Deep-Diving Migrant of the Open Seas
What can dive deeper than a submarine, swims all by way of entire oceans, is roofed in polka-dots, and has a mouth straight out of a horror film? It sounds…
To Monitor Loggerhead Turtles, Scientists Look to Their Eggs
Each morning in the summer of 2022, Karoline Perryman woke before dawn and walked the beach of Little Cumberland Island. Then a sea turtle technician for the Georgia Department of…
Migration Data Helps Protect Leatherbacks Across Oceans
On a warm, humid December night, a female leatherback hauls herself from the waves. She labors up the beach, one heave at a time, to lay her eggs within the…
Sea Turtles Are Under Threat from Small-Scale Fisheries
Small-scale fisheries are an under-recognized source of mortality for sea turtles. A new study from the Solomon Islands finds that free divers harvest more than 11,000 sea turtles each year,…
The Love Stories of Sleepy Lizards
“What’s that on the road?” I wonder out loud, squinting at the dark, oblong shape in the center of the red dirt track. A tree root? A rusted tail-pipe? A…
Do Enticing Mites Help Florida Scrub Lizards Attract a Mate?
Set out on a hike at Florida’s Tiger Creek Preserve, and it won’t be long before you see a small brown lizard scuttle through the undergrowth. And while some of…
Spring Flowers Are Blooming Earlier in Greater Yellowstone
You walk into a grocery store only to find the shelves empty of your favorite food. Most of us have experienced this recently. It can be annoying, but not life…
What It’s Like to Document California’s Disappearing Kelp Forests
In the summer of 2022, documentary videographer Tyler Schiffman set out to capture an ecosystem that is rapidly fading away. Commissioned to create a short film on California’s struggling underwater…
What Does Urbanization Mean for Melbourne’s Platypus?
This story is part of a series designed to introduce the perspectives of alumni from the National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy’s global youth externship program. Each guest author…
Are There Mountain Lions in New Jersey?
I raised my binoculars, expecting to get a view of a mule deer. I often spotted them in this little valley, and when I saw the tan form, I knew…