Table of contents for Issue 356 - April 2025 in MiniMag

April is here, and with it comes the excitement of Easter! This issue is packed with egg-citing activities, fascinating discoveries, and an adventure or two! Easter is all about surprises, and we've hidden plenty of them inside this issue. From fun crafts and puzzles to incredible facts about tapirs - did you know they have mini-trunks? - there’s so much to explore. If you're a fan of mysteries, our feature on the Nazca Lines will take you deep into the ancient world, where giant drawings in the desert still puzzle scientists today. But that’s not all! If you love creatures with a sting, our article on scorpions will have you watching your step! Plus, EasyScience dives into the tiny world of fish larvae, while fossils reveal secrets of the past.…

Tapirs have been around for over 20 million years, making them one of the most primitive large mammals still roaming the Earth. Deep in the world’s tropical forests, an animal roams that looks like a mix of a pig, an elephant and a zebra – but is actually related to neither! TAPIRS are some of the most unique mammals on Earth, yet many people don’t even know they exist. Tapirs are large herbivores that belong to an ancient group of mammals. They have been around for millions of years and are closely related to rhinos and horses. Their most unusual feature is their flexible snout, which they use to grab leaves, fruits, and even to snorkel while swimming! Sadly, tapirs are endangered due to habitat destruction, hunting, and climate change.…

Unfortunately for these small fish, having travelled the dangers of the microscopic world in the ocean plankton, once they find estuaries, become juveniles and grow big and strong, they meet humans! This is where they meet the greatest challenges and dangers in their life cycle. Humans are top predators of fish worldwide. Estuaries are favourite holiday destinations and most of our estuaries have towns and people. Most people are not aware that our estuaries are nurseries to young fish. These young fish are easy for humans to target in estuaries because they can’t go anywhere else. Many people ignore limits that the government has placed on the size and number of these fish that they are supposed to catch and this puts tremendous strain on our fish stocks. Marine Biologists Problems…

Easter is around the corner, so why not combine your worthy recycling efforts with some Easter fun! Collect used plastic cups and let’s get started! Make sure you have a pretty basket filled with yummy treats for everyone in your family, your friends and even your teachers. Your decorations can be neatly packed away after Easter to be used again next year! Cool fact about plastics recycling The main benefit of most plastics is that they are recyclable. We can keep existing materials in circulation and reuse most plastic products over and over again. Plastics are a valuable material – they are cheap to manufacture and are used in every aspect of daily life. They also require little energy to produce and recycle, making these durable products carbon-efficient. What do…

Did you know that most fish have a larval phase after hatching from the egg, just like frogs have a tadpole phase? The metamorphosis (changes) that fish undergo during the process of becoming an adult fish is far less dramatic than the metamorphosis we see in insects. Butterflies for instance undergo a caterpillar stage that looks nothing like the final product – the butterfly. Fish larvae, however, are still quite different from the juveniles they will turn into. They are see-through, have no scales and most of their internal organs and sensory abilities, even their ability to swim, are formed and developed during the larval phase. Most fish come from larvae. This is called indirect fish development. Direct fish development refers to giving birth to live young. In fish, giving…

Creeping through the shadows, armed with venom and pincers, scorpions are some of the world’s most fascinating arachnids. These ancient creatures have been around for over 400 million years – long before the dinosaurs! But what makes them such effective hunters, and how have they survived for so long? Let’s dive into the science behind these armoured predators of the night. Some scorpions can go a year without eating but will still strike if they detect movement! Scorpions are members of the arachnid family, just like spiders. They have eight legs, two powerful pincers for grasping prey, and a long, segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger. Their exoskeleton is made of a tough material called chitin, which protects them from harsh environments. Some species even glow under ultraviolet (UV)…

Hidden in the arid Nazca Desert of southern Peru lies one of the most intriguing wonders of the ancient world – the Nazca Lines. These massive geoglyphs, etched into the earth’s surface, form giant figures of animals, plants and geometric shapes. Spanning over 2 000 years, their origin and purpose continue to baffle scientists, historians and travellers alike. The largest geoglyph, a pelican, spans over 285 metres! While they are not visible from space, they can be clearly seen from airplanes or nearby hills. The lines were first spotted in the 1920s when planes began flying over the region. The Nazca Lines were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. What are the Nazca Lines? The Nazca Lines are enormous drawings and shapes carved into the desert floor by…

Find … Help Hoppy Floppy find the right path to his basket of eggs! Paste… Colour in and cut out the picture below, paste onto a coloured cardboard and surprise your best friend with this cute Easter Card! Think … Can you complete this Easter crossword? ACROSS: 3. Easter is always on this day of the week. 5. What animal brings the Easter eggs? 7. The game to find the hidden eggs, is called an Easter egg ……..? 8. What is in the Easter basket? 10. The eggs are a bright ………? 12. Another name for a rabbit? 4 DOWN: 1. Hot Cross …….? 2. We …… the eggs.  4. This holiday is called …. 6. The eggs are made of ……? 9. In what country did the Easter bunny…

Juvenile fish go through various stages between birth and adulthood. They start as eggs which hatch into larvae. The larvae are not able to feed themselves, and carry a yolk-sac which provides their nutrition. Before the yolk-sac completely disappears, the tiny fish must become capable of feeding themselves. When they have developed to the point where they are capable of feeding themselves, the fish are called fry. When, in addition, they have developed scales and working fins, the transition to a juvenile fish is complete and it is called a fingerling. Fingerlings are typically about the size of fingers. The juvenile stage lasts until the fish is fully grown, sexually mature and interacting with other adult fish. Movement Initially fish larvae float around at the mercy of currents, tides and…

Imagine you’re exploring a rocky hillside and spot something unusual sticking out of a stone – a spiral shell, a leaf imprint, or even a giant tooth! You may have just discovered a fossil, a piece of history that has been hidden for millions of years. Fossils are nature’s way of preserving clues from the past, showing us what plants and animals looked like long before humans arrived. But how do these ancient remains turn into stone? And what secrets can they reveal? What are fossils? Fossils are the preserved remains, imprints, or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago. Unlike bones or shells we see today, fossils have undergone a process where minerals slowly replaced the original material, turning them into stone. Fossils come in many forms…

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Patterns are very important in mathematics, so important, that mathematics was once described as the study of patterns. If the problems which we try to solve are challenging enough we often get stuck, or we may realise that our method of attack will not work. These are good situations to be in, because it is in such situations that we do most of our learning. So, don’t be in too much haste to look up the answer or the solution. Have several attempts at finding your own solution. Counting How many matchsticks are required to make 20 squares in a row, if each side of each square is made up of one match? Finding the same pattern  Let’s look at a typical question in a maths challenge:…