Results tagged “Animals” from Intelligent Travel Blog

National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who have worked on conservation efforts in Africa for over 25 years, appeared on the Today Show this morning to announce the launch of the Big Cats Initiative, a campaign to rally public support for protecting lions, leopards, and other large feline species in the wild. "In 50 years," said Beverly, "we've gone from 450,000 lions down to 20,000. That is drastic, so we have to take action."

To learn more about the effort, and how you can help, visit National Geographic's Blog Wild. And read more about the Joubert's efforts with the Maasailand Preservation Trust here. Donate to the Big Cats Initiative here. 

The sixth season of Cesar Millan's Emmy-nominated show Dog Whisperer premieres this Friday, October 9th, at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. To mark the premiere and launch his latest book, How to Raise the Perfect Dog-- Through Puppyhood and Beyond, Cesar stopped by Nat Geo headquarters Monday (accompanied by miniature schnauzer Angel) for an advance screening of the first episode and to take questions from the audience. Traveler Senior Researcher Meg Weaver sat down with Cesar while he was here to find out how he got started in his career. And click through for a preview of the premiere episode in the season.

Known as El Perrero (The Dogman) when he was a teen in Mexico because of the packs of dogs that always seemed to follow him around, Cesar Millan aspired to be the best dog trainer in the world. But when he arrived in the U.S. and started working at a kennel in California, he realized American dogs didn't need training, their owners did. Dogs do best when they're balanced, Cesar says, and training doesn't necessarily equal balance. He espouses the training philosophy, well known to Dog Whisperer fans, of "exercise, discipline, and then affection." As we spoke, an adorable  schnauzer, Angel, sat snuggled at our feet. Cesar gestured to him and told me that Angel hadn't been trained to sit, fetch, or roll over. He'd been trained to be balanced and, sure enough, he was very well behaved for an adolescent dog.

Since Cesar himself is often on the move, I asked what suggestions he'd give travelers hoping to bring Fido on the road. He explained that we need to consider the travel experience from a dog's perspective: If the change of setting and scent (and altitude, if flying) are disorienting for us, imagine their effects on a dog. Dogs are used to traveling on four feet, experiencing every step of the way with their nose, ears, eyes, and body, so traveling in cars or planes can cause confusion and anxiety. Before heading off on a trip, Cesar recommends being sure your dog isn't full of physical energy. If you normally walk him a half-hour in the morning, extend the walk to an hour and a half so that his body tells his mind to relax. Bring things familiar to him: his bed, bone, Kong, etc. And, just as we benefit from being shown around a new place by someone familiar with it, try to hook your pup up with a local of the canine kind. 

Senior Researcher Marilyn Terrell is just back from a trip through the Yukon Territory, and she's thrilling all of us with stories from her trip. You can read her previous entry about her Yukon adventure here.

The first few times someone on my trip spotted a bald eagle, we all grabbed binoculars and cameras. But after three days of seeing very little birdlife besides bald eagles, trip member Roy dubbed them the "pigeons of the Yukon."

We've seen other species along this Great River Journey from Whitehorse to Dawson. At Lake Lebarge we heard loons on the water and spied fat grouse scratching in the underbrush. Around a bend on the Thirty Mile River we surprised a pair of trumpeter swans who took off, silently, flapping enormous white wings. At Pelly River Ranch, farmer Hugh Bradley pointed out some Yukon turkeys (sandhill cranes) in one of his fields and predicted we'd soon be seeing more. Sure enough, a squadron flew over our cabins next morning, gobbling noisily, heading south.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote for their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website. Here's today's pic:

This photo, "She Dreams of Riding Horses," was submitted by Elizabeth Griffin. The caption reads that the little girl is "riding her grandmother's pony at Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico." That's one massive pony, and we can't help but think it calls for a caption contest. Ready? Go!

For many people, Southeast Asia conjures up images of ancient stone temples, vibrant colors, spicy cuisine and warm, musky rains breathing life into lotus ponds.

But imagine instead hiking for miles shin-deep in mud, fending off bloodsucking leeches and existing on a diet of tarantulas and cockroaches, while risking infection, heatstroke and malaria. Not exactly your typical camping trip. For most people, such an excursion would sound treacherous and even insane, but for young herpetologist Perry Wood Jr.  it's simply a passionate pursuit of knowledge in the name of science.

When Perry (aka JR) Wood began studying Southeast Asian amphibians and reptiles more than eight years ago, he never imagined the rough trails and beautiful landscapes his fieldwork would lead him to. As a graduate biology student specializing in taxonomy and molecular systematics, Wood regularly makes trips to Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia in an effort to identify new species in what he explains is an understudied region for herpetological diversity.

Former National Geographic Books editorial assistant Hunter Braithwaite spent his vacation helping former laboratory research animals in a Wyoming sanctuary.

We wake at dawn to black coffee. A murderous sun will soon beat down. Vultures, wafting in the carrion breeze, cast the only shadows. In the distance is a persistant howling. But all is well on the Kindness Ranch: it's pool day for the pigs.

My girlfriend and I spent July volunteering on this 1,000-acre Wyoming sanctuary for research animals. At the moment, this unique institution is home to 55 animals. These dogs, cats, sheep, pigs, and horses have spent much of their lives in laboratories. Almost all of them are up for adoption. The ranch is obviously pro-animal, but the animal testing debate is tiptoed around. Since the primary goal is to better the life of an animal, criticizing laboratories doesn't lead to cooperation.

The Kindness Ranch is located off State Highway 270, about eight miles from the nearest town, Hartville (pop. 76).  All in all, it's a pretty straight shot from the East Coast. Just stay on Route 80 for the entirety of the Brothers Karamazov on tape.  

On the property are an arena, a barn, two yurts for the cats and dogs, six guest yurts, and a yurt castle belonging to the founder. My girlfriend and I came with the understanding that we'd be staying in the cat yurt, but somehow we were blessed with a vacant guest yurt. They normally go for $100 per night, a steal, but the price drops precipitously for those willing to clean up after the horses.

Tobias Nowlan had some close encounters of the natural kind during his recent visit to Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Just as it looked like the plane would perch on a Rocky Mountain peak, it dove into the coastal metropolis of Vancouver. I had arrived in British Columbia to visit Vancouver Island, lured by whales and wolves.

Beginning in popular fishing town of Tofino, I set out with whale-watching company Remote Passages. In sheltered coves, I watched grey whales raking the sand and kelp with their baleen plates. Tofino is a pit-stop along the largest migration of these impressive creatures; this coastline provides vital nourishment en route.

Sea otters, having tied themselves in knots of kelp, floated past islands of bare rock which hummed with breeding Brandt's cormorants, auklets, tufted puffins and a posse of visiting pelicans. Once on the edge of total extinction thanks to an unending desire for their pelts, sea otters are now widespread along the BC coast. I saw ten on this trip. The boat also approached a thrush-sized seabird bobbing on the surface: the marbled murrelet. In summer plumage these micro-mariners are a mottled dark chocolate brown. Researchers were astonished to discover as late as the sixties that the murrelets breed in the canopy of old growth coastal rain forest. Widespread clear-cutting of this ancient habitat has subsequently seen drastic declines in marbled murrelet populations.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote on their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website, and here's one of our favorite picks:

My jaw literally dropped when I saw this picture. I think I'd flip out if I were swimming this close to a whale. But this image, taken by Peter G. Allinson, M.D., is called "The Best of Friends" so I imagine that the man and the whale got along swimmingly (pun intended).

Think your own image brings the world in to focus? Submit your entries now for a chance to win a trip to Tanzania, camera gear, and other prizes.

Much to the consternation of tiger enthusiasts, reverence for these once-mythical beasts seems to be at an all-time low. The BBC reports that one of India's fabled tiger parks, Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh, has admitted that its Royal Bengal tiger population is now believed to be zero. The main culprit, according to an investigative probe? Poaching.

This saddens me, particularly, as barely three years ago I came within several feet of one of these most majestic of Panna's endagered residents (image, above). Though it was a short encounter (we, the tourists atop elephants in the bush, were limited to a few minutes of viewing and photographing, so as not to upset the shy animal), it remains my favorite recollection from India. Going on tiger safaris is certainly iconic and popular, but there is a specific disclaimer given to most tours: Tiger sightings are increasingly rare and are by no means guaranteed. With the knowledge that finding one of Panna's then-healthy population of 24 tigers in the park's 210-square-mile area was a textbook needle-in-haystack situation, I accepted this experience as one to hold in awe. And I was lucky to be able to do so. It now grieves me to think that experiences such as mine are on the extinction path.

If you're thinking of heading south of the border this summer to take advantage of low fares to Mexico, consider the upcoming Whale Shark Festival on Isla Mujeres, in the state of Quintana Roo on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The festival runs this July 15th through the 19th.
           
The festival is billed as an ecotourism, family-friendly event featuring local cuisine, traditional dance, authentic artisanal goods for sale and, last but certainly not least, a chance to swim with migrating whale sharks in the Caribbean.
           
A little background before you take the plunge: The endangered whale shark is not a whale but a shark, despite its contradictory name. Its name stems from its massive size (up to 29,982 pounds and 40 feet in length) and because it eats krill, algae, plankton, and other tiny sea creatures. Whale sharks are filter feeders and have been known to be playful with human divers, though their tails can be a bit dangerous.

We checked in with Eyder Jahil Hoth Pérez, Director of Tourism, Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to learn more about the festival.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

When our TACA flight from Lima finally touched down in the capital city of Costa Rica, it marked just the first time on this entire world tour that we arrived in a new country without any game plan whatsoever. Admittedly, we aren't exactly backpacking it around the planet, so this was new territory for our family. This was also intentional because we wanted to add a twist to the final month of the trip so we wouldn't get too caught up in counting down the days until we had to go home. The only arrangements we had made were to spend a day in San Jose with a Lonely Planet guide to get our bearings and devise a strategy for the next two weeks.

The first of many spontaneous decisions was made before we even checked into the hotel. Driving from the airport, I noticed several street vendors selling Costa Rican soccer jerseys. The taxi driver explained that the U.S. was in town for a World Cup Qualifier match that very night, and the stadium was only 10 minutes from where we were staying. Never one to pass up an opportunity to attend a major sporting event, I scalped myself a ticket and jumped right into the local culture by watching Costa Rica embarrass the U.S. 3-1 in front of a jubilant sold-out crowd.

To my surprise, there were more than a handful of Americans in attendance, a precursor of sorts to the large number of U.S. tourists and expats we would encounter throughout our stay. I subsequently found out that a sizable contingent of Americans have come down here in recent years to retire, start up businesses, or relocate to a tropical paradise. Their large presence also served as a reminder that we were not too far from home anymore, a thought that didn't actually excite us. For this reason, we made a conscious decision to try to avoid the more commercialized and developed areas of the country and stick to the more natural, unspoiled terrain.  

The Costa Rican tourism business seems to cater to three distinct groups of travelers: eco-friendly, wildlife enthusiasts; adventure seekers; and sea, surf and sand lovers. The latter has certainly contributed to the increased number of tourists and resident expats from the States. It's also blamed for transforming several of the country's laid-back beach communities into Miami Beach-style resort towns.  Although many people like ourselves could easily fall into two or more of these categories, we opted to pursue the exotic wildlife and natural beauty that put Costa Rica on the tourist map in the first place, while sprinkling in a little adventure and surf every now and then for good measure.    

Need a rewarding getaway this summer? About about 100 getaways? Author Pam Grout has gathered a wide selection of fantastic--and fulfilling--trips to choose from in her book The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life. Here are some of her favorites, with the full book excerpt here on Traveler's site. Want the whole book? We're offering a 20 percent discount - so order now and get going! 

1. Excavate Stone Tools; Cortez, Colorado
2. Blaze a New Trail; New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana
3. Collect Butterflies in Remote Amazonia; Huaorani Reserve, Ecuador
4. Produce the News; Cochabamba, Bolivia
5. Turn a Military Base into a School and Garden; Bethlehem, Israel
6. Bottle-Feed Orphaned Lion Cubs; Victoria Falls, Zambia
7. Research the Great White Shark; Gansbaai, South Africa
8. Assist the Kenya Wildlife Service; Kenya
9. Restore a Buddhist Monastery; Mustang Valley, Nepal
10. Go Carbon Neutral in Western Australia; Perth, Australia

Photo: Bottle-feed lion cubs with Amanzi Travel and help save the "king of beasts." by Daniel Mallard/iStockphoto.com

It's summertime and the living's easy. Why not spend the night at the zoo, drifting off to sleep to the hoots of owls and the growls of lions? Zoos across the country host overnight sleepover events where kids and their families, Scout troops, and school groups can pitch their tents, snuggle in their sleeping bags, and get a behind-the-scenes look at zoos after hours when the crowds have gone home.

Visitors pitch tents at the Houston Zoo

Most zoo overnights are aimed at a local audience; oriented toward kids; typically provide dinner, a late-night snack, and light breakfast the following morning. Some may focus on a particular theme or animal (conservation, adaptation, African elephants, animals of the Bible, for example), and range and price between $30 and $139.

As I compiled this list of U.S. zoos putting on such fun events, I discovered, to my delight, that a lot of U.S. zoos organize overnights and put their own spin on them. To make sense of things, I contacted Allen Nyhuis, co-author with Jon Wassner, of America's Best Zoos: A Travel Guide (The Intrepid Traveler, 2008) to get a feel for some of the best zoo overnights. Here are his top five picks:

1) Probably the most attractive-looking program has to be at the San Diego Wild Animal Park's Roar & Snore Camp (in Escondido, CA). They have a camp of tents set up overlooking SDWAP's gorgeous East Africa Savanna, with its many antelope, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, and more. The rows of perfect tents look authentically like one of those tent camps you've seen in the real African safari camping resorts in South Africa or Tanzania. This camp is near the park's Lion Camp exhibit, so campers usually wake up to lions roaring.

2) A lower-budget ($35/person) option would be the Binder Park Zoo's Overnight Safari (in Battle Creek, MI). The safari is entirely in the zoo's Wild Africa section, which we find amazing in its African realism. This zoo exhibit is modeled after an African national park, so I can imagine that sleeping there would have the same feeling.

 3) Some zoos have overnight programs with a chance to sleep in some very interesting buildings. At the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, you can sleep in the Manatee Springs building and fall asleep watching the peaceful creatures. At the Minnesota Zoo, overnighters tuck in at their Discovery Bay building and doze off watching either dolphins or sharks. Here in my hometown, the Indianapolis Zoo offers the same -- a chance to sleep within view of dolphins, sharks, or even jellyfish.
 
4) At the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, you can fall asleep watching gray wolves in their rustic Wolf Lodge, a replica of a 19th-century trapper's cabin. You might also get the thrill of hearing them howl at night.

5) At the Fort Worth Zoo, their Outdoor Explorers Overnight program includes using a compass to find your way around the zoo and fishing in a stream early in the morning. You'll likely stay in the excellent Texas Wild! exhibit area, learning about the animals and habitats of the Lone Star State.

Six more fun overnights await after the jump!

To compile his new book, My Favorite Place on Earth, Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr., interviewed dozens of famous people -- from Natalie Portman to the Dalai Lama -- about the places they loved most. He'll be guest blogging about his experiences here for the next few weeks. Click here for recent posts.

I think a lot of us travel to find that special place that makes us feel completely alive and "in the moment." For some it might be a marble temple gleaming in the Greek sunshine. (In Delphi I once sat alone in the Temple of Apollo, trying to hear the Oracle speak.) For others it's an extraordinary spot in the natural world, whether a beach in Bali or the top of a granite wall in Yosemite. And for Cesar Millan, the host of National Geographic's hit TV series "The Dog Whisperer," it's a sanctuary in the city - with his favorite companions.
   
"Dogs don't know whether they're in Italy or China or France, but wherever they are, they do know that they're having a good time at the moment," he told me. "And my favorite moments are when I'm walking with the pack in Runyon Canyon, a park in the mountains above Hollywood where dogs are allowed to walk off-leash.
   
"Runyon Canyon Park is a magical place because it's natural, with mountains, rocks, chaparral, and trees. Yet, at the same time you're right in the city, so the dogs have the benefit of both worlds.

"We make two trips up and down the canyon, which takes about four hours. We have a special place about halfway down under what the locals call a Jesus Tree, because its seeds have a cross on them. It's nice and shady there, and the pack knows it's their resting place. They've created little holes and dens for themselves, and each picks its own spot. They're happy because they've accomplished something, and we all sit and relax and drink water. We don't say anything, just rest.

"It gives me such happiness to be there, just to be in the moment and not looking at the clock. I don't have to go to any meetings. I don't have to do anything. It's just me and my pack. It's a beautiful thing."

For other remarkable stories from My Favorite Place on Earth visit www.myfavoriteplacenatgeo.com.

Contributing Blogger Cathy Healy got the scoop from naturalist writer and artist Emilene Oslind on when, where, and how to watch pronghorn antelope in Wyoming this June.



LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Pronghorn fawns will make you laugh, promises Emilene Ostlind, a former natural history photography coordinator for National Geographic magazine. "Fawns have these little snub noses and a funny poof of white hair on their butts that stands up when they get excited. Most does have twins and they're full of energy. If you're lucky, you'll get to see two fawns jump up from behind a sagebrush, drink some milk from their mother and run around, playing and chasing each other."

You can easily find pronghorn in Wyoming if you get off the interstates and onto Bureau of Land Management roads. The state has about half of the million pronghorn in the world, all of which live on North America's western plains. (Map).

While you won't need a four-wheel drive, you will need binoculars or a scope to observe the skittish animals, says Ostlind. Pronghorn are the fastest creatures in North America--they can run away from you at 53 mph. Not only that, but antelope have 270-degree eyesight and can spot movement from two to three miles away. Your advantage is that pronghorn are curious, so they might come closer if you're in your car and not on foot. Or, if you're watching from a hilltop a couple of miles away.

This week marks the anniversary of some serious intrepid traveling: NASA successfully launched the first monkeys into space 50 years ago. Two rhesus monkeys named Miss Baker and Able were launched in a Jupiter AM-18 rocket, and National Geographic's Breaking Orbit blog reports that "they reached to a height of 360 miles (579 kilometers) before plummeting back to Earth to land in the ocean." Scientists found the heroic "monkeynauts" alive and well and they were immediately taken to Washington for a press conference.

National Geographic News has a fantastic "monkeynaut" slide show documenting their role in the development of space travel, and reports that "although humans have been making space voyages since 1961, animals have continued to play a role in international space tests. In addition to monkeys, animals that have gone into space in the name of science include dogs, cats, fruit flies, rabbits, turtles, spiders, jellyfish, and amoebas." And now, with the help of Richard Branson, all of us may be able to follow in their path.

My question is, what did the monkeys think of all this? This particular guy looks pretty confused by the whole thing. Got a caption for the photo? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: Courtesy of NASA

Amelia Mularz had an EXTREME weekend visiting the newest exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History.

Heading to the American Museum of Natural History always makes me feel like a kid again. Within minutes of stepping foot in the museum this past weekend, my friend and I had already challenged each other to a T. rex impersonation face-off and battled for the greatest--or most annoying, judging from one woman's expression--pterodactyl cry. His take on the prehistoric call sounded oddly reminiscent of 21st century screeching car brakes, while mine was more of a wounded animal sob--either way, music to our ears. We exchanged obligatory high-fives and headed towards the latest exhibit at AMNH, Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, the Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time.
   
If the entryway of the museum can excite two full-grown adults to the point of shameless dino shenanigans, you can only imagine what an exhibit with a name like EXTREME MAMMALS did to us. The exhibit, which opened this past Saturday, takes a look at some of the most incredible creatures, extinct and living, to ever roam the planet. Extreme Mammals packs a punch from the moment you enter--through the legs of the largest land mammal ever (the Indricotherium, which weighed as much as four adult African elephants)--until the moment you exit--near the interactive web activity.
   
One look at the Indricotherium, and our child-like excitement once again took hold of us: "Whoa, look at this unicorn thing!" (actually a narwhal whale with an eight-foot tusk). "Oh my god, this elephant has a shovel for a face!" (actually a prehistoric elephant with oversized incisors). "Dude, this squirrel ate dinosaurs!" (actually, the Repenomamus).

At one point, between pointing excitedly at the fossils of a massive horned creature and peeking through a glass window at live sugar gliders, we realized we were just steps away from one of the curatorial assistants for the exhibit, William Harcourt-Smith. I had the pleasure of speaking to Harcourt-Smith and learning about the process for determining what qualifies as "extreme."

Online editor Kathie Gartrell recently learned the virtues of natural fibers at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

As a novice knitter who has recently taken up the craft, I was excited to attend the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this past weekend, the largest and longest-running show of its kind in the U.S. Held at the Howard County Fairgrounds, just west of Baltimore, the annual festival is a showcase for hundreds of vendors who sell hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn. You can even buy your own spinning wheels... and sheep.

Amid the barns and tents filled with yarn and wool roving (the raw material used to spin into yarn) were several pens with llamas, alpacas, and angora rabbits. Sheep of all sizes and breeds were shown in the sheep ring. But the crowd favorite was the sheepdog demonstration, where Nancy Cox Starkey and Mark Soper showcased their hardworking border collies. The dogs directed five hapless sheep through a series of patterns, including a figure eight around two cones.

Traveler photo editor Carol Enquist and I just started knitting earlier this year, so we were a little overwhelmed at all the yarn choices at the festival--merino, bluefaced leicester, cormo--but senior editor Sheila Buckmaster, a knitting pro, met us there and gave us good advice on what kind of yarn and patterns to buy.

Chris O'Toole reminds us that even if you can't make it to the Kentucky Derby this weekend, you can still go "out to pasture" and see champion stallions any time of the year.

Attention job hunters: If you're an experienced racehorse with a few million in winnings under your saddle, consider a second career in bluegrass country. In Lexington, Kentucky, the track superstars of past Kentucky Derbies extend their rich-and-famous life style, earning six-figure stud fees as they sire future champions. Aside from the obvious romantic perks, they get to retire in the prettiest part of the state. There's plenty of that famous fodder, and the local limestone supplies shimmering ponds of pure drinking water, used by humans to make bourbon and by racehorses to make strong bones. Want to visit Big Brown, Smarty Jones, and other legendary thoroughbreds? Come on down.
 
At Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Jen Roytz leads groups through barns with mahogany stalls more elegant than my first apartment (recall the horse-breeding scene in Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full and you've got it right). The reservation-only tours continue through 1,500 acres, where each stallion has a private pasture.
 
At Three Chimneys, horse breeding is ultra-serious business; top stud Dynaformer commands a $150,000 fee for his services. (Don't even think about petting his nose.) But drive scenic Old Frankfort Pike towards the city to the state-owned Kentucky Horse Park for plenty of kid-friendly attractions. Fifteen thousand horses compete annually at this year-round equine center, and daily public events include a Parade of Champions of past racing stars, horse-drawn tours, mare and foal shows and an excellent little museum. You can even camp on site. Just watch your step. 
 
Photo: A mare and her foal in the spring at Three Chimneys Farm, by Lee Thomas

Friend of IT Molly Feltner is traveling through Africa, and just came face-to-face with mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

I've witnessed cheetahs hunting gazelle in the Serengeti, spent hours watching monkeys play in the Amazon, and swam with wild dolphins off the coast of Brazil, but no wildlife experience I've had can compare to coming face-to-face with a 500-pound silverback mountain gorilla, an animal that shares about 98% of my DNA. I met Kurira, the leader of Susa group, a 38-member gorilla family, while trekking in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and found him to be a rather hospitable fellow. He didn't mind me or the seven other members of my gorilla trekking party wandering among his charges--he's been visited every day by tourists for years. After giving my group a good look over from a sunny patch of vegetation about 20 feet away, he stretched out on his back, arms folded behind his head, and let a baby crawl up on his big belly. The two played together for nearly 20 minutes.

Other gorillas gathered around us as we stood still. A big black-back male made a nest of leaves and settled in for a nap to my right. On my left a mother plucked and peeled wild celery, her twins playing nearby. After an hour, our guide signaled it was time to go--tourists only get one hour with the gorillas to limit the apes' exposure to human germs. It was a short time but the chance to see such rare creatures (there are only about 700 in the world) in so intimate a setting was well worth the $500 price tag and the effort of trekking up the volcano to find them.

A humpback whale approximately 20 ft. long was spotted this morning in the Hudson River under New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Staten Island and Brooklyn, heading south.

U.S. Coast Guard vessels and NYPD Marine Unit boats set up a safety zone around the whale to protect it from shipping traffic, and to encourage it to head for open water. 

The whale did not appear to be in distress, but a team from Long Island's Riverhead Foundation was on its way to check out the animal to see if it needed anything. 

It may be the same whale that was spotted on Wednesday after it nearly beached itself in the Rockaways.

Looking for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in the mountainous Golden Triangle region of northern Thailand, where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos converge? Love elephants? Want to help rescued Asian elephants and protect Thailand's wild herds?

If your head's bobbing and you're intrigued, check out the work of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation. The foundation rescues abused, abandoned, and overworked elephants, many of whom once toiled in the logging industry, and has created camps for them in two impressive resorts in the Chiang Rai region of northern Thailand.

The elephants earn their keep at the Anantara Resort's Elephant Conservation Camp and at the Four Seasons Tented Camp by interacting with guests and carrying them on treks in Thai hill country, through dense patches of bamboo and across riverine flood plains. Each resort also employs the elephants' mahouts (drivers). They teach guests some of the 70 verbal commands the mahouts use to communicate with these gregarious beasts.

To learn more about this exciting program we caught up with John Roberts, Director of Elephants at the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort's Elephant Conservation Camp.

How long has the foundation been in existence?  

The foundation was created in 2006, after we rescued our first street baby; the intention to help came first and then we built the charitable apparatus to help us do more. The camp has been in existence since 2003, when we started with four government-owned elephants from the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre around whom we built the, then unique, guest mahout training program. This program has been copied and is now an accepted sustainable, elephant-friendly way for elephants to make a living from tourists.

Since its inception, how many elephants have been helped by the foundation?

We currently have 18 elephants under the care of the foundation, two born here and 14 at the hotel camps. These are all still ex-street elephants but they don't come under the foundation as they, with our help, earn a sustainable living for themselves.We've also sent money, vets, and vet equipment to other worthwhile projects--particularly the Thai Conservation Centre--to enable them to give free help to elephants throughout Thailand. We're most proud about our elephant ambulance, mobile centrifuge, and Dr. Pap, who's now a vet for the Royal White Elephants who received his training under our patronage.

World-renowned primatologist and environmentalist Jane Goodall turns 75 today. Dr. Goodall is best known for her long-term observation of the chimps in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. She established her first camp there in 1960 under the patronage of prominent paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. As a long-time National Geographic Society grantee and explorer-in-residence, Goodall was awarded the NGS Hubbard Medal for her work studying and defending the natural world.

Her patient observations of Gombe's chimps--David Greybeard and Flo among many others--enabled her to correct a slew of misunderstandings about chimps prevalent at that time. She discovered chimp were omnivores, not vegetarians, as previously thought. She observed them using tools in the form of twigs and blades of grass inserted into termite mounds to fish the bite-sized critters out; prior to this discovery, tool use was considered a trait limited to human beings. She also brought to light chimps' complex and at times violent social relations. Many of her discoveries forced the scientific community as well as general public the world over to rethink humans' relationship, genetically and ethically, with the natural world.

I have to admit, I did not really anticipate the sheer amount of outdoor activities that are available in Israel. I guess part of me suspected that between the religious artifacts and ruins, and the city of Tel Aviv, there wouldn't be much time left to get outside and get dirty. But I found three ways to get covered in the stuff. Here are some highlights:



Desert Touring

After our Dead Sea soak, I was just about ready to turn round and head back to Jerusalem. But I'm so glad that we didn't, as we ended up heading over to the protected land just south of the Ein Bokek hotel quarter, where we were met with two Jeeps that looked like they'd been props in an Indiana Jones film. Our drivers took them out onto the salt mountains of Sedom, which are thought to be the site where the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah took place. Perhaps it was because it was the "magic hour" - that time when the sun makes everything seem as though it's lit from within - or because it was, after visiting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, so distinctly remote. But the ride was incredible. The region is protected parkland, and hiking and cycle trails crisscrossed our route, but all comers should plan on making their way up to the peak to take in the stunning views of the Dead Sea and Jordan. The group we went with, Shkedi, also offers moonlight tours (which they say are enhanced by not using headlights, which makes me a little nervous) and camping within the park grounds. It's the warmest place in all of Israel, and I would have easily spent the night.

IT Contributor Andrew Evans offers an all-inclusive guide to all things penguin.

Penguins are never passé. Be they marching or tapping their happy feet toward another sequel, the little black and white birds are still very much in everybody's minds and hearts. I also imagine that kids who play with plastic penguins in their Happy Meals grow up to be bigger kids who want to see the birds in real life, in the wild.

Admittedly, live penguins are so astonishingly cool--the way they tilt their heads from side to side to get a good look at you, the strange braying chorus they sing, and that distinctive penguin smell that's part fishy dishwasher detergent and part dusty, old attic. Travelers often bemoan the fact that penguin Grand Central is in almost-inaccessible Antarctica, a destination better suited for scientists, explorers, and millionaires. Still, that doesn't mean you have to cross wild penguins off your wish list. The southern hemisphere is filled with alternatives for seeing wild penguins in their natural habitats.

The following locations offer options for safe and sustainable human interaction with wild penguins:

1.    Isla Magdalena, Chile: This lone clump of rocks in the Strait of Magellan is home to over 50,000 breeding pairs of adorable Magellanic penguins. After a one-hour ferry ride from the city of Punta Arenas, the boat drops you off for a good 90-minute visit with the birds. A marked path guides you safely through the penguin nests and up to the island's lighthouse for a remarkable view. (Insider's tip: in case you're tempted to use your hands to climb up those giant mountains of yellow 'dirt' for a better view, don't. That isn't dirt.)

2.    Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: The Galápagos penguin is the world's northernmost penguin species. They live right on the equator, but look and act a lot like the penguins from colder climes. The best viewing spots are on Isabela island (the largest in the archipelago) and the west coast of Fernandina island.

3.    Boulders Beach, Simon's Town, South Africa: Gigantic granite boulders and tropical-looking turquoise inlets are the exotic home for the African or jackass penguin. A system of raised wooden walkways leads you right into the heart of penguin territory, including the penguins' own sandy beach. Afterwards, enjoy a swim at the people's beach next door.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

What does going to a Grateful Dead concert and a safari game drive have in common? You never know what you are going to get and each one is different. This may seem like a strange analogy, especially to those who have not been to Africa or care very much about psychedelic rock music, but as someone who attended over 100 Dead shows and was about to embark on his fourth safari, it seems like a very fitting description.

Something else I can tell you about going on safari is that it's life-changing. That may sound a bit dramatic, but I can assure you that most people who have had the privilege of viewing wildlife in Africa would rank it among the greatest experiences of their lives. It certainly was for me and Carol, and for more reasons than one. We actually got engaged on our first game drive over 16 years ago during "sundowners" (I'll explain what those are in a moment). I was so overcome with what we had just seen (a leopard stalking an impala) and the magnificent beauty of the bush, that I proposed right then and there, with little care that our ranger and two other couples were there with us.  

National Geographic Films producer prepares to milk a dead rat.

When my friend, National Geographic Films producer Jeremy Zipple, told me he was going to northeastern India for work I was immediately jealous. When he told me it was to film a mysterious natural occurence that only happens every 48 years I was immediately intrigued. And when he told me it involved rats, hundreds of thousands of them in fact, I was immediately disgusted. But still kind of jealous and intrigued.

Jeremy and his production team traveled to the northeastern state of Mizoram, India to attempt to document the 48-year cycle of rat infestation that occurs whenever the species of bamboo called Melocanna baccifera flowers. When the flowers drop to the ground, the seeds provide a delicious feast for the rodent population. This feeding frenzy then turns into a mating frenzy, resulting in a surge in the rodent population. The rats eat the crops, and the people of Mizoram suffer from a plague-like decimation of their food supply that has been happening for centuries.

Planning a winter beach getaway this holiday season? The world's oceans have gifted us with quite the unpleasant surprise, and it comes in the form of swarms of jellyfish. From Hawaii to the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean to Australia, jellyfish populations have reached a sort of unprecedented maritime gridlock, according to a new report by the National Science Foundation. But before we start griping, realize that human-caused changes in the oceans are most likely the main culprit.

The study, entitled Jellyfish Gone Wild, states that 150 million people worldwide are exposed to jellyfish annually. The invasions mean bad news in places like Australia, where around 10,000 people suffer stings annually from the highly venomous Portuguese man-of-war. According to the study, 200,000 people are stung each year in Florida alone.