Every fall, this herd of pronghorn antelope treks more than 100 miles from Grand Teton National Park to their winter habitat in the Upper Green River Valley of Wyoming. This phenomenal migration, one of the longest in North America, has been taking p

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(45) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2009年

In the war-racked country of Sudan, lies Boma National Park, the largest intact savanna in East Africa. Mile upon mile of what looks like pristine wilderness unfolds. But much of this is an empty paradise. During the Sudan's decades of ruinous civil

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(39) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2011年

But they can't migrate to greener pastures until the last of the youngsters has been winged. So mother has become stingy and edgy. Readying for the migration ahead, she tongues oily secretions over every bit of her flight equipment. A bat's wings are

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(38) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2011年

From tip to tip, its wings stand eight feet. This superb blighter can soar almost e* 24 hours a day. Waiting in this bustling, the troublous of hundreds of thousands of birds, her mate shores up the nest from last year's breeding. And after seven lon

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(50) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2011年

A quarter of a million wildebeest will die in their yearly odyssey. In the sun burnt Serengeti, hunger keeps the wildebeests thundering northward, following the rain. A collective intelligence keeps the herd on track, neighbor leading neighbor, along

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(34) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Females travel in family groups, sometimes leading their young on yearly wanderings of up to 20,000 miles. Each day, they gather to reaffirm their bonds. They seem to crave physical contact. Finally, the mothers disperse to feed in shifts. They leave

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(35) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

For the delicate monarch, it may as well be a trip to the moon. And yet somehow they do it, their tiny bodies attuned to a seasonal sundial and resonating to the invisible signature of the earth's core--its magnetic field. Around the planet, animals,

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(32) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Then the brilliant masses take to the wing, heading to a place they've never been. Their only map, imprinted on their genes. A mysterious interplay of sun on eyes and antennae, an uncanny sense of magnetic north guides the way. It will take five mont

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(31) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Ravenous triggerfish seize the luckless, an unceremonious end to an epic quest. For the surviving males, the odyssey has just begun. The females will arrive within days, urged on by celestial forces demanding they reach the males and the sea in time.

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(31) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Only the fit and the lucky will inherit the relay race of their lives. It is a race that is increasingly endangered like many of the world's great migrations. Climate change disrupts weather patterns and exploding human populations encroach on their

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(33) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

What on earth could drive this headlong rush to slaughter? Only earth herself with her insistent clocks. This story begins in the Great Rift Valley, where the continent is tearing itself apart and being reborn. The plains in the shadow of the rift, t

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(29) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

They're born to move, to move or die, forging ahead against terrifying odds, navigating the first of millions of miles, spanning continents on fledgling wings, clattering ever onwards. Right now, our planet is on the march, on the wing, on the run, a

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(45) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

It takes four days for the larva to emerge. It gorges on its own egg case, before turning to tender milkweed. It must grow fat, build up its reserves for the long migration ahead. After two weeks of manic feasting, its body mass now 2,000 times what

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(26) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

On Christmas Island, a different kind of home-coming preparation has begun. The males, though exhausted by their long pilgrimage, are readying snug burrows before the demanding females arrive in search of nursery-ready homes. Having dipped in the oce

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(31) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Many will drown in their frenzy to launch their eggs seaward. Most years, only a handful of their offspring survive. But sometimes, if wind and sea and luck are with them, a tidal wave of tiny crablings will return to these shores. There is no way to

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(42) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Soon there may be violence as males joust to win female affections. But for now, everyone enjoys a touching reunion. The calf, out of his depth among these goliaths, returns to the mentoring eye of his mother. He may not leave her for another 10 year

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(27) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

Finally, they can rest. For another five months, they will cling to this winter refuge, entering a sort of waking trance of energy conservation. Until the longer days of spring awaken them again to mate and pass along to the young--their migratory im

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(38) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

The merciless yellow crazy ants take a terrible toll. But by sheer force of numbers and the inexorable will of their genes, they prevail. That is the fierce logic of migrations. But what is logical for the many can be madness for the few. At the Mara

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(40) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

But there is desperation here for the crocs well. Eat well now, and they may survive leaner times for months even a year. It's easy to forget that death is as vital to the herd as life. The young emerge from this brutal baptism stronger and wiser. Ba

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(32) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年

It's a grim end to a short life, but many of the surviving calves will face a more terrifying death. In the Mara River, another migration is culminating. Crocodiles have memorized when and where the wildebeests will try to cross. They have gathered i

发表于:2019-01-22 / 阅读(44) / 评论(0) 分类 自然百科2010年