The submersible dives down, deeper and deeper. The color of the surrounding water fades from blue-green to rich blue and finally to gray-black. Suddenly, out of the blackness, a jellyfish covered with dancing lights appears.
It’s a lovely sight. But the people inside the bright yellow Triton submersible are not looking for small creatures, no matter how flashy. They have come to the Ogasawara islands of Japan on this summer day in 2012 to search for a massive beast.
Its eyes are each the same size as a human head. It grabs prey using eight long arms and two even longer feeding tentacles. With these tentacles stretched out, it can reach the height of a four-story building. On each of its arms and tentacles, hundreds of suction cups with sharp, serrated edges cut into whatever it grabs. It devours each meal with a sharp beak and toothed tongue.
Inside its body, three hearts beat, pushing blue blood through the creature’s veins. And its skin changes color, shimmering through hues of metallic silver and bronze. Should any other creature try to attack it, the beast sprays out a cloud of jet-black ink. This cloaks its escape. On this dive, the group fails to find what they’re looking for. But they will keep trying. What is this monster they seek? Could it possibly be real?
Mythical Monsters
Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
