National Geographic Magazine - UK December 2021

WHO HASN’T PAUSED to appreciate a beautiful sunset? Or listen to the wind rustling through the trees? By the sea, there are mesmerizing tides and a salt-air scent; in the sky, dazzling formations of birds, and endless stars. Behind all those experiences are the natural forces that power our planet. They give rise to the sounds, smells, and sights we perceive; the life that swarms around us, moving at every speed. Those phenomena are the focus of this special issue and of a six-part National Geographic television series, starring Will Smith and available on Disney+. In print and broadcast media and on digital and social platforms, this project shares one title: Welcome to Earth. That’s an oddly appropriate greeting, addressing us as if we’re strangers to a place we think…

SOME LIKE IT BOLD; some like it subtle. Some show off and others blend in. Some of our favorite animals are known for their patterns. What’s a tiger, or a zebra, without its stripes? For patterns pitting color against color, birds seem to win the prize. The paradise tanager, the red-crested turaco, the green twinspot, and of course the macaw: All wear colors with abandon, reds and greens and blues side by side in vibrant designs. Angelfish glow as if neon under water. Chameleons can change their hues. Poison frogs dare to clothe themselves in the most unnatural of blues and yellows—effective in discouraging predators, experts presume. In the world of animal wardrobes, all these species are show-offs. Yet color need not be part of the plan. Black, white, and…

The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, has been a funder since 2012 of the Photo Ark project founded by National Geographic Explorer Joel Sartore. An author, a teacher, and a conservationist as well as a photographer, Sartore created the 25-year project—now the National Geographic Photo Ark—to use images to inspire people to help save threatened species and habitat. Parts of this photo essay are drawn from Sartore’s new book, Photo Ark Wonders, on sale at shopdisney.com.…

LACKING SHARP EYESIGHT, spiders use their legs to feel vibrations in their webs. A web’s silken strands have different lengths and tensions and, as a result, different frequencies. The resident spider is attuned to those frequencies to detect prey, potential mates, or threats. Now, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aims to convey a bit of that Spidey sense to humans. With 3D laser imaging based on cobweb cross sections (above), the MIT team mapped the web of a tropical tent-web spider. To the strands, the scientists assigned musical tones audible to humans. They also built a virtual reality interface that lets users “play” the spiderweb like an eerie-sounding stringed instrument. “We’re trying to give the spider a voice,” said MIT’s Markus Buehler—and, maybe someday, communicate…

If you can hear the raspy ch-ch-ch produced by a rattlesnake’s tail, then you’ve already wandered too close. Or is that just what the snake wants you to think? By analyzing sound waves, scientists learned that western diamondback rattlesnakes vibrate their tails slowly when a threat is far away but shift into a quicker, high-frequency rattle as a threat nears. This acceleration tricks the human ear into thinking the serpent is closer than it actually is.…

THE REGENT HONEYEATER (Anthochaera phrygia) is a critically endangered songbird in southeastern Australia. Only a few hundred are left, and some young males aren’t around older ones enough to learn their songs. A research team based in Canberra recently reported that 27 percent of male honeyeaters were singing flawed renditions, while 12 percent didn’t know their mating calls at all and had adopted those of other species—not what female honeyeaters want to hear. The team has exposed captive young birds to older birds’ recorded songs—and even to wild-caught older males—in hopes that this music therapy will teach youngsters the right tunes to preserve the species. It’s a reminder that populations and cultures rise and fall together, like the notes of a song.…