National Geographic Magazine - UK

I WAS LIVING in New York City—South Brooklyn, to be exact—in the fall of 2012 when Hurricane Sandy struck. What I remember most about the days that followed are the logistics of going about life in an inundated city: managing without electricity, queuing for the shuttle buses that were set up to take people like me between boroughs. As in the aftermath of 9/11, New Yorkers proved amazingly resilient, but the toll was still substantial, with 44 lives lost and more than $19 billion of property damaged or destroyed. Scientists agree that climate change is fueling an increase in both the frequency and severity of natural disasters around the world, and the United States is now setting records each year for the number of them that cause damage in excess…

A FLASH of movement. A mob of tiny faces, bright against the sun-baked sand. You can’t help but root for meerkats; they have the swagger of creatures 10 times their size. But beneath their charm is a fragile choreography of survival. This month’s meerkat feature, photographed by National Geographic Explorer Thomas Peschak, examines the intricate social structure that gives their species a fighting chance. This is what we’ve always done at National Geographic: invite the world in, one unforgettable story at a time, no matter how complex, iconic, or obscure the subject. Five years into my role, what continues to move me is how these stories make us feel. Explorer David Doubilet said, “If you want to protect nature, you first have to love it. And if you want to…

Memento from the burn zone When Gideon Mendel visited Los Angeles to take portraits of those displaced by last year’s wildfires (“There Is No Going Back,” p. 42), it was only the latest stop in his years-long project to photograph victims of disasters fueled by the climate crisis. Along the way, he’s collected ruined objects his subjects have offered, including this camera, found among the ashes of cinematographer Aasulv Austad’s home in the L.A. foothills. “I feel like it carries some kind of radioactive force,” Mendel says. NEW FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOKS Wild Eye: A Life in Photographs by Beverly Joubert Written by Dereck Joubert In 40 years of photographing the wildlife and landscapes of her native Africa, National Geographic Explorer at Large Beverly Joubert has captured dramas both intimate…

EXPLORATION On a mission to catalog subterranean biodiversity, National Geographic Explorer and cave biologist Iva Njunjić collects invertebrates from the cold, clear water inside Kaimakias Cave, in Greece’s Agrafa mountains. “It’s the essence of a hidden, mystical place,” says photographer Sotiris Kountouras, who rappelled down a cliff with Njunjić to reach the underground waterway. WILDLIFE In El Tanque, Costa Rica, where development is fragmenting the tropical forests, brown-throated sloths are navigating a landscape with dwindling habitat. After this one caused a traffic jam while crossing a busy road, photographer Emmanuel Tardy followed it. “The moment is etched in my memory,” he says, “watching this sloth moving slowly across land that was no longer truly its own.” SCIENCE Using a powerful laser-scanning microscope, biologist Amaia Alcalde Antón captured images of the…

ONE BRISK MORNING LAST AUGUST in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert, a female meerkat weakly pulled herself from her burrow, tail dragging slowly behind. She joined her family members as they foraged for grubs, but she was too sick to eat. Nearby, carved in the auburn soil, lay a terrifying clue: the long, sinewy tracks of a puff adder. She had been bitten. Even though meerkats measure just 12 inches tall and weigh no more than two pounds, they can typically withstand snake venom potent enough to kill an adult human. Still, a large dose can be dangerous. That day, the bitten female’s fellow meerkats banded together to find extra food for her. When they returned to their burrow at night and realized she’d been left behind, they turned around, calling for…

BUILT FOR SURVIVAL Matriarchs are the largest and most aggressive of the group. Like other meerkats, they have impressive adaptations for weathering an unpredictable environment. CALLING THE CROWD TO ORDER Meerkats produce more than 30 different calls, ranging from calming chirps to loud barks signifying specific types of danger. Many are used to maintain social hierarchy. CONSTRUCTING A LIFE UNDERGROUND Burrows provide refuge for the matriarch and her family, allowing them to sleep, and to birth and raise pups in peace. They often co-opt and expand tunnels dug by other wildlife. A RUTHLESS HIERARCHY A dominant female lords over as many as 50 individuals—though 10 to 15 is typical. Matriarchs will often evict older or pregnant subordinate females, most of which are her offspring, and kill or abandon their newborn…