CBS Sunday Morning (March 10, 2024): We leave you this Sunday Morning with majestic Tule Elk at Point Reyes National Seashore, in California. Videographer: Lance Milbrand.
Tule elk are endemic to California and the most specialized elk in North America, given that they live in open country under semi-desert conditions, whereas the species as a whole typically occupies temperate climates and utilizes heavy cover at least seasonally.
Point Reyes National Seashore is a vast expanse of protected coastline in Northern California’s Marin County. Beaches here include Wildcat Beach, with the cliffside Alamere Falls. On a rocky headland, the 1870 Point Reyes Lighthouse is a viewpoint for migrating gray whales. The Phillip Burton Wilderness features extensive trails through grassland, firs and pine forest, and up to the peak of Mount Wittenberg.
CBS Sunday Morning (February 11, 2024): We leave you this Sunday before Valentine’s Day with Guanay cormorants, which mate for life, looking for love at the Punta San Juan nature reserve in Peru.
BBC Earth (January 7, 2024) – Journey to the coastal deserts of Baja California to witness marine turtles laying their eggs and dolphins gliding through the ocean.
It is the only desert in the world surrounded by two seas, a geologically isolated peninsula sets the stage for a myriad of remarkable plants and animals exemplifying adaptations to an isolated and arid environment. The Baja California Desert is the peninsular arm of the mainland Sonoran Desert, and although closely related to each other, they contain dramatically different evolutionary histories.
“It is powerful and decisive, the pace compact yet energetic,” says Anup Shah of this year’s spectacular top photo, catching zebras at the edge of a river crossing in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. “I wanted the viewer to feel the energy in the path of a galloping herd.” We do, and it’s exhilarating.
BABY ANIMALS FIRST PLACE Torie Hilley Ventura, California
Torie Hilley trudged through the mudflats of Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park and Preserve with a professional guide in July 2022, hoping to catch this coastal brown bear and her cubs in a line as they dug for clams. When Hilley spotted the family falling into formation on her last day, she dropped to one knee to preserve the moment. She later learned not all of the cubs survived the following weeks. “It reminded me to never take anything for granted,” she says.
BABY ANIMALS SECOND PLACE Carl D. Walsh Dayton, Maine
Listed as endangered by Maine, the state’s piping plover population has seen some improvement in recent decades—a hopeful note suggested by the glow surrounding this days-old fledgling. To get this July 2022 photo, Carl D. Walsh “spent a lot of time lying in the sand, trying to capture the right vantage point and backlight” on a Cumberland County beach. “Many thousands of frames were shot,” he says.
BIRDS FIRST PLACE Suliman Alatiqi Kuwait City, Kuwait
National Geographic (December 18, 2023) – As the rivers of the Okavango Basin pump life into an otherwise dry African region, a team of researchers and local communities, supported by the Okavango Eternal partnership, follow the flow every year to determine how we can preserve these vital water systems.
TRACKS – Travel Documentaries (October 24, 2023) – It’s Autumn in the beautiful highlands of Scotland, where the dramatic wilderness and spectacular wildlife thrive. Discover the secret wild places and the unexpected animals that living in the lovely cool season, as they face challenges while starting to prepare for the winter months ahead.
New Scientist (October 23, 2023) – Whilst writing narration for the latest Plant Earth series, David Attenborough had a moment that “made me hold my breath,” he says. In the scene, a leopard located high up in a tree attacks an antelope buck.
Wondering if the leopard could possibly survive falling from such a height, Attenborough says “suddenly you realise you haven’t written anything because, you know, you’re just completely held. And that may tell you that perhaps your words aren’t all that necessary”.
DW Documentary (October 18, 2023) – Butterflies and moths. Graceful and beautiful, they flit about our spring and summer skies. Their delicate choreographies and dazzling colors are among the most amazing in the animal kingdom. But beauty is not their only quality!
Through the lenses of powerful microscopes, scientists discover unexpected secrets about these fragile creatures that can be adapted and applied to make our world better and more sustainable. This film is a journey into the nano-dimensions of butterflies, taking viewers from high-tech labs to dense forests and lavender fields around the world. We take a close look at the iconic morpho butterfly and find out how its iridescent blue wings reveal a way to produce structural color, a discovery which allows researchers to control light.
Physicist Chunlei Guo, whose work involves reproducing butterfly structures, has created a material capable of absorbing all the colors of the spectrum, a discovery that might revolutionize the field of renewable energies. He is also investigating how the amazing hydrophobic properties of butterfly wings could be used to create an unsinkable metal, which could be useful for constructing floating cities if ocean levels continue to rise.
The blue morpho, the industrious silk moth, the transparent glasswing butterfly, the resistant Heliconius, the enigmatic monarch and the delicate white cabbage butterfly – all have inspired discoveries. These have taken place in many different scientific fields, including energy efficiency and medicine — and even in the detection of toxins, thereby helping save lives in the event of chemical or gas attacks. We take a look at the work of researchers, biologists and geneticists.
We also talk to experts, such as physicist and biomimicry expert Serge Berthier, as well as to Jessica Ware, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History, about butterflies’ incredible behaviors and capacities. Tiny as they are, butterflies and moths can inspire groundbreaking scientific progress. And they also serve as a warning about what’s at stake if we fail to protect our extraordinary natural environment.
New Scientist (October 13, 2023) – From an up-close image of an ancient horseshoe crab to the chilling documentation of predator-killing contests in Texas, these incredible photos are some of the 2023 winners in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
New Scientist spoke to the winning photographers, alongside broadcaster Chris Packham, about the stories behind the images and how they hope their work will inspire change. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.
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