Table of contents for Issue 324 - August 2022 in MiniMag

The August winds are in the air and with the changes of the weather, come many changes for us too. We are officially in the second half of 2022, which, depending on how your year has been going, has either felt like an eternity or like it has flown by way too fast. However, like with every milestone, it gives us an opportunity to reflect and to redirect! Wished you had done something earlier in the year? Do it! Life is too short not to keep trying, hoping and dreaming for a better tomorrow! When you have a moment in between your adventures and day-to-day life, enjoy this month’s issue, as it is sure to be a big treat! Read and get excited about some fantastical tales to watch in…

Cats probably began living near human settlements to catch the rats and mice that were feeding on stored grain. People soon saw that cats were useful and encouraged them to remain. Nobody knows when cats first started living with humans, but it was probably at least 5 000 years ago. At the height of the Egyptian civilization 3 000 years ago, the cat was already a common domestic animal and eventually it became one of the most sacred animals in Egypt. It is, therefore, possible that the cat was first domesticated in Ancient Egypt. Today, there are domestic cats in every part of the world where there are humans. Mummified moggy When one of the sacred cats of Ancient Egypt died, its body was mummified (treated to prevent decay), wrapped…

CARTOON NETWORK MUST WATCH! WOMEN’S DAY STUNT GIRL POWER GO! When the going gets tough, the girls get going! This Women's Day line-up is action and superhero packed with Girl Power Go! From a crazy girl’s night out with Starfire and Raven in Teen Titans Go! to your favourite sisterhood DC Super Hero Girls tracking a mysterious warrior, powerful girls are the stars of Cartoon Network this month. But great powers don’t only come from super abilities. In The Amazing World of Gumball, Anais must face her bully head on, and in Craig of the Creek, Kelsea faces a terrifying quest. Will they stand up to the difficulty and danger? Also, stay tuned for the grand finale with the Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Super-Villain High movie, where the girls…

The dog family, called Canidae from canis (Latin for dog), includes at least 35 species of living wolves, jackals, foxes and wild dogs. All domestic dog breeds have descended from the wolf, first tamed by humans thousands of years ago. Dog family members are all carnivores and have adaptations for hunting: they use their teeth to chew meat and gnaw bones, and have highly developed senses of sight, hearing and smell. All dogs are “digitigrade” (walk on their toes). They are popular pets because they are easily trained, but they need proper care. Jackal god The jackal has always been linked with humans, but it is not an ancestor of the domestic dog. Anubis (left), a jackal god, was and Egyptian deity. Some breeds may look very different from the…

Have you heard about the trend where people practice their survival skills? YouTubers and TikTokkers around the world post videos of themselves building shelters, growing their own food and purifying water. Would you be able to purify water in case of an emergency? What to do: 1. Place a clean, empty glass in the middle of your bowl. The top of the glass should be lower than the sides of the bowl. 2. Dissolve the salt in your water. Use a spoon to stir until all the salt has dissolved. Tip: The salt will dissolve faster if you use warm water. 3. Carefully pour the salty water into the bowl around the glass. 4. Cover the bowl with clear plastic. 5. Place your pebble or weight on top of the…

This beautiful sea bird’s body is specifically adapted to shoot into the water like a missile. They dive into the sea, head-first, at a neck braking speed of 85km/h! Why would a Cape Gannet dive? To catch sardines and anchovies, their favourite food of course! Cape Gannets are not the only ones who enjoy these tasty and nutritious little fishes. Humans do too, and sadly a shortage of the Cape Gannet’s preferred food is putting them at risk of extinction. We can help these birds by protecting their food and the spaces they need to live and breed in peace.…

Why does it snow? Snow forms in clouds high in the atmosphere, where it is so cold, water droplets freeze into ice crystals. The ice crystals collide and join together to make bigger crystals. When the crystals get too heavy to float, they fall to the ground as snowflakes. When snow falls, the air is just cold enough to let the flakes drift to the ground before they melt.…

KEYPTO THE SUPERDOG KRYPTO THE SUPERDOG prides himself on being Superman’s superpowered best friend – he can fly and has X-ray vision, heat vision, “freeze” breath and super hearing, just like his two-legged Kryptonian counterpart. ALL PETS HAVE SECRETS, THEIRS ARE SUPER ACE THE BAT HOUND Sarcastic ACE THE BAT-HOUND has spent most of his life in Tailhuggers Animal Shelter. Strong and seemingly invulnerable, he employs a tough-guy attitude that masks his soft underbelly. PB THE POTBELLY PIG PB THE POTBELLY PIG has a heart even bigger than her adorable potbelly, which is outweighed only by her steadfast devotion to her Tailhuggers Animal Shelter family … and her superhero idol, Wonder Woman! CHIP THE SQUIRREL CHIP THE SQUIRREL is a spazzy scaredy-squirrel who suddenly gets the power to shoot lightning…

QUEEN The queen bee is the only fertile female in a colony. She is surrounded by workers who feed and groom her and her only function is to lay eggs; she lays about 2 000 a day, one at a time. She lives three to five years. When the queen dies worker bees once again designate queen cells and raise new virgin queens. Worker bees that are about 12 days old are mature enough to begin secreting and producing beeswax, the material for the construction of comb. The wax flakes they produce help with the building of new wax comb and in the capping of ripened honey and cells containing developing pupae. The bee must consume large amounts of food (honey and nectar) to produce these wax flakes. Guarding the…

Why does it rain? The Sun’s heat causes moisture from oceans and lakes to evaporate into the air, forming water vapour. The vapour rises, cools and condenses (turns into liquid) into tiny water droplets, which form clouds. If the clouds continue to absorb moisture, they become saturated. The water droplets in the clouds collide and become bigger and heavier until the air can no longer support them. Then they fall as rain. Do some parts of the world receive more rain than others? Around the world, rainfall patterns vary widely. In some regions rain falls almost daily. In deserts, it may not rain for years. The tropics are generally wet, while the polar regions are dry because moisture there is locked up in the form of ice.…

How do clouds form? When the Sun shines on seas and lakes, some of the water in them evaporates into the warm air. If air currents blow the warm air over land and it rises over mountains, or if cold air pushes beneath the warm air and forces it upwards, then the warm air cools. Cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, so the water vapour condenses to form clouds. Why are clouds different shapes? The way clouds form depends on their height above the ground and on the movement of air. Wispy cirrus clouds form high in the troposphere. They are made of ice crystals drawn into strands by the wind. Rapidly-rising pockets of warm air cause fluffy, mid-level cumulus clouds to form. Low-lying stratus clouds…