Who knew?Martians

really love Nutella! Searching for snacks?

That is not a picture of an astronaut walking on the surface of Mars, obviously, since nobody has been there yet. It’s a picture of someone in a space suit walking on the Hawaiian volcano, Muana Loa.

For four months, six people volunteered to pretend to be on the fi rst Mars mission and were kept at a model of a Mars station at the volcano, to simulate life on Mars and to see what kinds of food would be nutritious, would keep from spoiling and would be good to eat for that long.

Freeze-dried meals weren’t bad, the volunteers reported, but they lack fi ber and weren’t very tasty. One thing that keeps and can be cooked into a variety of dishes is Spam, but the “astronauts” mostly craved comfort foods, and tried to make their Nutella last as long as they possibly could. -- AP photo: U of Hawaii, Angelo Vermeulen

2013

ColoradoKids CK ReporterKale LantzNederland

SCULPTING A SHYNESS CURE Brighton artist Kim Shak-

lee expresses herself with sculptures of na-

ture, particularly animals.

Kim is a talented bronze and stone sculptor, and adds a very life-like effect to her pieces.

Shaklee says she has loved nature from the very beginning and has always been kind of shy. Her art helps her express herself.

She fi rst got into sculpt-ing when she went to a horse show and saw wonderful horse sculptures. She realized that is what she wanted to do.

She made her fi rst sculpture in the 3rd grade. It was a baby elephant and she still has it.

Now Kim Shaklee has been sculpting for 23 years and says she thinks that birds are the hardest animals to make because they take a lot of research.

She has one piece, a river otter called “River Rapture,” in Benson Sculpture Garden in Love-land. The otter has been there for 11 years, and she has a sting ray that will be going in that same park soon.

Some of her pieces have a hard time bal-ancing on their own so she puts in an internal structure to support it so that if she is able to put that sculpture in a park it will be completely safe around kids and other members of the public.

She likes to work with bronze and has just started to experiment with stone.

She fi nds that these two materials are com-pletely different.

When you use stone, you scrape off extra and with bronze you add to places that need more.

Shaklee’s favorite piece so far is of two giant turtles called “Home-ward Bound.”

While most sculptures take two to three months to make, one of her smaller pieces took four

and a half months. “Surprisingly, you can’t go by size,” she said, be-

cause the smaller the piece, the harder it is to see mistakes, so it takes longer.

Next time you happen to be in Loveland stop by Benson Sculpture Garden and look for “River Rapture.”

Camels have been part of life in the deserts of the Middle East for centu-

ries, but they may now be part of a health problem there.

Researchers have been try-ing to fi nd how people on the Arabian peninsula have been infected with a virus that has killed 44 people so far.

They knew the virus could be found in bats, but that didn’t make sense, since bats and people don’t often come into very close contact.

But after testing a variety of animals from all over the world, they found the virus in dromedary (one-humped) camels from Oman and other Gulf States.

Camels are not simply transportation for people in the deserts of the region, but are also a source of milk, meat and hides. Scientists suspect that, just as Europeans fi rst caught some diseases from their cows, pigs and chickens, close contact with camels may be what’s spreading this virus.

Photo: B. Simpson

ARE CAMELS CARRYINGA DEADLY VIRUS?

By Megan Lindsey,10, a CK Reporter from Fort Collins

River Rapture This bronze otter dives through invisible waters at Loveland’s Benson Sculpture Garden Photo by Cynthia Lindsey

-- AP photo: U of Hawaii, Angelo Vermeulen

AUGUST 20, 2013

Summer’s fading: How to plan your last fling to avoid wasting any time

Amusement parks have been a large source of family entertainment for a long time, especially during the summer.

According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, or IAAPA, over 300 million people visit amusement parks in America every year.

That can equal crowded days and long lines, which nobody really likes.

But there are still those times when you can zip through the lines.

When planning a day at an amusement park, it can be a timesaver to note when the park is likely to be crowded or not.

Art Samarzia, who’s been an employee at Lake-side Amusement Park for ten years, says the lines are longer and the park is more crowded during the weekends.

More busy times for Lakeside are during Labor Day weekend and right before coupons expire.

Samarzia also pointed out that the park hits its peak point for visitors around 3 pm and stays busy until 7.

The last thing to take into consideration when planning a theme park day is the weather. “More people come when it’s cool,” he said.

So, if you want to maximize your time at an amusement park and ride as many rides as pos-sible, there’s an optimal time to go.

Try to head to your favorite amusement park on a weekday, closer to the beginning and ends

of a theme park’s hours, and when the weather’s forecasted to be hotter.

Also, avoid Labor Day weekend and when people are scraping up those expiring coupons they’ve been holding.

Is that too specific? Well, it’s not too much information, if you’re

aiming towards riding more rides and having a great time at an amusement park.

ck Kids and adults can find live links to information about stories in Colorado Kids at www.ColoradoNIE.com

In order to find the olinguito, researcher Kristofer Helgen had to travel to the cloud forests of Ecuador. Look through today’s paper for a far-away place that would be interesting to visit. What would you have to do to get there? Make a list of things to bring, and things you’d hope to bring home from your trip.

Beyond these four pages

A

B

CD

CK readers have a strong urge to travel When it comes to having fun,

most CK readers would rather take one big trip than enjoy a summer of free entertainment.

At least, that’s what we were told when we asked whether they’d like to have season tick-ets to amusement parks, movie theaters or sports events.

More than half said they’d wish for a pair of round-trip airline tickets than any of those other things.

Here’s what we asked you, and what you told us:

The Magic Ticket Genie will give you a pair of any tickets you want. What’s your choice?

A. Season passes to an amuse-ment park 12%

B. Season tickets to a sports team. 15%

C. Year-long passes to a movie theater. 15%

D. One pair of round-trip air-line tickets to anywhere. 59%

So here’s our next question:What is your favorite way to

celebrate with friends?A. Group outing to a ball

game, movie or other event.B. Huge party, lots of people,

food and entertainment.C. Sleepover with pizza,

brownies or both.D. Something mellow, with

one or two good friends.To vote on this question, go to

YourHub.com/NextGen.

we asked, you answered

By Brianna Wolle,12, a CK Reporter from Arvada

Colorado Kidsis produced by

Denver Post Educational ServicesExecutive Editor: Dana Plewka

dplewka@denverpost.comCK Editor: Mike Peterson

coloradokidseditor@gmail.comWe welcome your comments:

ColoradoKids@denverpost.com

For tools to extend the learning in this feature, look under“eEdition lessons” at:

www.ColoradoNIE.com

eEditions of the Post arefree of charge for classroom use.Contact us for information on all

our programs.

Denver Post Educational Services101 W. Colfax Ave.Denver CO 80202

(303) 954-3974(800) 336-7678

nie@denverpost.com

Researching their topic: CK Reporters recently held

a quick refresher workshop at Lakeside, then “investigat-

ed” the rides and refreshments. Photo by Heidi Wolle

It’s not often that a new mam-mal is discovered, but re-searchers at the Smithson-

ian National Museum of Natural History have announced the dis-covery of the “olinguito,” a rela-tive of the raccoon, coati and kin-kajou, living in the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia.

Perhaps olinguito’s most im-portant relative is the olingo, because scientists used to think olinguitos were simply smaller than average olingos.

But in 2003, when Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals for the Smithsonian, began to study olingos, he found preserved pelts and bones in museum collections that made him suspicious.

The color of the fur was differ-ent, the pelts were smaller and the teeth on the skulls seemed slightly different as well.

Helgen began to study the olin-go pelts and skulls at museums around the word, and found that the ones that seemed different had some things in common with each other.

The biggest thing was that they all seemed to come from higher up in the mountains than where the other olingos had been found.

In 2006, he traveled to the Otango Reserve, in a cloud forest in Ecuador, and was able to find examples of this special animal.

With some more research, he proved that they were not olin-gos, but a different, related spe-cies, which he called “olinguito.”

(In Spanish, adding “ito” to a name means “little.” For example, a boy named Manuel might be called “Manelito” by his family.)

Olinguitos are not rare, and live in the cloud forests of the Andes, high places that are often shrouded with mist and fog.

These warm, moist, cloud for-ests are home to many, many species of birds, mammals and other animals, whether in South America, Asia or Africa.

And it would be fun to say that now there is one more species in the forest, but, of course, little olinguito was there the whole time.

Raccoons, coatis have a new little cousin

BrainteaserHungary celebrates its founding in the year 1000 today, and so all our answers this week will begin with “H.”

1. Port-au-Prince is the capital of this Caribbean nation.

2. Species of this wading bird include egrets and bitterns.

3. Ancient Greek poet who wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad.

4. The last portion of the track in a horse race.

5. 3600 seconds

6. Cowboy slang term for a jail, from the Spanish “juzgado,” for “courtroom.”

7. Famous space telescope that was placed in orbit in 1990.

8. This powerful African carnivore is nothing to laugh at.

9. Louis Sachar novel about a boy named Stanley Yelnats who is sent to a juvenile detention facility.

10. Prowers County town famous for its sugar beets.(answers on Page Four)

Enter to win four tickets for admission & unlimited

rides at Lakeside Amusement Park!

Send an email to:NextGen@DenverPost.com(Subject: Lakeside) and tell us

why you’d like to win.

Above, an olinguito peeks out from a mossy tree limb in the cloud forest. At right, the strip of mountains where the newly discovered species makes its home. AP photo: Smithsonian Institu-

tion, Mark Gurney

At the “Colorado Preserve America Youth Summit: Canyons and Plains,”

more than 70 kids banded together for four days to learn about their state’s history, experience the culture, and search for ways to preserve and promote historical sites today.

We went to sites including, Bent’s Old Fort, Fort Lyon, the Amache Mu-seum, Kit Car-son’s last house, and more.

At Bent’s Old Fort, we learned some Native American sign language, including a blessing.

The work-ers reenacted adobe brick building, beaver trapping, Indian trading and more, and we had an authentic dinner of buffalo and beans, then watched a Boy Scout troop perform Native American dances.

We even had a chance to meet Kit Carson’s great great grandson.

Throughout the week we strived to answer questions

about each site such as how to make them better for kids and teens, and how to make the public more eager to see them.

Then we presented our ideas to a council that included a senator, park rangers, a sena-tor’s representative, and others.

While many adults ignore kids’ thoughts, everyone on the council listened deeply, and took our ideas completely seri-ously. They are now using them to rethink the way they present or reuse many of the historical sites in the area.

Camp was fun and education-al, and we even got to support the community.

One morn-ing we went to Bent’s New Fort, and built a trail from the road up to the fort. It was amazing how much we got done after just a few hours of hard work!

The only downside of the camp was the

heat and the bugs. It got up to 112 degrees, and there were lots of gnats, but luckily no mosqui-toes.

The heat was no fun, but if you drank plenty of water and wore sunscreen and a hat, the fun, learning, and amazingly friendly people made up for it completely.

This summer, students from all over Colorado met at El Pueblo His-

tory Museum in Pueblo to learn about the area’s history, includ-ing the steel and coal industry.

Over the four day summit, we discussed how to preserve the different historical sites and get teens involved.

For instance, interactive activities could include songs where musi-cians would play their original music and in-troduce feelings and emotion of the history of Pueblo.

Daniel Valdez explained the songs he has written: “When I began this process of story-telling about the Pueblo area I was overwhelmed with the history. What I found could be days worth of music, so we settled on these pieces to tell the story from early Native America/Spanish times through the fl ood of 1921 and a bit be-yond. Each piece tells a story of

the hard times, sad times and joyous times but always about how the stamina of the people of Pueblo has prevailed.”

Including more media and technology had a possibility of attracting teens more, as well as advertising the museum or the events about the cultures in other places, since most of us who lived in different parts of Colorado hadn’t heard anything about the historical monuments

Events such as the Taste of the Southern Rockies where music, food, clothing, booths,

shopping stalls would take place was also one possibility.

At the end of each summit, the kids presented ideas of how to preserve the sites for city council mem-bers.

Colorado Pre-serve America Youth Summit encourages students 13 years and up to take part in this active program to learn about history

and help preserve the historic landmarks throughout Pueblo and the rest of the world.

Want to do it next summer? Admission is free, but an ap-plication is required.

To learn more, see the links at www.ColoradoNIE.com

ON PLAINS AND CANYONSPRESERVING COLORADO’S PAST

IN THE MILLS AND MINES

BrainteaserSolution

(see Page Three)10 right - Wow! 7 right - Great! 5 right - Good

3 right - See you next time!

1. Haiti 2. heron 3. Homer 4. homestretch 5. hour 6. hoosegow 7. Hubble 8. hyena

9. Holes 10. Holly

Y-

C , !

By Delaney Santoro,14, a CK Reporter from Morrison

By Mansi Gupta14, a CK Reporter from Littleton

Photo by Delaney Santoro

Bessemer Historical Society/CF&I