May 2009 Archives

Australia's Tasmanian devils are dying off due to a disease called DFTD, or devil facial tumor disease. This contagious cancer is spread when Tasmanian devils bite each other.

In the 13 years since the disease was first discovered, the population of Tasmanian devils has dropped about 70%. Earlier this month, the Australian government officially changed the status of the Tasmanian devil from "vulnerable" to "endangered."

Get the facts on Tasmanian devils in the Creature Feature.

Watch a video about Tasmanian devils and the contagious cancer on National Geographic Kids.

Read how kids helped Tasmanian devils at a wildlife conservation center.

Learn more about this story from The Guardian.

The winners of the 2009 Hands-On Explorer Challenge contest flew to Peru on May 22 to begin exploring the wildlife, culture, and history of this South American country! The talented 15 kids and two teachers have already visited Lima, where expedition team member Lijah was fascinated by the face-shaped pottery at the Rafael Larco Herrera Archeological Museum.












Tomorrow they're off to Machu Picchu. Follow their adventures in the Hands-On Explorer Trip Blog!

Check out their blog entries on the Hands-On Explorer Trip Blog.

Read excerpts from the winners' essays on National Geographic Kids.

Eric Yang, a 7th grader from Texas, won the 21st National Geographic Bee today. Eric received a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. He'll also get a trip to the Galapagos Islands!

The second place winner was Arjun Kandaswamy, and the third place winner was Shantan Krovvidi.

Watch Eric answer the final question!



Watch last year's final question on National Geographic Kids.

Do you have what it takes to be a bee contestant? Quiz Your Noodle and find out.

Learn more about the National Geographic Bee.

The 45 National Geographic Bee finalists are gathering at the National Geographic Society headquarters today for the final competition. All of the finalists were champions in their state geography bees. The ten who come out on top after today's questions will progress to the final round of the Bee tomorrow.

Tomorrow's first prize winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The second prize winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship, and the third prize winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship.

Come back tomorrow to find out who won!


Do you have what it takes to be a bee contestant? Quiz Your Noodle and find out.

Learn more about the National Geographic Bee.

Photograph courtesy University of Pennsylvania


What makes animals glow? Some of them, like jellyfishes and scorpions, glow under ultraviolet lights because of naturally occurring proteins or other materials. Other animals, such as monkeys or puppies, glow because scientists have added new proteins into their DNA. The glowing mice in the photo above received DNA with the glowing protein from their father.

Check out the glowing gallery on National Geographic News.

Sony Dong was arrested in March for trying to smuggle songbirds into the United States. He got caught when a Los Angeles International Airport inspector noticed feathers peeking out from the bottom of his pants and bird poop on his shiny black shoes. More than a dozen birds were strapped to his legs with buttoned cloth wrappings.

Exotic songbirds from Asia can earn high prices in the United States. The rescued birds might end up in a zoo.






Photograph by AP/Department of Justice

Read more about the bird smuggling case on National Geographic News.

Watch a video of macaws soaring above the rain forest.

Scientists in Denmark wondered if global warming could make Greenland's wolf spiders bigger. During a ten-year study, they tracked spider sizes. In years when spring came 30 days earlier than usual, some spiders grew exoskeletons that were thicker than average, resulting in bigger bodies! In colder winters, spiders grew thinner exoskeletons. What's more, during warmer springs female spiders grew larger than the male spiders did.



Photograph by Tom Uhlman/AP

As the Earth's temperature warms, bigger spiders could become the norm. Researchers aren't sure why warmer temperatures mean bigger wolf spiders. It could be because their prime hunting season is longer. Or perhaps longer summers allow the spiders to molt--shed their old exoskeletons--more often, letting grow bigger during their lifetimes. The study's co-author, Toke Høye, is pretty sure that bigger spiders will also mean MORE spiders, because larger female wolf spiders have more offspring than smaller ones.

Read more about this spider study on National Geographic News.

Watch a jumping spider video on National Geographic Kids.

Do you like to dance? Snowball the cockatoo does! Aniruddh Patel at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego and colleagues studied Snowball, who seems to love "dancing" to Queen and the Backstreet Boys. He was really keeping time to the beat, too--the scientists would change the music's tempo, or "BPM" (beats per minute), and Snowball would adjust how fast he was dancing!

Watch a video of Snowball in action.



Get the scoop on Snowball's dancing on National Geographic News.

Watch more wacky parrot behavior on National Geographic Kids.

The Great Turtle Race ended on Thursday, April 29. Backspacer was the first to make it across the finish line and into the Caribbean! Find out how the other turtles placed and who won the other Race challenges on the Green Scene blog. How did your favorite turtle place?

Race a turtle in the Great Turtle Race game.

Visit the leatherback sea turtle Creature Feature.
Illustration by Chris Rooney