Surprising shark facts; plus, should you get a COVID booster?
|  | Monday, July 11, 2022 | | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPHS BY FIONA AYERST, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | |
Already swift and powerful, great white sharks (pictured above) have another weapon: They can change their color.
That ability to camouflage, perhaps an aid to sneaking up on prey, has been detected in studies by researchers in waters off South Africa.
“We wanted to trick these shark cells into thinking they were getting some kind of stimulus, like the sun or an emotional stimulus [such as seeing potential prey] to see if we could get them to change and become lighter or darker,” says shark scientist, geneticist, and Nat Geo Explorer Gibbs Kuguru. "Not only did it work, but it was a swinging success.” (Pictured below, biologist Ryan Johnson, Kuguru, and a colleague prepare to lower a breaching sled into the water.)
Read the full story here—and see more on Camo Sharks, a new show airing as part of SharkFest on National Geographic Networks and Disney+.
| | | |
| Want to test your shark knowledge? Take our quiz!
Consider supporting our storytelling by subscribing to our magazine and unlimited digital offerings.
| | | |
 | | ALAMY/ACI | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL SALOPEK, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | | Fading to black: For decades, cineastes traveled through isolated communities in China, illuminating the night with free movie screenings in public squares. Undercut by TV and smartphones, communal screenings under the stars have dwindled. So has business for wandering projectionist Zhang Yin Hua. (Pictured above, he shows a photo of himself in the center as a young man.) “I used horses and mules, and sometimes my own shoulders, to carry the equipment,” he tells Pulitzer-winning writer and Nat Geo Explorer Paul Salopek, who’s walking 3,600 miles across China.
| | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMON NORFOLK, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION | | Feet first: With a third-century bridge in the background, schoolgirls cool their feet on a hot summer day in Dezful, Iran. The photo appeared in an August 2008 Nat Geo story about ancient Persia. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in Iran was surging, and the country is preparing for an influx of travelers this fall.
| | | |
 | | ILLUSTRATION BY CARLOS PAPOLIO | | Survival advantages: It was once thought that T. rex and other small-armed carnivorous dinosaurs had no use for their forearms. But the discovery of a new species, Meraxes gigas, suggests that having comically little forelimbs may have had more evolutionary advantages than previously thought, Annie Roth reports. “They may have used the arms for reproductive behavior such as holding the female during mating or support themselves to stand back up after a break or a fall,” paleontologist Juan Canale said in a release.
| | | |
| Today's newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Heather Kim, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Have a story idea or feedback? Let us know at david.beard@natgeo.com. | | | |
| SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS | | We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.
| | | |
Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.
This email was sent to: mitch.dobbs.pics@blogger.com. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.
This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036
Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.
© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved. | | |
