Revista NatGeo

NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
Amalfi
Italy’s
divine coast
Cape canaveral, discover Cape’s 6,000
mile long shooting gallery.
Hawaii, a closer look at the amazing
coral reef creatures.
Antartica, what have we
discovered?
ISBN 146-36-546-87

Contents
Amalfi, the must-visit coast
in
Italy.
The wild variety of coral reef
creatures in Hawaii.
What have we discovered in
Antartica?
Wonders of America, most
important National Parks of
the region.
Abbotsbury Swannery, the
only managed colony of
swans.
How rats became an
inescapable part of city living
with a few visits it can scare
survivors into moving away.
As the terriers go about their
business, the human employees
use hockey sticks to stop rats
from fleeing the killing zone.
Neighbors cheer from their
windows.
Despite their bad rap, rats have
redeeming qualities. They’re
smart—and maybe empathic
too. In one study, rats freed other
rats from cages, even though it
gained them nothing and even
when they could have gorged
on chocolate instead. The
researcher behind the study,
neurobiologist Peggy Mason
of the University of Chicago,
says that typically, once the
helper rat frees his companion,
“he follows the liberated rat.
He jumps on him and he licks
him”—apparently to console the
distressed animal.
Still, most of us really hate rats.
Is it the nocturnal furtiveness,
the way rats act like they have
something to hide—unlike
squirrels, say, which look you
in the eye as they raid your bird
feeder?
RATS: FARM TO TABLE
“It is the tail,” says Laurinda
Williams, who breeds rats on
Long Island and sells them as
pets. “If it weren’t for the tail,
everyone would have rats.”
Val Curtis, a behavioral scientist
at the London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine and an
authority on disgust, says rats
are considered disgusting in
nearly every human culture—
and it’s probably not just the
tail. “We are preprogrammed to
learn to avoid things that make
us sick,” she says. As humans
evolved, the ones who didn’t
mind sharing space with rats
were more likely to die of ratborne
illnesses—and less likely
to have descendants—than the
ones who were revolted. Thus
most of us today have inherited
an innate revulsion, Curtis
says, “in the same way we are
programmed to find saber-tooth
tigers scary.”
In the Long Island rattery, which
is a room in her parents’ house,
Williams shows me animals
with fancy coat colors and
patterns. She talks about the
complexities of keeping the rats
healthy and selecting for easy,
calm temperaments. It’s a lot of
work. The rat room has a strong,
musky smell, both sweet and
foul. Her scented candle doesn’t
quite overpower it.
Williams walks over to a large
cage and picks out a fat gray rat
with an ivory belly and a split ear
from a youthful brawl. His name
is Dexter. “This is my heart rat,”
she says. “Your favorite rat is
your heart rat. You get very
bonded.”
I hold Dexter briefly, and he
wanders around on my hands.
I’m surprised to feel how much
he’s trembling.
Corrigan, the rat expert, doesn’t
have a heart rat now, but he
has owned pet rats in the past.
Decades of trying to outsmart
them has made him not only
respect but really like them.
He welcomes New York’s use
of dry ice instead of blood
thinners—though the city
isn’t doing it just to reduce rat
suffering. Hawks, owls, and
other raptors are increasingly
living in the city, and New
Yorkers don’t want to see them
dying from eating poisoned rats.
Scientists these days are
working on what might be the
ultimate in rat control: a genetic
engineering technique that would
spread infertility genes through
a wild rat population. If fears
of unintended consequences
can be overcome, this method
might one day enable us to wipe
out rats on an unheard-of scale,
without poison.
Might we miss them? Without
rats, New York and other
cities would have fewer hawks
and owls. Tons of carelessly
discarded food would simply
putrefy in place, rather than be
carried off by a rodent cleanup
crew. On YouTube there’s a
wildly popular video that shows
a New York rat dragging an
entire slice of pizza down the
stairs of a subway station. A
comment praises the animal as
“a true New Yorker.”

of habitat that the birds can
expand into. Wellington families
now spend weekend afternoons
acting as rodent death squads,
setting and clearing rat traps.
For the first time in generations,
birds such as the North Island
saddleback, or tīeke, can be
heard singing their sweet songs
in the city center.
Some New Zealanders,
however, have doubts about the
Predator Free 2050 campaign,
which also plans to eradicate
stoats and Australian possums.
Biologist Wayne Linklater of
Victoria University of Wellington
calls the plan “unachievable”
and says the poisons being
used are too cruel. The whole
thing is a distraction, he says:
Many native species are
more threatened by
overgrazing and
habitat
loss than by predation.
Criticism comes also from
members of the Ngātiwai, a tribe
of Maori on the North Island.
Their Polynesian ancestors
brought the kiore, as they call
the Pacific rat, to New Zealand,
and they consider themselves
guardians of the rats—which
they still eat occasionally.
Ngātiwai Trust Board CEO Kris
MacDonald describes the kiore
as “half the size of a New York
sewer rat, all nice and fluffy and
tasty looking.”
Off the northeast coast of the
North Island, the tribe manages
Zealandia’s mirror image: a
steep but beautiful rocky islet
called Mauitaha, which may be
the world’s only rat sanctuary.
It’s not exactly teeming—on
an overnight visit there, hoping
to eat a rat, I failed even to
spot one—but
someday it may be the only
place in the country where
kiores persist at all.
Hori Parata, a Ngātiwai
environmental resource
manager and my guide on
Mauitaha, tells me a story about
bringing a kiore in a cage to a
social gathering. An old man
approached and started talking
to the rat, tears wetting his face.
He had thought they were all
gone.
One summer night in Washington,
D.C., photographer Charlie
Hamilton James and I go rat
hunting with a company called
Unique Pest Management,
which uses trained Patterdale
terriers to dispatch rats that are
bothering people.
In the Adams Morgan
neighborhood, rich in
restaurants, we watch the
dogs work as a team to kill 31
rats in a single alley—a
small fraction of the
population, no
doubt, but the
company
claims that

The Beautiful
Coast of
Amalfi
Amalfi is the town that
gives its name to the
whole coast as well as
one of the most famous
tourist destinations
in the world for its
history, monuments
and natural setting that
allowed to be declared
by UNESCO World
Heitage Site. In the
coat of arms it is written
“Descendit ex patribus
Romanorum”: the origins
of Amalfi date back to the
Roman time, as evidenced by
the discovery of a nymphaeum
belonging to a Roman villa built
under the Emperor Tiberius.
The place name also has Latin
origin, deriving from Melfi, a
Lucanian city whose refugees
landed here, or from the
“gensAmarfia”.
It was bishopric since
596 and was part of the
Romanesque-Byzantine duchy
until 839, when it became
an autonomous republic (the
first of the Maritime Republic
in Italy) ruled first by Counts
elected every year, then
by Prefects and finally by
Dukes who transformed it
in a kind of ducal monarchy.
From that moment there
was the supremacy of
Amalfi in maritime trade with
the East and in the whole
Mediterranean basin, through
a
network
of
settlements in the main ports.
It was bishopric since 596 and
was part of the Romanesque-
Byzantine duchy until
839, when it became an
autonomous republic (the
first of the Maritime Republic
in Italy) ruled first by Counts
elected every year, then
by Prefects and finally by
Dukes who transformed it
in a kind of ducal monarchy.
From that moment there was
the supremacy of Amalfi in
maritime trade with the East
and in the whole Mediterranean
basin, through a network
of settlements in the main
ports. The merchant ships
of Amalfi, laden with timber,
sailed off to the North-African,
Syrian, Palestinian coasts and
Byzantium, exchanging it with
gold,
spices, precious stones
and fabrics. Amalfi traders soon
became very rich, attracting
the attention and enmity of new
and emerging competitors,
such as Pisa and Genoa.
The arsenals, used for the
construction of the hulls of
the galleys, the maritime code
called “Tabula de Amalpha” and
the tradition of the invention of
a different story: Polynesian
explorers sailing from Tahiti
and other islands intentionally
brought them along in their
canoes—as food. They cooked
them in their own fat to make
rat confit; they made beautiful
cloaks of the fur.
As the Polynesians colonized
various Pacific islands, tiny
rodent explorers settled with
them. In fact the rats’ genetic
family tree has been used to
shed light on when and in what
order various islands were
discovered. Between 1200
and 1300, Polynesians and
their companions reached New
Zealand—which until then had
no mammals at all other than
bats.
RAT HAVEN
On some small, remote islands,
rats have done as much damage
as human invaders. On Easter
Island they’re
suspected of having wiped out
palm trees by eating all the nuts.
On other islands they threaten
seabirds by eating eggs and
chicks.
The ecological consequences
can be far-reaching and
surprising. One study found
that by massively reducing
bird numbers on some
islands in the Indian Ocean’s
Chagos Archipelago, rats also
interrupted the flow of bird poop
into the ocean, where it fertilizes
ocean plants. As a result, planteating
damselfish were smaller
and grew more slowly around
the islands with rats than the
islands without.
Fighting back, conservationists
have been trying to eradicate
rats with ambitious poisoning
campaigns, targeting larger
and larger islands. At 1,500
square miles, South Georgia,
near Antarctica, is the current
record holder: In May 2018
it was declared rat free
after helicopters
dumped 330
t o n s
of poison in five years on its
stark landscape, at a cost of
$13 million. With the rats gone,
conservationists expect to see
an explosion in the number
of albatrosses, skuas, terns,
petrels, and South Georgia
pipits and pintail ducks.
The island nation of New
Zealand is thinking even bigger.
It plans to kill all the rats in the
country—with traps and poison
baits spread over some 100,000
square miles—to try to save its
rare native birds, including the
iconic flightless kiwi.
In Wellington, the capital city,
I visit one of the first rat-free
oases, a 556-acre sanctuary
called Zealandia. Surrounded
by a seven-foot metal fence with
a mesh too tight even for a rat to
wriggle through, the sanctuary
is home to such odd birds as
the hefty, flightless takahe and
the manic hihi. In the global
urban landscape, Zealandia
is a triumphant anomaly—“a
reversal of the idea of the city
as a biodiversity wasteland,”
says Danielle Shanahan,
the sanctuary’s conservation
manager.
As the populations of native
birds have increased inside the
sanctuary, they have spilled
over the fence. In response,
bird-loving New Zealanders
have formed citizens’
groups to trap rats and
other predators in parks
around Zealandia. The
aim is to create a “halo”

for more than local or temporary
success. After rats are poisoned
in an area, Corrigan says, the
survivors simply breed until the
burrows are full again, and the
new generations still find huge
mounds of trash bags set out
on the sidewalks of New York
every night. Until cities radically
change how they deal with their
trash, Corrigan says, “the rats
are winning this war.”
In New York, when you see
smoke-colored streaks on the
sidewalk, chances are you’re
crossing a rat thoroughfare. The
oil in their belly fur stains the
concrete.
A NIGHT HUNTING RATS IN
THE NATION’S CAPITAL
Brown rats likely originated
on the Asian steppes,
where they first learned
they could eat well
by hanging out with
humans. They
spread with trade
along the Silk
Road, and were
established in
parts of Europe
by about 1500.
(The misnomer
“Norway rat”
may have
arisen when
an infested
ship that
happened to
be Norwegian
docked in
an English
port.) They
colonized today’s United States
before it had that name, by the
1750s, and apparently from
both the east and the west.
Brown rats along the East
Coast are descended mostly
from European ancestors, but
West Coast rats are a mix of
European and Asian genetics.
Roof rats—Rattus rattus,
also known as black rats—
are a global species as well.
They may have originated on
the Indian subcontinent and
adapted to human settlements
millennia ago, when
humans invented
agriculture.
T h e y
reached Europe by A.D. 300,
in time for the decline of the
Roman Empire.
Black and brown rats alike
traveled with explorers and
traders, then settled down to
eat our trash and steal our food.
Today in Africa the median farm
still loses 15 percent of its yield
to rats. In Asia rats and other
rodents eat enough rice each
year to feed 200 million people.
Pacific rats, a third species of
Rattus, are
the compass by Flavio Gioia
are what remain of Amalfi
seafaring history.
Conquered by the Normans
in 1131 and sacked by Pisa
few years later, Amalfi lost
its autonomy but, from the
economic point of view,
entrepreneurship was
concentrated in the production
of handmade paper according
to the Arabic method, in the
manufacture of iron and wool.
The decline coincided with the
war between the Angevins and
Aragonese and, in particular,
with a terrible storm, on the
night between November
24th and 25th, that destroyed
much of the ancient port of
Amalfi. Once became a fief,
it was ruled by many families:
Sanseverino, Colonna, Orsini
and Piccolomini.
The tourist history of Amalfi
coincides with the arrival of
the North-European travelers
at the time of the Grand Tour,
looking for remains of the
Greek and Roman period and
Romantic views. From that
moment Amalfi and the whole
coast were rediscovered even
by celebrities as locations
for spending their amalfitan
holidays.
Sites of interest:
- Amalfi urban layout, especially
in the historic center, has kept
intact its medieval aspect, with
the city gates (Porta Maria or
De Sandala, Porta Occidentale,
Porta Hospitalis), narrow
cobbled streets, alleys and
stairs leading to picturesque
squares, overlooked by
beautiful medieval palaces and
small chapels;
- the lookout towers (Torre dello
Ziro, Torre di Vettica, Torre
San Francesco or Saracena),
part of the defense system
designed during the viceregal
period in order to defense the
coastal people against the
pirate attacks;
- the remains of the castle and
towers of Pogerola (the ancient
Pigellula);
- the ancient arsenals of the
Maritime Republic, consisting
in two lanes divided by ten
pillars, used in the past for the
construction of warships. It is
the only example of Medieval
arsenal in Southern Italy.
- the Cathedral of St.
Andrew, preceded by an
imposing staircase, overlooks
Piazza Duomo. The former
Romanesque-style structure
is covered by a sumptuous
Baroque-style architecture.
Built in 987 by the Duke
of Amalfi Mansone I, it is
caracterised by a basilican plan
with transept and apse. The
polychrome façade, preceded
by an elegant portico, is
dominated by the mosaic of
the tympanum, the Triumph
of Christ, by Domenico
Morelli, whose proofs are still
preserved in the main hall
of the municipal seat. Inside
it is possible to admire: an
elegant coffered ceiling, XVIII
century paintings, a XIII century
wooden crucifix, a mother of
pearl cross from Jerusalem,
the baptismal font (a porphyry
hot coming from a Roman
villa), two pillars of Egyptian
granite coming from Paestum
supporting the main arch, spiral
columns and pulpits of the XII
century. In the crypt there are
the relics of St. Andrew from
which, since 1304, exudes
a dew, called “manna”, with
miraculous effects. The most
valuable element is the bronze
door, realized by the wealthy
merchant Pantaleone de
Comite in Constantinople.
- the Basilica del Crocifisso,
adjacent to the Cathedral and

once connected to it, dates
back to the IX century and was
built on a pre-exiting early-
Christian building, Initially
dedicated to Our lady and,
later, to the Saints Cosmas
and Damian, it has three
naves divided by columns
supporting slightly acute
arches on which a women’s
gallery. The restoration of 1931
eliminated the Baroque-style
superstructures, returning
the original Romanesque
architecture. It now houses the
Museum of Sacred Art of the
Cathedral.
- The Cloister of Paradise,
built by the Archbishop Filippo
Augustariccio in 1268 as a
cemetery for the nobles of
Amalfi. It consists of a foursided
portico with intertwined
pointed arches in Arabic-
Norman style
resting on fine
twin columns,
with six chapels
and a beautiful
fresco from
the Neapolitan
school of Giotto.
Today there are
some Roman
sarcophagi, one
of the XIV century
and the remains of
the original façade
of the Cathedral.
- the Bell
Tower, built in
Romanesque style
between 1180 and
1276, has a bell
cell in Moorish
style with majolica
tiles in green and
yellow.
- the Benedictine Monastery of
the Holy Trinity (XVI century),
today called Palazzo San
Benedetto, seat of the Town
Hall and the Municipal Library.
At the entrance there is the
ceramic panel by Diodoro
Cossa (1968) displaying the
highlights of Amalfi history;
- the former Monastery of San
Basilio, dating from the XII
century, now adapted to civilian
residences;
- the Church of San Benedetto,
in Baroque-style, preserves
valuable XVIII century
paintings;
- the small Church of
Sant’Anna, also called “the
dark” for the dark tones used
for the painting of the Saint on
the main altar;
- the Chapel of Sant’Anna “la
Grande”, located on the ground
floor of the XV century Palazzo
Bonito;
- the Church of Santa Maria
Maggiore, with it beautiful bell
tower in Moorish style, was
built in 986 by Mansone I Duke
of Amalfi and preserves the
relics of San Felice, a fine XVIII
century nativity scene and
important paintings;
- the Church of San Biagio,
documented since the XI
century, was part of the
possessions of the Abbey of
Montecassino for long time.
Inside it is possible to admire
a valuable ceramic floor of the
XVIII century and XVI century
paintings;
- the ancient Convent of San
Francesco, today a famous
hotel, was founded in 1222 by
St. Francis from Assisi. Inside it
is possible to admire a beautiful
cloister in Moorish style;
- the ancient Capuchin
Convent, today a hotel, was
built by Pietro Capuano in
1212. It was granted to the
Capuchins in the last years
of the XVI century and finally
closed due to the revolutionary
laws of 1815. The splendid
cloister of the XIII century
and the magnificent flowered
terrace led Stiwell to exclaim:
“Who did not see Amalfi, did
not see the world, but who did
not see Amalfi from the terrace
of the Capuchin Monastery, did
not see Amalfi”.
- the Church of Addolorata,
built in the last years of the
XVIII century, has XVII-XVIII
one who told me about the
alarmingly high rate of rat “toilet
emergence” in Seattle.
I meet him on his turf on a warm
April day at a park in lower
Manhattan, one of the rat capitals
of the world. Corrigan appears
in a hard hat and neon orange
vest, holding a clipboard. These
accoutrements of authority will
allow us to tromp through flower
beds and subway tunnels
without being challenged. Small
statured and intent, Corrigan
was raised in a big Irish Catholic
family on Long Island. He talks
like New Yorkers in the movies.
New Yorkers like to titillate
one another with stories about
sightings of rats as big as dogs.
But the biggest rat Corrigan has
ever heard of was a one-pound,
13-ounce creature that hailed
from Iraq. He has a standing
offer: $500 for anyone who can
produce a two-pound rat. He
doubts that he will ever have to
pay up.
The dominant rat in New York
City is the Norway rat, Rattus
norvegicus, also known as
the brown rat. Brown rats are
burrowing animals that are
widest at the skull, so they can
slip into any space wider than
that (including the pipe leading
to a toilet bowl). Corrigan points
out a small hole directly behind
the bench I am sitting on—
it’s the main entrance to a rat
burrow. He explains that most rat
burrows have three entrances,
a main entrance and two boltholes
for quick escapes.
Brown rats live in families. They
have two to 14 pups at a time,
keep their nests (which they
often build in the garden beds
of public parks) relatively clean,
and patrol small territories.
When the pups reach puberty,
as early as 10 weeks of age,
they move out and look for
mates.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Take one year in a typical urban
rat colony—how fast might it
grow? Researchers estimate
that a litter of nine pups 10
weeks into the year would grow
to 270 pups by the 30th week
and wrap up with a whopping
11,907 rats by year’s end
(population growth measured in
word width, below). Rats usually
reach sexual maturity by 12
weeks, and litters can vary from
two to 14 pups. Reproductive
rates are highly dependent on
environment. The more shelter,
food, and trash, the higher the
rat count.
Corrigan and I head out on our
rat safari. In a flower bed beside
a courthouse he paces carefully,
feeling the soil beneath his
boots. Sensing a hollow space,
he jumps up and down heavily
a few times. Moments later a
rat pops out of a nearby hole
and makes a run for it—a dusty
brown streak of small-mammal
panic. I feel a little bad. Most
New Yorkers, however, want all
the rats in their city dead.
Just a week before I hunted
rats with Corrigan, Mayor Bill
de Blasio had announced “an
aggressive new extermination
plan” against rats in the city’s
public housing, part of a $32
million effort to reduce rats by
up to 70 percent in the most
infested neighborhoods.
Many cities try to control rats
with poison. But unfortunately
for the rats and for Corrigan’s
surprisingly tender heart, fastacting
poisons don’t work well;
rats that feel ill after a bite or
two stop eating the bait. So
the extermination industry
uses anticoagulants, or blood
thinners, which don’t affect rats
for hours and don’t kill them
for several days. The rats die
slowly from internal bleeding.
Corrigan hates to inflict such a
death, but he fears outbreaks
of disease. So he continues to
lend his expertise to clients.
We proceed to Tribeca Park,
where according to Corrigan
the rats have learned to hunt
and kill pigeons. “They leap
on their backs like a leopard
in the Serengeti,” he says. But
tonight the park is quiet. City
workers might have recently
injected burrows with dry ice, or
frozen carbon dioxide, Corrigan
says—a more humane approach
to killing rats. As carbon dioxide
gas wafts off the ice and seeps
through the burrows, rats fall
asleep, then never wake up.
Few who kill rats for a living hope

RATS ARE OUR shadow
selves. We live on the surface
of the city; they generally live
below. We mostly work by day;
they mostly work by night. But
nearly everywhere that people
live, rats live too.
Middle Ages, they may have
transmitted plague.
From Seattle to Buenos Aires,
urban rat populations are rising—
as much as 15 to 20 percent in
the past decade, according to
one expert. Charismatic animals
like elephants, polar bears, and
lions are all in decline, yet inside
our cities, we find it hard even
with extraordinary efforts to
keep rat populations in check.
disgust. People hate rats.
Do the little beasts really
deserve it? Some of the things
we hate most about rats—their
dirtiness, their fecundity, their
undeniable grit and knack for
survival—are qualities that
could describe us as well. Their
filth is really our own: In most
places rats are thriving on our
trash and our carelessly tossed
leftovers.
In Seattle, where I grew up,
the rats excel at climbing
sewer pipes—from the inside.
Somewhere in my hometown
right now, a long, wet Norway
rat is poking its twitchy pink
nose above the water surface
in a toilet bowl. Seattle also
has another species, roof rats,
which nest in trees and skitter
along telephone lines. In the
Of all the animals that thrive
in our world—pigeons, mice,
sparrows, spiders—we feel
strongest about rats. Rats have
a reputation for being filthy and
sneaky. They’re seen as signs
of urban decay and carriers of
pestilence.
More than any other city
creature, they inspire fear and
“It is us, the humans,” New
York rodentologist Bobby
Corrigan says. “We don’t keep
our nest clean.”
Corrigan is a leading expert on
urban rats. He has studied the
animals since 1981 and works
as a consultant for cities and
companies around the world
with rat problems. He’s the
century
paintings, a marble statue of
the XVI century representing
the Madonna and Child, a
Renaissance-style Pietà and a
late-Gothic bas-relief. It is also
the seat of the confraternity
that organizes every year the
Procession of Battenti on Holy
Friday, singing music and song
by Antonio Tirabassi;
- the Church of Sant’Antonio
from Padua, dating from the
first half of the XIII century, has
a
beautiful
altar piece of the XVIII
century, a marble tombstone
belonged to a wealthy
merchant of Amalfi and a
Roman tombstone of the III
century;
- the small Church of Santa
Lucia (XII century);
- the small Chapel of St.
Christopher, patron saint of
travelers;
- the Church of Santa Maria
dell’Annunziata (1349), with
precious paintings of the XVIII-
XIX century;
- the
Church of
Santa Maria
in Piazza,
also called
Santa Maria di
Portosalvo, is located
in the place where in
medieval time there was
the very heart of commercial
life in Amalfi. It preserves an
altar piece in Byzantine style
depicting the Black Madonna
with Child;
- the Church of Santa Maria del
Pino, or del Carmine, was in
origin the chapel of the Lupino
family, built in the XV century;
- the Church of San Giuseppe
dei Castriota (XVI century); -
the Church of Santa Maria del
Carmine, with wooden statues
and a Roman urn.

EGYPTIAN BELLY DANCE
every Thursday at 6 PM PT
While mute swans are
generally extremely
territorial (and who wouldn’t
be after hundreds of years
of being eaten), the swans in
the Abbotsbury Swannery are
notoriously docile. Not only do
the birds not seem to mind the
proximity of their brethren, but
they will also allow humans to
get cautiously close to them,
even if the cygnets are around,
making the spot a popular
tourist attraction.
Each year after the birds
molt and are confined to the
lagoon for week at which
time researchers count the
birds which usually number
between 600-900, making the
Abbotsbury Swannery not just
the only managed group of the
silent birds in the world, but one
of the largest as well.
Abbotsbury Swannery is today a
tourist attraction and the swans
have become accustomed to the
presence of visitors and allow
close but respectful approach
even in the nesting season when
cygnets are on the nest. Before
viewing the swans, visitors can
look at the Decoyman’s House
which sets the scene for the visit
with a display explaining how
the colony has been managed
over the years and how the
present situation has evolved.
Apart from the swans, the Fleet
and Chesil Beach attracts many
species of waterfowl and over
300 different varieties have
been recorded leading to the
area being designated as a Site
of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI),
a
Special
Protected
Area (SPA) and
a Special Area of
Conservation (SAC).
Nesting mute swans are
usually intensely territorial, so
it is unusual to see this many
pairs in proximity to each other.
However, the closeness of the
nests can sometimes lead to
problems as newly hatched
cygnets can become attached
to the wrong parent bird; to
overcome this, rearing pens
are used for a few selected
families who need more
privacy. The daily feeding
sessions take place at noon
and 4 p.m. A large mass of the
birds gather round; children are
invited to help with the feeding.
At the end of July, the swans
become flightless, for around
six weeks, due to the moulting
of their feathers. Once every
two years, the swans are
rounded up, so that they can
be examined, weighed and
measured and any new birds to
the colony ringed. The roundup
is
undertaken by
around 50 canoes that start
at the eastern end of the
lagoon and slowly drive the
birds into the swannery bay
at Abbotsbury. In the past the
round-up has resulted in over
900 birds being caught and
recorded, but it varies from
year to year.
Today, there are around 600
swans. They are free-flying
birds and could choose to nest
anywhere, but are obviously
attracted by the Fleet Lagoon.
The swannery is open to the
public between March and
the end of October, and an
interesting time to visit is
between the middle of May and
the end of June when young
cygnets are present.

Abbotsbury
Swannery
Established as early as the
1040’s as a source of delicious
swan meat for the nearby
monks, the
Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset,
England is now a fenceless
sanctuary for the majestic fowl,
housing hundreds of the birds
each year.
The flocks of mute swans that
call the swanery’s natural lagoon
home were already on the site
when St. Peter’s monastery was
established on the site in
the 11th century. The
reedy body of
water was
perfectly conducive to the lives
of the long-necked birds, and
the birds themselves were in
turn perfectly conducive to the
appetites of the hungry monks
who moved in around them. For
over 500 years the monastery
farmed the swan population for
meat, careful not to over poach
their stock. When the monastery
was finally dissolved in 1539,
the swans remained (likely
breathing a sigh of relief). The
land was then purchased by a
wealthy family who still holds
the estate today.
While the swans are no
longer used for meat
their population is still
supported by the
swannery, which
takes care of the
flocks as they
come to have
their babies
(known as
cygnets).
only on

Hawaii’s Coral
Reefs
The Hawaiian Coral Reef:
Important, but threatened
Stretching for more than 1200
miles (2000 km) in the Central
Pacific, Hawaiian coral reefs
account for about 85 percent
of all coral reefs in the United
States. Because it is under
water and not visible, the
importance of the reef remains
largely hidden - including its
importance not only to the ocean
environment and its inhabitants,
but also to humans.
The state of Hawaii consists of
eight larger islands (seven of
which are populated), also called
the Main Hawaiian Islands,
and 124 small, uninhabited
islands, reefs and shoals, the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
where the majority of the
Hawaiian coral reef, about 70
percent of it, is located.
Coral reef support marine and
terrestrial life
Even though they may appear
to be nothing but rock, reefs
are alive. Corals give reefs
their structure. The limestone
skeletons of living coral, the
hard skeletal remains of dead
coral and a soft type of coral
provide structure for a reef,
offering habitat and food
to the many fish
a n d
invertebrates, including
lobsters, octopus and crabs
that live around it. And algae
- more than 500 species live
in Hawaii’s coral reef alone -
not only provide fish with food,
but also provide life-sustaining
oxygen for all marine life. In
fact, the oceans’ algae provide
more oxygen than all land plants
worldwide combined.
About one-fourth of the plants,
fish, and invertebrates found
in the Hawaiian coral reef are
endemic to Hawaii, meaning that
they can’t be found anywhere
else on Earth. In the past, reef
fish provided Hawaiians with the
majority of their protein. And, of
course, reef fish continue to be
a dietary staple for many people
inhabiting and visiting Hawaii.
In addition to providing humans
with food, reefs protect
shorelines from erosion and
storm damage by dissipating
wave energy and
limiting the impact
of strong waves.
Also, the
s a n d y
beaches

striking vertical topography—
rock towers, sandstone
canyons, and sharp cliffs—
attracted 4.3 million visitors in
2018.
5. YELLOWSTONE
The world’s very first national
park remains the showpiece
of the National Park Service,
visited by 4.1 million people
last year. The vast reserve—
covering 2.2 million acres
in Wyoming, Idaho, and
Montana—has craggy peaks,
explosive geysers, alpine lakes,
deep forests, and a wealth of
wild animals. The stars are
bison, bears, sheep, moose, and
wolves.
6. YOSEMITE
California park created in 1890.
Over four million visitors come
to this temple annually, most
of them spending time in the
Yosemite Valley. This mile-wide,
7-mile-long canyon was cut by
a river and then widened and
deepened by glacial action.
7. ACADIA
Sea and mountain meet at
Acadia National Park in Maine.
Most of the park is on Mount
Desert Island, a patchwork of
parkland, private property, and
seaside villages.
8. GRAND TETON
The peaks of the Teton Range,
regal and imposing as they
stand nearly 7,000 feet above
the Wyoming valley floor, make
one of the boldest geological
statements in the Rockies. The
park’s jewel-like lakes, blue
and white glaciers, and naked
granite pinnacles enticed 3.5
million visitors last year.
9. OLYMPIC
More than three million people
a year explore the unspoiled
terrain of Olympic National
Park in Washington State. No
roads cross through the park,
which contains three distinct
ecosystems: temperate rain
forest (seen here), subalpine
forest and wildflower meadow,
and rugged Pacific shore.
10. GLACIER
Rounding out the top ten
most popular parks is Glacier
National Park, which covers
over a million acres in Montana
and attracted 3 million people in
2018. Many consider the park’s
Going-to-the-Sun Road one of
the world’s most spectacular
drives.
enjoyed by island residents and
visitors alike only exist because
of Hawaii’s coral reef. Beach
sand’s main components are
dead fragments of coral, shells
and calcified algae. But the reef
is also responsible for creating
the big Hawaiian waves. The
shape of the reef is one factor
in determining how big a wave
gets.
In addition to all of this, the reef
provides diverse recreational
opportunities, such as
snorkeling and diving, making
Hawaii a top tourist destination
for people around the world,
generating about $800 million a
year for Hawaii’s marine tourism
industry.
Human activities put reef in
peril
Despite the coral reef’s
importance, it suffers from
degradation that began about
100 years ago as Westerners
began to arrive in everincreasing
numbers. Today,
urbanization, overfishing, alien
species, marine debris and
recreational overuse plague the
Main Hawaiian Islands, while
marine debris and the impacts
from fisheries are causing
problems in the uninhabited
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
although their nearshore reefs
are still in very good condition.
Runoff the No. 1 problem for
reef along the Main Islands
Unlike the more inaccessible
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
the Main Islands face a host of
concerns related to population
growth, urbanization and an
increase in tourism. Urban
development and agriculture
are the most significant
threats to Hawaiian coral reefs
because of runoff containing
sediments (soil and silt) and
chemicals and nutrients from
lawns, farms, golf courses,
construction sites, storm drains,
cesspools and septic tanks.
Sediment runoff is bad because
it reduces sunlight penetration
and smothers corals. The reef
then starves to death because
it can’t manufacture food from
sunlight any longer. Chemical
herbicides and pesticides harm
not only the coral, but also the
animals that live within the
reef, while fertilizers and
sewage can lead to
an overabundance
of nutrients in the
water and an
excessive growth
of algae which,
in turn, crowds
out corals or
smothers them
by cutting off
their sunlight.
Overfishing depletes
supplies, threatens reef
ecosystem
Commercial, subsistence and
recreational fishing during the
past century have taken a toll on
nearshore fish stocks, but the
exact toll isn’t known. There is
uncertainty of the actual number
of catches because commercial
fishers tend to under-report their
catches, and there are many
recreational and subsistence
fishers without licensing or
reporting requirements. The
problem of recreational and
subsistence
fishing
i s

difficult to resolve because
these activities are important
in Hawaii, where about 35
percent of Hawaiian residents
fish. As a result of both underreporting
and unlicensing, little
information exists on the status
of most reef fish populations.
Yet some studies done in Hawaii
have shown that recreational
fishers take a higher diversity of
species with a wider variety of
gear types than do commercial
fishers and that recreational
catches were equal to or greater
than the commercial catches for
some species.
Commercial fishing without a
license, or poaching, is another
problem for the Main Hawaiian
Islands. If fishers take undersized
fish and invertebrates, or fish
out of season, it hurts the
ocean environment because
these juvenile animals haven’t
had a chance to reproduce, yet.
Moreover, long, inexpensive
gill nets allow fishers to set
nets deeper and harvest fish
in areas once unreachable by
fishers’ nets.
Overfishing and poaching
mainly occur because Hawaii
lacks marine enforcement
and imposes minimal fines
when enforcement does
occur - meaning that there
is no incentive for people to
abide fisheries management
regulations.
As for the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands, their remote
location largely protects them
from the harms linked to
commercial, subsistence and
recreational fishing, as well
as from the harms linked to
aquarium fishing. However,
underwater overfishing in these
islands is leading to a decline
in lobsters, and a decline
in lobsters endangers the
Hawaiian monk seal, for which
lobsters are an important food
source.
Just enjoying the water can
pose a threat
Although Hawaii is a popular
tourist destination and
welcomes visitors, recreation
- including snorkeling, scuba
diving and swimming - can
compound the reefs’ struggle
to survive. Marine debris, such
as discarded fishing gear, can
damage the reef, as can waste
dumping from cruise and other
pleasure ships. And taking a
dip in a reef simply to admire
its beauty has its drawbacks as
well, because so many of us like
to do that. In fact, this type of
recreational overuse threatens
the reef. Whether by accident or
by intention - stepping on reefs
can damage or even kill them.
A notable example of solving the
problem of recreational overuse
can be found in Hanauma Bay,
known as Oahu’s premier spot
for snorkeling and diving. During
the 1980s, as many as 10,000
visitors enjoyed the bay daily, or
about 3 million annually. Then,
in 1990, the City and County of
Honolulu enacted a plan to stop
the neglect, restore the bay to
a healthy state and safeguard
the fragile marine life for the
future. The plan includes a fish
feeding ban, a requirement that
all visitors view an educational
video before going down to the
bay, a ban on fishing, as well as
a ban on smoking and alcoholic
beverages. Furthermore, the
city bus service to the bay is
limited now to one bus arrival
every half-hour. Parking along
Top 10 most
visited U.S
National Parks
Billion is a pretty big number.
(To wit: A million seconds equals
about 11 days, but a billion
seconds is almost 32 years.) So
it’s all the more incredible that the
National Park Service’s records
have registered over 14 billion
visits since 1904. That’s nearly
twice the planet’s population.
It’s greater than the number of
years the universe has existed
at all. (See extraordinary photos
of national parks from space.)
Those massive crowds keep
coming because of the parks’
enduring power. Parks—
“America’s best idea”—preserve
wildlife and wild places, provide
vital recreation, and create
priceless cultural spaces. And
while it’s well worth a trip to
each of the system’s 418 parks
(60 of which are “national”),
there are certainly some heavy
hitters among them.
1. GREAT SMOKY
MOUNTAINS
Ensconced at number one
is Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, which drew
more than 11 million visitors last
year—nearly twice the number
of the second most popular
park. Most visitors see the park
from a mountain-skimming
scenic highway; many take to
its 800-plus miles of hiking trails
stretching across North Carolina
and Tennessee.
2. GRAND CANYON
In 2018, 6.4 million people
witnessed the wonders of
one of the largest canyons on
Earth. A mile deep and up to 18
miles wide at spots, the Grand
Canyon is so vast that even
from the best vantage point only
a fraction of its 277 miles can be
seen.
3. ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Sweeping vistas are a main
attraction at Rocky Mountain
National Park in Colorado.
The park contains 150 lakes
and 450 miles of streams,
plus ecosystems ranging from
wetlands to pine forests to
montane areas to alpine tundra.
4. ZION
Rising in Utah’s high plateau
country, the Virgin River carves
its way through Zion Canyon
to the desert below. The park’s

temperatures of record-setting
-98 degrees Celsius (-144
degrees Fahrenheit). These
are the coldest temperatures
evert recorded on Earth. The
coldest readings were taken in
tiny hollows on the Antarctic ice
sheet, which can trap ultra cold
and dry air.
Signs of Fire
Remote lakes in a perpetually
ice-free area of Antarctica
show not only the chemical
signature of ancient wildfires,
but also some much more
recent evidence of fossil-fuel
combustion, according
to National Science
Foundation-funded research.
The First Discovery
While Captain James Cook and
his crew crossed the Antarctic
Circle in 1773, they didn’t set
foot on or even see the continent
itself. January 19, 1840, marked
the first time in recorded history
that people walked on the
southern-most continent when
Charles Wilkes led a fleet of six
ships from Virginia to Australia
to Antarctica over the course of
two years.
The South Pole
in 1911, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen and four
other men were the first to
successfully reach the South
Pole. It took the group 57 days
to make their 1,800-mile trek
inland once they reached the
continent. Amundsen was
several weeks ahead of the
exploration team led by Robert
Falcon Scott. The remarkable
journeys and discoveries were
overshadowed by the death of
Scott and his team during their
return.
The human desire to explore
the far reaches of the planet,
despite harsh conditions, tough
odds, and lots of uncertainty,
is truly unstoppable. Today,
Antarctic travelers can still
make their own discoveries
and even participate in Citizen
Science projects to further our
understanding of the icy world
on our own planet.
Kalanianaole
Highway, which leads to the
bay from Honolulu and from
Oahu’s northeast side, was also
prohibited. As a result of these
regulations, the number of
visitors dropped from 10,000 in
the 1980s to 3,000 visitors daily
today, or from about 3 million
annually during the 1980s
to about 1 million annually
today. This has led to the bay’s
recovery, with the biomass
now measuring three to four
times larger than the estimated
abundance for most reef sites
on Oahu.
Underwater life not immune
to deadly alien species
Because of Hawaii’s unique
ecosystem, where many
species are endemic and the
reef is diverse, alien species
p o s e
another threat.
Alien species are
organisms that have been
moved from their native habitat
to a new one, where they cause
harm, sometimes out-competing
native species or bringing new
parasites and diseases with
them, while native species lack
defense systems to ward off the
effects of these threats.
Since 1950, 19 new species
of macroalgae have been
introduced to Oahu, and studies
show that these alien algae
have overgrown and killed
some coral in Kaneohe Bay
on Oahu’s southeast coast.
Sometimes, the effects of an
alien invasion can completely
alter an ecosystem. According
to one study, a combination
of invading alien species and
runoff has led to massive blooms
of foreign algae, with the result
that they have overtaken native
algae and reduced the diversity
and complexity of some coral
reef
beds
(Eldredge,
Reaser: Coral Reefs: Invaded
Ecosystems).

Aquarium fishing in Hawaii’s
coral reefs: Love for marine
creatures’ beauty puts them
at risk
Beyond the need for fish as
food, the human desire to
possess fish and other marine
life for their beauty also takes
toll on Hawaii’s coral reef. The
U.S. aquarium fish industry
reports that it obtains most
if its ornamental fish and
invertebrates from Hawaii’s
waters. The annual harvest of
aquarium fish in Hawaii more
than quadrupled in a little more
than 20 years, going from
90,000 harvested in 1973 to
422,823 in 1995. Aquarium
harvesters often destroy reef
habitat when they collect sessile
benthic invertebrates, such as
the feather-duster worm, which
lives attached on the bottom of
the sea floor.
In 1998, the Hawaii state
legislature passed a law
because of conflicts among
aquarium fish harvesters,
commercial and subsistence
fishers and environmentalists.
The law declared a minimum
of 30 percent of the west
Hawaii Island coastline as Fish
Replenishment Areas (FRAs)
where aquarium fish collecting
is prohibited.
What can be done to protect
Hawaii’s coral reefs?
To help safeguard Hawaii’s
fragile coral reef ecosystem,
there are ways to get actively
involved in reef protection
programs. Volunteers are
always needed for reef and
beach clean-ups. Moreover,
there are a few simple things
each one of us can do. At home,
residents can cut down on their
use of fertilizers, pesticides and
cleaning products that mostly
contain chemical ingredients
to limit water pollution. While
fishing, it is best to limit the catch
and to only take what is needed
today. Don’t release non-native
or aquarium fish into the ocean.
It can also be harmful to throw
waste in the water, or to discard
old fishing nets. Even littering on
the beaches can pose a threat
because it can get washed
into the ocean and harm the
reef. Boat anchors shouldn’t be
thrown on the reef, but only on a
sandy bottom. And lastly, while
swimming, snorkeling, and
scuba diving, it is best to not
touch the reef or step on it since
that can harm or even kill it.
If each one of us followed
these simple guidelines, the
reef wouldn’t be as threatened
as it currently is. This colorful
underwater paradise will then
be there for many generations
to come.
What have we
discovered in
Antarctica?
Fossil Forests
Earlier this year scientists
discovered five new fossil
forests on the planet’s southernmost
continent. The discovery
nearly doubled the amount of
fossil forests scientists had
believed to exist on what is
now the world’s largest desert.
Fossils were of hardy plants
that lived sometime around 300
to 200 million years ago.
Bacteria (That could help us
find life on other planets)
A 2017 study from the
International Journal of Science
revealed the desert soils of
Antarctica harbor rich microbial
life that can live with very little
sun, no geothermal energy,
and limited nutrients. The
study says that “although more
extensive sampling is required
to verify whether this process
is widespread in terrestrial
Antarctica and other oligotrophic
habitats, our results provide new
understanding of the minimal
nutritional requirements for life
and open the possibility that
atmospheric gases support life
on other planets.”
A Giant Hole
Scientists using satellite
technology to monitor the
continent spotted a hole the size
of Maine in 2017, the largest
found on Antarctica since the
1970s. Known as a polynya, the
hole was about 30,000 square
miles.
Seals With Superpowers
In 2014, the National Science
Foundation announced that
scientists discovered Weddell
seals may have a sixth sense!
“Weddell seals have biological
adaptations that allow them
to dive deep--as much as of
hundreds of meters--while
hunting, but also an uncanny
ability to find the breathing
holes they need on the surface
of the ice..by using the Earth’s
magnetic field as a natural
GPS.”
The Ice’s Age
Using a Krypton-dating
technology, scientists confirmed
the age of an Antarctic ice
sample. The result:
120,000 yearold
ice.
The discovery of the ice’s age
allows scientists to explore
Earth’s climate much farther
back into history and potentially
lead to a better understanding
of the mechanisms that cause
the planet to shift into and out of
ice ages.
Penguins Galore!
Early Antarctic explorers were
the first to discover many of the
continent’s penguin species,
including gentoos, emperor
penguins, chinstrap penguins,
and Adélie penguins.
The Coldest Temps
A study in the Geophysical
Research Letters revealed
satellite data collected
during the Antarctic
polar night from
2004 to 20016
detected