National Geographic Magazine - UK July 2025

YOU KNOW WE LOVE ANIMALS here at National Geographic, and indeed this month’s cover story is about some of our favorites. But this time we’re considering some of the planet’s, well, less attractive creatures. While they may not be cuddly or regal or dazzling, their unusual talents, grotesque appearances, and other “nonconformities” make them all the more fascinating. Our new series, Underdogs (streaming on Disney+), takes you into their world, and so we took the opportunity to celebrate them here, warts and all. We are equally interested in human culture, though, and people’s efforts to maintain it. In this issue are compelling looks at protecting the vivid tapestry of experiences across our globe. We consider a rural corner of Romania, where residents have for centuries maintained a pastoral and communal way…

CULTURE “In Otavalo, where long hair is a tradition for both men and women, this couple reflected how strong and enduring KICHWA CULTURE remains.”IRINA WERNING, photographer and National Geographic Explorer ANIMALS “Mayhem. Chaos. Craziness. I knew I’d only have a few seconds before the dogs would basically FLY OFF. Then they had the zoomies, and they’re going mad, and it is carnage.”SANDRA MAILER, photographer CRAFT “I dedicated a long time to watching CICADAS HATCH outside, and that kind of beautifully informed [the process of] watching the handmaking of the cicada sculptures inside.”SASHA ARUTYUNOVA, photographer SKIES “I’ve chased the NORTHERN LIGHTS as far as Canada’s Northwest Territories, but there was just no way I’d have thought of it happening here. I think it’s the closest thing to magic that you can…

Noriko Hayashi, p.80 The Tokyo-based photographer shadowed a new generation of swordsmiths for this issue’s story on modern-day blademakers. An Explorer since 2023, she has had work published in the New York Times, Stern, and Granta. Ross Perlin, p.114 The linguist author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York contributed to this month’s feature on his home city’s vast linguistic diversity, warning of its threatened future. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS These contributors have received funding from the National Geographic Society, which is committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers at natgeo.com/impact. Luján Agusti, p.104 Based in Ushuaia, Argentina, Agusti boarded an Antarctic research vessel to photograph Explorer Kim Bernard, whose work studying krill is…

NEAR THE SOUTHERN EDGE of the Sahara desert, millions of people in some 20 West and Central African countries share a way of life. Year after year, they take part in the ancient practice of nomadic pastoralism, herding livestock across increasingly hot, arid lands of the Sahel region in search of fresh grasslands and accessible water as the seasons change. From the western coast of Senegal to the eastern shorelines of Sudan, herders follow different migratory routes that can cover hundreds of miles. Most of these pastoralists share another important distinction: They are Fulani, an Indigenous people who have a broad cultural identity shaped by such traditional journeys. These groups are vast and varied, and many are traveling in new directions. In fact, the majority of these predominantly Muslim people…

Long before European powers carved up West Africa and independent African states inherited their contemporary borders, a great nomadic tradition began—one that continues and evolves today. Around November, as the rainy season ends and the southern fringes of the Sahara desert begin to dry and brown again, hundreds of thousands of Fulani herders gather to drive millions of cattle, goats, and sheep toward cooler subtropical savannas. This annual movement has made the Fulani one of the largest nomadic groups on Earth, but it has also helped exclude them from politics: Despite their large numbers, the transient herders are less likely to be counted by states. An added obstacle to representation is the fact that many of the region’s governments are more invested in farming than herding. That diminished political sway…

ON A SUMMER DAY in central London, a 44-year-old woman named Lucy Peel descended a slippery stairway on the bank of the River Thames to crouch on her hands and knees over a particularly intriguing pile of mud. It was low tide, and the waters of the river had receded substantially. Ignoring the obvious tangles of trash—plastic bags, vape pens, broken glass—Peel painstakingly scanned the exposed riverbed until she spotted something nestled in the sand that could easily be mistaken for a leaf. After carefully prying it loose, she held up a wafer-thin ceramic shard and had a familiar feeling that she was holding a piece of ancient history. Later, an archaeologist would confirm her suspicion: It was a fragment of Roman pottery. “Even though it’s so fine, somehow it’s…