Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and upwards of 200 tons (181 metric tons). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.
Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill a day.
Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws. The giant animals feed by first gulping an enormous mouthful of water, expanding the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. Then the whale's massive tongue forces the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. Thousands of krill are left behind—and then swallowed.
Blue whales look true blue underwater, but on the surface their coloring is more a mottled blue-gray. Their underbellies take on a yellowish hue from the millions of microorganisms that take up residence in their skin. The blue whale has a broad, flat head and a long, tapered body that ends in wide, triangular flukes.
Blue whales live in all the world's oceans occasionally swimming in small groups but usually alone or in pairs. They often spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives.
These graceful swimmers cruise the ocean at more than five miles an hour (eight kilometers an hour), but accelerate to more than 20 miles an hour (32 kilometers an hour) when they are agitated. Blue whales are among the loudest animals on the planet. They emit a series of pulses, groans, and moans, and it’s thought that, in good conditions, blue whales can hear each other up to 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Scientists think they use these vocalizations not only to communicate, but, along with their excellent hearing, to sonar-navigate the lightless ocean depths.
Really Big Babies
Blue whale calves enter the world already ranking among the planet's largest creatures. After about a year inside its mother's womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons (2.7 metric tons) and stretching to 25 feet (8 meters). It gorges on nothing but mother's milk and gains about 200 pounds (91 kilograms) every day for its first year.
Blue whales are among Earth's longest-lived animals. Scientists have discovered that by counting the layers of a deceased whale's waxlike earplugs, they can get a close estimate of the animal's age. The oldest blue whale found using this method was determined to be around 110 years old. Average lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
Between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales are believed to still swim the world's oceans. Aggressive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then.
Blue whales have few predators but are known to fall victim to attacks by sharks and killer whales, and many are injured or die each year from impacts with large ships. Blue whales are currently classified as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List.
Aye-ayes can be found only on the island of Madagascar. These rare animals may not look like primates at first glance, but they are related to chimpanzees, apes, and humans.
Aye-ayes are dark brown or black and are distinguished by a bushy tail that is larger than their body. They also feature big eyes, slender fingers, and large, sensitive ears. Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches.
Aye-ayes spend their lives in rain forest trees and avoid coming down to earth. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees.
While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal's insect diet.
Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have made the aye-aye critically endangered. Today they are protected by law.
Martin Schoeller was born in Munich, Germany, in 1968. Growing up in Germany, he was deeply influenced by August Sander’s countless portraits of the poor, the working class, and the bourgeoisie, as well as by Bernd and Hilla Becher, who spawned a school known as the Becher-Schüler.
Schoeller worked as an assistant to Annie Leibovitz from 1993 to 1996. He advanced as a freelance photographer, producing portraits of people he met on the street. The work gained recognition for its strong visual impact and since 1998, his work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and W, among other publications.
Schoeller joined Richard Avedon as a contributing portrait photographer at The New Yorker in 1999, where he continues to produce his award-winning images. His portraits are exhibited and collected internationally, including in several solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States and are included in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. In addition, he has had many solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe and group exhibitions in the U.S.
Schoeller's honors include the 1999-2008 Communication Arts Photo Annual; the 1998-2008 American Photography Photo Annual; the 2001-2008 Photo District News Photo Annual; the 2008 Best Portrait Award from American Photo Images of the Year; Photojournalism Finalist from the American Society of Magazine Editors; National Magazine Awards for "The Interpreter" in The New Yorker; Photography Cover Finalist from the Society of Publication Designers for "American Gangster" in Entertainment Weekly; 2006 Best Celebrity Cover, Second Place, Magazine Publishers of America for "Steve Carell," in Premiere magazine; the 2004 Gold Medal from the Society of Publication Designers for "Tigers of the Snow: Three Generations of Great Climbing Sherpas" in Outside magazine; National Magazine Awards: Photo Portfolio/Essay; American Society of Magazine Editors for "Tigers of the Snow: Three Generations of Great Climbing Sherpas" in Outside magazine; 2002 Silver Medal from the Society of Publication Designers for "Hip Hop Portfolio" in The New Yorker; 2001 Gold Medal from the Society of Publication Designers for "Sports Portfolio" in The New Yorker; 2000 Silver Medal from the Society of Publication Designers for "Cheerleaders" in Rolling Stone; and Best New Talent, Life magazine Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards.
The ivory-billed woodpecker recently went from near total obscurity to superstardom when birders reported a sighting of the believed-to-be-extinct species. The world's third largest woodpecker was condemned to oblivion some 50 years ago, but in April 2005, a stunning video emerged from a vast Arkansas swamp forest. The tape confirmed the sighting of a live ivory-billed woodpecker—and captured the attention of the world. It was hailed as the birding equivalent of finding Elvis alive.
In the wake of the discovery, some experts supported the evidence while others suggested that the tape showed a similar, smaller woodpecker—the pileated—which remains common in much of North America.
Ivory-billed woodpeckers make a unique double-knock noise when pecking at trees, and this sound may be a crucial aid to identifying any surviving birds. A recent recording may have captured this distinctive sound, but it may also reflect noises of nonavian origin.
Until more hard evidence emerges from the Mississippi Delta's inaccessible, 860-square-mile (2,226-square-kilometer) Big Woods region, the ivory-bill's status must remain uncertain. But it is beyond doubt that the bird captured the attention of America and became a tragic symbol of the vanished old-growth delta forests it once frequented. These woodlands survive today mostly in isolated patches.
Ivory-billed woodpeckers use their enormous white bill (not really made of ivory, but bone) to strip bark from dead but standing trees, and to access the beetle larvae that make up their primary food. These bills were once decorative objects prized by some Native Americans. They have been found in archaeological digs far from the bird's ancient range—which suggests that they had value as trade items.
Michael Christopher Brown was born and raised in the Skagit Valley, a farming community in Washington State. Learning photography from his father, who maintained a black-and-white darkroom in their home, he decided to pursue his passion for documentary photography during his senior year at Western Washington University, when a photojournalism class inspired him to photograph his family while living at home.
After earning his B.A. in psychology and a minor in studio art in 2000, he worked part time as a sports photographer at the Argus, a weekly newspaper in Washington State. He then attended the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University and received a master of arts in documentary photography in 2003. Later that year, while working as a photography intern at the State Journal Register, he won the 58th College Photographer of the Year Competition from the University of Missouri for his work in Ohio.
In 2004 Brown covered Hurricanes Frances and Ivan and a story about Glen Echo, Maryland, as a photography intern at National Geographic magazine. In 2005 he began his professional career after being assigned a story about Orlando, Florida, for National Geographic and, later that year, an article about asthma in Knoxville, Tennessee. In late 2005 he left for China and produced projects about a traveling circus, a bread baker, and the effects of the economic revolution.
In 2006 Brown began freelancing in New York City. His recent client work has included an adventure/environmental story for National Geographic in Canada; a story about oil in Sakhalin, Russia, for Fortune; and stories about factories in China for the Atlantic Monthly. Other clients include the New York Times, Smithsonian, ESPN magazine, Monocle, D la Repubblica, Getty Images, AARP, and Time. His photographs have also been published in Newsweek, New York magazine and Vrij Nederland, among others.
In June 2007, Brown's essay profiling industry in the Pearl River Delta region of China was broadcast on PBS during NewsHour. In November 2007 American Photo magazine named him one of 15 emerging artists—"a new generation of photo pioneers."
He is a contributor to the Corbis and Grazia Neri photo agencies.
Zane Lamprey chugs to Rome tonight, one of the world’s greatest cities for over two thousand years. As they say, “When in Rome, drink like the Romans.” Italy is a hotbed for fabulous wine production, and wine is the most imbibed cultural beverage. Thus, it’s worth taking a look at the most synonymous wine to Rome: Frascati. Romans refer to Frascati as the Golden Wine in reference to its color and its value. The grapes that make Frascati are grown in close proximity to the city, in the province of Lazio. The bustling metropolis stands in stark contrast to the surrounding pastoral scenes of Lazio, made up of farmland, mountain villages, and beachfronts that await those who venture outside of Roma. Compared to Italy’s more famous wine provinces, such as Piedmont and Tuscany, Lazio is not very well known for the simple reason that Rome consumes most of the Latium wine production, leaving little for the outside world.
Rich Reid got his start in photography as full-time photo editor for both the college yearbook and the daily newspaper while pursuing his business economics degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
For the past 20 years, he has specialized in travel, environmental, and adventure photography while working with numerous nonprofit organizations preserving lands and cultural sites. His continually working to advocate the preservation of the Gaviota Coast in Southern California was highlighted in National Geographic magazine in “New Park for California Coast?” (July 2001).
Reid is also a frequent contributor to National Geographic Adventure and covered two bicycle-supported assignments: “California’s Secret Coast” (September/October 2001), about a weeklong biking, hiking, and kayaking adventure along the Gaviota Coast, and “Floating into the Country” (May 2004), about the ultimate mountain bike tour of Alaska’s Inside Passage via the ferry system.
Reid traveled the length of the Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail from the Mexico-Arizona border to San Francisco, documenting De Anza’s adventure and history for the National Geographic book America’s Historic Trails (2001).
Early in his career, Reid decided to pursue guiding as a way to supplement his photography habit. “This was the best mistake of my life,” he says, referring to his initiation to the guiding world. “Before I knew it, I was guiding tourists throughout the Yukon and Alaska.” This started his profound passion for the Arctic, which has led to operating a photo-tour business for the past decade in Alaska.
Most recently, Reid has delved into high-definition cinematography and time-lapse photography. He completed his first documentary, Watershed Revolution, which focuses on water conservation, education, and activism. The film blends still and time-lapse photography with cinematography and music to create a complete visual package covering the California water crisis.
Reid can be found hiking the Ojai trails with his wife and daughter near their California home. They often travel the West Coast seeking adventure and operate photo tours in Alaska. His photography is represented by National Geographic Stock and his cinematography is represented by National Geographic Digital Motion.
This long-legged, S-necked white bird is found throughout the Americas and around much of the world. It is typically the largest white egret occurring anywhere in its range (only the white-colored form of the great blue heron is larger).
Great egrets are found near water, salt or fresh, and feed in wetlands, streams, ponds, tidal flats, and other areas. They snare prey by walking slowly or standing still for long periods, waiting for an animal to come within range of their long necks and blade-like bills. The deathblow is delivered with a quick thrust of the sharp bill, and the prey is swallowed whole. Fish are a dietary staple, but great egrets use similar techniques to eat amphibians, reptiles, mice, and other small animals.
These birds nest in trees, near water and gather in groups called colonies, which may include other heron or egret species. They are monogamous, and both parents incubate their three to four eggs. Young egrets are aggressive towards one another in the nest, and stronger siblings often kill their weaker kin so that not all survive to fledge in two to three weeks.
The great egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society and represents a conservation success story. The snowy white bird's beautiful plumage made it far too popular in 19th-century North America. Great egrets were decimated by plume hunters who supplied purveyors of the latest ladies' fashions. Their populations plunged by some 95 percent. Today the outlook is much brighter. The birds have enjoyed legal protection over the last century, and their numbers have increased substantially.
The black-footed ferret could also be called the black-eyed ferret because of the distinctive "stick-em up" mask that adorns its face. The tan ferrets also have black markings on their feet, legs, and tail tip.
This animal's long slender body, like that of a weasel, enables it to crawl in and out of the holes and dwellings of its primary prey—the prairie dog.
Though black-footed ferrets sometimes eat squirrels, mice, and other rodents, prairie dogs are essential to their survival, making up the majority of the ferret diet. These voracious predators hunt them in their own burrows, and take shelter in abandoned prairie dog dwellings.
Many prairie dog towns became ghost towns as populations underwent a 20th century decline. Farmers and ranchers (with government assistance) eliminated many prairie dogs because their underground complexes are destructive to fields. In the process, the black-footed ferret was nearly wiped out. In 1987, 18 animals were captured in the wild to begin a captive breeding program, which has since reintroduced ferrets into promising western habitats.
Ferret reintroduction efforts have been mixed. Populations need viable prairie dog towns to survive, but they also face threats from predators such as golden eagles, owls, and coyotes. Reintroduced animals lack some survival skills so their mortality rate is high. Diseases are another major threat to prairie dog towns and to the black-footed ferrets that depend upon them.
These solitary animals live alone, and in May and June females give birth to litters of one to six kits that they raise alone. The young are able to survive on their own by fall.
The American crocodile is considered an endangered species in nearly all parts of its North, Central, and South American range. Survey data, except in the United States, is poor or nonexistent, but conservationists agree that illegal hunting and habitat depletion has reduced populations of this wide-ranging reptile to critical levels.
A small, remnant population lives in southern Florida, but most are found in southern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Their habitat of choice is the fresh or brackish water of river estuaries, coastal lagoons, and mangrove swamps.
A prehistoric-looking creature, it is distinguishable from its cousin, the American alligator, by its longer, thinner snout, its lighter color, and two long teeth on the lower jaw that are visible when its mouth is closed.
This species is among the largest of the world's crocodiles, with Central and South American males reaching lengths of up to 20 feet (6.1 meters). Males in the U.S. population rarely exceed 13 feet (4 meters), however.
Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, birds, fish, crabs, insects, snails, frogs, and occasionally carrion. They have been known to attack people, but are far more likely to flee at the sight of humans.
Most countries in the American crocodile's range have passed protection laws, but unfortunately, few governments provide adequate enforcement.
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