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Nature & Wildlife
Lonesome George died this past Sunday morning. His caretaker, Fausto Llerena, found the giant tortoise’s remains stretched out in his corral, facing his watering hole, at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands. I didn’t know George personally, but I grew up knowing about him.
Videos
The recent popularity of trail cams and camera traps has resulted in some pretty amazing footage of the natural world, such as that of Bhutan’s mountain tigers and a cougar’s epic journey. On May 9, 2012, another amazing “catch” was made: National Geographic captured a view of Cameroon’s Cross River gorillas.
Conservation
Turtle tagging is not a slow version of the classic children’s game, but a satellite tracking program supported by the World Wildlife Fund to better understand the movements of green and black sea turtles in the eastern Pacific Ocean and their intersection with marine fisheries.
Videos
When you hear about the great journeys undertaken by some of nature’s smallest creatures, you can’t help but feel inspired to step into adventures of your own that may be outside your comfort zone. And no odyssey is greater than that of the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea).
Travel Tales
If you’re a parent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparent or friend, you probably know someone who was part of Graduation 2012. And at this time of year, young, degree-holding students are being bombarded with tips and advice during countless graduation speeches across the country.
Videos
Ah, summer. Time for weekend drives and family vacations. Tourist towns all over the country are gearing up for an influx of visitors. But for one city in Colorado, it’s the elk that will be arriving in droves, in this warmest season.
Nature & Wildlife
British explorer and Royal Navy officer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912. A hundred years later, on January 17, 2012, in honor of this historic adventure, the National Geographic Society exhibited some rare photos of the expedition, taken by Herbert Ponting.
Nature & Wildlife
One of the great joys of a post-graduation summer is the freedom to travel. Unfortunately my summer does not include backpacking through wild and ancient China or cruising the mysterious Amazon this time around. My graduate student budget means that my travels need to stay a little closer to home this year.
Conservation
America’s national parks give us the rare opportunity to see a star-filled night sky, a window on nature that most of us who live anywhere near a town or developed area have probably never truly witnessed.
Travel Tales
73-year-old Tamae Watanabe broke her own 2002 record to become the oldest woman to summit Mount Everest on Saturday, May 19, 2012.
News & More
I’m not talking about a spirulina smoothie, though that can be good for you, too. Nope, it’s actually “Vitamin N” that’s the focus – “N” for “nature.” It’s author Richard Louv’s term for the health benefits of time spent in the natural world, detailed in his book The Nature Principle.
Nature & Wildlife
Scientists—and those of us who are polar bear enthusiasts—have long thought that polar bears started off as brown bears about 150,000 years ago, adapting to their cold environment by developing smaller ears, thicker fur and teeth ideally shaped to tear into seal flesh.
