A more powerful COVID vaccine; how Earth Day began
|  | Friday, April 22, 2022 | | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY KRYSTYNA SZULECKA, FLPA/MINDEN PICTURES | | By Christine Dell’Amore
Anyone who’s taken a stroll through a neighborhood in North America has likely encountered the wrath of Canada geese parents. These up-to-20-pound birds are feisty defenders of their young, and will honk or charge any interloper, human or otherwise. Throughout history, humans harnessed that aggression to their benefit, using geese to watch over warehouses of whiskey or warn of Roman invaders.
Now, China is putting its domestic geese (one pictured above) on patrol along its 300-mile border with Vietnam. Their mission: Stop coronavirus from entering the country. Reinforcing this feathered garrison are about 400 guard dogs. The animals are part of maintaining China’s zero-COVID policy.
Is it working? In December, a goose allegedly honked the alarm to help catch two people illegally crossing the border, a state-funded website reported. Chinese officials did not respond to National Geographic’s request to confirm the event. Whether or not geese can help control the pandemic, the birds will likely be an ally—and an annoying neighbor—for centuries to come.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY RON NIEBRUGGE, ALAMY | | | The arch less traveled: Is Moab, Utah too crowded to even attempt? The answer is no. Nat Geo has several suggestions, however, for those heading to the increasingly popular outdoor recreation hub in the heart of the Colorado Plateau near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. They include: Try Mondays for entry to the often-busy national parks; consider campgrounds farther away from downtown Moab; and try hiking/biking/climbing several stunning places outside the parks themselves. Here are more tips. (Pictured above, Tower Arch at sunset.) | | | |
| EARTH MONTH: ARTICLE OF THE DAY | |
| PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER | | | |
| After sunset: During this month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink, and other pleasures from sunrise to sunset as a gesture of reflection and appreciation. Here a gathering of friends and family break their fast after the call to Maghrib (sunset) prayer at photographer Tasneem Alsultan‘s home in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
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 | | Isolation is St. Helena’s appeal. Stranded both digitally and geographically, you slip back into a slower gear and return to simple pleasures. Locals greet you in the street or wave to you when passing on the roads. … There are pockets of prolonged silence, and you find yourself playing board games beside roaring fires. | | | | Emma Thomson | | From: The remote Atlantic island where Napoleon died | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY CIRIL JAZBEC
| | | Monster time: Who needs Mardi Gras when you have Pust (pronounced poost)? Slovenia’s millennia-old version of Carnival almost died from disapproval by church leaders and, later, a socialist regime. Now independent, Slovenia’s parades of monsters are back, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, Nat Geo Explorer Ciril Jazbec photographs these Slovenians welcoming spring the traditional way.) | | | |
| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. We’re eager your feedback and ideas—and do you really think geese could police COVID here? Email us here—and have a good weekend! | | | |
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