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CAN THESE STUNNING PHOTOS HELP SAVE ENDANGERED ANIMALS?

Thursday, February 3, 2022

In this newsletter, we cover the discovery of the tiniest snails, a nation’s massive grasshopper hunt, lonely captive elephants, a big-mouthed shark, a butterfly sanctuary forced to close … and a Year of the Tiger quiz.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN SKERRY

By Rachael Bale, Executive Editor, Animals

“I’ve come to realize that human beings are especially visual creatures,” photographer Brian Skerry told me a few weeks ago. “We respond emotionally, viscerally to pictures.” As a text person—a reporter then editor—I’m not sure I realized just how true that was until I came to work at National Geographic. Nat Geo is first and foremost about photos, and that’s given me a front seat to see the impact they can have on conservation.

Skerry, a National Geographic Explorer, is all about photojournalism that has an eye toward helping animals, even if it doesn’t always seem explicit. Take his recent story on the culture of whales. His intimate, up-close images of whale families (pictured above, a young sperm whale nursing) help us realize that these undersea behemoths are more like us than we realize. And when we feel connected, we care.

For another project, he photographed three of the most-feared shark species. “What we hoped to do was celebrate their magnificence,” he said. “You don’t need to feel the same way about them as a furry mammal in a forest,” but if you appreciate them, you’re more likely to want to protect them.

Sometimes, though, conservation photography is more explicit. Skerry’s arresting photo of a dead thresher shark caught in a gillnet (pictured above) opened eyes around the world. “I had been wrestling with how to make a photo of a dead shark resonate. It was the one that looked like a crucifixion that resonated with people in a new way,” he said.

Two decades ago, wildlife photography was about trying to understand the natural world. Today, it’s about trying to save it.

Skerry and Nat Geo photographers David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes, and Laurent Ballesta will be talking more about the role of photography in ocean conservation with longtime Nat Geo photo editor Kathy Moran next week at Xposure, a free international photography festival. See some of their ocean photography here, here, and here.

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STORIES WE’RE TRACKING

PHOTOGRAPH BY BARNA PÁLL-GERGELY

Tiniest land snails found: They’re the size of a grain of sand. One species (pictured above next to a tip of a ballpoint pen) was found in a cave in Vietnam. The other, slightly larger, was discovered in a limestone gorge in Laos. The discoveries show how little we know about the smallest organisms, researcher Adrienne Jochum tells Nat Geo.

Tasty protein hunt: The three-inch-long bush crickets (or “grasshoppers” as they’re known in Uganda) mate and multiply en masse after the region’s two rainy seasons. Salted and fried, they’re such popular snacks—and such big business—that when they swarm, people leave their day jobs and set up commercial-scale traps to catch them. They’re an important source of protein and other nutrients too. But overharvesting may be curtailing the crickets, Halima Athumani writes in the upcoming issue of National Geographic. (We’ll talk with photographer Jasper Doest about how he documented the crickets in Saturday’s PHOTO newsletter.)

Butterfly sanctuary targeted: Threats by fringe conspiracy groups like QAnon and a confrontation with a congressional candidate have forced the shutdown of the National Butterfly Center, the Houston Chronicle reports. The preserve, in Mission, Texas, sits near the border, and the groups have falsely accused the butterfly sanctuary of being a center of child smuggling.

Here, kitty: The new first cat is settling in at the White House, Time reports. Willow is the latest in a long string of animals to live there, and they haven’t been limited to cats or dogs. Cows named Pauline Wayne and Mooly Wooly provided milk and cream for the Taft administration. And Teddy Roosevelt’s White House was home to two cats, a one-legged rooster, a lizard, a small bear, and five guinea pigs, according to this Nat Geo Kids rundown.

What animal are you like? It’s the Year of the Tiger, according to the lunar calendar, and Nat Geo Kids created a quiz to mark the festival. Not only is the quiz a rundown on the 12 animals of the zodiac celebrated by many people in or descended from those in East Asia; it lists the characteristics associated with people born in certain years. Try it!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @BERTIEGREGORY

Open wide! Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory photographed this basking shark encountering a plankton patch off Scotland’s west coast. Efficiently, the shark opened wide and swam right through it, filtering out the water to get to a meal. It’s estimated the shark can filter 500,000 gallons (two million liters) an hour. More than 230,000 people have liked this image on our Instagram page. Still hungry for shark news? Here’s a story on their ability to form long friendships.

Subscriber exclusive: How fast are sharks disappearing?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ERICA YOON, THE ROANOKE TIMES

Meet Asha: The nearly 40-year-old African elephant (pictured above) is among at least nine captive elephants held alone in U.S. zoos. Last year, a veterinarian described her as “unstimulated” and “detached.” Elephants, just like humans, suffer at least some emotional, cognitive, social, and physical health effects from solitary confinement. “Growing up in a social context, or in a family, is critical to their development,” Joyce Poole, an elephant behavior specialist and Nat Geo Explorer, says in this story.

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

There’s often a misperception that carnivores are dangerous to people and need to be eradicated. Bears are really important for ecosystems to stay healthy. Every type of organism is impacted by top predators on the landscape.

Rae Wynn-Grant

Large carnivore ecologist, Nat Geo Explorer

Finding harmony for humans and bears

THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE

Give a hoot: Western burrowing owls don’t actually burrow—they borrow. The tiny creatures hide out in holes abandoned by squirrels and prairie dogs. In California, the homes of this federally protected subspecies are being wiped out by development. Scientists are working to move them into protected grasslands. Whether burrowing owls in harm’s way should be translocated or evicted is “hotly debated in the owl world,” ecologist Martha Desmond tells Nat Geo.

Subscriber exclusive: Why birds matter, and are worth protecting

RELOCATING CAN WORK

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. Do you have an idea or a link for the newsletter? Let us know at [email protected]. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here. Have a good weekend ahead.

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