News Bites - National Geographic Kids

Have you ever wondered what color dinosaurs were when they walked the earth? Now we know--at least for one species, Anchiornis huxleyi. This dino was about the size of a chicken, and was mostly black and white, except for a rust-colored crest on its head (similar to today's woodpecker).

How do scientists know that Anchiornis huxleyi looked like this? They examined fossils of the dinosaur's feathers and were able to determine their colors based on melanosomes.  Melanosomes are parts of cells that produce melanin (that's the stuff that pigments your skin). They were able to figure out the dino's colors by comparing their fossilized melansonomes with the melanosomes found in modern birds.

Get the whole story on National Geographic News.

Test your knowledge of dino trivia on National Geographic Kids.


Illustration by National Geographic

National Geographic Kids is about to launch a new online feature to showcase our amazing group of National Geographic Explorers! You can get a sneak peek in the illustration above. We want your creative ideas on what to name our upcoming explorers area. Our explorers not only dive into the depths of the ocean to do research, they also preserve languages, study wildlife, explore world cultures, and pore over scientific data to understand our planet and nature.

Please send us your ideas! You can either post your ideas as a comment, or email us. Thanks!

Illustration by Chris Rooney

Think big for a second. If you could do anything, what would you do? Google wants to know and is inviting K-12 students to get their creative imaginations working on what you'd do if you could do absolutely anything.

Your school must be registered by March 17 for you to be able to submit a design and all entries must be received by March 31.

Learn more about the Google 4 Doodle competition.

Feeling really artistic? Enter the Ocean Flag Design Contest on National Geographic Kids.

This morning, Punxatawney Phil came out of his tree stump and saw his shadow. That means winter's not quite over yet. According to tradition, if Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day (February 2), we will have six more weeks of winter weather. However, if the day is cloudy and Phil's shadow is nowhere to be found, spring is just around the corner.

Read about the history of Groundhog Day on National Geographic News.

Learn more about groundhogs on National Geographic.

Photograph by Jason Cohn / Reuters

Tai Shan was born in 2005 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The giant panda turned four last July, and now it's time for him to relocate to China. This Saturday, January 30, there will be a farewell celebration for Tai Shan at the National Zoo. Tai Shan will leave the zoo on February 4.

Tai Shan is going to China to be part of a panda breeding program. Giant pandas are endangered, with fewer than 2,000 pandas living in the wild. China's giant panda breeding program will help sustain the numbers of wild pandas.

Learn more about Tai Shan's farewell party on the National Zoo's website.

Learn more about giant pandas on National Geographic Kids.

Photograph by Jessie Cohen/Smithsonian National Zoo