Nature & Wildlife
The Pacific Gray Whale undertakes the world’s longest mammal migration, traveling an average of 10,000 to 14,000 miles on its annual journey from northwest Alaska to the breeding and calving lagoons of Baja California.
Nature & Wildlife
If you dread overseas flights because you always land intolerably tired and exceedingly hungry, I have some facts that might help you put such ordeals into perspective. It was recently discovered that a female bar-tailed godwit flew 7,145 miles from Alaska to New Zealand—without taking a single break for food or drink.
Nature & Wildlife
Dogs have been working as “therapists” for us for a long time now. Since the 1970s, they have been going into nursing homes, assisted living centers, children’s hospitals and prisons to help lift spirits and provide nonjudgmental companionship.
Travel Tips
We humans seem to have a great need to anthropomorphize; that is, we tend to want to ascribe human characteristics to inanimate objects, nonhuman animals and natural phenomena, such as the wind, rain or sun.
Conservation
Earth Day is past, but cultivating eco-awareness should be a part of our daily routine. When it’s time to leave home, consider the planet as you make your plans. These simple practices take little effort but can make a big impact on the environment — not just for Earth Day, but every day.
Conservation
It’s Earth Day, and you’re likely to hear the word “green” a gazillion times before April 22 is over. It’s easy to get calloused to the notion of “going green.” Is there such a thing as “green fatigue”? I suppose the cynically inclined might say so.
Nature & Wildlife
Seems there’s a rising singing sensation who’s getting a lot of press lately. He hails from Australia. Well, actually, from off the coast of Australia—way off. From beneath the ocean. He’s a humpback whale.
Videos
Stunningly white in a blue sea, beluga whales are ethereally beautiful creatures when spotted in their natural habitats. Not only are they a treat for the eyes, but hearing them is something you’ll never forget.
News & More
I’ll admit it: I’m a vampire-story junkie. Ever since I read Anne Rice’s 1976 novel Interview with a Vampire, I’ve been thirsting—shall we say—for more. So, you can see why I was “sucked in” to watching The Vampire Diaries series on TV, ever since it premiered in 2009.
Conservation
In 1951, Kirk Douglas starred in a B movie titled The Big Carnival (originally released as Ace in the Hole). I saw it as a kid, many years later, when the trend was to play old movies on TV on Saturday afternoons.
Videos
With Arctic sea ice at the third lowest level in recorded history, it’s not only polar bears that are facing climate change challenges. Tens of thousands of walrus are coming ashore in northwest Alaska, which is unusual behavior. The situation could prove dangerous, since walrus are easily startled and might stampede, trampling their young.
Conservation
Fantastic news out of India: Home to half the world’s wild tigers, India has announced that its tiger population has increased to 1,706 from 1,411 since the last tiger census in 2007.
