National Wildlife Magazine
The front cover of National Wildlife's Summer issue containing text and an image of a juvenile sea otter in a giant kelp forest.

National Wildlife Magazine

Summer 2024 Issue

  • NWF Staff
  • National Wildlife
  • Jun 27, 2024

Kelp forests shelter biodiversity (including this juvenile southern sea otter in California’s Monterey Bay), sequester carbon and provide innumerable benefits to people. But how long can they survive in our rapidly changing world? Also in this issue: how hula is shifting alongside Hawai‘i’s extinction crisis, lessons from Florida’s “elephant graveyard,” an early look at a marine underworld and a handy introduction to wildlife tool use. (Photo by Ralph Pace/Minden Pictures, obtained under U.S. FWS permit 37946D.)

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Featured Stories

A magazine article spread containing text and an image of a California sea lion resting in the canopy of a forest of giant kelp.

Can the Kelp Forest Keep Up?

Kelp forests shelter biodiversity, sequester carbon and provide innumerable benefits to people. But how long can they survive in our rapidly changing world?
An image of Lauren Pharr posing while holding an extendable pole used to check cavities in trees.

Meet Lauren Pharr of Field Inclusive

A Ph.D. candidate studying red-cockaded woodpeckers, Pharr is working to make wildlife field research safer for the next generation of marginalized biologists
A magazine article spread containing text and an image of coral overgrown with zooanthids.

Witness an Underwater Wild West

The U.N. High Seas Treaty could protect uncharted habitats and species in international waters. See early photos.
A magazine article spread containing text, an image of an Asian elephant male's eye detail through foliage and an illustration of Rhynchotherium.

What an 'Elephant Graveyard' Teaches Us About Climate Change

A prehistoric Florida fossil site provides an unprecedented look at gomphotheres—elephant relatives that lived in a warming climate—and offers insights for today
An image of an Alaskan brown bear swimming amongst salmon.

Behind the Photo: A Brown Bear Sees Red

How Kate and Adam Rice of KAR Photography snagged their prizewinning photo of a brown bear fishing—but not catching—sockeye salmon
A magazine article spread containing text and images of dancers from Hālau Nāwehiokaipoaloha performing hula Koaʻe near Volcano Art Center.

How Hula Is Shifting Alongside Hawai‘i’s Endangered Species

Amid an extinction crisis, practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture—hula, surfing and beyond—help perpetuate endangered species alongside their own way of life
An image of a plate-billed mountain-toucan feeding on fruit.

New in Wildlife Science: Coronavirus in Deer & More

Tracking the coronavirus’ evolution in deer; how wildlife help forests store carbon; an extinction crisis among amphibians; mosses, the lifeblood of ecosystems
A collage of four contributors highlighted in the Summer 2024 issue of National Wildlife magazine.

Meet the Pack: Summer 2024 Contributors

Get to know some of the talented contributors behind the Summer 2024 issue of National Wildlife magazine
A magazine article spread containing text and an image of a chimpanzee using a stick to forage for prey in a small tree cavity.

Do Animals Use Tools?

Spoiler alert: Yes, many wildlife species—from brainy birds and mammals to fish and even insects—use tools to get the job done
An image of 3 steel sculptures sheathed in abandoned fishing gear.

From Ghost Gear to Community Art

Artist Pamela Moulton shares her process for turning ghost gear—abandoned fishing equipment that can be deadly to wildlife—into joyful community projects
An image of a resin bee visiting a strawberry flower.

The New American Lawn

So long, turfgrass. Researchers are testing sustainable alternatives to lawns that require minimal mowing and irrigation, and no fertilizers or pesticides.
Dancers from Hālau Nāwehiokaipoaloha performing hula Koaʻe near Volcano Art Center.

How Hula Is Shifting Alongside Hawai‘i’s Endangered Species

  • By Mindy Pennybacker
  • Conservation
  • June 27, 2024

Amid an extinction crisis, practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture—hula, surfing and beyond—he...

Read More
An image of a California sea lion resting in the canopy of a forest of giant kelp.

Can the Kelp Forest Keep Up?

  • By Laura Tangley
  • Conservation
  • June 27, 2024

Kelp forests shelter biodiversity, sequester carbon and provide innumerable benefits to people. But ...

Read More
An image of an Asian elephant male's eye detail through foliage.

What an 'Elephant Graveyard' Teaches Us About Climate Change

  • By Stephenie Livingston
  • Conservation
  • June 27, 2024

A prehistoric Florida fossil site provides an unprecedented look at gomphotheres—elephant relatives ...

Read More
An image of a chimpanzee using a stick to forage for prey in a small tree cavity.

Do Animals Use Tools?

  • By Asher Elbein
  • Wildlife Science
  • June 27, 2024

Spoiler alert: Yes, many wildlife species—from brainy birds and mammals to fish and even insects—use...

Read More
An image of a plate-billed mountain-toucan feeding on fruit.

New in Wildlife Science: Coronavirus in Deer & More

  • By Mark Wexler
  • Wildlife Science
  • June 27, 2024

Tracking the coronavirus’ evolution in deer; how wildlife help forests store carbon; an extinction c...

Read More
An image of a mandrill.

Crossword: ’Drilling Down

  • By Graham Meyer
  • Crossword
  • June 27, 2024

Go ahead: Monkey around with our Summer 2024 crossword

Read More
An image of a resin bee visiting a strawberry flower.

Reinventing the American Lawn

  • By Janet Marinelli
  • Habitat Gardening
  • June 27, 2024

So long, turfgrass. Researchers are testing sustainable lawn alternatives that nurture bees, butterf...

Read More
An image of a courtyard at Expedia HQ comprised of drifts of perennials.

Corporate Landscaping Rolls Out the Wildlife Welcome Mat

  • By Brianna Randall
  • Habitat Gardening
  • March 28, 2024

When corporations rewild their landscaping, acres of lawn become greener, more wildlife-friendly and...

Read More
An illustration of swamp milkweed surrounded by a variety of insects.

Milkweed: It Makes an Insect Village

  • By Laura Tangley // Art by Sarah Nelson
  • Habitat Gardening
  • March 28, 2024

Planting milkweed in your garden aids not only monarchs but a whole slew of pollinators and other in...

Read More
An image of an Alaskan brown bear swimming amongst salmon.

Behind the Photo: A Brown Bear Sees Red

  • By Jennifer Wehunt // Photo by Kate and Adam Rice, KAR Photography
  • Wildlife Photos
  • June 27, 2024

How Kate and Adam Rice of KAR Photography snagged their prizewinning photo of a brown bear fishing—b...

Read More
An image of 3 steel sculptures sheathed in abandoned fishing gear.

From Ghost Gear to Community Art

  • By Jennifer Wehunt // Art by Pamela Moulton
  • Conservation
  • June 27, 2024

Artist Pamela Moulton shares her process for turning ghost gear—abandoned fishing equipment that can...

Read More
An image of bees competing to mate.

Photographer Karine Aigner's Plan 'Bee'

  • By Jennifer Wehunt // Photo by Karine Aigner
  • Wildlife Photos
  • March 28, 2024

How photographer Karine Aigner captured her prizewinning shot of South Texas cactus bees

Read More

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