Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från National Geographic Magazine

MOST MORNINGS, INSIDE MY FIELD STATION BEDROOM IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES, I WAKE UP BEFORE DAWN. The bats on the ceiling start skittering, and as the light comes up, I can watch the clouds slide along the steep forested ridges outside. They’re rivers in the air, these clouds. Ríos voladores, flying rivers, they carry moisture that will make its way into soil, and then creeks, and hundreds of miles of river on the ground, all the way out to the sea. I grew up not far from here, but what truly taught me the ríos voladores lesson was a single day of desperation: me stuck amid the dense foliage of these mountains, parched with thirst. Let me back up. I came to this station and laboratory, a few hours’ drive…

RISING NEARLY 21,000 FEET above the Peruvian plateau, the snowbound Andean summit of Nevado Ausangate may seem like a strange place to study the Amazon Basin. Yet the frigid peak and its neighbors play a pivotal role in the water cycle, and this region is where insights about climate change and its systemwide impacts often come into focus, say National Geographic Explorers Baker Perry and Tom Matthews. “There is a coupling, a relationship, between the Amazon and the Andes,” Matthews explains. “The snow that falls on tropical Andean peaks comes from water that has evaporated from the leaves of trees in the Amazon… the winds carry it farther west, and this relay keeps going until the clouds make it to the Andes and the water falls as snow, and that…

PERU’S MADRE DE DIOS region is lush and biodiverse, but the quest for gold is reshaping it. Miners clear-cut swaths of rainforest and sift the soil for precious metal. When they’ve exhausted a location’s potential for gold, they’ve exhausted its soil as well—and altered the flow of local waterways. The miners move on to other areas while the terrain they leave behind languishes, strewn with sand mounds and contaminated ponds. Now a trio of National Geographic Explorers are aiming to mitigate the damage. For more than two years, Josh West, Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz, and Jennifer Angel-Amaya have been examining the environmental consequences of gold mining in Madre de Dios and developing strategies for reducing pollution at these sites—and later, revitalizing them. Mined areas may never revert to rainforest, but perhaps they…

ALONG THE RIVERS OF THE AMAZON BASIN, INDIGENOUS TIKUNA PEOPLE TELL STORIES ABOUT DOLPHINS. These freshwater creatures are mischievous guardians of the aquatic realm that can morph into humans, cover their blowholes with top hats, and charm women away to their underwater cities. They also frequent the shallows of tannin-stained waters close to shore and steal fish from fishermen’s nets. Of the six species of freshwater dolphins, only two are found outside of Asia. Both are endemic to South America, in the Amazon and Orinoco River Basins: They are the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis)—known in English as the pink river dolphin and in Spanish as boto or bufeo (range shown on map below)—and the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), its smaller, gray cousin. Both are also classified as endangered, having suffered…

GRAPHIC: MONICA SERRANO AND PATRICIA HEALY, NGM STAFF ILLUSTRATION: MATT TWOMBLY. SOURCES: ANGELO BERNARDINO, UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO ESPÍRITO SANTO; RONALDO FRANCINI-FILHO; PATRICIA L. YAGER, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA DIVERSE FOREST These areas comprise a mix of salt–tolerant mangrove and freshwater wetland species. Flowing fresh water In the rainy season, when the plume is at maximum discharge, salinity levels are so low the water is drinkable. Reproduction Mangrove seeds germinate while attached to trees, then travel with currents until they root. Natural filter Mangroves counteract erosion by slowing currents and trapping sediment particles and pollutants in soils. Coastal guardians Immense root networks give the trees stability to resist tides, prevent coastal erosion, and protect fish nurseries. NOTABLE SPECIES Mangrove crab Ucides cordatus These small crabs pull leaves into their burrows, cycling nutrients…

» A man climbs a towering date palm tree, his feet nimbly navigating the trunk, also known as a stem, like a ladder until he reaches the canopy. Amid the palm leaves, he pulls a long, curved blade to expertly cut away a cluster of dates that he lowers to the ground. It’s a scene almost unchanged for millennia in the oasis of AlUla, northwest Saudi Arabia. The region is renowned for its dates, which have been essential to oasis life for almost as long as humans have lived here. The oasis of AlUla was always more than a vital watering hole for travelers: It was a community and kingdom built on farming the desert. » AlUla’s oasis was formed by a wadi, a desert ravine that brings water from…

The story of how the Amazon got its name begins on June 24, 1542. Francisco de Orellana was praying for an escape from the green world that had swallowed his beleaguered expedition. The Spaniard’s two boats, containing fewer than 50 starving men, were nearing what the crew hoped would be their salvation. After seven months of navigating a series of tributaries beginning at the foot of the Andes, they’d finally reached the largest river any of them had ever seen, and Orellana hoped it would soon lead them to the Atlantic Ocean. He was accompanied by Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican friar, who kept a detailed chronicle of their journey. The priest recorded the Europeans’ astonishment at the advanced cultures they encountered—densely populated villages along the riverside, including one that…

GRAPHIC: FERNANDO G. BAPTISTA, PATRICIA HEALY, EVE CONANT, LUCAS PETRIN, AND SOREN WALLJASPER, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: ARMANDO CASTELLANOS, ANDEAN BEAR FOUNDATION; BORJA FIGUEIRIDO, U. DE MÁLAGA; DAVE GARSHELIS, IUCN SSC BEAR SPECIALIST GROUP; TERESA HSU, SMITHSONIAN’S NAT. MUS. OF NAT. HIST.; RUTHMERY PILLCO HUARCAYA, CONSERVACIÓN AMAZÓNICA-ACCA SIZING THEM UP Not all bears climb, and most of the world’s eight species of bears are omnivores. EATING Strong jaws and wide, flat molars are an adaptation for chewing tough vegetation, unlike bears with sharp teeth adapted for biting flesh. NESTING Females create nests for their small litters of cubs by piling up leaves and branches. Cubs are dependent up to two years. Letting in light Breaking branches to make platforms for resting also benefits the forest by allowing light onto the forest…

NESTLED WITHIN ISIBORO SÉCURE NATIONAL PARK AND INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, where the Andean foothills meet the lowland rainforest in Bolivia, is a place so difficult to access that few humans, until recently, have ever set foot there. The Tsimané, Mojeño-Trinitario, and Yuracaré Indigenous groups have hunted and fished the lowlands for millennia, but locals say that, in living memory, nobody has ventured upstream to the headwaters of the Sécure River, an Amazon tributary. “No one, no one knows this place,” said Roycer Herbi, a member of the Yuracaré community. “You cannot get there by canoe—it’s very risky, and the water is very fast.” “The jungle defends itself with thunder, with heavy rain, with wind, and with lightning,” agreed Félix Herbi Moza, Roycer’s cousin and the mayor of La Asunta, the nearest…

SOURCES: AMAZON NETWORK OF GEOREFERENCED SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION; SCIENCE FOR NATURE AND PEOPLE PARTNERSHIP; ESA; OPENSTREETMAP; A. JOSHUA WEST, USC; JENNIFER ANGEL-AMAYA; JOÃO CAMPOS-SILVA, INSTITUTO JURUÁ DEFORESTATION Over the past 23 years, more than 130 million acres of forest have been cleared to make way for human activity. DAMS Nearly 300 operational dams interrupt natural flow cycles and animal Illegal migrations. mining detected Their reservoirs can also emit methane. RESOURCE Active oil extraction EXTRACTION Legal permits allow for extraction within the basin; Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil have active oil leases in production. Illegal mining poses an especially grave environmental threat. AGRICULTURE Increased land use for mono-culture mining farming, detected livestock, and illicit POPULATION PRESSURE Some 47 million people inhabit fishing and waterway pollution. Impacts of gold mining Thousands of years of…

OF THE 2.3 MILLION square miles that make up the Amazon rainforest, more than 320,000 are low-lying wetlands that can survive both above and below the waterline. Every year, the rainy season inundates these areas with up to 40 feet of floodwater, peaking in May or June and subsiding by October or November. Trees there have had to fight to live, either by adapting to the water or waiting it out. For National Geographic Explorer Thiago Sanna Freire Silva, this makes the flooded forests more interesting. By comparison, “terrestrial forests are boring, right?” he jokes. “They have everything they need.” In recent years, these floodplain forests, known as várzea and igapó forests, have seen extreme droughts and extreme floods more frequently. This is likely because of climate change and hydro-electric…

ONE AFTERNOON in Lake Acajatuba, along the lower Rio Negro, National Geographic Explorer Mariana Paschoalini Frias was testing a new underwater acoustic device. It was a pinger that produces sound at 40 kilohertz, which is “the average communication frequency of dolphins and their echolocation,” explains Frias, a conservation analyst with World Wildlife Fund-Brazil. The hope is that the noise of the device will keep inquisitive river dolphins away from local fishermen’s nets and their catch. It was a routine outing for Frias, who, alongside fellow National Geographic Explorers veterinarian María Jimena Valderrama and marine biologist Fernando Trujillo—both from Colombia—surveys river dolphin movements and migrations in South America. Since June 2022, the team has been studying the dolphins across Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. So far, they have tallied more than…

DOCUMENTARY FILM SEE RIVER DOLPHINS swim among trees and Andean bears roam through cloud forests in Expedition Amazon, a documentary presented by the National Geographic Society in partnership with Rolex that brings to your television screen the work of the Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition detailed in this issue—and more. It airs October 10 on National Geographic and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Filmmakers traveled with research teams over two years as they spanned out across the Amazon Basin, following its water cycle from the icy Andes to the giant freshwater plume that pours into the Atlantic and back to the Andes again. Working alongside local communities, the expedition members aimed to understand how one of Earth’s most integral resources is changing in real time. Climate scientist Tom Matthews,…

THE DRIVING FORCE behind our Amazon expedition, Thomas Peschak—a National Geographic Explorer since 2017—spent more than a year documenting the world’s most biodiverse rainforest and the scientists studying it. He and his team, including videographer Otto Whitehead, embedded for weeks and months in over 30 locations. It was often demanding, says the South Africa–based photo-journalist, but his best experiences were “off the charts.” Among them: snorkeling with a tapir and diving with human-size catfish.…

SOURCES: ANA P. BARROS, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN; SCIENCE FOR NATURE AND PEOPLE PARTNERSHIP; ESA; NASA/JPL; OPENSTREETMAP ANDES TO ATLANTIC From mountain headwaters to tributaries, water takes on sediments and chemicals that change its appearance and characteristics as it flows over different terrain. More than 58 million gallons, enough to fill 88 Olympic swimming pools, flow from the Amazon’s mouths into the Atlantic every second. Black water Acidic and low in nutrients, these rivers are darkened by decomposing plants. White water Nutrient-rich water laden with sediments flows out of the Andes, clouding these rivers. Clear water These rivers are low in sediments because they flow through ancient shields of hard rock. WATER CYCLE OF LIFE Much of the Amazon Basin’s water is returned to the forest as rain. The remainder…

GRAPHIC: MONICA SERRANO, PATRICIA HEALY, AND EVE CONANT, NGM STAFF. ILLUSTRATIONS: MATT TWOMBLY. SOURCES: IAN AUSPREY, FLORIDA MUS. OF NAT. HIST.; ANA P. BARROS, U. OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN; MAURICIO DIAZGRANADOS, NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN; SYBIL GOTSCH, U. OF KENTUCKY; RUTHMERY PILLCO HUARCAYA, MARLENE MAMANI SOLORZANO, CONSERVACIÓN AMAZÓNICA-ACCA; THOMAS PESCHAK GLACIERS Glacial meltwaters feed the Amazon’s rivers. These frozen reservoirs are slow to form, and are receding. RIVERS IN THE AIR Water vapor flowing from the lowlands rivals the volume of the Amazon River’s discharge. MISTY MOUNTAINS Above the tree line are wetlands characterized by lakes, grasses, and shrubs. Animal refuge Water in these wetlands supports wildlife through the dry season. Water catchers Glacial meltwaters are slowed and stored in thick peat under clumps of cushion plants and grasslike vegetation. SOIL…

SOME SPECIES LISTED IN THEIR COMMON BOLIVIAN NAME GRAPHIC: MONICA SERRANO, AMANDA HOBBS, AND EVE CONANT, NGM STAFF. ART: MATT TWOMBLY. SOURCES: GUIDO MIRANDA AND GALO ZAPATA-RÍOS, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY; MÓNICA MORAES, UNIVERSIDAD MAYOR DE SAN ANDRÉS; THOMAS PESCHAK; MILES SILMAN, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY; A. JOSHUA WEST, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CONNECTIONS Terrestrial and aquatic species form a complex food web with myriad linkages. Yearly rainfall Annual precipitation may surpass 200 inches. Water levels can quickly rise several feet but stay within the riverbed. Water clarity Nutrient-poor water with a low sediment load is clear in the dry season, murky in the wet one. Circular mouth The sábalo uses this specialized adaptation to feed on biofilm of algae, bacteria, and decaying organic matter. Shady river Humid evergreen forests, with trees…

A FISH—A GIANT, PREHISTORIC-LOOKING FISH—IS A WINDOW INTO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE AMAZON. In my work amid Brazil’s flooding lowlands, halfway between the Andes and the sea, this is how I have come to think of the arapaima, which is also known as the pirarucu, from Indigenous words for “fish” and “red.” Arapaimas’ heads are gray-green, but red scales spread down their backs and brighten at peak mating readiness, as though illuminated from within. There are so many startling things I can tell you about the arapaima: that it breathes air, for example, and must keep splashing up at the water’s surface to inhale. That its huge scales are as tough as armor. That its skin makes a fine leather for costly purses and shoes. That one boneless arapaima steak…

IT’S DAY FIVE OF A RESEARCH EXPEDITION TO THE BAILIQUE ARCHIPELAGO, and nothing has prepared me for the experience of this place, the easternmost end of the Rio Amazonas, where the planet’s greatest river pours into the sea. I’m a university professor, a marine ecologist, and a Brazilian. I know this river discharges more water, when it finally reaches the ocean, than do the next six largest rivers in the world combined. The Ganges, the Yangtze, the Congo, the Mississippi—we could total the volume of all their waters’ discharge, add in a few more famous rivers, and we would not yet equal the outpouring of the Amazon. This trip in February 2024 is my second research expedition to Bailique, the archipelago within the river mouth, where fresh water and salt…