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Norbert Rosing
The cover story of the July 2002 issue was dedicated to bald eagles. Since 2009, the bald eagle population in the lower 48 states has quadrupled.
Young polar bear with snow dusted on it's nose, sleeping.
An arctic fox sits under a full February moon in Manitoba, Canada. The animal's fur turns from brown in summer to white in winter, allowing it to blend into the snowy landscape.
The howls of a grey wolf cause her pup to jump with excitement in Montana. Wolf families show impressive patience with young pups, Verdolin says. "Parents and the rest of the community are very tolerant of young ones and their antics. You have to learn the rules of what it's like to be a wolf. You do that through play, you do that through interactions with other adults," she says. "It's a community effort." Howling, a means of communication, is a life skill that must be learned. "They teach their young how to be wolves, like a lot of species, by modelling good behaviour and very constrained discipline and corrections," Verdolin says. Mum and Dad, the pack's only breeding wolves, head a group composed of their stay-at-home offspring and the odd aunt, uncle, or unrelated wolf. Older siblings help take care of each year's young. When young wolves mature at about two years old, some of them will eventually head off on their own to join other packs or establish their own by connecting with another lone wolf.
A polar bear mum rests after nursing in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada. Polar bears mate in the spring but don't become pregnant until the fall. Then, only those females who've successfully fattened up over a summer of hunting will begin to bear young. During those months of plenty, a bear may gain more than 220 pounds, and mothers need every bit of those reserves when it's time to den. Depending on where in the Arctic they call home, polar bear mothers may remain in their snowy dens for up to eight months without eating or drinking. Cubs, often twins, spend their several months in their den, enjoying her high-fat milk. Mums dote on their cubs for two to three years, protecting them from threats including male polar bears. They also teach them the skills needed for life on the ice, including how to swim, hunt, and prepare dens for their own future families.
A baby harp seal rests on the Arctic ice. Its mother can distinguish it from hundreds of others by scent alone.
The chalk cliffs on Germany's Rügen Island rise 330 feet (100 meters) or more over the Baltic Sea. These ancient structures are made nearly entirely of the skeletons of calcite-covered plankton called coccolithophores, deposited by the trillions during the Cretaceous period. Sediments like these actually give the Cretaceous its name: Creta means 'chalk' in Latin.
Red-sided garter snakes form a "mating ball" in which a number of males surround a female.
Red-sided garter snakes form a "mating ball" in which a number of males surround a female.
A green-tinted aurora borealis cascades above a glowing moon in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.