145 stories
Bioluminescence is a natural phenomenon that highlights the brilliance of the natural world—literally! Glowworms light up, fireflies flash and plankton sparkle. These animals use their natural abilities to ensnare prey, to defend themselves, to attract mates and, at times, to simply illuminate the path ahead.
Pick a Weed, Save a Life Milkweeds contain various levels of cardiac glycoside compounds or cardenolides, which render the plants toxic to most insects, animals and humans. Despite their seemingly sinister sap, milkweeds breathe life to pollinators and people alike.
Ready to get outside and explore? We’re here to help you expand your horizons, try new activities or enjoy more hours of the pursuits you’re already passionate about. We can point you toward fresh destinations or help you experience places you already love in a brand-new way.
When I was a kid, my mom took our family to see Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, a musical fantasy film that featured a large green animated dragon named Elliott who had the ability to make himself invisible. I fell in love with Elliott’s expressive face, floppy ears and pink tuft of hair.
The Time is Now Established in 2017 by Rainforest Partnership, World Rainforest Day recognizes forests as one of the most powerful and cost-effective climate change mitigation tools we have. Their partner network comprises a global body of Indigenous groups, policy representatives, youth leaders and nonprofit organizations.
Belize is fringed by a vibrant expanse of living coral, known as the Mesoamerican Reef System. It’s a Caribbean underwater paradise—a snorkeler’s dream and an endangered sea turtle’s lifeline. Stretching from Mexico to Guatemala, it includes the world’s second-largest barrier reef, behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
A wonder of pre-Columbian architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage site, Peru’s breathtaking Machu Picchu draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
At more than 81,000 square miles—greater than 10 times the size of Florida’s Everglades—the Pantanal, located mostly in Brazil, is the largest tropical wetland and one of the most pristine in the world. This seasonally flooded plain is fed by tributaries of the Paraguay River and is one of the planet’s most productive habitats.
In between the Amazon, Atlantic Forests and the Pantanal lies the Cerrado biome in the highlands of Central Brazil—the largest savanna region in all of South America. It is covered in sun-drenched grasslands amid both humid and dry forests filled with gorgeous tree species such as sucupira, copaiba and golden trumpet.
Where: In the central Mexican highlands state of Michoacán, a steep climb up from the mountain town of Angangueo. What’s there: Mexico’s only public monarch butterfly sanctuary, which becomes carpeted, wallpapered and otherwise drenched in orange and black butterflies each winter.
Esperanza: A New Hope With her impressive display of stripes and spots, the young whale shark (Rhincodon typus) glides through the undulating waters, sucks drifting plankton into her mouth and filters out excess water through her gills.
By Caroline Prince, Senior Philanthropy Writer at World Wildlife Fund Before dawn Our 4:30am wake-up call is followed by a two-hour journey requiring both a dune buggy and a boat. This sunrise Natural Habitat Adventures‘ excursion from Isla Holbox, located just north of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is tinged with giddy optimism—and worry.
