heavier salt stays behind.

Illustration: Anne Simon

© P. Curto/www.agefotostock.com

American engineer Lauren Fletcher is developing a drone to sow tree seeds.

The drones will carefully place seeds that have already started to sprout roots and shoots. He hopes to plant a billion trees every year. Cool idea, isn’t it?

39

© T. Brandt/Rex

Pictures/Sipa

My cute friend!

l e is Ingo and the ow m na is H . ng ki in s to be th s lsatian dog seem now they are alway d an em th ed That’s what this A uc od photographer intr is Poldi. An animal ck. ba ’s s riding on Ingo together. Poldi love

Fire, fire!

on playing cards

Prehistoric people probably first picked up a piece of burning wood that had been struck by lightning and set on fire. They then worked out how to make fire by rubbing two stones or two pieces of wood together. This happened 400,000 years ago. Fire changed people’s lives. They could keep warm, have light, cook food and keep wild animals away.

Happy birthday, darling!

Oh! A radiator!

Illustration: Anne Simon

©Lohner63/Fotolia

The symbols on the corner of playing cards show the cards’ suits. Playing cards were invented in Asia where the suits (or families) were cups, coins, swords and polo sticks. In the 14th century, the cards reached Europe.

Artists came up with new pictures for the cards and different suits. The cards we use today were designed in France.

We call the suits hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.

40

Giant pandas almost extinct

What's in a name?

© WWF.panda.org

A pedigree dog has both parents of the same breed. They also have to

Don‘t call me Lady!

Giant pandas used to be hunted for their fur. Today they are protected from hunters but threatened by the destruction of their forests in China. There are not enough places for them to find food and a mate.

Also, the bamboo they eat might disappear because of climate change.

There are only around 1,000 pandas left in the wild!

Yummy honey!

First, coloured powder, clay and wax are mixed with water.

This mixture is shaped into a long string, like spaghetti. This is the pencil core. A short length of core is then glued between two pieces of wood.

These have a groove cut in them for the core to slot into. When the glue is dry, the wood is shaped and the outside of the pencil is painted.

The pencils are sharpened so that you can use them straight out of the box! © Delphimages/Fotolia

Bees collect a sugary liquid called nectar from flowers. They carry it in their honey stomach, a pocket in front of their (food) stomach. They go back to their hive and spit the nectar into the mouth of another bee. As the nectar passes from one bee to another it mixes with their saliva and turns into honey.

So honey is a kind of bee vomit! But it's also delicious and good for us!

Text: Marc Beynié, Pascale Bouchié, Nathalie Tordjman.

Making coloured pencils © pxleyes.com

Illustrations: Fred Sochard

be listed on a special register. In the UK the Kennel Club is one of the organizations that keeps lists of pedigree dogs. Its rules state that dog names must be 2 words and have at least 24 letters!

41

Krogg and Alienna

Nightmare!

The noise is unbearable!

A BANG

YAA

Well?

AAAH

Oh! It’s horrible!

HEE

PRIMARY SCHOOL

PRIMARY SCHOOL

You were right, Krogg! Earthlings really do put all their young together in one place and force them to run around shouting and yelling!

Poor little worms...

They are called children.

YESSSS!

YIPPEE HEEE

Come on, quick. Let’s go and see what happens next!

EEEK! YAAAAH

D RRI I I I NG!

Luckily, that bell means their suffering is over.

Oh, that’s nice! After that horrible quarter of an hour, those poor little humans can sit and listen to some relaxing PHEW! stories for a couple of hours. to go I go you go he goes

42

The end

© Bayard Presse – Astrapi September 2014. Text: P. Martin. Illustrations: N. Hubesch.

Here we are, Alienna. It’s just behind that wall. HEE HA W AAH WEE

Text: N. Tordjman. © Photos: A. Houdou(child, fish tank); M. Pole/age Fotostock (fish). Illustrations: Gaëlle Duhazé.

Fish at night

Shush!

It isn’t easy to work out if your fish is asleep. Like all animals, fish don’t sleep very deeply or for very long. They take lots of short naps through the day and night, especially if they feel safe and have just eaten. In the wild, animals need to keep alert in case a predator comes along!

But… its eyes are open!

It’s hard to know when fish are asleep because they have no eyelids so they can’t shut their eyes. But while they are resting, they are less aware of what is happening around them.

Some are also less sensitive to light.

No bed or pillow!

If you want to see your fish sleeping, go and look at it at night. Take a torch so you don’t have to turn the light on in the room. Don’t make too much noise and don’t shine the torch at your fish.

Keep the torch covered so there is only enough light for you to see by.

Most fish settle at the bottom of their tank to rest. They stay in their usual swimming position but keep almost completely still. Scientists have found that their fins, their heart and their gills work slightly slower than when they are being active. Some fish don’t sleep at all!

43

d You will nee

How do chickens chew without teeth?

:

ngs

able peeli

s

l veget gh pebble ful of rou d n a h a l with zer bags l 2 free t s a ening

ht f a watertig ky tape wide stic f o ll ro 1 l

Chickens are able to break down their food, even though they don’t have teeth…

They do it like the dinosaurs!

Want to find out how?

Bag 1 Bag 2

P our half a glass of water

into each bag. Put the pebbles in bag 2. Squeeze the air out of the bags and seal them shut. To be sure no air gets in, put sticky tape around the seal of each bag.

3

((

((

((

(( 44

Take one bag

in each hand. Knead (squeeze and squash) the bags slowly for around 10 minutes.

Concept and text: M. Beynié. © Photos: A. Houdou (children); Khunaspit/fotolia (hen).

that are more or less the same. Put each pile in a freezer bag and label the bags 1 and 2.

2

((

M ake two piles of peelings

((

1

4

Open the bags

and compare their contents.

What do you notice?

Th

! g n i az

a t ’s

am

Peelings from bag 1

What happened?

are like the food bags are that chickens eat. The mach). their gizzard (bird’s sto stroliths The pebbles are like ga nds are (see opposite). Your ha gizzard e like the muscles in th that squeeze the food. s in bag 2 were l The peeling cause more ground down be pebbles the sharp edges of the . helped to tear them up

l The peelings

Peelings from bag 2

What happens in real life?

Birds don’t have teeth. But many of them have pebbles in their gizzards. These are called gastroliths (Latin for ‘stomach stones’ ). They help to grind up the food before it passes into the birds’ stomach. Gastroliths have been found in many dinosaur fossils. Large dinosaurs had up to 40kg of gastroliths in their gizzard!

45

Dinosaurs? Where?

They say dinosaurs are extinct…

Oh, really?

1

Who says what?

To find out, match the speech bubbles to the correct speakers.

Hey, guys, I’m feeling a bit peckish… c

What about your diet?

B

Too much fat on this one, dear!

You will have trouble digesting it…

A

2

46

Look out for the creeper!

Which dinosaur is about to gobble up this careless palaeontologist?

Let’s draw straws for him?

D

Oh, he’s so cute!

Tweettweet!

e

f

Yes, of course!

They became extinct 65 million years ago!

Their only descendants alive today are birds… g

Professor, are you sure that dinosaurs don’t exist any more?

3

How many are there?

There are lizards, dinosaurs and pterosaurs in this forest. How many of them can you see in all?

Text: Bertrand Fichou. Illustrations: Martin Desbat.

h

Answers on page 51.

47

Competition

D E T N A W Your photo x is going DiscoveryBo s old! r to be 20 yea in coming out Issue 200 is we want to January and ith celebrate w r readers photos of ou tion of llec and their co . x magazines DiscoveryBo

R EforWtheAbeRst eDntries.

A prize

ards: w e r 0 1 ls of

Anima globe rld the wo

What to do Send us a photo of yourself

(and your friends and family if you like!)

with your DiscoveryBox collection.

Send your photos by 15 October 2015 By email to

contact@bayard-magazines.co.uk Or by post to DiscoveryBox, PO Box 61269, London N17 1DF, UK Don’t forget to send your name and postal address with your entry!

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The 10 best entries will also receive this animals of the world globe.

48

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Your drawings

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Perry

!

write to DiscoveryBox!

Cut out this page and use it to Send us your questions, jokes, drawings or any other messages

Fold this sheet in half and stick the corners together.

Cut along the dotted lines.

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In your next issue of

Illustration: Thibaud Guyon.

Long ago in America

Answers What can you see? (p.36) No.3: fossilised dinosaur eggs, from the Jurassic (200-145 million years ago) and discovered in China.

Dinosaur? Where? (pp.46–47) Game 1: see the picture below:

E F

Illustrations : Martin desbat.

h

A D B

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51

Quiz 1 Humans discovered fire through:

2 220 million years ago there was one continent, called:

A fireworks

A Atlantis GO L D EN

C matches

B Pangea FL A M

E

C Jurassic

3 On their front legs some dinosaurs had:

4 One of these is not a dinosaur:

A a sat nav

A spinosaurus

I always wear mittens when I go out!.

B a watch

B megazostrodon

C feathers

C coelophysis

5 Parasaurolophus had a loud call because:

Come on, you can say it…

parasaurolophus!

its crest made A the sound echo

NOPE!

A a type of fish C a palaeontologist’s hammer

C its beak was like a duck’s

A rose petals

6 Mary Anning gave her name to: B a pudding

B of its soft trunk

7 Baby hoatzins are born in a nest made of:

Call me Robert!

Er… Oh, hi!

8 Birds have a special stomach called: A a glacier

B dry twigs

B a gizzard

C banana leaves

C a gorgon Answers on page 51.

Text: P. Bouchié. Illustrations: Anne Simon.

B lightning

Now we have so many names!