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If you were asked to name a giant that now lives among us, you might immediately think of an African elephant, a blue whale, a mountain gorilla, a polar bear or a rhinoceros. There are, however, some other, lesser-known—but fascinating—leviathans in our midst.
Visit Lake Moeraki, and witness the movements of some of the world’s rarest species. This is a destination for nature lovers, active travelers and anyone seeking wild New Zealand! The mountain range that runs the length of New Zealand’s South Island marks the contact zone of the Indo-Australian and Pacific continental plates.
Have you ever imagined being eye to eye with one of the most majestic, curious, and charismatic creatures of the sea—the Pacific gray whale?
More-than-human animals predate humans on Earth by approximately 500 million to more than 800 million years. While modern humans (Homo sapiens) have existed for only about 300,000 years, the first animal life (likely sponges) appeared in the ocean hundreds of millions of years prior to the human lineage.
Long before people around the world began referring to New Zealanders as “kiwis,” the indigenous Maori held the kiwi bird in high regard. They called this elusive, flightless bird—found burrowing through forests, scrublands and grasslands—the hidden bird of Tane, the god of the forest: te manu huna a Tane.
“I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could,” the legendary 19th-century artist and ornithologist John James Audubon scribbled in one of his journals. Avid birders can no doubt relate to that sentiment.
Peerless Patagonia is striking in grandeur, yet humble in character. As Andean spires rise to the sky, glaciers wind their way down to turquoise lakes dotted with floating icebergs. Condors, guanacos and elusive pumas live unhindered in Torres del Paine National Park.
The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is not your typical raptor. The Incas revered this massive bird of prey, believing it carried the sun into the sky each morning and served as a messenger to the gods.
It’s typically said that animal behavior is the result of biology and environment. The responses of wildlife are driven by the primal urges to survive and reproduce; or are triggered by internal or external cues, such as the appearance of a nearby threat.
Nat Hab has spent over three decades exploring Costa Rica’s Pacific and Caribbean coastlines, rainforests, cloud forests, national parks and wildlife refuges.
The Amazon river dolphin is known as the boto in Brazil and as bufeo or bufeo Colorado in Spanish-speaking parts of the Amazon Basin, including Peru, Colombia and Bolivia. No matter what we call them, freshwater river dolphins hold significant cultural importance among the Indigenous and riverine communities of the Amazon Basin.
Walking under an emerald canopy, you listen to the sounds of croaking tree frogs enshrouded by mighty basket ferns and catch a flash of color from the chattering birds overhead. Giant fan palms shade you from the heat of the sun, and the air is filled with the intoxicating smells of jungle flowers.
