Videos
The most rare of all large whales, right whales were given their common name by whalers, who identified them as the “right whales” to kill. At 50 feet long and weighing 70 tons, right whales were hunted for their plentiful oil and baleen, which could be made into buggy whips, corsets and parasol ribs.
Videos
In a country that has seen war for more than 30 years, you’d expect to find very little megafauna left. That’s why the world was surprised when it was recently learned that in the high-elevation mountains of Afghanistan, there is a fairly large population of snow leopards managing to hang on.
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.
News & More
In 1719, when cartographer John Senex was drawing a map of the English empire in America, there was still a lot that was unknown. The little information about this “new land” that he did have came from the accounts of various Jesuit and French explorers, and not much of it matched.
News & More
National Geographic Explorer and Filmmaker James Cameron makes a triumphant return from the bottom of the Challenger Deep, nearly seven miles below the ocean’s surface.
News & More
When early, intrepid European explorers first began trekking through the New World in the late 1400s, they were awed by the strikingly different cultures they encountered. But they also came to notice something else: remarkable physical similarities between the Asian peoples they had seen during their many travels and these new, soon-to-be-known-as “Native Americans.”
Travel Tips
It’s less than a week before Christmas, and I’ll bet by now you’re beginning to feel “gadgeted out,” tired of being bombarded with all of the e-mail, internet and TV ads for nifty electronics, smartphones, e-readers and apps. I think nature lovers, in particular, feel the commercialization of the holidays even more than others.
Videos
Watch as a narwhal dentist travels to the Arctic to attempt to discover just what function a narwhal’s nine-foot tooth may play.
Videos
Sea monsters are the stuff of thrilling fiction. From Jules Verne’s 1870 book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea to James Cameron’s 1989 movie The Abyss, tales of what creatures lurk in our oceans have captured our rapt attentions for more than a hundred years.
Videos
When National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen jumped in the waters off Antarctica to photograph a leopard seal, he never expected her to play the perfect host—and offer him a snack. The huge seal began to bring him food: live penguins. When he didn’t partake, she brought him different fare—weak and dead ones.
News & More
As a global adventurer, you probably delight in testing your knowledge of the geographic esoterica of our planet. Here are a few questions to challenge you, plus a link to a whole slate of travel trivia quizzes.
Nature & Wildlife
Tucked away for centuries in a remote corner of northeastern India, a rare language lives. According to reports from the National Geographic Society, the language, called “Koro,” has just been “discovered” by researchers from the society’s Enduring Voices Project.
