National Geographic Magazine

Amazing discoveries and experiences await you in every issue of National Geographic magazine. The latest news in science, exploration, and culture will open your eyes to the world’s many wonders.

Animal Adaptations, Human Ingenuity

FROM COOP TO CATWALK • When a portrait photographer shifted his focus to poultry, he found his subjects to be coy, funny, and surprisingly similar to humans.

THE BACKSTORY • WITH HIS PORTRAITS, PHOTOGRAPHER ALEX TEN NAPEL AIMS TO SHOW THE PERSONALITIES OF POULTRY.

These Boots Were Made… of What? • SELLING ITEMS MADE FROM PROTECTED WILDLIFE MAY BE UNLAWFUL—BUT AS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DISCOVERED, THAT’S HARD TO PROVE.

LAB TESTING

Know the Species

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

LIP-SMACKING FACE-OFFS • THESE FREAKY FISH MAY OPEN WIDE TO FLAUNT COLORFUL MAWS, WARN OFF RIVALS, AND DETER MOUTH-TO-MOUTH COMBAT.

Bats foiled by moth Darwin imagined?

VED CHIRAYATH • This scientist is on a mission to map the world’s oceans, centimeter by centimeter.

THE DAWN OF JAWS • New fossil discoveries from China shine light on a pivotal moment of evolution: the arrival of the first vertebrates with honest-to-goodness jaws.

MONSTERS OF SPRING • AN ANCIENT TRADITION IN SLOVENIA HAS REVIVED SOME OF ITS FORGOTTEN MASKED CREATURES.

URBAN HEIGHTS

MOON VIEWS IN RAINBOW HUES

FEATURES

THE FUTURE IS FOLDED • ORIGAMI HAS LONG INSPIRED ARTISTS. NOW IT’S BLAZING NEW TRAILS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

ORIGAMI, EVERYWHERE • Engineers are increasingly turning to the centuries-old art of folding paper into three-dimensional forms to shape some of the modern world’s most ambitious designs. The models shown here, many of which are still prototypes, demonstrate the exciting potential of future technologies. Not only are designs less expensive and faster to manufacture in two-dimensional form, but folding also opens a new realm of scale, materials, and mechanical movement, with applications ranging from repairing our bodies to exploring outer space.

ORIGAMI STARSHADE • Use this classic origami method to craft a model of the optical shield that may someday help NASA capture images of planets outside our solar system. Scan this QR code or visit natgeo.com/starshade to access and print out a larger template for easier folding.

A NEW OLD AGE • Japan leads the world in adapting to a rapidly aging and shrinking population.

ELDER NATION • With nearly 30 percent of its people 65 and over, Japan has the oldest population on Earth (except tiny Monaco). Its median age of 48.7 far exceeds the world’s, at 30.2. But as growth rates slow down, many countries are following Japan’s graying trajectory.

WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? • SEA OTTERS ARE THRIVING IN POCKETS ALONG THE COAST FROM CALIFORNIA TO ALASKA—BUT NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY.

SUITED FOR THE SEA • Sea otters, with the animal kingdom’s thickest fur, can spend their entire lives in water; river otters, their distant cousins, spend two-thirds of their time on land. For sea otters to maintain this marine lifestyle—thriving in frigid seas inhospitable to their furry mammal relatives—they must constantly produce and conserve body heat.

MADE FROM MUD • West African architects look to the past to beat future heat.

HEAT AND HERITAGE • Naturally cooled and intricately decorated mud homes have defined architecture in Burkina Faso for centuries. Many people have now switched to fully concrete homes, but mud is still in use—and increasingly recognized as a traditional solution to the modern problem of rising temperatures.

JAVIER AZNAR • FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS