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Navigating the Arctic
Photograph by Joel Berger
Conservation Trust grantee Joel Berger received a grant from National Geographic in 2006 to see if musk-oxen can survive in the changing Arctic. While musk-oxen in the past survived climate change, predation, food limitation, and human exploitation, their complete local extinction from Asia and Europe shows that, like many species, numerous factors—including many we do not fully understand—influence their abilities to survive and flourish over time.
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Re-Introducing the Species
Photograph by Joel Berger
Today, native populations persist in the tundra environments of Arctic North America. After musk-oxen disappeared from Alaska in the late 19th century, they were re-introduced to Alaska's Nunavut Island, and into northwestern Alaska in the 1970s.
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Snow Hole Investigation
Photograph by Joel Berger
Some conservationists fear that certain musk-ox populations, particularly in the southern ranges, could be imperiled by climate change. Wet winters can spell trouble if deep snow impairs their movement or covers their food. Warm autumns can mean disease or inhospitable habitat. All this can affect their ability to reproduce. Here, Berger investigates the condition of an adult female in a snow hole.
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Radio Collared Female Musk-Ox
Photograph by Joel Berger
Between March 2008-2010, Dr. Layne Adams from USGS and Berger radio-collared more than 60 adult female musk-oxen. The status of these collared individuals was subsequently checked from the ground and from the air from using satellite imagery. To approximate movements, they used empirical data on median distance traveled (meters/hour) when at least four satellites recorded locations simultaneously on a given day. Preliminary analyses suggest median distance of hourly travel by Cape Krusenstern females was 107 meters per hour, or about 2 kilometers per day; by contrast Bering Land Bridge females moved about seven times less, covering only about 14 meters per hour, or 300 meters per day.
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Musk-Oxen and Calf
Photograph by Joel Berger
The overall goal of Berger’s and Adams’s ongoing research is to document population trends, vital rates (calf production, calf recruitment, adult female survival), and population characteristics (female age structure, adult sex ratios), of musk-oxen in Bering Land Bridge and Cape Krusenstern in Alaska.
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Defending Their Own
Photograph by Joel Berger
Musk-oxen show how they protect their own with a group defense. Here, they stand guard over a sedated female at negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 28 degrees Celsius).
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On the Harsh Tundra
Photograph by Joel Berger
Musk-oxen show a variety of preferences for where they frequent, including low tundra, banks of rivers, steep slopes, and even mountains.
Migration Projects and Grants
Explorers Journal
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Feed the World
National Geographic explores how we can feed the growing population without overwhelming the planet in our food series.
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Explorer Moment: The Little Foxes
Anders Angerbjörn learns little foxes have big attitudes.
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Listen: Explorer Interviews
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00:11:00 Bob Ballard
Boyd heads out of the studio to join National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Bob Ballard aboard his vessel the E/V Nautilus. Currently in Turkey, Ballard tells Boyd about the many shipwrecks he is finding in the Mediterranean. You can follow Ballard and his team, live as they explore the ocean at www.nautiluslive.org.
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00:06:00 Valerie Clark
National Geographic grantee Valerie Clark licks frogs for a living. As Clark tells Boyd, she’s not looking for Prince Charming. Instead, she is studying how the diet of frogs in Madagascar relates to the toxicity of their skin.
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00:11:00 Lee Berger Audio
National Geographic grantee and paleoanthropologist Lee Berger has been searching for the fossils of human ancestors, but it was his 9-year-old son who stumbled upon the find of a lifetime: a partial skeleton that may very well change our understanding of the genus Homo.
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00:07:59 Brad Norman
Some go swimming with dolphins or stingrays, Brad Norman, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and marine conservationist, talks about swimming with the largest fish in the world: the whale shark. Norman speaks with Boyd about his research concerning whale shark habitats, tracking and conservation.
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00:11:00 Losang Rabgey
National Geographic Emerging Explorer Losang Rabgey has found her life's work in strengthening rural communities on the Tibetan plateau, which includes building schools to educate local students. Rabgey joins Boyd with updates on the successful work of Machik, the non-profit she founded and now directs.
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00:11:00 Dereck and Beverly Joubert
National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert capture astounding images of African wildlife in their beautiful films. The Jouberts live in the African bush alongside the lions and other animals they profile. They explain to Boyd that, because big cats are in such danger, their work is now focused on conservation projects such as the Cause an Uproar program.
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00:11:00 Nathan Wolfe
National Geographic Emerging Explorer and virus hunter Nathan Wolfe says there is a disease pandemic lurking just around the corner. But, we can prepare ourselves. Wolfe says there are even ways to harness and use the power of viruses. Wolfe joins Boyd to talk about his new book, The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age, which is changing the way we think about viruses.
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00:09:00 Joshua Ponte Audio
National Geographic Emerging Explorer Joshua Ponte was a successful young English entrepreneur when, over breakfast one morning, his eye fell on a newspaper ad that said "Gorilla Reintroduction Program, Gabon." His life has never been the same since. Pursuing his passion for conservation, Ponte moved to a central African forest where 13 orphaned gorillas were being studied. Boyd talks with Ponte about the joys and dangers of raising young gorillas.
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00:11:00 Wade Davis
How did the death and destruction of World War One lead young British climbers to attempt an epic conquest of Mount Everest? National Geographic Explorer in Residence Wade Davis answers that question in his new book “Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest.” Davis joins Boyd in the studio to chat about the book.
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00:11:00 Sylvia Earle
National Geographic Explorer in Residence Sylvia Earle has been deeper undersea than any other woman. Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, field scientist, and an inspiration to women around the world. She recently received the Royal Geographic Society’s 2011 Patron’s Medal. Boyd talks to Earle about some of her early dives in the Jim Suit.
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00:11:00 Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner(blurb here)
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00:08:00 Bruce Bachand
Many people picture archaeology as the swashbuckling adventure portrayed in the Indiana Jones trilogy. But in reality, it can be much more tedious than discovering the Holy Grail and fighting Nazis. National Geographic grantee Bruce Bachand has been meticulously sewing a 3,000 bead necklace back together in Mexico after discovering a pre-Olmec burial site that housed a tribal chief and his wife, undisturbed for several centuries.
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00:09:00 Catherine Jaffee
Turkey is famed for its honey, which is music to Boyd's ears—he has a notorious sweet tooth. He visited National Geographic grantee Cat Jaffee, a beekeeper who left her job in Washington, D.C. to make honey in rural Turkey. She says that bees harvest pollen from their surroundings: the best honey comes from bees with natural surroundings, large meadows, rather than urban environments. Most people, Jaffee says, eat honey that is basically a synthetic mix of sugars from all over the world.
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00:09:00 Elizabeth Lindsey
Most of human history existed before the advent of GPS technologies that can pinpoint where we are at any time. National Geographic Fellow and ethnonavigation expert, Elizabeth Lindsey has taken it upon herself to understand what it was like for Polynesian explorers to colonize tiny, remote islands across the south Pacific Ocean. To better appreciate the skills it takes to study the clouds and winds in search of land, Lindsey plans to join a team of Polynesian women who are island-hopping using traditional methods: no GPS, no cellphones and no compass.
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00:11:00 Lucy Cooke
Lucy Cooke
Meet the 2014 Emerging Explorers
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Inventor" class="">
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Educator" class="">
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Author and Campaigner" class="">
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Nanoscientist" class="">
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Artist, Writer, and Musician" class="">
Artist, Writer, and Musician">Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Artist, Writer, and Musician -
Conservation Biologist" class="">
Conservation Biologist">Juliana Machado Ferreira
Conservation Biologist -
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Social Entrepreneur" class="">
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Paleontologist" class="">
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Electrical Engineer" class="">
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Marine Biologist" class="">
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