Archives for June, 2009
Posted by The Lower Keys marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri) was named for Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine and the organization famous for its “Playboy Bunny” hostesses. Rosanna Tursi, a master’s student and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Central Florida, is using population genetics to aid in the conservation of the rabbits, which…
Read the whole post »Norway’s fisheries regulators have cut the 2009 catch quota for the endangered European eel by 80 percent and banned fishing of the eel completely starting next year, WWF announced today. Will the endangered European eel be able to slip through the net of extinction, thanks to Norway’s ban on catching it? Photo copyright WWF-Canon/Rudolf Svensen.…
Read the whole post »The most complete map of the Earth’s terrain, showing highly detailed elevations for more than nine tenths of the planet’s surface, has been released for free public use. Global Map Image: In this colorized version, low elevations are purple, medium elevations are greens and yellows, and high elevations are orange, red and white. NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy,…
Read the whole post »Zoos worldwide are working to protect the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo–conservation funded also by the National Geographioc Society/Waitt Grants Program. Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, a leader in the effort to conserve tree kangaroos in their wild habitat in Papua New Guinea, is also working to expand the genetic diversity of these marsupials in captivity. Woodland Park Zoo photo by…
Read the whole post »Hooked on Vampire Fish
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 29, 2009 Megafish-finder and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Zeb Hogan was fired up when I spoke with him at the Explorers Symposium about a new Nat Geo Channel show called Hooked. The series chronicles the quest for some of the world’s most enormous, extraordinary, and downright bizarre fish. Hooked premieres in the United States at 10 et/pt…
Read the whole post »Pacu fish, cousins to the piranha and known as “frugivores,” have human-like teeth that can crack nuts and fruits. They and many other kinds of species of fish with weird teeth are featured in “Hooked,” a new National Geographic Channel series that premieres on U.S. cable television tonight. Also known as the “Vampire Fish,” The…
Read the whole post »Famous for its repulsive rotting-flesh stench and the largest flowering structure in the plant world, the corpse flower always causes something of a stir when it blooms. The odor of decay it exudes attracts flies and other insects in the wild–the corpse flower’s strategy for pollination. But in botanical gardens the world over, the enormous phallic…
Read the whole post »New Havens for Manta Rays, Whale Sharks
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 29, 2009 Here’s good news from the Indian Ocean: Three new marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Maldives will help shelter exquisite manta rays, along with whale sharks, the ocean’s largest fish. The newly protected waters also harbor an abundance of other reef sharks. Maldives Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam announced the MPAs to commemorate World Oceans Day…
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Posted by Here at National Geographic’s D.C. headquarters, our cafeteria is big on composting: There’s even a photo of a landfill on the trash can to guilt you into throwing that paper cup into the right receptacle. Pretty soon, if you live in San Francisco, you won’t have a choice. On June 23, mayor Gavin Newsom signed…
Read the whole post »Maldives has created three new marine protected areas, including important feeding grounds for manta rays and whale sharks. Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/Save Our Seas Foundation The Indian Ocean archipelago country is famous as a destination for tourists seeking exotic island getaways. But it is also one of the planet’s most important hotspots for many…
Read the whole post »A Sustainable World: Inspiring People to Act
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 25, 2009 Thomas Culhane, Katey Walter, and Jon Waterman share their insights on co-existing with the planet at the National Geographic Explorers Symposium. Urban planner and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Thomas Culhane‘s nongovernmental organization Solar CITIES trains residents of Cairo’s poorest neighborhoods to build rooftop solar water heaters and other renewable energy, water, and waste management systems.…
Read the whole post »“A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev volcano in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009,” NASA said today. The agency made the picture its “Image of the Day.” Image courtesy NASA Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril…
Read the whole post »By Janelle Nanos Intelligent Travel National Geographic Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting their annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year they’re letting readers preview the submissions and vote on their favorites. Here’s one of of the featured shots from this week: This photo, by John Tolsma, is of a Berber…
Read the whole post »Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around “as high as a kite”, BBC News quoted an Australian government official said. NGS photo of wallabies by Bates Littlehales “We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,” Lara…
Read the whole post »Are pollutants causing a surge in cancers in wildlife, threatening the conservation and even survival of some species? And is their fate a flashing light for the health of humans?” “Cancer is one of the leading health concerns for humans, accounting for more than 10 percent of human deaths,” said Denise McAloose, chief pathologist for…
Read the whole post »The birth of this tawny frogmouth at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo a couple of weeks ago caused a stir on the Internet, where it became known as a cottonball with a beak. The pictures immediately below here show what it looked like at a day old. Now the chick is growing fast. At 20 days old,…
Read the whole post »Hammerhead sharks and giant devil rays are becoming globally edangered, largely because of serious overfishing driven by the voracious human appetite for shark fin soup and other seafood, a comprehensive survey by experts from 90 countries has determined. Many other sharks and rays–one third of all their species–are also in trouble. NGS illustration by Shawn Gould…
Read the whole post »The Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit in New York’s Bronx Zoo is home to 19 of the great apes and an assortment of other animals. It has also raised almost U.S. $11,000,000 for the conservation of Central Africa’s Congo Basin rain forest and wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the zoo, said today. WCS photos…
Read the whole post »The End of Kodachrome
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 24, 2009 Kodak’s announcement Monday that it will discontinue production of Kodachrome this year made big news everywhere, including here in the halls of the Geographic. Photographers who built careers around the film—legendary for its vibrant, saturated colors—are reflecting on three-quarters of a century of the world captured in Kodachrome. Traveler Senior Photo Editor Dan Westergren relates…
Read the whole post »Ever since Monday’s announcement by Kodak that they’re discontinuing production of Kodachrome film, professional and amateur photographers this week have been busy discussing its demise, writes National Geographic Traveler Senior Photo Editor Dan Westergren. “Kodachrome was known for its rich color saturation and was widely used by National Geographic photographers in the first decades that…
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Posted by In the world of science journalism, we writers and editors often walk along the edge of a very sharp sword. On one side lies the realm of Pure Accuracy, filled with semantics and pedantry and enough qualifiers to turn the discovery of giant squid fossils on Mars into a 40-page report on “the theoretical life-cycle…
Read the whole post »The Future of Exploration: A Different Lens
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 23, 2009 Four National Geographic Emerging Explorers share their novel paradigms for understanding the world in these highlights from the 2009 Explorers Symposium: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Curator of Mammals Kristofer Helgen talks about discovering new mammals, both out in the wild and deep in museum archives. “I’ve described about 25 species of mammals in…
Read the whole post »Guarded by giant seven-headed serpent gods high on a mountain, on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, is an ancient sacred site that’s often been at the center of conflict. Jon Ortner, photographer and author of the book “Angkor, Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire,” shares his first encounters and impressions of the thousand-year-old sanctuary Preah Vihear in…
Read the whole post »Making Waves in Washington
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 22, 2009 President Obama is grabbing the bull by the horns (and the fisheries by their quotas) and taking action on the ocean. The President swiftly responded to a request by the Joint Oceans Commission (JOC) to revise United States ocean policy. I’m pleased to see signs that the Obama administration is making the ocean a priority,…
Read the whole post »Today is the second Father’s Day celebration for a male rhea at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Washington, D.C. Rhea chicks are raised by their fathers, who incubate their eggs and rear the chicks once they are hatched, the zoo said in a caption accompanying these pictures. Rheas are large, flightless birds native to South America…
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