PHOTOGRAPH BY EMMANUEL RONDEAU

Poachers use night gear to kill majestic tigers

In this newsletter, we give you the latest on tracking down the poachers, witnessing a rare eagle in Maine, fighting a kill-hamsters order in Hong Kong, celebrating Penguin Appreciation Day … and photographing a shy hippo in Mozambique.

8 min read

This article is an adaptation of our weekly Animals newsletter that was originally sent out on January 20, 2022. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.

By Rachael Bale, Executive Editor, Animals

When Nat Geo’s Dina Fine Maron first spoke with a buyer of illegal tiger parts in Russia for a story about Siberian tiger poaching, the conversation was tense. He repeatedly said he had to be careful what he told her because the FSB, Russia’s security service, might be listening in. 

He wasn’t the only one who was nervous. “So many people with knowledge of what was going on in Russia with tigers were unwilling to speak with me because of concerns for themselves, their families, or their visas,” Maron says. That included not just those involved in illegal activity, but also scientific researchers and conservationists. 

But there was one person willing to go on the record in a big way: Allison Skidmore, a National Geographic Explorer who studies wildlife trafficking. She spent five months in Russia with tiger poachers and buyers and has published several journal papers about it. She talked extensively to Maron for her Wildlife Watch story on Siberian tiger poaching. (Pictured at top, one of the tigers.) 

Skidmore’s work has come with consequences though: While in Russia in March 2020, Skidmore had her computer, phone and other possessions confiscated by officials who tracked her down at an airport and put her on a plane out of the country. She probably will never be able to return to Russia to continue her research on the ground. All of this “underscores the high-stakes, risky nature of this issue,” Maron says. 

Read Maron’s story, “Siberian tigers are being poached at night for their body parts,” here.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ALLISON SKIDMORE

(Pictured above, the remains of a tiger that poachers had stripped for its parts. The bones, above left, are often used for wine or medicinal paste in China; tiger teeth, above right, are sometimes made into jewelry.)

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT HARDING PICTURE LIBRARY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Leave no trace: Each Antarctic summer, about 40,000 people visit the snowy continent, many in sturdy little icebreakers with a below-average carbon footprint. Before landings, outdoor gear is inspected fastidiously, Emma Gregg writes. One pre-landing call: “Show us your Velcro.” That means fastenings and seams are checked, scrubbed, and vacuumed to remove seeds, insects, mud, or sand. The reason? Any invasive species could harm the fragile ecosystem that sustains penguins, petrels, and whales. (Pictured above, a curious Antarctic minke whale approaches kayakers in Neko Harbor, Antarctica.)

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The lick of discovery: Clare Fieseler and Nick Pyenson were wandering the tar-stained limestone beaches of Qatar, hoping to find animal skulls or skeletons that had washed ashore. The marine scientists and Nat Geo Explorers came upon a shaft of a bone that appeared to be a rib of a plant-eating sea cow. Could it be from the Ice Age? The first step to finding out: Licking it. Read about their recent discovery in Smithsonian magazine. 

Why birdwatchers are flocking to Maine: The rare Steller’s sea eagle is one of the largest raptors in the world, tipping the scales at as much as 20 pounds. There are only about 4,000 of them left, and one has made a home near Boothbay Harbor, Maine, NPR reports. Hundreds of spectators have shown up to get a look. 

2,000 hamsters ordered killed: Hong Kong authorities have called for the deaths of the hamsters following an outbreak at a pet store in which several of the animals tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal reports. Despite the government’s efforts to curb infections, there has been no evidence that pets—including hamsters—can transmit the virus to humans. Now a resistance movement has sprung up to save the pets from the authorities, the Washington Post reports.

Those adorable axolotls: Several newsletter readers have applauded the Nat Geo story about Mexican researchers, community activists, and artists working to save the perennially smiling amphibians whose wild habitat has been reduced to a few canals in Mexico City. Efforts are being made to clean up the waterways and to resettle a few pairs of the foot-long salamanders to nearby lakes and community farms, reports Tina Deines, with images from Nat Geo Explorer Luis Antonio Rojas.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @NADIASHIRACOHEN

Reining in reindeer herds? In Norway's Arctic tundra, the Indigenous Sami are fighting for their herding rights and the ancestral land their reindeer graze on. Jovsset Ante Sara—whose reindeer are seen here—sued Norway for imposing what he describes as unfair limits on the size of his herd, making his livelihood unfeasible. The image above, which has been liked by more than 230,000 people on our Instagram page, was taken by Nat Geo Explorer Nadia Shira Cohen. Also on Instagram, to mark today’s Penguin Awareness Day, Paul Nicklen has this adorable photo of a penguin chick, which within hours had been liked by 1.4 million people. We covered penguin population shifts in this feature from our November issue of National Geographic.

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THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS PESCHAK

How to photograph a hippo: The problem, Nat Geo photographer and Explorer Thomas Peschak explains, is not so much that hippos are fearsome and dangerous. It is that they are shy. He wanted to get an image of a hippo emerging from a lake onto land (pictured above), but could only capture the moment with remote cameras, Peschak says in this TikTok video from Mozambique. Otherwise, the hippos would have smelled him, and stayed partially submerged. Check it out. 

Related: 10 hippo facts

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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 david.beard@natgeo.com. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here. Have a good weekend ahead.

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