2025.10.03 青少年新闻速递
Antarctic Penguins and Leopard Seals: An Unusual Friendship Story
Scientists have discovered something amazing about penguins and leopard seals in Antarctica! These animals usually don’t get along because leopard seals eat penguins. But researchers have seen leopard seals doing something strange - they sometimes catch penguins and then let them go, or even bring them to researchers as gifts!
Imagine you are standing on the icy shores of Antarctica, watching as a huge leopard seal swims toward a group of penguins. You fear for the penguins, but then something incredible happens! The leopard seal gently pushes a penguin toward the scientists on the shore instead of eating it. This behavior has surprised scientists who have studied these animals for many years.
The leopard seals are as big as 3,000 comic books stacked together - that’s about 3 meters long and 300 kilograms heavy! They usually hunt (chase) penguins for food, but sometimes they seem to want to play instead. Marine biologists (ocean animal scientists/detectives) have seen this unusual behavior happen more than 20 times in the past year.
What do you think is going through the mind of a leopard seal when it decides not to eat a penguin? Is it possible that animals can feel emotions like playfulness or kindness, even in the wild?
Kids Help Scientists Explore Ancient Ice in Antarctica
In exciting science news, a group of school children has joined scientists in Antarctica to study the world’s oldest ice! These lucky students, aged 12-14 from five different countries, are helping researchers collect ice samples that are over one million years old.
The Antarctic ice laboratory is like a time machine that lets us see what Earth’s climate was like long ago. Imagine you are wearing a thick white coat, standing in a special research cave deep inside the ice. All around you are beautiful blue walls of ancient ice that sparkle like diamonds. With special tools, you carefully collect a piece of ice that has been frozen since before humans even existed!
The ice samples are as tall as a basketball pole - about 3 meters long - and weigh as much as 8 full backpacks. Scientists believe these ice layers (sheets/levels) can tell us important secrets about our planet’s climate history and help us understand global warming (Earth getting warmer).
The children involved in this project have already helped discover that carbon dioxide levels today are much higher than they were millions of years ago. This information will help scientists predict future climate changes better.
Would you like to join a science expedition like this one day? What do you think the most important thing we can learn from ancient ice is?
Creative Fun: Make Your Own Antarctic Penguin Model!
Want to bring a piece of Antarctica to your home? Here’s a fun activity to create your own penguin model! You’ll need simple materials like black and white paper, scissors, and glue.
First, draw a penguin shape on black paper - remember their tuxedo-like appearance with white bellies. Cut it out and add white paper for the stomach area. Don’t forget the orange beak and feet! You can use cotton balls for snow around your penguin to create an icy Antarctic scene.
This penguin craft is not just fun - it helps us think about these amazing birds that survive in one of the coldest places on Earth. Penguins have special adaptations (special features/abilities) that help them live in extreme cold, like thick feathers and a layer of fat under their skin.
If you could add any special feature to your penguin model to help it survive in Antarctica, what would it be? Maybe extra warm feathers or even ice-sliding feet?
中文版本
新闻发现时间！今天我们要疾驰探索... [砰！啪！哇！]南极企鹅与豹海豹：一段不寻常的友谊故事
科学家们在南极洲发现了关于企鹅和豹海豹的惊人现象！这些动物通常相处不来，因为豹海豹会吃企鹅。但研究人员发现豹海豹有时会做一些奇怪的事——它们抓到企鹅后会让它们走，甚至把企鹅当作礼物送给研究人员！
想象一下，你正站在南极洲冰冻的海岸边，看着一只巨大的豹海豹向一群企鹅游去。你为企鹅感到担心，但接着发生了不可思议的事情！豹海豹没有吃掉那只企鹅，而是轻轻地把它推到岸边的科学家那里。多年来研究这些动物的科学家对这种行为感到非常惊讶。
豹海豹就像3,000本漫画书叠在一起那么大——长约3米，重达300公斤！它们通常追逐企鹅作为食物，但有时它们似乎想要玩耍。海洋生物学家（研究海洋动物的科学家/侦探）在过去一年里已经观察到这种不寻常的行为超过20次。
你认为豹海豹决定不吃掉企鹅时，它心里在想什么呢？动物是否真的可能感受到玩耍或友善的情绪，即使在野外也是如此？
孩子们帮助科学家探索南极古冰
在令人兴奋的科学新闻中，一群学校孩子加入了南极洲科学家团队，研究世界上最古老的冰！这些来自五个不同国家的12-14岁的幸运学生，正在帮助研究人员收集超过一百万年历史的冰样本。
南极冰实验室就像一台时间机器，让我们能看到很久以前地球的气候状况。想象一下，你穿着厚厚的白色外套，站在冰层深处一个特殊的研究洞穴里。周围都是闪亮如钻石的美丽蓝色古冰墙。用特殊工具，你小心地采集一块在人类出现之前就已经冻结的冰！
这些冰样本就像篮球杆那么高——约3米长——重量相当于8个装满的书包。科学家相信这些冰层可以告诉我们关于地球气候历史的重要秘密，并帮助我们理解全球变暖（地球变暖）的现象。
参与这个项目的孩子们已经帮助发现，今天的二氧化碳水平比几百万年前高得多。这些信息将帮助科学家更好地预测未来的气候变化。
你想有一天参加这样的科学探险吗？你认为我们能从古冰中学到的最重要的东西是什么？
创意乐趣：制作你自己的南极企鹅模型！
想把南极洲的一角带回家吗？这里有一个有趣的活动来制作你自己的企鹅模型！你只需要简单的材料，如黑白纸、剪刀和胶水。
首先，在黑纸上画出企鹅形状——记住它们像燕尾服一样的外表和白色的肚子。剪下来，然后用白纸做肚子区域。别忘了橙色的喙和脚！你可以用棉球在企鹅周围做雪景，创造冰封的南极洲场景。
这个企鹅手工不仅有趣——它还帮助我们思考这些在地球上最冷地方之一生存的惊人鸟类。企鹅有特殊的适应性（特殊特征/能力）帮助它们在极端寒冷中生存，比如厚厚的羽毛和皮肤下的一层脂肪。
如果你能给你的企鹅模型添加任何特殊特征来帮助它在南极洲生存，那会是什么呢？也许是额外的保暖羽毛，甚至是滑冰脚？