OCTOBER 2015

ALMOST
A NEW ANCESTOR SHAKES UP OUR FAMILY TREE

HUMAN
UNCOVERING
A LOST CITY

DARING JOURNEY
ON THE CONGO

TREKKING SWEDENS
GLACIAL WILDERNESS

october 2015 vol. 228 no. 4

Archaeologist Chris Fisher leads

a team searching for ruins of an
ancient city hidden in the jungle
in La Mosquitia, Honduras.

102 Lure of the Lost City

Laser-mapping technology uncovers extensive ruins in a Honduran jungle rumored to

contain a mythic White City. By Douglas Preston Photographs by Dave Yoder

30

58

74

122

By Jamie Shreeve
Photographs by Robert Clark

By Don Belt
Photographs by Orsolya
Haarberg and Erlend Haarberg

By Robert Draper
Photographs by Pascal Maitre

By Susan McGrath
Photographs by Paul Nicklen

Mystery Man
Fossils found deep in a
South African cave raise
new questions about what
it means to be human.

Wild Heart of Sweden

Glaciers handiwork
surrounds visitors to
Laponia, one of Europes
largest wilderness areas.

138 Proof | Abstraction Finds Beauty in Beasts

Deconstructing their likenesses can make
even terrifying creatures more likable.
Story and Photo Illustrations by Michael D. Kern

Lifeblood
The Congo River is the
main road through the
heart of Africafor those
who dare to travel it.

Sea Wolves
Beachcombing wolves
swim among Canadian
islands, eating whatever
the ocean serves up.

On the Cover Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils from a South

African cave to reconstruct the face of Homo naledi, the newest addition
to the genus Homo. Photo by Mark Thiessen, NGM Staff
Corrections and Clarications

Go to ngm.com/more.

O F F I C I A L J O U R N A L O F T H E N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C S O C I ET Y

FROM THE EDITOR

Honduras Notebook

The Risks of Storytelling

This sand fly

adults are about
3 mm, or 1/8 inch,
longspreads
the leishmaniasis
that our team
members got.

We believe in the power of science, exploration, and storytelling to change

the world. Thats National Geographics mission statement, and living it is
not without risks. Charging hippos, aggressive sharks, stampeding elephants,
even abduction by rebels: Our contributors and explorers have been through
it all. Sometimes, though, the biggest problems are caused by the smallest
thingswhich brings us to the plight of some colleagues in this months issue.
We didnt know about the sand ies, says
Doug Preston, who wrote our article on the discovery of a pre-Columbian city in a remote rain
forest in eastern Honduras. What Preston, photographer Dave Yoder, and National Geographic
grantee Chris Fisher did know, early on, was that
the assignment would be challenging. From the
air, it looked like a tropical paradise, Preston
says. On the ground, it rained incessantly. The
mud was thigh-deep. There were venomous
snakes and lots of insects.
And sand iesclouds of sand ies, Preston
sayswhich can transmit a parasitic, esh-rotting,
potentially fatal disease he had barely heard of:
leishmaniasis. Its found in parts of 90 countries
in the tropics, subtropics, and southern Europe.
Yoder, Fisher, and at least six other team members
contracted leishmaniasis, and its serious enough
that several are being treated at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
The intravenous infusions they must undergo, all agree, are worse than
the open sores and other immediate complications of the illness. Fisher, an
archaeologist at Colorado State University, suffered intense pain during the
infusions, and on the plane home broke out in a measles-like rash. I felt
like I had the worlds worst hangover, he says. If left untreated, the disease
can recur years, even decades, later, attacking tissues of the nose and lips
and resulting in disgurement.
You might assume, given these sobering details, that the team would
never want to set foot in that jungle again. Quite the contrary. As I write this,
Yoder and Fisher are making plans to return and continue the excavation
and documentation of the lost city. I would certainly do this again, says
Preston, who has covered archaeology for more than 30 years. Nothing
really good happens without some risk.

Susan Goldberg, Editor in Chief

PHOTO: RAY WILSON

BRIGHT IDEAS
CAN CHANGE
THE WORLD
CARBON ROOTS INTERNATIONAL
FIGHTS DEFORESTATION AND
REVITALIZES FARMLANDS.

With the majority of Haitians using

charcoal and wood for energy,
extreme deforestation has driven
the cost of cooking fuel exorbitantly
high. A social enterprise venture,
Carbon Roots International, trains
farmers and small entrepreneurs on
how to produce affordable green
charcoal created from the carbonrich char dust of agricultural waste.
The char is also used by farmers to
increase soil fertility.

Carbon Roots International represents one of the 29 real-world

projects focused on innovative energy solutions that have received
grants from The Great Energy Challenge, a National Geographic
initiative in partnership with Shell. When we push the way we
think about energy, we help ensure a sustainable energy future.

Check out greatenergychallenge.com to learn more and

discover new ways to change the way you think about energy in your life.

We believe in the power of science, exploration, and storytelling to change the world.
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MAKE EVERY SHOT COUNT!

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3 Questions
nationalgeographic.com/3Q

Maoists in Nepal, Kim Il

Sung in North Korea, and
Hamas and Fatah in the
Palestinian community.
Later we lled other vacuums, including monitoring
elections and dealing with
neglected tropical diseases.
Which center efforts
make you proudest?
One, we have the only
international task force
on disease eradication. We
settled on guinea worm and
found it in 23,700 villages.
Since then weve reduced
the number of cases from 3.6
million to 126. Second, we
promote human rights in the
form of democracy and freedom. By the end of this year
the Carter Center will probably have monitored more
than a hundred elections to
validate theyre conducted
honestly and safely.

M
 y Work Since
t he White House
a
 nd My Legacy
Jimmy Carter, 90, was president of the
United States from 1977 to 1981. In 1982
he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the
Carter Center to work on peace, justice,
and health issues; in 2002 he was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize. This interview
took place before Carters August 12
announcement that hed been diagnosed
with cancer and would seek treatment.

Why did you found the

Carter Center?
When I left the White
House, I wanted to capitalize on my having been
president of a great country,
and I thought about lling
vacuums and things I knew
governments didnt do. The
rst concept we had was
to negotiate peace agreements between people who
wouldnt be accepted by
normal governments; thats
something weve continued
through the years with the

What will be the centers

next big challenge?
The horrible abuse of
women and girls around the
world. Many are strangled
at birth by their parents
or aborted when a fetus is
determined to be female.
Some 70 percent of the people sold across international
borders now are females, to
be sold into sexual slavery.
One out of ve college
freshman girls can expect to
be sexually assaulted before
they graduate. This crime is
seldom investigated in our
country, and it also exists
in our military. These are
things on which the Carter
Center will focus a lot of our
attention in future years.
PHOTO: MARTIN SCHOELLER, AUGUST

PETS CHANGE LIVES

A Pet Food Bank

Keeps Families Together
Sometimes, people in need are
willing to make incredible sacrifices for the pets they love. Ive
known of many people who have
gone without food themselves
in order to feed their petsor
are contemplating surrendering them to the shelter, said
Jennifer Rowell, Shelter
Director at the
Michigan Humane
Society (MHS).
But thanks to
an innovative
Pet Food Bank
launched nearly
20 years ago, theres
another option for members of the Detroit community
who are struggling financially.
Its part of MHSs Keeping
Families Together initiative,
said Michael Robbins, VP and
CMO. Offering pet owners food
provides a bridge that helps them
stay connected to their beloved
companions. Like most shelters,
MHS measures success partially
by the number of animals adopted into good homes. Last year,
that figure was 8,202, a remarkable achievement. But ensuring
that pets stay in good homes is
another critical goal.

Created with Purina ONE by

The shelter works toward that

goal by distributing free pet
food to families in need. That
food comes from lots of sources,
including community members
and larger organizations who
share MHSs goals. Because MHS
gets all the food it needs to feed
the cats and dogs at the shelter
from Purina ONE, all the
other donations of food
are available for the Pet
Food Bank program.
Weve been able to
amplify the program
through our partnership with Purina ONE,
which provides food for all of
our shelter dogs and cats as well
as those going into new homes,
said Mike. Knowing theyre
being fed nutritious food that
they like to eat frees us up to give
all the pet food donated by the
community to families in need.
Purina ONE is truly invested
in sustainable relationships
between pets and humans.
All thats required to receive a
weeks supply of food is a drivers
license or state I.D. card and
proof of financial assistance. We
dont want to make the process
daunting, said Mike. We want

to make it easy for them to access

the program for short or long
term. Obviously, he added, the
need fluctuates. During the
recession in 2008, few states
were hit harder than Michigan.
Fortunately, I would put the
generosity of the Detroit community up there with any in
the country.
The Keeping Families Together
initiative also supplies low-cost
vaccination, micro-chipping,
spay/neuter programs, and a free
behavior help line, but the Pet
Food Bank is its primary focus.
In 2014, MHS donated 11,046
parcels of pet food to around
3,000 families. Jennifer, a
16-year veteran at the shelter,
has witnessed the programs
impact. One wheelchair-bound
gentleman stretches his budget
to provide care for his dog of eight
years. When he comes here, we
know its his last option, she said.
For some of our clients, including senior citizens, these animals
are their family, the one constant
source of love in their lives that
helps them get up in the morning
and keep going. MHS is proud
to be a part of helping keep those
families together.

Purina ONE supports a network of shelter partners by providing

complete, balanced nutrition to help promote shelter pets whole
body health for today and tomorrow as well as helping to
spread the word. To learn more, visit purinaone.com.
#ONEdifference

EXPLORE
Science

Phenomenal
Forecasting
Space weather could be the next frontier in forecasting. Scientists want to understand how forces
in space cause events like geomagnetic storms that
can disrupt power grids and GPS systems on Earth.
NASA launched its two-year Magnetospheric
Multiscale Mission (MMS) last March to study
magnetic reconnection, a key driver of what scientists call space weather, which starts with a wind,
made up of particles streaming from the sun, says
MMS Program Scientist Bill Paterson. Four identical spacecraft are now orbiting Earth, measuring
traces of this physical process.
Instead of rain and tornadoes, think jets of
plasma energized by this magnetic reconnection.
Space weather phenomena are generated as magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively
releasing energy.
This kind of disruption can scramble spacecraft
computers and make the aurora borealis brighter.
But its hard to predict, says Paterson. Magnetic
reconnection is a piece of the puzzle. Eve Conant

MAKING A CONNECTION
MMSs two-stage orbit will take it through areas in
Earths magnetosphere, where the magnetic field
releases energy as it breaks and reconnects.

Magnetic Reconnection
The field breaks on Earths
day side upon contact
with solar wind...

Magnetic field lines

...and reconnects
on the Earths
night side.

Earth
Solar
wind
Phase 1 orbit

Solar wind
field lines

national geographic Octobe r 2 0 1 5

Phase 2 orbit

6.2
m

iles

Not to scale

FLOCK OF SENSORS
The missions four identical
spacecraft fly in an adjustable
pyramid formation. Sensor
arrays try to catch magnetic
explosions that occur inside
this configuration.

The deck of each

spacecraft is ringed
with 25 sensors. More
lie along its booms.

Solar panel

The craft rotates

about once every
20 seconds.

Wire booms unspool;

the spacecrafts
rotation keeps
them taut.

Axial boom

DECODING SPACE WEATHER

The sensors take readings on
Earths magnetic field, plasma
streaming from the sun, and
the energy released when the
two collide.
Fields
The boom sensors detect waves
of electric and magnetic energy.
Scientists want to know if the
waves cause reconnection or are
just a by-product of it.

Hot plasma
Instruments observe plasma
during magnetic reconnection,
when cooler plasma is heated
by magnetic fields and pushed
off like a giant rush of wind.

Each craft has an

11.5-foot-wide body but
grows to be 400 feet wide
and 100 feet tall with
booms extended.

Energetic particles
Magnetic reconnection can pump
up a small subset of the charged
plasma particles to incredibly high
speeds and energies. MMS can
track electrons moving at up to
80 percent of the speed of light.

GRAPHIC: MATTHEW TWOMBLY, NGM STAFF

ART: NICK KALOTERAKIS. SOURCE: NASA

If you have type 2 diabetes

Jerry G.
PHOTOGRAPHER
WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES

ACTOR PORTRAYAL

Indication and Limitations of Use

Trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription
medicine to improve blood sugar (glucose) in adults
with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It should be used along
with diet and exercise. Trulicity is not recommended as
the rst medication to treat diabetes. It has not been
studied in people who have had inammation of the
pancreas (pancreatitis). Trulicity should not be used
by people with a history of severe gastrointestinal (GI)
disease, people with type 1 diabetes, or people with
diabetic ketoacidosis. It is not a substitute for insulin.
It has not been studied with long-acting insulin or in
children under 18 years of age.
Important Safety Information
Tell your healthcare provider if you get a lump or
swelling in your neck, have hoarseness, trouble
swallowing, or shortness of breath while taking
Trulicity. These may be symptoms of thyroid
cancer. In studies with rats or mice, Trulicity and
medicines that work like Trulicity caused thyroid
tumors, including thyroid cancer. It is not known
if Trulicity will cause thyroid tumors or a type of
thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma
(MTC) in people. Do not take Trulicity if you or any
of your family members have ever had MTC or if

you have Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type

2 (MEN 2).
Do not take Trulicity if you have had an allergic reaction to
dulaglutide or any of the other ingredients in Trulicity.
Trulicity may cause serious side eects, including:
Inammation of your pancreas (pancreatitis). If you
have pain in your stomach area (abdomen) that is severe
and will not go away, stop taking Trulicity and call your
healthcare provider right away. The pain may happen
with or without vomiting. It may be felt going from your
abdomen through to your back.
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). If you are using
another medicine that can cause low blood sugar (such
as insulin or a sulfonylurea) while taking Trulicity, your
risk for getting low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) may be
higher. Signs and symptoms of low blood sugar may
include dizziness, blurred vision, anxiety, irritability, mood
changes, sweating, slurred speech, hunger, confusion
or drowsiness, shakiness, weakness, headache, fast
heartbeat, or feeling jittery. Talk to your healthcare
provider about low blood sugar and how to manage it.
Serious allergic reactions. Stop taking Trulicity and get
medical help right away if you have symptoms of a serious
allergic reaction, such as itching, rash, or diculty breathing.

Find out if youre eligible to pay as little as $25 for each of your rst 26 prescriptions at Trulicity.com

Click to

Activate
Your Within
Jerry uses whats inside him to reach his goals. For his
is
art, he uses his passion. For his diabetes, he helps hiss
body release its own insulin.
Ask your doctor about once-weekly, non-insulin Trulicity.
It helps activate your body to do what its
supposed to dorelease its own insulin
It can help improve A1C and blood sugar
numbers
You may lose a little weight*

Its taken once a week

eek and works 24/7,
24/7
24
/7
/7,
7
responding when your blood sugar rises
ris
ises
es
need
eed
d
y-to-use pen. You dont nee
It comes in an easy-to-use
to see or handle a needle

In a study, 94% of people

e said it was easy to use.

*Trulicity is not a weight loss drug.

Kidney problems (kidney failure). In people who

have kidney problems, diarrhea, nausea, and
vomiting may cause a loss of uids (dehydration).
This may cause kidney problems to get worse.
Severe stomach problems. Trulicity may cause
stomach problems, which could be severe.

The most common side eects with Trulicity may

include: nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite,
and indigestion. Talk to your healthcare provider about any
side eect that bothers you or does not go away. These
are not all the possible side eects of Trulicity. Call your
doctor for medical advice about side eects.

Tell your healthcare provider if you:

have or have had problems with your pancreas,
kidneys, or liver.
have severe problems with your stomach, such as
slowed emptying of your stomach (gastroparesis) or
problems with digesting food.
have any other medical conditions.
are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or if you
become pregnant while taking Trulicity. It is not
known if Trulicity will harm your unborn baby.
are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not
known if Trulicity passes into your breast milk. You
should not use Trulicity while breastfeeding without
rst talking to your healthcare provider.
are taking other medicines including prescription
and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and
herbal supplements. Trulicity may aect the way
some medicines work and some medicines may
aect the way Trulicity works.
are taking other medicines to treat diabetes,
including insulin or sulfonylureas.

You are encouraged to report side eects of prescription

drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or
call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see next page for additional information about
Trulicity, including Boxed Warning regarding possible
thyroid tumors including thyroid cancer.
Please see Instructions for Use included with the pen.
DG CON ISI 20APR2015

DG97236 05/2015 Lilly USA, LLC

2015. All rights reserved.

Information for Patients about Trulicity (dulaglutide):

Before using Trulicity tell your healthcare provider if you:

This is a brief summary of important information about Trulicity (Tru--li-si-tee).

Please read the Medication Guide that comes with Trulicity before you start
taking it and each time you get a refill because there may be new information.
This information is not meant to take the place of talking with your healthcare
provider or pharmacist.

have had problems with your pancreas, kidneys, or liver.

have severe problems with your stomach, such as slowed emptying of

your stomach (gastroparesis) or problems digesting food.

have any other medical conditions.

What is Trulicity?

Trulicity is a once-weekly, injectable prescription medicine that may improve

blood sugar (glucose) in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and should be
used along with diet andexercise.

are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or if you become pregnant while

taking Trulicity. It is not known if Trulicity will harm your unbornbaby.

are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if Trulicity passes

into your breast milk. You should not use Trulicity while breastfeeding
without first talking to your healthcare provider.

are taking other medicinesincluding prescription and over-thecounter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Trulicitymay affect
the way some medicines work and some medicines may affect the way
Trulicity works.
are taking other medicines to treat your diabetes including insulin or
sulfonylureas.

It is not recommended as the first choice of medicine for treating diabetes.

It is not known if it can be used in people who have had pancreatitis.

It is not a substitute for insulin and is not for use in people with type 1
diabetes or people with diabetic ketoacidosis.

It is not recommended for use in people with severe stomach or intestinal

problems.

It is not known if it can be used with long-acting insulin or if it is safe and

effective for use in children under 18years of age.

Before using Trulicity, talk to your healthcare provider about low blood
sugar and how to manage it.

What is the most important information I should know about Trulicity?

How should I use Trulicity?

Trulicity may cause serious side effects including possible thyroid tumors,
including cancer. Tell your healthcare provider if you get a lump or swelling
in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing, or shortness of breath. These
may be symptoms of thyroid cancer. In studies with rats or mice, Trulicity and
medicines that work like Trulicity caused thyroid tumors, including thyroid
cancer. It is not known if TRULICITY will cause thyroid tumors or a type of
thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in people.

Read the Instructions for Use that comes with Trulicity.

Use Trulicity exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to.

Your healthcare provider should show you how to use Trulicity before you
use it for the first time.

Trulicity is injected under the skin (subcutaneously) of your stomach

(abdomen), thigh, or upper arm. Do not inject Trulicity into a muscle
(intramuscularly) or vein (intravenously).

Who should not use Trulicity?

Do not use Trulicity if:

you or any of your family have ever had a type of thyroid cancer called
medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or if you have an endocrine system
condition called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2).

Use Trulicity 1 time each week on the same day each week at any
time of the day.

You may change the day of the week as long as your last dose was given
3 or more days before.

you are allergic to dulaglutide or any of the ingredients in Trulicity.

If you miss a dose of Trulicity, take the missed dose as soon as possible,
if there are at least 3 days (72 hours) until your next scheduled dose. If
there are less than 3 days remaining, skip the missed dose and take your
next dose on the regularly scheduled day. Do not take 2doses of Trulicity
within 3 days of each other.

Trulicity may be taken with or without food.

What are the possible side effects of Trulicity?

Trulicity may cause serious side effects, including:

Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer. See What is the most

important information I should know about Trulicity?

inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis). Stop using Trulicity and

call your healthcare provider right away if you have severe pain in your
stomach area (abdomen) that will not go away, with or without vomiting.
You may feel the pain from your abdomen to your back.

Do not mix Trulicity and insulin together in the same injection.

You may give an injection of Trulicity and insulin in the same body area
(such as your stomach), but not right next to each other.

low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Your risk for getting low blood sugar
may be higher if you use Trulicity with another medicine that can cause
low blood sugar such as sulfonylurea or insulin.

Change (rotate) your injection site with each weekly injection. Do not use
the same site for each injection.

Signs and symptoms of low blood sugar may include: dizziness or lightheadedness; blurred vision; anxiety, irritability, or mood changes; sweating;
slurred speech; hunger; confusion or drowsiness; shakiness; weakness;
headache; fast heartbeat; feeling jittery.

serious allergic reactions. Stop using Trulicity and get medical help right
away, if you have any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction including
itching, rash, or difficulty breathing.

kidney problems (kidney failure). In people who have kidney problems,

diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting may cause a loss of fluids (dehydration)
which may cause kidney problems to get worse.

severe stomach problems. Other medicines like Trulicity may cause

severe stomach problems. It is not known if Trulicity causes or worsens
stomach problems.

The most common side effects of Trulicity may include nausea, diarrhea,
vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion.

Do not share your Trulicity pen, syringe, or needles with another person.
You may give another person an infection or get an infection from them.
Your dose of Trulicity and other diabetes medicines may need to change
because of:

change in level of physical activity or exercise, weight gain or loss,

increased stress, illness, change in diet, or because of other medicines
you take.

For more information go to www.Trulicity.com or call 1-800-LillyRx

(1-800-545-5979).
Trulicity is a trademark owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company, its
subsidiaries or affiliates. Trulicity is available by prescription only.

Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA

Talk to your healthcare provider about any side effect that bothers you or does
not go away. These are not all the side effects ofTrulicity.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side
effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Trulicity (dulaglutide)
DG CON BS 01MAY2015

US License Number 1891

Copyright 2014, 2015, Eli Lilly and Company. All rights reserved.
DG CON BS 01MAY2015
Trulicity (dulaglutide)

DG CON BS 01MAY2015

Take a smart step

toward a more
secure future.

Establishing a charitable gift

annuity with National Geographic
is a great way to secure safe,
steady payments for you right
now at an attractive rate
while helping protect endangered
species for generations to come.

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EXPLORE

Ancient Worlds

Playful visitors
lean in at the
Tower of Pisa.
The Italian
campanile has
defied gravity
for more than
800 years.

Still
Leaning

Looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa will keep on leaning, stably, awhile longer.
More than a dozen years after major foundation work, the imperfect edifice
hasnt increased its lean. In fact, civil engineer John Burland of Imperial College
London says his international team has succeeded in straightening the marble
bell tower by 19 inches, reducing its angle of incline by about 10 percent, and
slowing its once steady creep to nearly nothing.
It wasnt easy. Built from 1173 to 1370 on silt and clay, the eight-story, 182foot-tall tower resisted many efforts to stabilize it. What finally worked was a soilremoval process called under-excavation and the addition of wells to regulate
groundwater. The chief fear now? A big earthquake. Absent that, says Burland,
Id be very surprised indeed if we see it lean significantly again. Jeremy Berlin

GOD OF REVELRY FOUND IN ISRAEL

On a road to the ancient city of Hippos-Sussita archaeologists uncovered

an intriguingand heavypiece of metal. A thorough cleaning revealed a
one-of-a-kind nd: a bronze mask, almost a foot tall, depicting Faunus, a
Roman god of the forests. In the rst and second centuries the mask may
have been used in rituals that included sacrices, drinking, and orgies.
Its only natural, says dig director Michael Eisenberg, that the city
preferred those to be performed outside its walls.A. R. Williams
PHOTOS: MARTIN PARR, MAGNUM PHOTOS (TOP); M. EISENBERG, UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA

toyota.com/corolla
Options shown. 2015 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

EXPLORE

By the Numbers

Children
at Work

CHILDREN AND COCOA

Not all work that children do is

exploitive. But child labor is generally defined as work that children
are too young to do or that harms
their health, slows their development, or keeps them from school.
In the past decade it has declined
by nearly a third, thanks in part to
global awareness.
More child laborers are in agriculture than in any other sector.
Most work on their families farms,
so its not always clear where to
draw the line, says the International Labour Organizations Yoshie
Noguchi. Still, she warns, keeping
kids in jobs instead of school
could yield an uneducated generation that cant help its country
develop. Kelsey Nowakowski

In Ghana and Ivory Coast many cocoa farmers earn so little they cant afford to
pay adult workers. Instead they rely on poorly paid or unpaid children, some of
whom are brought in by traffickers from neighboring countries.

GHANA AND IVORY COAST

PRODUCE HALF THE
WORLDS COCOA SUPPLY.

THE INDUSTRY EMPLOYS

A LARGE SEGMENT OF THE
COUNTRIES WORKFORCES.

15%
17%

AFRICA

CTE DIVOIRE
(IVORY COAST)

GHANA

LOW-WAGE COUNTRIES Average income per day

0

0.5

1.5

$2
International poverty line

$0.34

The average Ivorian

and Ghanaian family
has six members.

$0.45

Ivory Coast Ghana

CHILD LABOR WORLDWIDE

1/10

LABOR VS. STUDY* Occupation of children 5-17 years old

0

40

59
67

BY REGION
Percentage of
children who labor

Middle East and

North Africa

246
168

8.4

150
100

Hazardous work 85

0
2000

100%

*Many children do both.

250 million

50

80

79% Working
94 In school

Ivory Coast

CHILD LABORERS

171

60

Ghana

OF CHILDREN
AGES 5 TO 17

200

20

2012

Latin America
and Caribbean
No regional data available
for developed countries

8.8

21.4

Sub-Saharan Africa

9.3

Asia and
the Pacific

THE VALUE OF A CHOCOLATE BAR Portion that goes to each sector

Growers
and workers

Traders

Processors

Manufacturers

5% 5% 15%

40%

Retailers

35%

HAZARDS CHILDREN FACE ON A COCOA FARM

CHEMICALS
Workers often dont wear
proper protection when
spraying pesticides.

FAMILY EMPLOYERS

68% of child laborers are

working unpaid for their families.

SHARP TOOLS
When the pods mature, workers cut them from the trees
with tools such as machetes.

HEAVY LOADS
After beans are removed
from their pods, theyre
carried to drying racks.

LONG HOURS IN THE SUN

After the beans are dry, workers pack them into sacks, then
load them onto trucks.

AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

98 million

59%
of all hazardous
work done by
children is in
agriculture.

children labor in agriculture, which

includes fishery and forestry jobs.

GRAPHIC: LVARO VALIO. SOURCES: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION; FAO; OXFORD BUSINESS GROUP; INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR RIGHTS FORUM; WILLIAM BERTRAND AND ELKE DE BUHR, TULANE UNIVERSITY; FAIR TRADE ADVOCACY OFFICE

EXPLORE

Us

Law students
at New York
University take
a study break
with dogs
brought in by
volunteers.

Student
Rx: Pets

On college campuses in the U.S. and around the world, pets are lending a paw to
stressed-out students. With many collegians reporting depression, anxiety, and
other illsa 2013 study sponsored by the American College Counseling Association says one in three has used counseling servicesschool officials arrange pet
therapy events to spread cheer and fight stress, especially during exams.
These arent service animals trained to assist people with disabilities; most
are the pets of volunteers. Their visits are demonstrably beneficial: Research
shows that contact with pets can decrease blood pressure and stress-hormone
levels and increase so-called happiness hormones. Mary Margaret Callahan,
a director at the nonprofit Pet Partners, considers pet house calls on campus
a great way to support students in being successful. Lindsay N. Smith

Great-great-great-grandparent

A JEWISH FAMILY REUNION

Great-great-grandparent

Of the worlds ten million Ashkenazi Jews, none are more distant than 30th
cousins, related to each other by multiple connections. Population geneticists traced the group back 750 years, or 30 generations, to when a small
group of Ashkenazi Jews likely traveled from western Europe to Poland.
The reproducing population at that time was only around 300, says Hebrew Universitys Shai Carmi. Scientists think the ndings could be useful
in studying genetic diseases, particularly ones affecting Jews.Daniel Stone

Great-grandparent
Grandparent
Parent

You

siblings

1st 2nd
cousin

3rd

4th

PHOTO: LANDON NORDEMAN. GRAPHIC: MATTHEW TWOMBLY, NGM STAFF

Your dog shares the spirit of the wolf.

And his love for meat.

BLUE Wilderness is made with more of

the chicken, duck or salmon dogs love.
All dogs are descendants of the wolf, which means they
share many similar traits including a love for meat.
Thats why we created BLUE Wilderness.
Made with the finest natural ingredients, BLUE Wilderness
is formulated with a higher concentration of the chicken,
duck or salmon dogs love. And BLUE Wilderness has none
of the grains that contain gluten.
If you want your dog to enjoy a meat-rich diet like his ancestors
once did, theres nothing better than BLUE Wilderness.

WildernessDogFood.com

2015 Blue Buffalo Co., Ltd.

Love them like family. Feed them like family.

EXPLORE

Planet Earth

Name,
Name,
Go Away

There will never be another Sandy. The thousand-mile-wide 2012 storm, which
caused at least $50 billion in damage and 147 deaths, has one of 78 Atlantic
hurricane names that have been retired since 1953. Rosters kept by region assign
names to storms to help prevent confusion from warnings for simultaneous
weather events. Names are reused in later years unless severe damage occurs
(as with Sandy, above) or names become controversialthink Adolph, Israel, Isis.
Today storm names are drawn from numerous languages and cultures. In the
1970s male names were added to female-only lists. Ascribing gender may have
had a surprising effect: A 2014 study from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign found that people take storms with feminine names less seriously,
which may put lives at risk. Critics assailed that finding, but study co-author Sharon Shavitt says her research team stands by it and continues to see it borne out.
Hurricane historian Liz Skilton questions the practice of labeling hurricanes
as male or female: Were putting sex-specific names on a thing with no biology.
Can we ever move away from it? One region already has. Most western Pacific
typhoons are now named for plants or animals. Brad Scriber
PHOTO: NASA

The most expensive Mercedes-Benz ever made. Rarer than a Stradivarius violin.

Not actual size.

Shown is model in Pearl White finish.
Also available in Ruby Red finish.

How to Park $11.7 Million on Your Desktop

The 500K Special Roadster is one of rarest and mostsought after automobiles ever built.

You dont need to spend millions to

showcase your impeccable taste.
Sold! To the discerning reader
for $99!

t's hard to deny that one of the signature

models of Mercedes-Benz is the 500
series. So many striking and elegant
bodies would grace the stalwart
chassis. The 500K's of the 1930s
were beautiful, elegant, and exclusive
models often outfitted with voluptuous coachwork and sold to the
wealthiest of clientele.

Your satisfaction is 100%

guaranteed. Test drive the
Special Roadster for 30 days. If
for any reason you are not completely satisfied, simply return it
to us for a full refund of your
The most ravishing model of this
species was the two-seater 500K Diecast metal body features doors, hood purchase price. But were sure that
once you park this beauty in your
Special Roadster launched in 1936. It
and trunk that open, steerable wheels
that roll, and four wheel suspension.
house youll be sold.
was a limited production cabriolet, in
Available in Ruby Red nish.
total less than 30 were made, adding to
Comes factory sealed in its original packagits near-mythical qualities. In its day it went for top ing in order to retain its status as a highly collectable item.
dollarover $106,000. Today, these ultra rare master
pieces are going for millions. In 2012, a Special 1936 MercedesBenz 500K Special Roadster
Roadster fetched more than $11.7 million at auction (Pearl White or Ruby Red finish)
at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Offer Code Price $99 + S&P Save $50
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Smart LuxuriesSurprising Prices

EXPLORE

Nat Geo Wild

Pigeons Make
Flight Plans
Though their head-bobbing walk may be
comical, pigeons in flight are no fools. Theyre
urban artful dodgers, threading their way
among buildings and other obstacles. David
Williams and his Harvard University colleagues
studied the birds maneuvers to learn how they
avoid collisions.
First Williams trained wild pigeons to fly
through an empty corridor. Then he placed
vertical poles at intervals in the corridor and
videotaped the birds in the altered course.
He expected them to use one evasive move
consistently. Instead, the birds employed two
moves, which researchers named: a pause,
in which the wings stalled at the top of a stroke,
and a fold, in which the wings were pulled
back. Pausing was better for efficiently maintaining height, the study found, while folding
helped the birds fit through narrow gaps and
remain stable in a collision. Lindsay N. Smith

Pigeons slow down as they approach narrow gaps,

which suggests caution or apprehension as they
decide how to proceed, researchers say.

Wing pause
More efficient

Wing fold
More stable

THIRD EYELID: A SAFER VIEW

Its called the nictitating membrane, a translucent inner eyelid good for
cleansing, protecting, and many other uses. Camels rely on them during
sandstorms. Frogs use them to squeeze their eyes inward, which helps
with swallowing. Woodpeckers deploy them like seat belts, so their eyes
dont pop out, says Ivan Schwab, professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, Davis. A third eyelid is even found in the corner of the
human eye, in a vestigial form known as the semilunar fold.Eve Conant
PHOTOS: ROE ETHRIDGE, ANDREW KREPS GALLERY; JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (FROG)
ART: MATTHEW TWOMBLY, NGM STAFF. SOURCE: DAVID WILLIAMS

Recommended by
the CDC for adults 65+

WHAT IF ONE PIECE

OF KALE COULD HELP
PREVENT DIABETES?
Wishful thinking, right?
But there is one step that can help
protect you from another serious
disease, pneumococcal pneumonia.
The PREVNAR 13 vaccine.
Over age 50? Your risk of getting pneumococcal pneumonia is higher. Its a serious disease that
could put you in the hospital. Symptoms include coughing, fever, chest pain, and difficulty
breathing. One dose of the PREVNAR 13 vaccine can help protect you. Even if youve already
been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, PREVNAR 13 may help provide additional
protection. Immune response may be lower if given within one year after another pneumonia

vaccine. If you are 50 or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist if PREVNAR 13 is right for you.
INDICATION FOR PREVNAR 13
Prevnar 13 is a vaccine approved for adults 50 years of age
and older for the prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia and
invasive disease caused by 13 Streptococcus pneumoniae
strains (1, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, 7F, 9V, 14, 18C, 19A, 19F, and 23F)
Prevnar 13 is not 100% effective and will only help protect
against the 13 strains included in the vaccine
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Prevnar 13 should not be given to anyone with a history of
severe allergic reaction to any component of Prevnar 13 or
any diphtheria toxoidcontaining vaccine
Adults with weakened immune systems (eg, HIV infection,
leukemia) may have a reduced immune response

GET THIS ONE DONE.

In adults, immune responses to Prevnar 13 were reduced

when given with injected seasonal flu vaccine
In adults, the common side effects were pain, redness, or swelling
at the injection site, limitation of arm movement, fatigue, headache,
muscle pain, joint pain, decreased appetite, chills, or rash
Ask your health care provider about the risks and benefits
of Prevnar 13 . Only a health care provider can decide if
Prevnar 13 is right for you
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of vaccines
to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Visit www.vaers.hhs.gov
or call 1-800-822-7967.
Please see Important Facts for Prevnar 13 on the adjacent page.
PREVNAR 13 is a registered trademark of Wyeth LLC. Manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Marketed by Pfizer Inc. PSA741806-02 2015 Pfizer Inc. All rights reserved. June 2015

IMPORTANT
FACTS
Prevnar 13SURQRXQFHG3UHY QDU
Generic Name: 3QHXPRFRFFDOYDOHQW
Conjugate Vaccine (Diphtheria CRM197 Protein)

WHO SHOULD RECEIVE PREVNAR 13

(Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine
[Diphtheria CRM197 Protein])?
3UHYQDULVDSSURYHGIRUDGXOWV\HDUVDQGROGHU
IRUWKHSUHYHQWLRQRISQHXPRFRFFDOSQHXPRQLDDQG
LQYDVLYHGLVHDVHFDXVHGE\WKHYDFFLQHVWUDLQV
3UHYQDULVDYDFFLQHDOVRDSSURYHGIRUFKLOGUHQ
ZHHNVWKURXJK\HDUVRIDJHIRUWKHSUHYHQWLRQ
RILQYDVLYHGLVHDVHFDXVHGE\WKHVWUDLQVRI
Streptococcus pneumoniaeLQFOXGHGLQWKHYDFFLQHDQG
IRUFKLOGUHQZHHNVWKURXJK\HDUVIRUWKHSUHYHQWLRQ
of ear infections caused by 7 of the 13 strains
3UHYQDULVQRWHIIHFWLYHDQGZLOORQO\KHOS
SURWHFWDJDLQVWWKHVWUDLQVLQFOXGHGLQWKHYDFFLQH
Adults 50 years and older:
$VLQJOHGRVHRI3UHYQDU is recommended for adults
aged 50 years of age and older
Children 6 weeks through 5 years of age:
3UHYQDU is recommended for children 6 weeks
through 5 years of age
3UHYQDULVJLYHQDVDGRVHVHULHVDWDQG
12 to 15 months of age
Transition schedule:&KLOGUHQZKRKDYHUHFHLYHG
RUPRUHGRVHVRI3UHYQDU3QHXPRFRFFDOYDOHQW
Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]) may
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NEED MORE INFORMATION?
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*RWRZZZ3UHYQDUFRPRUFDOO

PREVNAR and PREVNAR 13 are registered trademarks of Wyeth LLC.

0DQXIDFWXUHGE\:\HWK3KDUPDFHXWLFDOV,QF3]HU,QF$OOULJKWVUHVHUYHG-XQH0DUNHWHGE\3]HU,QF
Based on LAB-0469-12.0 (May 2015)

Rx only

EXPLORE

Us

Is It Billy
the Kid?

A notorious outlaw of the Wild West, Billy the Kid was notoriously camera-shy:
Only one authenticated photo of him was believed to existuntil now.
Randy Guijarro bought this 4 x 5 tintype (above) at a California memorabilia
shop for two dollars in 2010. When he blew it up to 50 inches wide, he saw
what looks like a familiar figure (inset) in the posed croquet tableau, dated 1878.
Some prominent collectors of Old West photos say that it isnt Billy, aka William H. Bonney, and his gang of Regulators. But another vintage-photo expert,
John McWilliams, says hes hovering around 80 percent that it is.
Guijarro has worked with a private investigator to pore over a patch of Lincoln
County, New Mexico, that mirrors the photo. TV producers Jeff and Jill Aiello have
performed photo matching and facial analyses, and in a hallelujah moment
found a diary entry by Billys friend Sallie Chisum that links everyone in the shot. If
the photo goes to auction or sells privately, it could fetch a price any outlaw would
love. In 2011 the sole authenticated image sold for $2.3 million. Jeremy Berlin

Tune in on Sunday, October 18 at 9 p.m. ET as the National Geographic Channel airs Billy the Kid:
New Evidence, a two-hour special investigating the origin and authenticity of this tintype photograph.

PHOTO: COURTESY RANDY GUIJARRO

Stay Unique.

Distinctive. Sustainable. Unforgettable.

National Geographic presents a growing collection of hotels that treat you to one-of-a-kind experiences
while treating our planet with care and respect. From the African savanna to a gem of an island in the Tasman
Sea, National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World are set in some of the planets most magnicent places
and theyre spectacular in their own right, too. Each of our 38 properties offer authentic experiences away from
the crowds, world-class services and amenities, and unique access to local cultures and spectacular sites.

Visit natgeolodges.com/stayunique or call (888) 701-5486 to reserve your stay.

Basic Instincts
A genteel disquisition on love and lust in the animal kingdom

Solitary,
Until Its
Amorous

With the notable exception of lions living in prides, most cats of the family
Felidae are the wild worlds Greta Garbos: They want to be alone. Adults of
these roughly 40 cat species are solitary animals that only come together
to mate, according to the online encyclopedia Animal Diversity Web.
Thats true of the margay (below), a smaller cousin of the ocelot. When
females are in heat, every 32 to 36 days, males turn up, hang around for a couple of days, and repeatedly initiate a sex act lasting maybe one minute. Then
theyre gone. If a female conceives, about two and a half months later shell
bear one kitten or, rarely, two. Thats convenient, as she has only one pair of
mammary glandsbut the low birthrate wont do much to sustain the species. After about a year offspring move out to lead their own lives of solitude.
Most nations forbid selling margays as pets or hunting them for their
pelts. Centers such as Uruguays Bioparque MBopicu bolster the cats
numbers with captive breeding. Still, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that the species is declining through much of its
range and that by 2025 the population could shrink as much as 30 percent.
When forests are razed to become pasture and farmland, shy margays dont
like crossing the changed landscapesnot even for sex. Vanishing habitat
plus diminished ranks could make a solitary cat more so.Patricia Edmonds

HABITAT/RANGE

Forests in Mexico and in

Central and South America
CONSERVATION STATUS

Near threatened
OTHER FACTS

Hind leg joints that rotate 180

degrees allow margays to run
headfirst down trees.

Male margays turn

up for a few days
and repeatedly
initiate sex. Then
theyre gone.

This margay (Leopardus

wiedii) was photographed
at the Cincinnati Zoo.
PHOTO: JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

beyond natural pures

are made simply with human-grade
ingredients plus vitamins, zinc or
prebiotic fiber. The pures coat,
not soak, your dogs dry food, to create
an enhanced meal experience.

Purina trademarks are owned by Socit des Produits Nestl S.A.

ADDED ARTIFICIAL COLORS,

FLAVORS OR PRESERVATIVES
Learn more at beyondpetfood.com/purees

VISIONS

Egypt
The Giza Pyramids, one of the
Seven Wonders of the World,
elicit a yawn from a camel
named Alex. Built 4,500 years
ago, the pharaonic tombs are
marvels of architectural ingenuity. The largest comprises
2.3 million stone blocks and
stands 481 feet tall.
PHOTO: CLAIRE THOMAS

Mexico
From a thousand feet above,
the arid Colorado River Delta
looks like a green-trunked
tree with brown branches.
As freshwater has dwindled
over the past centurydue
to damming and diversion
wildlife, wetlands, agriculture,
and fisheries have too.
PHOTO: EDWARD BURTYNSKY, NICHOLAS
METIVIER GALLERY, TORONTO

O Order prints of select National Geographic photos online at NationalGeographicArt.com.

United States
As a big wave breaks off the
North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii,
two worlds appear. On the
right, a surfer enters the
barrel. On the left, submerged
photographers track his progress. Heavily touristed, the
North Shore is also a proving
ground for local surfers.
PHOTO: SASH FITZSIMMONS

VISIONS

YourShot.ngm.com

Faceless Portraits

AssignmentFaces convey emotion. We challenged the Your Shot

community to tell someones story without one.

EDITORS NOTE

Without the face, its easier for us to place ourselves, our friends,
or our family members into the image, into a story. It leaves room
for interpretation and keeps the image mysterious.
Marie McGrory, National Geographic assistant photo editor

Hakan Simsek
Brussels, Belgium
Simsek took his daughter to a
summertime fair in Brussels.
Near a ticket booth, he watched a
strangers shadow darken its pink
facade. He had time to take two
shots before the man moved.

Andrei Stoica
Chandler, Arizona
Stoica, a software engineer, was
hiking in a remote part of Scottsdale,
Arizona. Just before sunset, he
noticed a boulder that made an
inviting canvas. He positioned
himself for a self-portrait.

LEGAL NOTICE

Power Plant Employees

and Contractors
If you or a family member ever worked at a power
plant, you could have been exposed to asbestos.
To keep your right to compensation if you become ill in the future (or have
asbestos-related illness today), you must submit a claim by
December 14, 2015, at 5:00 p.m., prevailing Eastern Time.
Energy Future Holdings Corp., Ebasco Services,
Inc., EECI, Inc. and certain subsidiaries (EFH)
owned, operated, maintained, or built certain
power plants across the United States and in other
countries where asbestos was present. Workers at
these power plants (and family members and others
who came into contact with these workers) may
have been exposed to asbestos.
Anyone who has a claim today against EFH
for asbestos-related illness or who may develop
an asbestos-related illness in the future, must
submit a claim by December 14, 2015, at
5:00 p.m., prevailing Eastern Time to be eligible
for compensation now or in the future.

What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a ber which was used as insulation
in walls, wires, pipes, boilers, generators,
steam traps, pumps, valves, electrical boards,
gaskets, packing material, turbines, compressors,
cement and cement pipes. Workers responsible
for building and maintaining power plants and
equipment also wore insulated clothing or gear
that may have contained asbestos. Virtually all
power plants built before 1980 used or contained
asbestos-containing products.
Asbestos-related illnesses can be very serious or
fatal and include diseases such as mesothelioma,
lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer,
pharyngeal cancer, stomach cancer and asbestosis.
Even if your exposure to asbestos was many years
ago and you are not sick today, this notice could
affect you. Asbestos-related illness can occur
decades and even 50 years after the exposure to
asbestos that caused the illness.

Which power plants are included?

You or a family member could have been
exposed at any of the power plants related to EFH.
These power plants were located across the United
States and some in foreign countries. For a list of
the included power plants, visit the website below
or call 1-877-276-7311.

1-877-276-7311

How could this affect me?

You could have been exposed to asbestos if you
or a family member worked at any of the included
power plants as an employee, a contractor, or in any
other role. You also could have been exposed by
coming in contact with another person who worked
at a power plant (for example, if asbestos was
brought home on your spouse or parents clothing).
You may also le a claim on behalf of a deceased
family member.

What do I do now?
If you believe that you or a family member
may have been exposed to asbestos at an included
plant, submit a claim by December 14, 2015,
at 5:00 p.m., prevailing Eastern Time. Go to
www.EFHAsbestosClaims.com to submit your
claim online. To get a paper claim form, visit the
website or call 1-877-276-7311. Submitting a
claim preserves your right to ask for money if you
develop asbestos-related illness in the future.
You can submit a claim yourself or you can
ask a lawyer to help you. If you are not ill today,
completing a claim takes about ve minutes.

What if I do nothing?
If you do not submit a claim and later develop
asbestos-related disease, you will not be eligible
for compensation from EFH. Even if you have
not been diagnosed with disease or experienced
symptoms, you must make a claim to preserve your
right to compensation if you develop an asbestosrelated illness in the future.

File a Claim Now

Go to www.EFHAsbestosClaims.com to le a
claim online or call 1-877-276-7311 to request a
claim form be sent to you.

www.EFHAsbestosClaims.com

VISIONS

YourShot.ngm.com

T
 ree of Life

AssignmentTrees, in forms physical or figurative, hold clues to landscapes,

history, and culture. We asked to see the branches in your life.

EDITORS NOTE

Trees provide a place of solitude, respite, and healing. The

images I chose represented, for me, unique interpretations
of trees of life.
Erika Larsen, National Geographic photographer

Takeshi Marumoto
Tokyo, Japan
One early morning near Japans east
coast, Marumoto, an IT consultant,
visited Hitachi Seaside Park, an area
known for its sea of baby blue eyes
flowers in the spring. It was a very
refreshing morning, he says.

Zuzana Krajci
Bratislava, Slovakia
Krajci planned to take a classic portrait
of her niece holding twigs of cherry
blossoms. When she looked through
the viewfinder, she noticed the framingwithout the girls faceconveyed
an unintended element of mystery.

30

MYSTERY
MAN
A trove of fossils found deep in a
South African cave adds a baffling new
branch to the human family tree.
Conjured in clay and cast in silicone by paleoartist
John Gurche, Homo naledi is the newest addition to our genus.
MARK THIESSEN, NGM STAFF

Sunlight falls through the entrance of Rising Star cave, near Johannesburg.
A remote chamber has yielded hundreds of fossil bonesso far. Says anthropologist Marina Elliott, seated, We have literally just scratched the surface.

An H. naledi group disposes of one of their own in Rising Star cave in this artists depiction. Though such advanced behavior is unknown in other primitive hominins, there appears to be no other option for why the bones are there, says lead scientist Lee Berger.
ART: JON FOSTER. SOURCE: LEE BERGER, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND (WITS), SOUTH AFRICA

BY JAMIE SHREEVE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT CLARK

n September 13, 2013, two recreational

cavers named Steven Tucker and Rick Hunter entered a dolomite cave system called
Rising Star, some 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Rising Star has been a popular
draw for cavers since the 1960s, and its ligree of channels and caverns is well mapped.
Tucker and Hunter were hoping to nd some less trodden passage.
In the back of their minds was another mission. In the rst half of the 20th century, this
region produced so many fossils of our early
ancestors that it later became known as the
Cradle of Humankind. Though the heyday of
fossil hunting there was long past, the cavers
knew that a scientist at the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg was looking
for bones. The odds of happening upon something were remote. But you never know.
Deep in the cave, Tucker and Hunter worked
their way through a constriction called Supermans Crawlbecause most people can t
through only by holding one arm tightly against
the body and extending the other above the
head, like the Man of Steel in ight. Crossing
a large chamber, they climbed a jagged wall of
rock called the Dragons Back. At the top they
found themselves in a pretty little cavity decorated with stalactites. Hunter got out his video
camera, and to remove himself from the frame,
Tucker eased himself into a ssure in the cave
oor. His foot found a nger of rock, then another below it, thenempty space.
Dropping down, he found himself in a narrow, vertical chute, in some places less than
eight inches wide. He called to Hunter to follow
him. Both men have hyper-slender frames, all
36national geographic octobe r

2015

bone and wiry muscle. Had their torsos been

just a little bigger, they would not have t in the
chute, and what is arguably the most astonishing human fossil discovery in half a century
and undoubtedly the most perplexingwould
not have occurred.

L


ee Berger, the paleoanthropologist who

had asked cavers to keep an eye out for
fossils, is a big-boned American with a
high forehead, a ushed face, and cheeks that
are out broadly when he smiles, which is a lot
of the time. His unquenchable optimism has
proved essential to his professional life. By the
early 1990s, when Berger got a job at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and had
begun to hunt for fossils, the spotlight in human
evolution had long since shifted to the Great
Rift Valley of East Africa.
Most researchers regarded South Africa as an
interesting sidebar to the story of human evolution but not the main plot. Berger was determined to prove them wrong. But for almost 20
years, the relatively insignicant nds he made
seemed only to underscore how little South
Africa had left to offer.
What he most wanted to nd were fossils that
could shed light on the primary outstanding

While primitive in some respects, the face, skull, and teeth show enough modern
features to justify H. naledis placement in the genus Homo. Artist Gurche spent
some 700 hours reconstructing the head from bone scans, using bear fur for hair.
MARK THIESSEN, NGM STAFF

AFRICA

ETHIOPIA

Lake
Turkana

KENYA

Olduvai
Gorge

TANZANIA
0 mi

600

0 km 600

Rising Star
cave

Deep in the Dark Zone

The bones were found in a chamber named Dinaledi (chamber of
stars), accessible only through a narrow chute, almost a hundred
yards from the cave entrance. How they got there is a mystery. The
most plausible answer so far: Bodies were dropped in from above.

Malapa Johannesburg
SOUTH
AFRICA

BONE BONANZA

Dragons
Back
50

0 ft
0m

Hundreds of fossils have

been recovered, most
excavated from a pit a
mere yard square. More
fossils surely await.

10

Cross section of cave today

Supermans Crawl
(less than ten inches high)

Dinaledi
chamber
Fossil site

mystery in human evolution: the origin of our

genus, Homo, between two million and three million years ago. On the far side of that divide are
the apelike australopithecines, epitomized by
Australopithecus afarensis and its most famous
representative, Lucy, a skeleton discovered in
Ethiopia in 1974. On the near side is Homo erectus, a tool-wielding, re-making, globe-trotting
species with a big brain and body proportions
much like ours. Within that murky million-year
gap, a bipedal animal was transformed into a nascent human being, a creature not just adapted
to its environment but able to apply its mind to
master it. How did that revolution happen?
The fossil record is frustratingly ambiguous.
Slightly older than H. erectus is a species called
Homo habilis, or handy manso named by
Louis Leakey and his colleagues in 1964 because
they believed it responsible for the stone tools
they were nding at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
In the 1970s teams led by Louiss son Richard
found more H. habilis specimens in Kenya, and
ever since, the species has provided a shaky base
for the human family tree, keeping it rooted in
East Africa. Before H. habilis the human story
goes dark, with just a few fossil fragments of
Homo too sketchy to warrant a species name.
38national geographic octobe r

2015

As one scientist put it, they would easily t in a

shoe box, and youd still have room for the shoes.
Berger has long argued that H. habilis was too
primitive to deserve its privileged position at the
root of our genus. Some other scientists agree
that it really should be called Australopithecus.
But Berger has been nearly alone in arguing that
South Africa was the place to look for the true
earliest Homo. And for years the unchecked exuberance with which he promoted his relatively
minor nds tended only to alienate some of his
professional colleagues. Berger had the ambition
and personality to become a famous player in his
eld, like Richard Leakey or Donald Johanson,
who found the Lucy skeleton. Berger is a tireless
fund-raiser and a master at enthralling a public
audience. But he didnt have the bones.
Then, in 2008, he made a truly important discovery. While searching in a place later called
Malapa, some ten miles from Rising Star, he
and his 14-year-old son, Matthew, found some
hominin fossils poking out of hunks of dolomite.
Over the next year Bergers team painstakingly chipped two nearly complete skeletons out of
the rock. Dated to about two million years ago,
they were the rst major nds from South Africa
published in decades. (An even more complete
JASON TREAT, NGM STAFF. NGM MAPS. SOURCE: LEE BERGER, WITS

skeleton found earlier has yet to be described.)

In most respects they were very primitive, but
there were some oddly modern traits too.
Berger decided the skeletons were a new species of australopithecine, which he named Australopithecus sediba. But he also claimed they
were the Rosetta stone to the origins of Homo.
Though the doyens of paleoanthropology credited him with a jaw-dropping nd, most dismissed his interpretation of it. A. sediba was too
young, too weird, and not in the right place to be
ancestral to Homo: It wasnt one of us. In another
sense, neither was Berger. Since then, prominent researchers have published papers on early
Homo that didnt even mention him or his nd.
Berger shook off the rejection and got back
to workthere were additional skeletons from
Malapa to occupy him, still encased in limestone
blocks in his lab. Then one night, Pedro Boshoff,
a caver and geologist Berger had hired to look for
fossils, knocked on his door. With him was Steven Tucker. Berger took one look at the pictures
they showed him from Rising Star and realized
that Malapa was going to have to take a backseat.

fter contorting themselves 40 feet down

the narrow chute in the Rising Star cave,
Tucker and Rick Hunter had dropped
into another pretty chamber, with a cascade of
white owstones in one corner. A passageway led
into a larger cavity, about 30 feet long and only
a few feet wide, its walls and ceiling a bewilderment of calcite gnarls and jutting owstone ngers. But it was what was on the oor that drew
the two mens attention. There were bones everywhere. The cavers rst thought they must be
modern. They werent stone heavy, like most fossils, nor were they encased in stonethey were
just lying about on the surface, as if someone had
tossed them in. They noticed a piece of a lower
jaw, with teeth intact; it looked human.
Berger could see from the photos that the
bones did not belong to a modern human being.
Certain features, especially those of the jawbone
and teeth, were far too primitive. The photos
showed more bones waiting to be found; Berger could make out the outline of a partly buried

Looking

down into the
chute, I wasnt sure Id
be OK. It was like looking
into a sharks mouth.
There were ngers and
tongues and teeth of rock.
Marina Elliott, anthropologist

cranium. It seemed likely that the remains represented much of a complete skeleton. He was
dumbfounded. In the early hominin fossil record, the number of mostly complete skeletons,
including his two from Malapa, could be counted
on one hand. And now this. But what was this?
How old was it? And how did it get into that cave?
Most pressing of all: how to get it out again,
and quickly, before some other amateurs found
their way into that chamber. (It was clear from
the arrangement of the bones that someone had
already been there, perhaps decades before.)
Tucker and Hunter lacked the skills needed
to excavate the fossils, and no scientist Berger
knewcertainly not himselfhad the physique
to squeeze through that chute. So Berger put
the word out on Facebook: Skinny individuals
wanted, with scientic credentials and caving
experience; must be willing to work in cramped
quarters. Within a week and a half hed heard
from nearly 60 applicants. He chose the six
most qualied; all were young women. Berger
called them his underground astronauts.
With funding from National Geographic
(Berger is also a National Geographic explorerin-residence), he gathered some 60 scientists
and set up an aboveground command center, a
science tent, and a small village of sleeping and
support tents. Local cavers helped thread two
miles of communication and power cables down
into the fossil chamber. Whatever was happening there could now be viewed with cameras by
Berger and his team in the command center.
Marina Elliott, then a graduate student at Simon
Fraser University in British Columbia, was the
rst scientist down the chute.
Looking down into it, I wasnt sure Id be
Mystery Man 39

Elliott (at left) explores a side chamber with paleontologist Ashley Kruger. Elliott
was one of six scientists on the expedition with the skill and physique to reach
the Dinaledi chamber. Lee Berger, on screen, follows progress from the surface.
ELLIOT ROSS

There were bones

everywhere, just lying
about on the surface.
The cavers noticed a
piece of a lower jaw,
with teeth intact.
OK, Elliott recalled. It was like looking into a
sharks mouth. There were ngers and tongues
and teeth of rock.
Elliott and two colleagues, Becca Peixotto
and Hannah Morris, inched their way to the
landing zone at the bottom, then crouched
into the fossil chamber. Working in two-hour
shifts with another three-woman crew, they
plotted and bagged more than 400 fossils on
the surface, then started carefully removing soil
around the half-buried skull. There were other
bones beneath and around it, densely packed.
Over the next several days, while the women
probed a square-yard patch around the skull,
the other scientists huddled around the video
feed in the command center above in a state of
near-constant excitement. Berger, dressed in
eld khakis and a Rising Star Expedition cap,
would occasionally repair to the science tent to
puzzle over the accumulating bonesuntil a collective howl of astonishment from the command
center brought him rushing back to witness
another discovery. It was a glorious time.
The bones were superbly preserved, and
from the duplication of body parts, it soon
became clear that there was not one skeleton in
the cave, but two, then three, then vethen so
many it was hard to keep a clear count. Berger
had allotted three weeks for the excavation.
By the end of that time, the excavators had
removed some 1,200 bones, more than from any
other human ancestor site in Africaand they
still hadnt exhausted the material in just the
one square yard around the skull. It took another several days digging in March 2014 before its
Support for this project was provided by the Lyda Hill
Foundation and your Society membership.

42national geographic octobe r

2015

sediments ran dry, about six inches down.

There were some 1,550 specimens in all, representing at least 15 individuals. Skulls. Jaws.
Ribs. Dozens of teeth. A nearly complete foot.
A hand, virtually every bone intact, arranged as
in life. Minuscule bones of the inner ear. Elderly adults. Juveniles. Infants, identied by their
thimble-size vertebrae. Parts of the skeletons
looked astonishingly modern. But others were
just as astonishingly primitivein some cases,
even more apelike than the australopithecines.
Weve found a most remarkable creature,
Berger said. His grin went nearly to his ears.

n paleoanthropology, newly discovered

specimens are traditionally held close to
the vest until they can be carefully analyzed
and the results published, with full access to
them granted only to the discoverers closest
collaborators. By this protocol, answering the
central mystery of the Rising Star ndWhat
is it?could take years, even decades. Berger
wanted the work done and published by the
end of the year. In his view everyone in the eld
should have access to important new information as quickly as possible. And maybe he liked
the idea of announcing his nd, which might
be a new candidate for earliest Homo, in 2014
exactly 50 years after Louis Leakey published
his discovery of the reigning rst member of our
genus, Homo habilis.
In any case there was only one way to get the
analysis done quickly: Put a lot of eyes on the
bones. Along with the 20-odd senior scientists
who had helped him evaluate the Malapa skeletons, Berger invited more than 30 young scientists, some with the ink still wet on their Ph.D.s,
to Johannesburg from some 15 countries, for a
blitzkrieg fossil fest lasting six weeks. To some
older scientists who werent involved, putting
young people on the front line just to rush the
papers into print seemed rash. But for the young
people in question, it was a paleofantasy come
true, said Lucas Delezene, a newly appointed
professor at the University of Arkansas. In grad
school you dream of a pile of fossils no one has
seen before, and you get to gure it out.

With other team members, Berger, Elliott, and Kruger (foreground, from left) view
the rst images from the fossil chamber. Steve Tucker (far right) co-discovered the
site. K. Lindsay Hunter and Alia Gurtov (back left) helped excavate the bones.

The workshop took place in a newly constructed vault at Wits, a windowless room lined
with glass-paneled shelves bearing fossils and
casts. The analytical teams were divided by body
part. The cranial specialists huddled in one corner around a large square table that was covered
with skull and jaw fragments and the casts of
other well-known fossil skulls. Smaller tables
were devoted to hands, feet, long bones, and so
on. The air was cool, the atmosphere hushed.
Young scientists fiddled with bones and calipers. Berger and his close advisers circulated
among them, conferring in low voices.
Delezenes own fossil pile contained 190
teetha critical part of any analysis, since teeth
alone are often enough to identify a species.
But these teeth werent like anything the scientists in the tooth booth had ever seen. Some
features were astonishingly humanlikethe
molar crowns were small, for instance, with ve
cusps like ours. But the premolar roots were
weirdly primitive. Were not sure what to make
of these, Delezene said. Its crazy.
The same schizoid pattern was popping up at
RACHELLE KEELING

the other tables. A fully modern hand sported

wackily curved ngers, t for a creature climbing trees. The shoulders were apish too, and the
widely aring blades of the pelvis were as primitive as Lucysbut the bottom of the same pelvis
looked like a modern humans. The leg bones
started out shaped like an australopithecines
but gathered modernity as they descended
toward the ground. The feet were virtually indistinguishable from our own.
You could almost draw a line through the
hipsprimitive above, modern below, said
Steve Churchill, a paleontologist from Duke
University. If youd found the foot by itself,
youd think some Bushman had died.
But then there was the head. Four partial
skulls had been foundtwo were likely male, two
female. In their general morphology they clearly looked advanced enough to be called Homo.
But the braincases were tinya mere 560 cubic
centimeters for the males and 465 for the
females, far less than H. erectuss average of 900
cubic centimeters, and well under half the size
of our own. A large brain is the sine qua non
Mystery Man 43

The braincase of this composite male skull of H. naledi, shown actual size,
measures a mere 560 cubic centimeters in volumeless than half that
of the modern human skull behind it. Female braincases were even smaller.
ART: STEFAN FICHTEL. SOURCES: LEE BERGER AND PETER SCHMID, WITS; JOHN HAWKS, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

Tiny

little brains stuck
on these bodies that
werent tiny. Weird as hell.
Fred Grine, paleoanthropologist

Weve

found a most
remarkable creature.
Lee Berger, paleoanthropologist

of humanness, the hallmark of a species that

has evolved to live by its wits. These were not
human beings. These were pinheads, with some
humanlike body parts.
Weird as hell, paleoanthropologist Fred
Grine of the State University of New York at
Stony Brook later said. Tiny little brains stuck
on these bodies that werent tiny. The adult
males were around ve feet tall and a hundred
pounds, the females a little shorter and lighter.
The message were getting is of an animal
right on the cusp of the transition from Australopithecus to Homo, Berger said as the
workshop began to wind down in early June.
Everything that is touching the world in a critical way is like us. The other parts retain bits of
their primitive past.
In some ways the new hominin from Rising
Star was even closer to modern humans than
Homo erectus is. To Berger and his team, it
clearly belonged in the Homo genus, but it was
unlike any other member. They had no choice
but to name a new species. They called it Homo
naledi, tipping a hat to the cave where the bones
had been found: In the local Sotho language,
naledi means star.

B


ack in November, as Marina Elliott and

her mates were uncovering that startling trove of bones, they were almost as
surprised by what they werent nding. It was
day three or four, and we still hadnt found any
fauna, Elliott said. On the rst day a few little
bird bones had been found on the surface, but
otherwise there was nothing but hominin bones.
That made for a mystery as perplexing as that
of H. naledis identity: How did the remains get
Mystery Man 45

A composite skeleton
of H. naledi is surrounded
by some of the hundreds
of other specimens found
in the cave. With only a
square yard of the cave
oor excavated, its likely
that many more remain to
be found. Every time I
stuck my pocketknife in
the sediment, says
geologist Eric Roberts,
I hit bone.
SOURCE: LEE BERGER, WITS
PHOTOGRAPHED AT EVOLUTIONARY
STUDIES INSTITUTE

Projected adult h

The Sum of Its Parts

A New Kind of Ancestor

A composite skeleton reveals H. naledis overall body

plan. Its shoulders, hips, and torso hark back to earlier
ancestors, while its lower body shows more humanlike
adaptations. The skull and teeth show a mix of traits.

H. naledi was much closer in appearance

to Homo species such as H. erectus than
to australopithecines, such as Lucy. But
it possesses enough traits shared with no
other member of our genus that it warrants
a new species name.

HOMO FEATURES

AUSTRALOPITHECINE FEATURES

Humanesque skull
The general shape of H. naledis
skull is advanced, though the
braincase is less than half that
of a modern humans.

Primitive shoulders
H. naledis shoulders are
positioned in a way that
would have helped with
climbing and hanging.
Lucy
Australopithecus afarensis
3.2 million years ago
Adult female
Height: 3 ft 8 in | Weight: 60-65 lbs

Flared pelvis
The hip bones of H. naledi flare
outwarda primitive traitand
are shorter front to back than
those of modern humans.

Versatile hands
H. naledis palms,
wrists, and thumbs
are humanlike,
suggesting tool use.

Long legs
The leg bones are long and
slender and have the strong
muscle attachments characteristic of a modern bipedal gait.

Curved ngers
Long, curved fingers, useful
for climbing in trees, could
be a trait retained from
a more apelike ancestor.

Humanlike feet
Except for the slightly curved toes,
H. naledis feet are nearly indistinguishable from ours, with arches that suggest
an efficient long-distance stride.
SKELETON: STEFAN FICHTEL
BODY COMPARISON PAINTING:
JOHN GURCHE
SOURCES: LEE BERGER AND
PETER SCHMID, WITS; JOHN HAWKS,
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

height

Turkana Boy
Homo erectus
1.6 million years ago
Adolescent male
Height: 5 ft | Weight: 110-115 lbs

Rising Star hominin

Homo naledi
Date unknown
Adult male
Height: 4 ft 10 in | Weight: 100-110 lbs

Assembled from 3-D scans of individual fossils, a life-size rendering of H. naledis

hand displays curved ngers, a clue that the species had retained an ability to climb in
trees and on rocks. The thumb, wrist, and palm bones all look remarkably modern.
ART: STEFAN FICHTEL. SOURCES: LEE BERGER AND PETER SCHMID, WITS; JOHN HAWKS, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

into such an absurdly remote chamber? Clearly

the individuals werent living in the cave; there
were no stone tools or remains of meals to suggest such occupation. Conceivably a group of
H. naledi could have wandered into the cave one
time and somehow got trappedbut the distribution of the bones seemed to indicate that they
had been deposited over a long time, perhaps
centuries. If carnivores had dragged hominin
prey into the cave, they would have left tooth
marks on the bones, and there werent any. And
nally, if the bones had been washed into the cave
by owing water, it would have carried stones
and other rubble there too. But there is no rubbleonly ne sediment that had weathered off
the walls of the cave or sifted through tiny cracks.
When you have eliminated the impossible,
Sherlock Holmes once reminded his friend
Watson, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Having exhausted all other explanations,
Berger and his team were stuck with the improbable conclusion that bodies of H. naledi
were deliberately put there, by other H. naledi.
Until now only Homo sapiens, and possibly some
archaic humans such as the Neanderthals, are
known to have treated their dead in such a ritualized manner. The researchers dont argue that
these much more primitive hominins navigated
Supermans Crawl and the harrowing sharkmouth chute while dragging corpses behind
themthat would go beyond improbable to incredible. Maybe back then Supermans Crawl
was wide enough to be walkable, and maybe the
hominins simply dropped their burden into the
chute without climbing down themselves. Over
time the growing pile of bones might have slowly tumbled into the neighboring chamber.
Deliberate disposal of bodies would still have
required the hominins to nd their way to the
top of the chute through pitch-black darkness
and back again, which almost surely would have
required lighttorches, or res lit at intervals.
The notion of such a small-brained creature
exhibiting such complex behavior seems so unlikely that many other researchers have simply refused to credit it. At some earlier time,

Disposal of the dead brings

closure for the living and
confers respect. Such
sentiments are a hallmark
of humanity. But H. naledi
was not human.
they argue, there must have been an entrance
to the cave that afforded more direct access to
the fossil chamberone that probably allowed
the bones to wash in. There has to be another
entrance, Richard Leakey said after hed paid
a visit to Johannesburg to see the fossils. Lee
just hasnt found it yet.
But water would inevitably have washed
rubble, plant material, and other debris into
the fossil chamber along with the bones, and
they simply arent there. There isnt a lot of
subjectivity here, said Eric Roberts, a geologist
from James Cook University in Australia, svelte
enough to have examined the chamber himself.
The sediments dont lie.
Disposal of the dead brings closure for the
living, confers respect on the departed, or abets
their transition to the next life. Such sentiments
are a hallmark of humanity. But H. naledi, Berger
emphatically stresses, was not humanwhich
makes the behavior all the more intriguing.
Its an animal that appears to have had the
cognitive ability to recognize its separation
from nature, he said.

he mysteries of what H. naledi is, and

how its bones got into the cave, are inextricably knotted with the question of
how old those bones areand for the moment
no one knows. In East Africa, fossils can be accurately dated when they are found above or
below layers of volcanic ash, whose age can be
measured from the clocklike decay of radioactive elements in the ash. At Malapa, Berger had
gotten lucky: The A. sediba bones lay between
two owstonesthin layers of calcite deposited
by running waterthat could also be dated radiometrically. But the bones in the Rising Star
Mystery Man 53

HOMO HABILIS

HOMO RUDOLFENSIS

HOMO ERECTUS

A trio of other Homo species, all rst appearing in the fossil record around two
million years ago, argues against a linear progression toward humannessa message
underscored by H. naledis unique blend of primitive and advanced traits.
IMAGES NOT TO SCALE

chamber were just lying on the cave floor or

buried in shallow, mixed sediments. When they
got into the cave is an even more intractable
problem to solve than how.
Most of the workshop scientists fretted over
how their analysis would be received without
a date attached. (As it turned out, the lack of
a date would prove to be one impediment to
a quick publication of the scientific papers
describing the nds.) But Berger wasnt bothered one bit. If H. naledi eventually proved to
be as old as its morphology suggested, then he
had quite possibly found the root of the Homo
family tree. But if the new species turned out
to be much younger, the repercussions could
be equally profound. It could mean that while
our own species was evolving, a separate, smallbrained, more primitive-looking Homo was
loose on the landscape, as recently as anyone
dared to contemplate. A hundred thousand
years ago? Fifty thousand? Ten thousand? As
the exhilarating workshop came to an end with
that fundamental question still unresolved,
Berger was sanguine as always. No matter
what the age, it will have tremendous impact,
he said, shrugging.

few weeks later, in August of last year,

he traveled to East Africa. To mark the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of
Louis Leakeys description of H. habilis, Richard Leakey had summoned the leading thinkers
54national geographic octobe r

2015

on early human evolution to a symposium at

the Turkana Basin Institute, the research center he (along with the State University of New
York at Stony Brook) had established near the
western shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya.
The purpose of the meeting was to try to
come to some consensus over the confounding
record of early Homo, without grandstanding
or rancortwo vices endemic to paleoanthropology. Some of Lee Bergers harshest critics
would be there, including some whod written
scathing reviews of his interpretation of the A.
sediba fossils. To them, he was an outsider at
best, a hype artist at worst. Some threatened
not to attend if he were there. But given the
Rising Star discovery, Leakey could hardly not
invite him.
Theres no one on Earth nding fossils like
Lee is now, Leakey said.
For four days the scientists huddled together
in a spacious lab room, its casement windows
open to the breezes, casts of all the important
evidence for early Homo spread out on tables.
One morning Meave Leakey (whos also a National Geographic explorer-in-residence) opened
a vault to reveal brand-new specimens found
on the east side of the lake, including a nearly
complete foot. When it was his turn to speak,
Bill Kimbel of the Institute of Human Origins
described a new Homo jaw from Ethiopia dated
to 2.8 million years agothe oldest member of
our genus yet. Archaeologist Sonia Harmand of
RECONSTRUCTIONS: JOHN GURCHE

Homo sapiens
Today

H. neanderthalensis

A Place in Time
Mixed soil sediments in the cave where H. naledi was
found make it difficult to date the bones. High-tech
dating methods could provide an age. Three possibilities are considered hereany of which would throw
a curve into current thinking on human evolution.

H. naledi

H. heidelbergensis

A RECENT COUSIN
If H. naledi is less than a million
years old, then our ancestors
shared the African landscape with
a small-brained form of Homo
much more recently than thought.

One Million Years Ago (m.y.a.)

Homo
Long lower legs were
adapted to walking and
running; smaller teeth and
larger brains in later H. erectus
could indicate hunting and
eating more meat.

Australopithecines
Early species were
adapted to climbing
as well as bipedalism;
later species had more
specialized diets of
tough, fibrous foods.
H. habilis
A. boisei

H. erectus

A. robustus
A. sediba

H. rudolfensis

Two m.y.a.

H. naledi
A. africanus

EARLY HOMO
H. naledis anatomytransitional
between australopithecines and
Homois most compatible with
an age of some two to two and
a half million years.

A. garhi
A. aethiopicus
H. sp.
(species unknown)

Three m.y.a.

Kenyanthropus
platyops

A. afarensis
H. naledi

NUDGING OUT LUCY

Though its highly unlikely,
if H. naledi is extremely old,
it could call into question
the idea that Lucys species,
A. afarensis, was on our
direct evolutionary lineage.

Earlier
divergence?

Four m.y.a.

Australopithecus
anamensis
JASON TREAT, NGM STAFF
SOURCES: LEE BERGER, WITS; JOHN HAWKS,
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

What

naledi says
to me is that you may
think the fossil record
is complete enough
to make up stories,
and its not.

gathered doyens did something no one expected, least of all Berger. They applauded.

Fred Grine

Stony Brook University dropped an even bigger

bombshellthe discovery of dozens of crude
stone tools near Lake Turkana dating to 3.3
million years ago. If stone tools originated half
a million years before the rst appearance of our
genus, it would be hard to argue anymore that the
dening characteristic of Homo was its technological ingenuity.
Berger meanwhile was uncommonly subdued, adding little to the discussion, until the
topic turned to a comparison of A. sediba and
H. habilis. It was time.
More of interest perhaps to this debate is
Rising Star, he offered. For the next 20 minutes
he laid out all that had happenedthe serendipitous discovery of the cave, the crash analysis
in June, and the gist of its findings. While he
talked, a couple of casts of Rising Star skulls
were passed hand to hand.
Then came the questions. Have you done a
cranio-dental analysis? Yes. The H. naledi skull
and teeth place it in a group with Homo erectus,
Neanderthals, and modern humans. Closer to
H. erectus than H. habilis is? Yes. Are there any
tooth marks on the bones from carnivores?
No, these are the healthiest dead individuals
youll ever see. Have you made progress on
the dating? Not yet. Well get a date sometime.
Dont worry.
Then, when the questions were over, the

hen a major new find is made in

human evolutionor even a minor
new findits common to claim it
overturns all previous notions of our ancestry.
Perhaps having learned from past mistakes,
Berger doesnt make such assertions for Homo
nalediat least not yet, with its place in time
uncertain. He doesnt claim he has found the
earliest Homo, or that his fossils return the title
of Cradle of Humankind from East to South
Africa. The fossils do suggest, however, that both
regions, and everywhere in between, may harbor
clues to a story that is more complicated than the
metaphor human family tree would suggest.
What naledi says to me is that you may think
the record is complete enough to make up stories, and its not, said Stony Brooks Fred Grine.
Maybe early species of Homo emerged in South
Africa and then moved up to East Africa. Or
maybe its the other way around.
Berger himself thinks the right metaphor for
human evolution, instead of a tree branching
from a single root, is a braided stream: a river that
divides into channels, only to merge again downstream. Similarly, the various hominin types that
inhabited the landscapes of Africa must at some
point have diverged from a common ancestor.
But then farther down the river of time they may
have coalesced again, so that we, at the rivers
mouth, carry in us today a bit of East Africa, a bit
of South Africa, and a whole lot of history we have
no notion of whatsoever. Because one thing is for
sure: If we learned about a completely new form
of hominin only because a couple of cavers were
skinny enough to t through a crack in a wellexplored South African cave, we really dont have
a clue what else might be out there.j

Video: Meet the Cave Women

Out of 60 applicants, six intrepid
women were picked to explore the
Dinaledi chambera job that gives
new meaning to working in cramped
quarters. Go to ngm.com/more.
GARRETH BIRD

56national geographic octobe r

From Ape to Human

Dawn of Humanity, a two-hour
National Geographic/NOVA special,
chronicles the discovery of Homo
naledi. Tune in to your PBS station
September 16 at 9 p.m. ET.
COURTESY NG STUDIOS

2015

The foot of H. naledi is astonishingly humanlike. Only a few traits, such as slightly
more curved toe bones, retain a primitive cast. This is essentially the foot of a
modern human, but subtly different, says paleontologist Will Harcourt-Smith.
ART: STEFAN FICHTEL. SOURCES: LEE BERGER AND PETER SCHMID, WITS; JOHN HAWKS, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

58

Wild Heart
of Sweden
In the rugged, remote splendor
of Laponia, visitors are on their own.

Veiled in melting snow and ice, Laponia

warms in the summer, inviting city dwellers
to venture above the Arctic Circle and
experience the areas splendid solitude.
ERLEND HAARBERG

Tangled strands of the Rapa River ow

below the slopes of Sarek National Park,
one of six reserves that make up Swedens
Laponian Area World Heritage site.
ORSOLYA HAARBERG

Staggered by snow, Norway spruces bend

with the weather. Solitude and spectacle
thats the essence of Laponia, says John
Utsi, a writer from the town of Jokkmokk.
ERLEND HAARBERG

By Don Belt
Photographs by Orsolya Haarberg
and Erlend Haarberg

N


ot so long agojust a few days,

perhapsthe icy water sluicing
around my bare legs was snow on
a rocky mountaintop in northern
Sweden, a hundred miles above
the Arctic Circle. Once that snow melted, it
joined the Rapa River, which surges through the
heart of Laponia, a 3,630-square-mile primordial landscape of mountains, lakes, and boulderstrewn valleys that is both a sublime natural
wonder and one of the largest wilderness areas
in Europe. Embracing four Swedish national
parks (Padjelanta, Stora Sjfallet, Muddus, and
Sarek) and two nature reserves that together
were declared a World Heritage site in 1996,
Laponia today provides a vast refuge for wildlife
and sanctuary for tech-frazzled human beings
the modern European equivalent of a restorative visit to the Pleistocene.
Laponia is a diverse heritage site with natural
and cultural signicance, and includes communities of the Sami people (once known as Lapps),
whove roamed these northern latitudes for millennia. Yet many people believe that Laponias
still point, its essence, is found right where Im
standing: in the valley of the Rapa River, in Sarek
National Park, one of the most remote places on
the continent. There are no roads here, no tire
tracks, no bridges.
Which is why my two hiking companions
(one woman, one man) and I are knee-deep
in rushing water with our pants rolled up, and
our boots tied together and slung around our
necks. Balanced precariously on smooth stones
as large and slippery as eggplants, our barefoot
trio, Hobbit-like, is fording the Rapa with 50
pounds of weight on our backs.
Seventy pounds, Christian, our Swedish
guide, corrects me. Thats how much hes carrying
64national geographic octobe r

2015

on his back; Im the one carrying 50. Actually,

your pack is closer to 45, he says.
Tall, blond, and blue-eyed, Christian Heimroth is a laconic outdoorsman, 35 years old,
who comes across as a laid-back ski instructor
or a retired athlete but is in fact a very astute
businessman who owns a wilderness outtting
company based in Jokkmokk.
His summer intern, Karin Karlsson, is also
carrying 70 pounds of gear, which is impressive
considering shes half his size.
No way, says Christian. Shes hauling 50,
tops. It just looks big because shes a shrimp.
Watch it, Boss, she fires back. I may be
small, but I bite.
A college student in southern Sweden, Karin has been in Laponia only a few weeks, but
she seems to be acclimating. Dark-haired, with
horn-rim glasses, shes half Sami and proud of it.
This place brings out the wild in me, she
says, as we pull on boots, hoist our packs, and
prepare to move ona Swedish Iron Man, an
aging American reporter, and a Sami Supergirl.
TO REACH THE INTERIOR of Sarekthe heart
of Laponiaweve spent days scrambling over
boulders crusted with lichens of rusty orange,
mint green, and yellow. Weve thrashed through
birch forests whose leaves were turning yellow,
grazed on blueberries and cloudberries, waded
through boreal wetlands, sunk in quicksand up
to our knees, and found recent tracks of bears
and mooseall while searching for a trail that
seems to exist only on official maps of the park.
The few trails we have found are paths laid
down by wildlife or traditional Sami reindeer
herders, who are permitted to graze animals in
the park, having been here as long as anyone can
remember. At certain (Continued on page 70)

Scalloped patterns in gray marble were

among the phenomena that awed geologist
Axel Hamberg, who conducted a decadeslong study of Sarek National Park.
ERLEND HAARBERG

Only the indigenous Sami people may legally hunt moose in Laponia. As a result, the animals grow larger
there than in other regions of Sweden. Upstream, the Svenonius Glacier in Sarek National Park (below)
provides meltwater for the Njoatsosjhk river.
ERLEND HAARBERG (BOTH)

Every season in Laponia brings a gift to the eye, whether a forest-fringed lake mirroring the sky in Muddus
National Park (above) or a female rock ptarmigan in winter garb (below). Birch tops sway against the sky,
wrote Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeap. Everything remains unsaid.
ORSOLYA HAARBERG (ABOVE); ERLEND HAARBERG

Footprints of a glacier can be seen from

above Muddus National Park, where peaty
string fens form in glacier-dug lowlands
when the frozen ground melts in spring.
ORSOLYA HAARBERG

times of day in Laponia, especially at dawn, its easy to imagine

what their distant forebears might have seen
and heard, after roaming this far north in search
of game, wrapped in animal skins, staggered by
the roaring winds of glaciers in retreat.
In many ways Sarek is a vision of that newly minted world: massive sharp shoulders of
dark rock rising above a landscape carved by ice
sheets. The latest one receded from northern
Sweden some 9,000 years agoso recently that
the bedrock, relieved of its burden, is still rising
up to 0.4 inch a year, in a phenomenon geologists
call isostatic rebound.
The melting ice left behind a terrain littered
with glacial features: cirques, moraines, drumlins, eskers, lakes, erratics, and boulder-strewn
hills. Today, in the perfect hush of wilderness,
the incremental grind of glaciers still echoes
across Laponia, and it seems only moments ago
that the big ice melted, leaving the rhythms of
soil and rock, wind and rain, to shape the land.
More recentlyperhaps 5,000 years ago
Laponia was settled by nomadic hunters of reindeer who were ancestors of modern-day Sami,
the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia
whose lives moved to the rhythms of the reindeer herd.
Caucasians who speak a Finno-Ugric language more closely related to Hungarian than to
Swedish, the Sami are thought to have rambled
north out of central Europe toward the Kola
Peninsula of present-day Russia and west across
the frozen boreal wastes of what is now Finland,
Sweden, and Norway.
Judging from rock art and artifacts recovered
in the Laponia region, reindeer dened indigenous culture here from the very beginning, a
legacy that can be traced in a continuous line
to the Sami of today.
(Continued from page 64)

Photographers Erlend and

Orsolya Haarberg work
to capture the Nordic landscape and wildlife. Both have
won awards in international
photography competitions.

The relationship between the Sami and their

fellow Swedes is complex, a product of the
centuries-old power imbalance between Swedens government and its Sami minority, who
mostly lived north of the Arctic Circle.
The family of John Utsi, a Sami writer and
cultural historian based in Jokkmokk, arrived
in Laponia in the 1920s, when his grandfather,
Per Mikkelson Utsi, and his family were forcibly
removed by the government of Norway from the
coastal mountains in Skibotn. They were sent
south, to Sweden.
Their arrival caused problems. Even in such a
vast region, the newcomers naturally impinged
on herders whod been established there for
many generations. And though John, like most
modern Sami, doesnt earn his primary living
from reindeer herding, the animalsand Laponia itselfplay a pivotal role in his life.
We Sami live a double existence, Utsi says.
We speak Swedish, look Swedish, and most of
us live in Swedish towns. But we act Sami, because thats who we are. Chalk it up to genetics.
Whether its genetics or upbringing, a large
number of Sami in northern Sweden spend
their summers in Laponia, living in cabins and
tending to a few reindeer, shing, and hunting
moosesomething other Swedes are not permitted to do in the park.
Sami traditions were suppressed by the
Swedish government and society for centuries,
Utsi says. Those traditions reemerged as the
Sami, who experienced a political awakening in
the 1970s, demanded and won respect for their
culture on the national and international stage.
Whenever we stop to rest or graze on berries,
Christian breaks out a plasticized map of the
park. Its ridiculously easy to get lost in Laponia if you dont pay attention, he says. Hell, its

Whats it like to work

together as a husbandand-wife team?
Its like a dream. We
continually support and
motivate each other.

While working, we enjoy

one anothers company,
and we can be in the field
as long as we want, because we arent leaving
our family home alone.

I N

T A

ure

I A

O
LAP

O
M

AREA
Sarektjkk
6,854 ft
2,089 m

Fjllsen

SJAUNJA NATURE RESERVE

WORLD

HERIT
Satihaure

AGE

SIT

Saltoluokta

Virihaure

N
NIA

V a s te nja

STORA SJFALLET
NATIONAL
PARK

Sallohaure

National park or nature reserve

Ritsem
Akkaja
ure

RAGO
N.P.

Laponian Area World Heritage site

E6

NORW
A
SWED Y
EN

Hellmobotn
Krkmo

I N

D
N

A
S C

Sulitjelma

SAREK
NATIONAL
PARK
Svenonius
Glacier
Nammatj
2,700 ft
823 m

pa
Ra

PADJELANTA
NATIONAL
PARK

Gllivare

ULTEVIS
FJLLURSKOG
NATURE RESERVE
Porjus
Harsprnget

Kvikkjokk

40
Laponian Area
Barents
World Heritage site
Sea

NO

RW
S C AY
AN
SW
D
EDE
N

ARC
Kola
TIC C
Peninsula
IRCLE
Jokkmokk
Norwegian
IA
Sami
Sea
AV
homelands
IN
F IN L A N D

Helsinki

Oslo

Stockholm

DEN.

G ER .

E U

60N

St.
Petersburg

RUSSIA

0 mi

300

MUDDUS
NATIONAL
PARK

E45
10

0 mi
0 km

E45

STUBBA
N.R.

Stora
Lulevatten

10

Northern Treasure
Set aside in 1996, the Laponian Area World Heritage site is one of the
largest wilderness areas in Europe. Embracing four national parks and
two nature reserves, the site is jointly managed by Sweden and its native
Sami people, heirs of a nomadic reindeer hunting tradition millennia old.

0 km 300

easy to get lost even if you do pay attention.

As he and Karin study the map, I scan the
valley and adjacent slopes and birch stands with
binoculars, searching for any movement or dark
object in hopes that it might turn out to be a
reindeer, brown bear, wolverine, lynx, or moose.
Christian, Karin, and I are the only humans
in the park, or think we are, until I catch sight
of two distant backpackers disrobing next to an
explosively rushing creek, preparing to wade
across. Awhile later we greet them as backcountry travelers do, warmly and with a certain
ritualized generosity, and they seem happy to
postpone their mid-morning dip in frigid water.
They are visiting from Germany. One of them,
a man of 30 sporting a mane of curly blond hair
and a slightly sheepish smile, says theyre planning to walk another eight or nine days after
crossing the Rapa a few miles upstream.
Trouble is, were already running short of
food, he says. Total miscalculation, adds his
friend, a tall, goateed fellow with his black hair
pulled back in a sleek ponytail, in the style of

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish soccer star.

Weve only been on the trail a few days.
Are there any emergency phones in there?
he asks, taking in a thousand square miles of
trackless wilderness with a careless sweep of
his arm. Just one, Christian says. The travelers
blanch, then watch with concern as he notes its
distant location on their map, days away from
their intended route. Once in the park, youre
pretty much on your own.
We give them a loaf of bread and some granola, and wish them well. Hours later, I spot them
from a plateau overlooking the valley. They are
miles awaytwo tiny gures fording the Rapa
River in their underwear. Clearly, theyre headed
off the grid, into the Pleistocene.
Theres a small stream a few feet from where
Im standing, a rivulet of pristine meltwater racing down to join the Rapa. I push my cupped
hands into the water, raise them, and drink.
Those Germans are going to get mighty hungry wandering around Laponia. But they will
never, in their lives, drink better water.j

LAUREN C. TIERNEY, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY; LNSSTYRELSEN I NORRBOTTENS
LN; LARS-ANDERS BAER, SAMI PARLIAMENT, SWEDEN; WORLD DATABASE ON PROTECTED AREAS

 71

Drama of an autumn storm sweeps into the

Rapa Valley, spotlighting Mount Nammatj.
Like much of Laponias landscape, the peak
has been sculpted by glaciers.
ORSOLYA HAARBERG

The sun sets on

an overcrowded
barge as it chugs
up the Congo.

74

Lifeblood
The Congo River is
the main road through the
heart of Africafor those
who dare to travel it.

With roads scarce

in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
(DRC), freight barges are
often the best option for
travel. Passengers cook,
sleep, and chat amid
teetering piles of cargo.

In Maluku passengers
disembark from a barge
loaded precariously
with logs. Timber is big
business on the river
and logging it is a source
of dangerous erosion.

By Robert Draper
Photographs by Pascal Maitre

T
 he boat

travels under a sky

seething with starlight. It thrashes its way through
a body of water that sometimes seems oceanic in its
vastness and at other times barely more than a
shallow creek, which is why it is foolishand for that
matter illegalto be traveling in the dark. To those
on the boat, such considerationswhat is prudent,
what is lawfulare not entirely insignicant. Ultimately, however, a single rule supersedes all others:
Here on the Congo River, one does as one must.
The boat is dangerously encumbered. It
pushes three barges by means of an engine that
was built to convey about 750 tons. The cargo
iron rods, sacks of cement, food products
exceeds 900 tons. Ruffling over the barges is a
patchwork roof of tarps and cloth, and beneath
it are some 600 human passengers. Perhaps half
of them paid up to $80 for the journey upriver.
The rest sneaked aboard.
Many are city dwellers hoping to nd work
harvesting corn and peanuts. A few of the women, toting portable charcoal stoves, have hired
themselves out as cooks. Others, as prostitutes.
One does as one must. There is singing, bickering, praying. The aromas of charcoal smoke and
mortal claustrophobia. Jugs of home-fermented
whiskey make the rounds. Now and again an
overserved passenger falls overboard. So far no
one has drowned, but the journey is still young.
In a berth on the upper level of the boat a
slightly built man in his 40s sits in a corner
reading a Bible by flashlight. His name is Joseph. Two years ago he acquired this vessel
for $800,000. He had been in the air freight
82national geographic octobe r

2015

business and believed at the time that the rules

of the sky would more or less apply to the river.
He has come to learn otherwise. His crew
consists primarily of thieves, one of them a
nephew by marriage. Joseph estimates that they
have smuggled maybe 200 tons of excess cargo
onto the boattaxing the engine, slowing the
pace, risking running the boat aground and thus
imperiling everyone on board, and of course
cheating the owner out of the prots.
Joseph worries that the crew knows hes on to
them. He fears they will pay the cook to poison
his food. Bread and butter are all hell take for
nourishment. He is disgusted by all the depravity. The other night the captain cut the engine
for a few hours so that he could climb down to a
barge and have his way with some of the female
passengers. And so Joseph takes refuge in his
Bible. He is surrounded by sinners. He is one
himself. Others in his family are preachers, but
Joseph loves money. At the end of the year, after
all is said and done, he will be $100,000 wealthier. By then, perhaps it will be worth it.
Do you have more aspirin? he asks me.

Public boats, with ample sleeping quarters, plied the Congo until the government of the DRC let
them fall into disrepair. Now river trafc consists largely of barges (top) and pirogues (center).

I hand him a couple of pills, which he gratefully takes with his Coca-Cola. Photographer
Pascal Maitre and I are sympathetic to Joseph.
We joined his boat after a ten-day debacle involving another boat in the port of Kinshasa.
That boat was calledpromisingly, we thought
at the timethe Kwema Express. The boats
manager was a stocky and unappable fellow
who charged us for a berth, for an accompanying pirogue with outboard motor, for security,
for maintenance, for new parts, for all sorts of
official papers, for everything he could think of,
perhaps $5,000 worth, pretty much cleaning
us out. All well and good. But then the boats
engine wouldnt start. Then the boat couldnt be
dislodged from the silt. Then a swollen human
body was discovered bobbing alongside.
We decided to cut our losses. We heard about
Joseph and his boat, met with him in a Kinshasa
hotel, came to terms, wired for more money, and
then flew with him to the mangy port city of
Mbandaka, where his crew was busily overloading the boat with black market cargo by day and
making merry with the local women by night.

Two days later we are at last on our way, plowing

upstream to Kisangani, the city at the fabled
bend in the river.
Our aim is to understand this one constant in
the turbulent history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Does the mighty river
offer some untapped promise for a nation long
stricken with poverty and corruption? Or is the
Congo River a universe of its own?
Its February, the dry season, and the river is
low and malty. Falcons soar, and waterfowl skitter across the sky. Every few miles the immensity
of rain forest hemming the water gives way to a
rickety collection of thatched-roof homes. Children pour out of them, waving. Some climb into
their pirogues and paddle ferociously toward
the boat so as to ride its wake like spindly little
surfers. The last of the pirogues disappears back
into the bush under a raging sunset. At night
Pascal and I lie in sleeping bags under mosquito
nets on the roof of the boat, directly above us
a tattered DRC flag. There is no electricity to
corrupt the heavens. No noise of any kind except
for the growling of the engine until early in the
Congo River 83

morning, when we wake to the sound of song. A

preacher is leading other passengers in prayer.
We climb down to investigate.
Dawn hasnt yet broken, but already coal res
are burning and women are frying beignets.
Other passengers have risen from their foam
mattresses and begun to lay out their wares
for sale: soap, batteries, herbal potions, shoes,
rancid whiskey. Soon visitors from deep in the
bush will paddle up in their pirogues and hoist
themselves spiderlike aboard the barges, bearing their own products to barter: bananas, catsh, carp, boas, baboons, ducks, crocodiles. The
oating marketplace will proceed throughout
the day, with as many as a dozen pirogues lashed
to the boat at any given time. It soon becomes
clear to us that the regimen is completely symbiotic and anything but frivolous. Absent this
commerce, the passengers dont eat and the villagers dont have medication for a babys fever
or a new pot to replace the rusted one.
The preacher, whose name is Simon, is selling used jeans and shirts. Hes traveling to a
church in Lisala, the birthplace of the former
dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Back in Mobutus
time I could afford to have a good room of my
own, he laments, referring to the bargebut
also perhaps to the disorder under the DRCs
current president, Joseph Kabila. Its hard to
enjoy these conditions. All we can do is pray to
put this trip in Gods hands.
Simon has a companion, a broad-shouldered
man named Celestin who owns a small rubber
and palm oil plantation in Binga, a village alongside a tributary known as the Mongala River. He
seems entranced to see two white foreigners
aboard the boat.
I had a dream last night that two strangers
came to visit my plantation, Celestin tells us.
So perhaps God has sent you!
We smile back and mumble our appreciation
for the invitation. We also make no promises.
The first thing you learn when youre on the
Congo River is that nothing is governable, least
of all the pace. The river is low, the boat is heavy,
the captain is guzzling Congolese whiskey from
a jar, the owner has retreated into Scripture.
84national geographic octobe r

2015

Though out here we are the lucky ones, out here

luck is the imsiest currency of all.
The river connects nine African countries
along its nearly 3,000-mile journey to the Atlantic Ocean, but its identity is inseparable from
that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Congo River is the spine of our country,
says Isidore Ndaywel Nziem, a professor of
history at the University of Kinshasa. Without a spine, a man cannot stand up. Seen this
way, the river pathwaywhich, after traveling
northward from Boyoma Falls (formerly Stanley
Falls, for the great explorer Henry Morton Stanley), takes a southwestward plunge toward the
oceantraces the gure of a dogged but severely
hobbled peasant. That it has no real governing
authority makes the Congo River the nations
great equalizer. It also greatly diminishes the
rivers value as a resource. Given the 1.5 millionsquare-mile river basins immense hydroelectric
and agricultural potential, all of Africa could be
beholden to it, and thus to its mother country.
Instead the river remains wild, and the DRC
staggers under the weight of overpopulation,
poverty, lawlessness, and corruption.
The river and its tributaries have served as
human-migration pathways traceable back to
Bantu-speaking settlers in 400 B.C. For the DRC
today, the waterways function as the primary
connective tissue between the village, the city,
the ocean, and the outside world. Such facts do
not capture its full signicance, however. That
the Congo River has long been viewed as far
more than its mighty dischargean average of
nearly 1.5 million cubic feet per secondand
that it might hold the key to diamonds, minerals, or anything else coveted by civilizations is
a matter of historical record. In 1885 Belgiums
King Leopold II colonized the Congo Free State,
a country nearly 80 times the size of his own,
damning all cost and regard for human rights
in his frenzied quest to exploit the river basins
rubber trade. Joseph Conrads 1902 classic
novel Heart of Darkness chronicled the folly
of Western ivory traders pillaging a shadowy,
indomitable river basin. More than a century

later the Congos place in our imagination hasnt

changed. Nor has the ongoing failure to tame it.
For decades the government-owned Office
National des Transports, or ONATRA, held a
monopoly on all river traffic and commerce.
That changed during the 1990s, in the waning
years of the Mobutu regime. As top ONATRA
official Sylvestre Many Tra Hamany acknowledges, Our boat engines became old and started
breaking down, which caused long delays and
the loss of our credibility.
In response, says Thierry Andr Mayele of
the waterways management authority Rgie
des Voies Fluviales (RVF), Our politicians
decided to liberalize navigation of the river
chiey so that they themselves could prot in

and hit a rock. On a big boat like that one,

theres no way of knowing how many passengers
drowned, because theres no manifest.
He adds, The gures put out by the government say 30 or 40 died. His skeptical chuckle
tells the rest.
Still, the precariousness of the river traffic
only hints at the wholesale abandonment of the
Congo by the DRC. To discover the most searing
evidence of that abandonment, one must travel
deeper into the river basin, as Pascal and I do
months later, on a vessel much smaller than
a oating village. One must willingly become
unxed from chronology and crisp itineraries,
move gamely with the current until information

The river is low, the boat is heavy, the captain

is guzzling Congolese whiskey from a jar.
the business. The Congolese officials wrote regulatory and taxing laws that could be circumvented effortlessly. They paid port commissars
so meagerly that bribery and extortion would
trump all else. They starved ONATRA, RVF, and
every other river authority of resources. So it
holds today. The government has seen to it that
the DRCs greatest natural treasure is thoroughly
ungoverned.
Those who travel the river know this, know
the attendant risks. The ongoing exploitation
of the river basins timber by local and foreign
interests has contributed to substantial erosion.
This realitycombined with the governments
failure to dredge the river, the ease with which
boat crews can bribe port authorities to ignore
excess tonnage, and the absence of emergency
vessels on the watermeans that passengers
enter a fateful lottery when they embark. Every year on average ve boats sink due to being overloaded with cargo, says Mayele. Two
months before we boarded Josephs boat, a
similar vessel capsized not far from Kinshasa.
According to Mayele, The captain was drunk

gleaned from passing conversations with other

river dwellers prompts a detour. Scan the shoreline for signs of life in the bush. Disembark. And
have faith.
We nd the village of Yailombo, a community
of 200 shing families, after renting a pirogue
with an outboard motor in Kisangani, heading
three hours downriver to Isangi, then turning
south on the Lomami River, a major tributary
of the Congo that we follow for a full day. Its
now November, and by late morning the sunlight is so scorching that the women we see
transporting plantains and cassava on pirogues
hold umbrellas overhead to protect the infants
theyre cradling.
Upon disembarking, I follow the sounds of
chanting schoolchildren. Theyre sitting on
plastic chairs, crammed into what looks like a
large, dilapidated bamboo cage. The teacher
is Cesar, 23, with a wispy mustache and a shy
smile. I can tell by his ropy arms that he also
works on the river.
Well, he explains, I sh from six at night
until six in the morning. (Continued on page 92)
Congo River 85

NIGERIA

CENTRAL
C
ENTRAL
AFRICAN
REPUBLIC

Yaound
Malabo
EQ.
GUI NEA

CAMEROON

A FRICA

Ngoko

EQUATORIAL
GUINEA

Robert Draper and

Pascal Maitre boarded
a barge at Mbandaka
for the 634-mile journey
upstream to Kisangani.

Conterminous U.S.
at the same scale

Libreville
Ogoou

EQUATOR

SAO T OME &

PR INCIP E

gh
San

Congo
Basin

CONGO

GABON

a
lim

Con

OCEAN

go

y
C r

ATLANTIC

Kwa

a
l

Elevation (ft)

Maluku

Brazzaville

5,500
3,500
2,000
1,000
Congo Basin boundary

Kinshasa

o
ng

KINSHASA

(ANGOLA)

Cabinda

Boma
Cuan

go

100

Mbanza
Congo

100

0 mi
0 km

CA B I N DA

Pool
Malebo

Caxito

Nearly 3,000 miles long, the Congo River, along

River Road

Uge

Luanda

with its tributaries, ows through the worlds second

Ndalatando
Malanje
K w anz a

largest tropical forest, connecting the Democratic

Republic of the Congo with eight countries, including
the separate Republic of the Congo. Dangerous
rapids bracket the river downstream from Kinshasa
and upstream from Kisangani, conning freight
barges to the thousand-mile stretch in between.

Sumbe

Bi
Plateau
MARTIN GAMACHE AND LAUREN C. TIERNEY, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: HYDROSHEDS;
WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE

Benguela

u
Bom

Bangui

Mo
n

ri

la
ga

Bumba

Lisala

Binga

U ele

Co

Lopor
i

imi
Aruw

ng

Gi

Uba
ng
i

On a later expedition they

traveled down the Congo
by pirogue, with a side trip
up the Mongala River to the
plantation town of Binga.

longa
Lu

Lindi
END OF
BARGE JOURNEY

Isangi
START OF
BARGE JOURNEY

Marin g a

MBANDAKA

Yailombo

Tshua
pa
Lac
Ntomba

Salon
ga

KISANGANI
Boyoma Falls

Margherita Peak
16,765 ft
5,110 m

(Stanley Falls)

On a detour down the

Lomami River to Yailombo,
they met Cesar, a teacher
who must fish at night to
make a living.

NORDKIVU V i r u n g a

Lo
m

a
el

Mts.
Lake
Kivu

DEMO CRATIC
Lake
Mai-Ndombe

SUD-KIVU

Lo

Kasa
i

Kindu

ru
nku
Sa

ge
Loan

Lubef
u

MANIEMA

Lulua

Congo

ilu
Kw

M o u n t a i n s

mi

THE CO N G O

enie

ma

L uk

Bukavu

REPU BLIC O F

Kananga

Ka

sa

Mbuji-Mayi

i
Luvu
a

RW.
B
BU
U RU .

TA N Z.

Lake
Tanganyika

Lucapa

L u n d a

m
i

Saurimo

Lake
Mweru

M
K a t a n g a
P l a t e a u

Luena

ANGOLA
zi
be
am

Source of
the Congo

ZAMBIA

Luap
ula

ZAMBIA

Lubumbashi

Floating Village
Travel on the Congo requires patience. Progress can be as slow as a few miles an hour.
Barges get stuck in silt. Engines break down. Time inches by. Men play checkers (top left).
Women cook, clean, mind the childrenand wait. When a barge passes a village, pirogues
shoot out from the riverbanks, piloted by local people with goods to sell. The barge transforms
into a lively marketplace while still churning slowly toward its destination. Passengers offer up
household supplies like clothes, medicine, and rice. Villagers bring the bounty of the jungle,
including monkeys, snakes, and pigs (bottom left). The pigs, purchased to sell at a prot later
in the journey, travel as humans do: cheek by jowl in the midst of the cargo.

Congo River 89

Despite the crowded conditions, a young woman has managed to stake out a place to lay her head
during the long voyage upriver to her home in Kisangani.

Then I teach from seven until noon. Teaching

doesnt pay me enough to feed my family. What
he catches, he smoke cures, and his wife then
transports the dried sh by water to Kisangani
ve or six days of paddling each way. Kisangani,
Cesar says, is the farthest from home that hes
ever been.
For teaching Yailombos 53 third graders, he
says, the villagers pay him about $18.50 a month.
The bamboo schoolhouse is all the village has,
because it takes more than a day by pirogue to
get to the nearest government-registered school.
Has anyone from the Congolese government
ever visited Yailombo? I ask.
Cesar nods. During election season, when
they campaign with their propaganda, he says.
They come and make promises to build a clinic
or a school. It never happens.
Like every other village we visit, Yailombo
has no clinic, no paved roads, no cars, no running water, no electricity, no phone service, no
Internet, no police, no newspapers. What it has
are the river and the bush. If nothing else, the
remoteness protects such hamlets from the carnage inicted by militias in the eastern DRC.
Several days before arriving in Yailombo, on the
outskirts of Kisangani, we encountered Wagenia shermen, who are famed for their audacious method of netting sh while clinging to
bamboo scaffolds just above the Congo Rivers
frothing cataracts. When I asked the 47-year-old
Wagenia chief, Beaka Aila, if thered ever been
a time when his people had felt the presence of
an external authority, he didnt hesitate.
During the six-day war, he replied, referring
to the June 2000 conict between Ugandan and
Rwandan troops in the brutal Second Congo
War (1998-2003), when heavy ghting spilled
over into Kisangani. In the mornings when
we checked our nets, we found human bodies
instead of sh.
We leave the Lomami River and return to
the Congo. Its now the rainy season, and we
have the great river practically to ourselves
as we head northwest with the current. Days
pass without the sight of another motorized
92national geographic octobe r

2015

vessel. For whatever reason, commerce is slow,

barges are scarce. At the same time, the shermen in their pirogues are having less luck
in the rain-swollen river. We buy everything
they have. Whenever we hear of markets, we
go to thembustling bazaars a mile or so into
the bushand acquire peanuts, bananas, bread,
tomatoes, charcoal.
Each stop at one of the larger river towns
which we make only when we must, for gasoline and other important suppliesentails a
dreary encounter with some uniformed official from the Direction Gnrale de Migration,
who pores over our papers and asks the same
skeptical questions and ultimately demands
his price for the favor of leaving us alone. Our
traveling group includes an affable fellow from
the Kisangani office of the Agence Nationale de
Renseignements (ANR), the Congos version of
the FBI. Ostensibly were paying him to ensure
our expeditious passage downriver. In practice,
hes there to help drink our beer.
From time to time the brilliant azure skies
darken, an avalanche of rain pummels our pirogue, and we duck into a cove of raggedy homes
on stilts, where the fishermen take us in and
offer us yellow plastic jugs full of palm wine.
At dusk we seek out bare tracts along the river
where we can spread our sleeping bags and cook
our food. The locals gather around us and stare
at our laptops for as long as we use them. We
push out early each morning after rst paying
the shermen for the use of their land. The distant sight of them still waving from the shoreline of those unnamed communes is what I
choose to remember rather than the uniformed
grifters in Bumba and Lisala.
After a long day plowing up the storm-churned
Mongala River, a tributary to the Congo, we arrive late one evening at the port town of Binga.
A large bald man climbs out of a pickup truck
and embraces us at the docks. Its Celestin, the
passenger on Josephs boat whod dreamed that
two foreigners would come visit him.
For the next few nights in Binga, Pascal and
I are treated to surprising comfort, reposing
in a handsome four-bedroom house of wood

and concrete with vaulted ceilings. The house is

owned by the American CEO of the plantation
company that dominates Binga. How Celestin
secured it for our stay is never made clear. The
original occupant was a Belgian who established
the rubber company in 1914 in what had hitherto been a nondescript shing village named
Mbinkya, later bastardized by the colonizers to
Binga. There had been beautiful paintings on
the walls. A Ping-Pong table. A Mercedes in the
driveway. Electrical power around the clock,
here and throughout the town. Then in 1997
Mobutu fell; two years later the Belgians ed
Binga. Rebels looted the rubber barons home.
Today the American CEO visits infrequently.
The plantations now grow mainly palm trees

three years, I was told, few fish were caught,

and many people starved. The shermen were
brought to their knees, and the chief removed
the curse. All of this suggested to me a show
of muscle for which the warlike Ngombe were
once known, before the minions of King Leopold
came to exploit the river basin.
The Belgian colonization killed the Congolese soul, historian Kambayi Bwatshia later
told me. In these plantations they were sending
people to work by force and cutting their hands
off if they didnt work hard enough. Those who
are saying it was better under colonizationor
under Mobutuare simply tired of the chaos.
Still, underneath it all, they want to recover
their dignity.

If nothing else, the remoteness protects the

hamlets from the carnage in the eastern DRC.
for oil. The number of full-time salaried workers
has been reduced from 4,000 to 650. The town
no longer has electricity. A total of three carsall
owned by the companyshare Bingas muddy
thoroughfares with pedestrians and motorcyclists. Nostalgia for that comparatively gilded
era pervades the town.
The company remains here for a reason
three of them really. The tropical climate is
optimal for rubber and palm trees, the labor is
cheap, and the river makes possible the barging
of its products 800 miles downstream to a waiting Western market. In turn Binga retains the
ethos of a company townalbeit with threadbare benefits. For its 67,000 inhabitants, the
2,000 seasonal jobs on the plantations are the
only alternative to the subsistence life of shing,
hunting, and farming. The company maintains
schools and clinics.
Yet a traditional Ngombe structure persists.
A resident told me that recently the chief had
grown angry at the failure of the local shermen
to respect Ngombe ways and punished them by
putting a curse on the towns shing trade. For

Those last words apply all too poignantly to

Celestin. One morning I hop on the back of his
motorcycle, and we drive for a half hour along
rain-spattered dirt roads until we arrive at his
familys plantationexpansive but scruffy,
hardly resembling the geometric order of the
American plantation. Still, its with evident
pride that Celestin tells me, This concession
was bought by my father in 1980. It travels 800
meters [875 yards] along the road and extends
four miles into the forest. It was all bush when
he bought it. He had a good job with the Belgian company and saved up his money. I was
the third of ten children. We grew up with airconditioning, with a jeep, with sausage and
cheesewith all these beautiful things. It was
a privilege to grow up under such conditions,
when for all the other Congolese living along
the river, life is so difficult. We imitated the life
of Westerners. You see a white man starting a
plantation, and you think, Even if I cant be just
like him, at least I can start a small plantation of
my own and feed my family on my own.
Celestin points off (Continued on page 100)
Congo River 93

Ebb and Flow

Colonialists ee, despots falland people on the banks of the Congo make use of whats
been left behind. In Lisala, birthplace of the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, children attend
school in the faded rooms of one of his former residences (top left). Elsewhere along the river,
villagers operate a mill (below) to process palm oil harvested from trees growing wild in an
abandoned plantation nearby. Some ways of life go on as they always have. Wagenia shermen
still craft enormous traps to snare sh in the roiling rapids outside of Kisangani (bottom left),
just as they did when the explorer Henry Morton Stanley rst observed them during his famous
voyage down the river in 1877.

Congo River 95

New pirogues attract buyers at the biggest market on the Congo for these dugout canoes, near Bumba.
Builders trek deep into the jungle for suitable trees; sales allow them to live slightly above subsistence level.

Children learn to paddle pirogues at a young age. This boys family built a small temporary home on the banks
of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo, to catch sh in the river and in a nearby lake.

Engine trouble and other mishaps delayed the Kwema Express during its voyage
up the Congo. After eight months the barge nally reached Kisangani.

into the forest. It was there, he says, that he and

his family hid for a month in 1999, living off bananas and cassavas and occasionally bush meat,
while the Congolese rebels ransacked the family
home. Life isnt comparable to the period before the war, he says. But, he adds, I must continue with the plantation. Its important for my
children. Plantations are stable. You can eat and
send your kids to a decent school and be present
to help educate them. Its not much, but youre
stable. He says that he sells his palm oil to the
American plantation company for a decidedly
monopolistic price. In the past few years both
100national geographic octobe r

2015

his prots and his dignity have taken a hit. He

would like to recover both.
Lately hes considered expanding his rubber
holdings and getting into cacao, which would require $10,000 in seed money. Or starting a dairy
farm, necessitating $1,500 for ve cows. Perhaps,
he suggests, I could be his partner. Or I could
nd someone from the Westnot a sponsor, an
investorthough his expression is downcast as
he admits that Bingas best days, such as they
were, are in the past and that the future for his
12-year-old son, Celestin Jr., must lie elsewhere.
I
 want my boy to stay here in Binga, to develop

himself, Celestin says. Then he can go find

the good life. Maybe in Europe or America. Not
here, unfortunately.
During my last day on the Congo River the
weather is placid, and we are proceeding briskly

A contributing writer for National

Geographic, Robert Draper has
written more than a dozen stories for
the magazine, traveling to locales as
varied as Madagascars rain forests
and Greeces monasteries.

downstream, when another motorized pirogue

roars up from the far shoreline. In it are four
young men in camouflage uniforms, bearing
AK-47s. They are hollering in Lingala. One of
them ropes our boats together. Two of them
step aboard, holding their ries at their hips.
Their eyes widen when they see two Westerners. The scenario is a familiar one; it usually
doesnt end well.
The young men claim to be policemen of
some sort. They say that we deliberately skirted their village without stopping to register.
We are unauthorized, they maintain. Our xers
and the pirogue captain are all prideful young
men who yell back at them. Pascal and I beg for
calm. Our ANR passenger remains, as always,
exquisitely useless.
We are a mere 30 miles from our destination, Mbandaka, where I plan to catch a ight
to Kinshasha. The 345,000 inhabitants of that
port city might as well be on another continent.
The river at this juncture is a mile wide. Its sovereignty is its wildness. One does as one must.
The pirogue that these men have intercepted
carries two laptops, four cameras, thousands of
dollars in cash, and eight human lives. We are
not going to win this. The only question is how
much we will lose.
After 30 minutes, a few cigarettes, a couple
of bottles of water, and a dialogue that settles
into a kind of fatigued stalemate before taking a
weirdly jovial turnHey, you like Congo? I like
America!the young men finally name their
price. Their outboard motor is out of gas. And
so they would like a full tank. And ten dollars.
A fair price. We shake handsit was only river
commerce, after alland then wave goodbye as
the grinning young men with their guns swerve
away from us, eventually disappearing into the
silver-dark current somewhere beyond.j
What amazed you about
life on the Congo River?
I was most surprised
by the nearly complete
absence of infrastructure
in the river villages we

visited. Life there may

seem sweet and simple
to the passerby, but
in truth, its one of deprivation, with virtually no
economic opportunity.

REBECCA HALE, NGM STAFF

Congo River 101

In the La Mosquitia region

of Honduras, former British
Special Air Service ofcer
Andrew Wood machetes a trail
to ruins of a pre-Columbian
city, rst detected from the air
by a technology called lidar.

102

El Dorado. Atlantis.
The Lost City of Z.
Legends of such fabled
places have enticed
generations of explorers
into the most remote
locations on Earth.
Usually they return
empty-handed, if
they return at all. But
sometimes the pursuit
of a myth leads to
a real discovery.

Lure
of the

Lost
City

In the ruins archaeologists

discovered a cache of stone
objects, possibly left as an
offering. They include jars
decorated with the images
of vultures and snakes.

By Douglas Preston
Photographs by DaveYoder

n February 18, 2015,

a military helicopter
lifted off from a shabby airstrip near the
town of Catacamas,
Honduras, and headed toward the mountains of La Mosquitia on the
northeast horizon. Below, farms gradually gave
way to steep sunlit slopes, some covered with
unbroken rain forest, others partially stripped
for cattle ranching. Picking his way through
the summits, the pilot headed for a V-shaped
notch in a distant ridge. Beyond it lay a valley
surrounded by serrated peaks: an unblemished
landscape of emerald and gold, dappled with
the drifting shadows of clouds. Flocks of egrets
ew below, and the treetops thrashed with the
movement of unseen monkeys. There were no
signs of human lifenot a road, a trail, or a wisp
of smoke. The pilot banked and descended, aiming for a clearing along a riverbank.
Among those stepping from the helicopter
was an archaeologist named Chris Fisher. The
valley was in a region long rumored to harbor
Ciudad Blancaa mythic metropolis built of
white stone, also known as the Lost City of the
Monkey God. Fisher did not believe in such legends. But he did believe that the valley, known
to him and his companions simply as T1, contained the ruins of a real lost city, abandoned
for at least half a millennium. In fact, he was
certain of it.
All they had to do was go and look for it.
106national geographic octobe r

2015

Tune in Sunday, October 4 to National

Geographic Channels Explorer series for
more on the ongoing quest in Mosquitia.

Covering 20,000 square miles in Honduras and Nicaragua, Mosquitia

contains the largest rain forest in Central America and some of the last
areas on Earth that scientists have yet to explore. The importance of
this place cant be overestimated, says ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin.

lost city 107

Archaeology
from above

Technology called lidar is revolutionizing

archaeology. By measuring the distance light
travels to the ground and back, researchers
can digitally strip away the canopy from
forested areas like Mosquitia, in Honduras
revealing ancient settlements.

2,000 FT
CONSTANT ALTITUDE
ABOVE GROUND LEVEL

Canopy Researchers use sophisticated

software to translate the reflected laser
points in the point cloud to create a model
of the forest canopy.

LIGHT PULSES
Lidar, or light
detection and ranging
technology, directs
hundreds of thousands
of pulses of light
toward the ground.

CLOUD CREATION
Most beams of light
reflect off the forest
canopy (A); a few
reach the ground and
reflect back through
gaps in the canopy (B).
Recording how long it
takes the light to return
to the device produces
a point cloud.

Ground By identifying the laser points

that reach and reflect off the ground,
researchers produce bare-earth
topographic models.

A
CANOPY

PLAZA
TERRACES

449 ft
(137 m)

B
GROUND

DIAGRAM NOT TO SCALE

RUINS

MANUEL CANALES, NGM STAFF; AMANDA HOBBS. ART: GREG HARLIN. DIGITAL RENDERING: STEFAN FICHTEL
SOURCES: JUAN CARLOS FERNNDEZ-DIAZ, NCALM/UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON;
CHRISTOPHER T. FISHER, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY; ALICIA M. GONZLEZ; UTL PRODUCTIONS

Signs of Life? Experts then look for traces

of man-made structures or human-induced
changes to the landscape to identify
promising sites for excavation.

BUILDINGS
Large thatched-roof
structures likely had
stone foundations;
smaller ones were made
of wood and earth.

LOST CITY ILLUMINATED

An artist used lidar data to portray structures
surveyed in the T1 valley in Mosquitia during
the February 2015 expedition. Many more
features remain to be mapped and explored.

TERRACES
Farmers cut terraces
into the land, making
it easier to grow and
harvest crops.

PLAZA
Open areas anked
by mounds were
probably used for
large gatherings.

MOUNDS
Earthen mounds of
different shapes and
sizes are scattered
throughout the site.
They likely supported
structures.

EARTHEN
PYRAMID

CANALS
Evidence hints
that canals were
dug to irrigate
agricultural areas.

CACHE
Fifty-two artifacts, including
a stone seat decorated with the
head of a jaguar, were found
poking out of the ground at the
base of an earthen pyramid.

The Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua holds the largest rain forest in Central
America, covering some 20,000 square miles
of dense vegetation, swamps, and rivers. From
above it may look inviting, but anyone venturing into it faces a host of dangers: deadly
snakes, hungry jaguars, and noxious insects,
some carrying potentially lethal diseases. The
persistence of the myth of a hidden White City
owes a great deal to the forbidding nature of this
wilderness. But the origin of the legend is obscure. Explorers, prospectors, and early aviators
spoke of glimpsing the white ramparts of a ruined city rising above the jungle; others repeated

The museums third expedition, led by an

eccentric journalist named Theodore Morde,
landed in Honduras in 1940. Morde emerged
from the jungle ve months later with crates
of artifacts. The City of the Monkey God was
walled, Morde wrote. We traced one wall until it vanished under mounds that have all the
evidence of once being great buildings. Morde
declined to reveal the location, for fear, he said,
of looting, but he promised to return the following year to begin excavations. He never did,
and in 1954 he hanged himself in a shower stall.
His city, if there was one, remains unidentied.
In subsequent decades archaeology in

Explorers, prospectors, and aviators

spoke of glimpsing the ramparts of a ruined
city rising above the jungle.
tales, rst recorded by Hernn Corts in 1526,
of fabulously rich towns hidden in the Honduran interior. Anthropologists who spent time
with the Miskito, Pech, and Tawahka Indians of
Mosquitia heard stories of a White House, a
refuge where indigenous people retreated from
the Spanish conquest, never to be seen again.
Mosquitia lies on the frontier of Mesoamerica, adjacent to the realm of the Maya. While
the Maya are among the most studied of ancient cultures in the Americas, the people of
Mosquitia are among the most mysteriousa
question mark embodied by the legend of the
White City. Over time the myth became a part
of the Honduran national consciousness. By
the 1930s Ciudad Blanca had also captured the
imagination of the American public, and in
many quarters it was taken seriously. Several
expeditions were launched to nd it, including
three by the Museum of the American Indian in
New York City nanced by George Gustav Heye,
an avid collector of Native American artifacts.
The first two came back with rumors of a lost
city containing a giant statue of a monkey god,
waiting to be unearthed.
110national geographic octobe r

2015

Mosquitia was impeded not only by tough conditions but also by a generally accepted belief
that the rain forest soils of Central and South
America were too poor to support more than
scattered hunter-gatherers, certainly too poor
to maintain the intensive agriculture necessary to develop complex hierarchical societies.
This was true despite the fact that when archaeologists rst began to explore Mosquitia
in the 1930s, they uncovered some settlements,
suggesting that the area was once occupied
by a widespread, sophisticated culturenot
surprising, considering that the region lay at
the crossroads of trade and travel between the
Maya and other Mesoamericans to the north
and west, and the powerful Chibcha-speaking
cultures to the south.
The Mosquitia people took on aspects of
Maya culture, laying out their cities in vaguely
Maya fashion. They probably adopted the famous Mesoamerican ball game, a ritual contest
sometimes involving human sacrice. But their
exact relationship to their imposing neighbors
remains unknown. Some archaeologists have
proposed that a group of Maya warriors from

Lidar helped researchers uncover ancient settlements in three

valleys in Honduras inhabited by a little-known culture to the east
of Mesoamerica. The region surrounding the valleys was later
designated the Mosquitia Patrimonial Heritage Preserve.

Honduran
archaeological site

BELIZE

Approximate extent
of Mesoamerica

ah
la B
s de
a
l
s
I

84W
C a
r i
b b
e a
n

86

16
S

GUATEMALA

RO PLTANO
BIOSPHERE
RESERVE

Agun

a
t i
u i
q
s
M o
TAWAHKA ASANGNI
BIOSPHERE RESERVE

Ul

HONDURAS

Cerro Las Minas

Catacamas
ca

Copn

t
Pa

9,347 ft
2,849 m

Tegucigalpa

Mosquitia Patrimonial
Heritage Preserve

co
Co

San Salvador
EL SALVADOR
NICARAGUA

PA

CIF

IC

O CE

50

0 mi

AN

Copn may have taken control of Mosquitia,

ruling as an elite over the local population. Others think that the local culture simply embraced
the characteristics of an adjacent, impressive
civilization.
One important distinction between the two
cultures was the Mosquitia peoples choice of
building materials. There is no evidence yet that
they built with cut stone, constructing their public edices instead out of river cobbles, earth,
wood, and wattle and daub. When these buildings were decorated and painted, they may have
been as remarkable as some of the great temples
of the Maya. But once abandoned, they dissolved
in the rain and rotted away, leaving unimpressive mounds of dirt and rubble that were quickly
swallowed by vegetation. The disappearance of
this splendid architecture could explain why this
culture remains so marginalized, according to
Christopher Begley of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, who has carried out
Q Society Grant Your National Geographic Society
membership is helping fund a Honduran-American
expedition to excavate the artifacts in Mosquitia.

0 km

NORTH
AMERICA
AREA
ENLARGED
E QUA
TOR
SOUTH
PACIFIC AMERICA
OCEAN

14N

50

archaeological surveys in the Mosquitia region.

The culture is still so under-studied that it has
not been given a formal name.
There is much we dont know about this
great culture, Oscar Neil Cruz told me. Mexican by birth, Neil is chief of archaeology for the
Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH). What we dont know, in fact, is
almost everything.
When so little is known, anything is possible. In the mid-1990s a documentary lmmaker
named Steve Elkins became captivated by the
legend of the White City, and embarked on an
effort to nd it. He spent years poring through
reports from explorers, archaeologists, gold
prospectors, drug smugglers, and geologists. He
mapped out which areas of Mosquitia had been
explored and which had not. He hired scientists
at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California, to analyze reams of data
from Landsat and radar images of Mosquitia,
looking for signs of ancient settlements. The
JPL report showed what might be rectilinear
and curvilinear features in three valleys, which

JEROME N. COOKSON, NGM STAFF; AMANDA HOBBS. SOURCES: CHRISTOPHER BEGLEY, TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY; OSCAR NEIL CRUZ, HONDURAN INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
AND HISTORY; JUAN CARLOS FERNNDEZ-DIAZ, NCALM/UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON; CHRISTOPHER T. FISHER, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY; UTL PRODUCTIONS

Among the artifacts found is a carved facepart jaguar, part human

about the size of a st. Excavation of the site could provide clues to an
ancient culture so little known it has no name.

112national geographic octobe r

2015

Elkins labeled T1, T2, and T3, the T standing for

target. The rst was an unexplored river valley
surrounded by ridges, forming a natural bowl.
I just thought, Elkins said, that if I were a
king, this would be the perfect place to hide my
kingdom. But the images were inconclusive;
he would need a better way to peer through the
dense jungle canopy.
Then, in 2010, Elkins read an article in Archaeology magazine that described how a technique called lidar (short for light detection and
ranging) had been used to map the Maya city
of Caracol, in Belize. Lidar works by bouncing
hundreds of thousands of pulses of infrared
laser beams off the rain forest below, recording the point location of each reflection. The
three-dimensional point cloud can be manipulated with software to remove the pulses that
hit trees and undergrowth, leaving an image
composed only of pulses reaching the underlying terrainincluding the outlines of archaeological features. In just ve days of scanning,
lidar revealed that Caracol was seven times
larger than had been thought from 25 years of
on-the-ground surveying.
One downside of lidar is its expense. The
Caracol survey had been carried out by the
National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping
(NCALM) at the University of Houston. For
NCALM to scan just the 55 square miles of the
three valleys would cost a quarter of a million
dollars. Fortunately, by this time Elkinss unbounded eagerness to nd the White City had
infected Bill Benenson, another lmmaker, who
was so taken with the project that he decided he
would nance it himself.
The initial results were astonishing. There
appeared to be ruins strung along several miles
of the T1 valley. (I reported on this initial discovery in the New Yorker magazine in 2013.) A
site twice the size was evident in T3. Although
the larger structures were readily apparent,
a finer analysis of the images would require
the eye of an archaeologist skilled in the use
of lidar. Elkins and Benenson turned to Chris
Fisher, a specialist on Mesoamerica at Colorado
State University.
lost city 113

Makings of a myth

PHOTOGRAPHED AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE

AMERICAN INDIAN, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, BY
(CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT) ERNEST AMOROSO (7274);
MARK THIESSEN, NGM STAFF (202824, 202823, 202825)

The stone armadillo below from Mosquitia helped inspire collector George Gustav Heye
to dispatch Theodore Morde and others in the 1930s and 40s to search for a legendary
White City hidden in the jungle. Morde returned with artifacts including the ceramic
gurines seen hereand news, never conrmed, that the city had been found.

lost city 115

Which is how Fisher came to be standing on

the bank of an unnamed river in T1 in February
2015, staring at the wall of jungle on the other
side and eager to plunge in.
From the moment Fisher saw the lidar images, he was hooked. He had used the technology to map Angamuco, an ancient city of
the erce Purpecha (Tarascan) people, who
rivaled the Aztec in central Mexico from around
A.D. 1000 until the arrival of the Spanish in the
early 1500s. While the communities of the
Mexican highlands in pre-Columbian America were densely packed, those in the tropics
tended to be spread out across the landscape
ancient Los Angeleses, as opposed to Manhattans. Nevertheless, the sites in T1 and T3 looked
substantialcertainly the largest settlements
mapped so far in Mosquitia. The core area in
T3 was almost one and a half square miles
nearly the size of the central area of Copn, the
Maya city to the west. T1s center was smaller
but more concentrated, appearing to consist of
ten large plazas, dozens of associated mounds,
roads, farming terraces, irrigation canals, a reservoir, and a possible pyramid. Because of the
evident ceremonial architecture, earthworks,
and multiple plazas, Fisher had no doubt that
both locations t the archaeological denition
of a city, a settlement showing complex social
organization, with clear divisions of space, intimately connected to its hinterlands. Cities
have special ceremonial functions and are associated with intensive agriculture, he told me.
And they usually involved major, monumental
reconstruction of the environment.
In their quixotic attempt to locate a (probably) mythical White City, Elkins and Benenson
apparently had found two very real ancient cities. With the help of the Honduran government,
they gathered a team capable of penetrating the
jungle to ground-truth what the lidar images
had identied. Besides Fisher, who had more
experience than anyone else in using lidar imagery to know where to look and what to look for
on the ground, the team had two other archaeologists, including the IHAHs Oscar Neil Cruz;
116national geographic octobe r

2015

an anthropologist; a lidar engineer; two ethnobotanists; a geochemist; and a geographer. Also

along were Elkinss camera crew and a team
from National Geographic.
The logistics were dauntingaside from having to contend with snakes, insects, mud, and
incessant rain, we would risk contracting malaria, dengue fever, and a smorgasbord of other
tropical diseases. (The Editors Note in this issue recounts the impact on the expedition team
of leishmaniasis, a potentially lethal parasitic
disease transmitted by a tiny sand y.)
To ease the way, Elkins and Benenson had
hired three ex-British Special Air Service (SAS)
officers who had formed a company specializing
in shepherding lm crews in dangerous areas.
They were dropped rst at the site to clear landing and camp areas with machetes and chain
saws while the helicopter returned to Catacamas to shuttle in Fisher and the others. Andrew
Woody Wood, leader of the support team, later told me that as they worked, animalsa tapir,
jungle fowl, and spider monkeyswandered
about or gathered in the trees above, seemingly
unafraid. Ive never seen anything like it, he
said. I dont think these animals have ever seen
human beings.
Wood had chosen a raised terrace behind the
landing zone as the site for the base camp, set up
amid giant trees, accessible by crossing a bridge
of logs laid over a mudhole, with a climb up an
embankment. Because of the danger of snakes
the highly venomous fer-de-lance, often referred
to as the ultimate pit viper, are particularly
worrisome; they sometimes flee when disturbed, but they can also turn around and chase
down an intruderhe had forbidden anyone
to leave the camp unescorted. But Fisher was
impatient; accustomed to dangerous eldwork
at his Mexican site, he threatened to explore
on his own. In late afternoon, Wood agreed to a
quick reconnaissance of the ruins. The advance
team assembled on the riverbank in full jungle
kit, wearing snake gaiters and stinking of insect
repellent. A Trimble GPS unit, in which Fisher
had downloaded the lidar maps, showed his exact location in relation to the presumed ruins.

Archaeologist Oscar Neil Cruz (top) carefully brushes forest litter from a stone shortly after
entering the ruins in Mosquitia. It proved to be one of some 50 at stones (above) encircling a plaza
the rst architectural elements discovered at the site. Their purpose is still unknown.
lost city 117

The unexcavated artifacts

include carved stone seats
called metates. Honduran
President Juan Orlando
Hernndez has ordered a
military presence at the site
to protect it from looters.

Consulting the GPS, Fisher called directions

to Wood, who whacked a trail through a thicket
of false bird-of-paradise, showering the group
with blossoms. The forest thrummed with the
sounds of birds, frogs, toads, and insects. We
forded two mudholes, one thigh-deep, climbed
the bluffs above the oodplain, and arrived at
the base of a steep, jungle-clad prominencethe
edge of the presumed city. Lets go to the top,
Fisher said. The ground-truthing had begun.
Clinging to vines and roots, we ascended the
slippery, leaf-strewn slope. At the summit, thick
with vegetation, Fisher pointed out a subtle but
unmistakable rectangular depression, which he

Surrounded by the immense trees and the silent

moundsremnants of another people, another
timeI felt the connection to the present moment melt away. A clamor in the upper treetops
announced the beginning of a downpour. Several minutes elapsed before the rain reached the
ground. Soon we were soaked.
Fisher, wielding his machete, hiked north
with Neil and Juan Carlos Fernndez-Diaz,
the teams lidar engineer, to map more plazas
of the city. Anna Cohen, a doctoral candidate
from the University of Washington, and Alicia Gonzlez, the expeditions anthropologist,
stayed behind to clear vegetation away from

The nds were in perfect condition,

likely untouched since theyd been left
behind centuries before.
believed to be the outline of a building. Kneeling down for a better look, Neil uncovered what
appeared to be evidence of deliberate construction, supporting the interpretation of it as an
earthen pyramid. Fisher was elated. Its just
as I thought, he said. All this terrain has been
modied by human hands.
Fisher and Wood led the team down from
the pyramid into what Fisher hoped was one
of the citys ten plazas, or large public spaces.
As we entered the area, we found a stretch of
rain forest as articially level as a soccer eld.
Linear mounds surrounded it on three sides,
the remains of walls and buildings. A gully cut
through the plaza, exposing a surface paved with
stones. Crossing the plaza, we discovered on the
far side a row of at, altar-like stones perched on
tripods of white boulders. The thick vegetation,
however, continued to block any sense of the
layout or scale of the ancient city. With the sun
beginning to set, we returned to camp.
We awoke the next morning and set off to
explore again, a thick fog reverberating with
the calls of howler monkeys. Mats of vines and
dripping owers hung down in the green gloom.
120national geographic octobe r

2015

the row of stones. Toward afternoon Fisher and

his group returned, having mapped three more
plazas and many mounds. Everyone drank a
round of hot, milky tea in the pouring rain.
Wood ordered a return to camp, concerned that
the river might be rising. The team departed in
single le. Suddenly cameraman Lucian Read,
near the end of the line, called out.
Hey, there are some weird stones over here.
At the base of the pyramid, just poking out
of the ground, were the tops of dozens of beautifully carved stone sculptures. The objects,
glimpsed among leaves and vines, and covered
with moss, took shape in the jungle twilight: the
snarling head of a jaguar, a stone vessel decorated with a vultures head, large jars carved
with snakes, and a cluster of objects that looked
like decorated thrones or tables, which archaeologists call metates. All the artifacts were in
perfect condition, likely untouched since theyd
been left behind centuries before.
There were shouts of astonishment. People
crowded around, bumping into one another.
Fisher quickly took charge, ordering everyone
back and roping off the area with police tape.

But he was just as jazzed as the others, maybe

more so. Although similar objects were wellknown from other parts of Mosquitia, most were
one-offs found long ago by Morde and others or
dug up and carted off by local people or looters.
Certainly no such cache had been recorded in
the literature. There were 52 objects showing
abovegroundand who knows how many more
below the surface.
This is a powerful ritual display, said Fisher,
taking wealth objects like this out of circulation
and leaving them here, perhaps as an offering.
In the days that followed, the team of archaeologists recorded each object in situ. Using a
tripod-mounted lidar device, Fernndez scanned
the artifacts as well, creating 3-D images of each.
Nothing was touched, nothing removed: That
would wait for another time, when the team
could return with the proper equipment and
time to do a careful excavation.
At the time of this writing, another, more
extensive expedition is indeed being planned,
with the full support of the Honduran government. Plagued by narcotics trafficking and the
accompanying violence, Honduras is a poor
country in need of good news. Ciudad Blanca,
the White City, may be a legendbut anything
that brings that story closer to reality generates great excitement; it is a point of collective
pride, an affirmation of the peoples connection to their pre-Columbian past. Upon learning of the discovery of the cache, Juan Orlando
Hernndez, the president of Honduras, ordered
a full-time military unit to the site to guard it
against looters. Several weeks later he helicoptered in to see it rsthand, and pledged that his
government would do whatever it takes to further not only the investigation and protection of
the valleys cultural heritage but the ecological
patrimony of the surrounding region as well.
The investigation has only begun. Most of
the T1 valley remains to be surveyed, and the
even more extensive ruins in T3 have not been
approached. And who knows what lies beneath
the jungle canopy veiling the rest of Mosquitia?
In recent years there has been a fundamental

change in the way archaeologists think preColumbian people inhabited tropical landscapes. In the old view, sparsely populated
human settlements were dots on a mostly unoccupied terrain. In the new view, settlements
were densely populated, with far less empty
space between them.
Even in this remote jungle environment,
said Fisher, where people wouldnt expect it,
there were dense populations living in cities
thousands of people. That is profound.
What we still have to learn about the former
inhabitants of Mosquitia is practically unlimited. But the time to learn it may not be. In February, as we ew out of T1 back to Catacamas,
within just a few miles the unbroken rain forest
gave way to slopes scarred by clearings for cattle ranchingugly, threadbare patches on an
otherwise luxurious coat. Virgilio Paredes, the
director of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History, under whose auspices the
expedition operated, calculated that at the present rate, clear-cutting will reach the T1 valley in
eight years or less, destroying possible cultural
treasures and leaving others open to rampant
looting. President Hernndez has pledged to
protect the region from deforestation as well
as looting, in part by establishing the Mosquitia
Patrimonial Heritage Preserve, an area of about
785 square miles surrounding the valleys surveyed by lidar. But the issue is delicate. Though
the cutting is illegalthe area is supposedly
protected within the Tawahka Asangni and Ro
Pltano Biosphere Reservescattle ranching is
an economic boon and a cherished tradition in
this part of Honduras.
If the discoveries in T1 tip the scale toward
preservation, then it doesnt matter whether
the White City is real or myth. The search for it
has led to riches.j
Dave Yoder seems to have a
thing for ancient citieshe also
shot Augusts cover story on Pope
Francis. In many ways, he says,
the Vatican was more difficult to
penetrate than the jungle.
lost city 121

SEA
WOLVES
At Canadas western edge,
beachcombing wolves swim
between islands, eating
whatever the sea serves up.

122

This wolf took a break from

eating herring roe to investigate
a half-submerged object:
the photographers camera.
IAN MCALLISTER, PACIFIC WILD

Tides dictate coastal wolves foraging

habits on British Columbias ocean
islands. What morsels will wash ashore?
Tide pools offer crabs, clams, barnacles,
and other tidbits. A whale carcass can
feed a family of wolves for a week.

By Susan McGrath
Photographs by Paul Nicklen

ou feeling lucky?
Ian McAllister calls.
Were standing on a speck of an island, eight
miles west of the British Columbia mainland.
Wooded, windswept, its one of thousands of
islands along this storm-scoured coast, naught
but a series of seal-draped rocks between this
one and Japan. The April wind whips away my
bark of disbelief that luck would come my way,
and besides, McAllisterenvironmental activist, photographer, wolf whispererhas already
made up his mind. He settles into the windrow
of bleached driftwood at the high tide line, and
so do I. Before us, a gravel tide bar some hundred yards long connects our little island to
another. Ensconced in our bony nests, we scan
the far islands twisty green-gold Sitka spruce
and cedar, the bladder wrack and eelgrass. And
just like that, luck strikes.
A pale stick figure of a wolf steps out of the
salals and picks its way down the bank to the
beach opposite us. With its muzzle, it pokes at
the eelgrass. It plants a paw on something, tears
at it with its teetha dead salmon maybe. Then
another wolf materializes alongside the rst. The
two touch muzzles, turn to the gravel bar, and
126national geographic Octobe r

2015

Smaller than their

inland kin, wolves like
this once roamed
much of the West
Coast. Today theyre
found only in British
Columbia and
southeastern Alaska.

begin to plod across its tide pools in our direction.

In our collective imaginations, wolves lope
across the tundra after caribou or weave through
timber in Big Sky country or stalk stray sheep.
Theyre carnivores, hunting deer, moose, mountain goats, caribou, and anything else running
about on hooves. Indeed, wolves barely more
than howling distance inland make their living
that way. But not out here. On the outer coast of
British Columbia, whole generations of wolves
have never seen a mountain goat or a moose.
Some may have never seen a deer.
For decades headlines across the West have
howled about wolvestheir comebacks, their

setbacks, the debate about whether and how to

manage them. Theyve been studied, profiled,
vilified, and glorified. Youd think by this time
wed know all there is to know about them. But
aside from Homo sapiens, there are few mammals more adaptable or more diverse in their
habitats than Canis lupus. And these wolves of
the British Columbia coast appear to be unique.
Chris Darimont, from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, has spent over ten years developing a ne-grain picture of coastal wolves,
which he lightheartedly calls Canadas newest
marine mammal. New to science, he means.
Halfway across the land bridge now, the pair

of unlikely marine mammals paces into focus.

The wolf on the right is nearly white with age.
Alpha female, McAllister calls out. The fur on
her face is worn to fuzz, like a childs old stuffed
toy. Her eyes are bald, round buttons. The other
wolf, an alpha male, is an Adonistawny, with
a loose mantle of black-tipped fur. The wolves
reach our beach. Closer. Bigger. At last the matriarch stops, looks up. She coughs a growly, hostile
chuff and disappears up the beach.
Adonis raises his head, loses his slump, pins
me with his amber eyesand keeps coming.
Slow, deliberate, boldignoring McAllister and
coming straight at me.
S e a Wo lv e s  127

An island pack devours a dead sea lion.

Wolves cant catch sea lions and seals
in the water; instead they swim out and
snag them as theyre hauled out on
rocks. These wolves, unlike inland ones,
dont need to rely on deer for food but
will hunt them where theyre plentiful.
IAN MCALLISTER, PACIFIC WILD

Even if you offered the prize of a pound of

smoked salmon, most Canadians couldnt tell
you much about British Columbias remote coast.
Vancouver Island bookends it to the south, the
big Haida Gwaii Islands and southeast Alaska
to the west and north, respectively. In between,
open to the full fury of the Pacic, lies this coast.
It stretches 250 miles as the raven ies. But glaciers raked deep fjords here during the last ice
age, gouging a steep-sided labyrinthine and ngerlike tidal coastline. Icy, plankton-rich ocean
currents bathe it, sustaining an extraordinary

These wolves are

beachcombers. They chew
barnacles, scarf up the roe
that herring lay on kelp,
and feast on dead whales.
abundance of life in the seawhales, seabirds,
salmon, sea lions, sealsand on land, grizzly and
black bears, including the fantastic white variant,
the Kermode, or spirit bear. A misty temperate
rain forest of conifers shrouds it all, from waterline to Coast Mountains crest. Its roughly 25,000
square miles in areaa Switzerland-and-a-half of
forestone of the biggest swaths of its kind left
in the world. Its called the Great Bear Rainforest.
In the early 2000s Ian McAllister and Canadian wolf biologist Paul Paquet became intrigued
when they saw coastal mainland wolves eating
salmon. With local First Nations support, they
recruited graduate student Chris Darimont to
investigate. Darimont narrowed his study area
to Heiltsuk First Nations territory on the central coastone-third of it water, the rest largely
roadless, dense with towering Sitka spruce and
cedar, and often extremely steep. Darimont and
Paquet ditched the traditional approach of collecting blood and hair directly from the animal.
Q Society Grant This project was funded in part by
your National Geographic Society membership.

130national geographic Octobe r

2015

We collected poop, Darimont tells me.

Wolf scat, he means, and also wolf hair, veritable libraries of data about home range, sex,
diet, genetics, and other variables. Wolves are
deliberate poopers, not random like deer, Darimont says, and they use travel corridors very
reliably. Wolves anal glands add oily deposits
to scat, appending messages intended for other wolves. They favor posting their messages
conspicuously, especially at trail intersections,
where one missive gets twice the readership.
Id throw a mountain bike out of the boat
onto a logging road or game trail and spend ten
sweaty hours scat hunting, Darimont says.
Ten years, innumerable poop jokes, more
than 3,000 miles, and 7,000 samples later
autoclaved, washed, bagged, labeled, and eventually stored in Darimonts mothers basement
the feces began to deliver the facts.
The data from coastal wolves along the mainland quantied what many locals already knew:
Wolves eat salmon. In spawning season the sh
make up 25 percent of these wolves diet.
The shocker came from the rest of the data.
Going in, Darimont and Paquet had assumed
that the coastal wolves on the islands were simply normal wolves that moved between islands
and the mainland, pushing on whenever theyd
polished off the deer. Instead the data showed
that wolves can spend their whole lives on outer
islands that have no salmon runs and few or even
no deer. These wolves are more likely to mate
with other islanders, not with salmon-eaters.
And theyre beachcombers. They chew barnacles. Scarf up the gluey roe that herring lay on
kelp. Feast on whales that wash up dead. Swim
out into the ocean and clamber nimbly up onto
rocks to pounce on basking seals. As much as 90
percent of these wolves diet can come directly
from the sea, Darimont says.
Most extraordinary is the wolves swimming
prowess. They often swim across miles of ocean
between islands. In 1996 wolves showed up on
Dundas Islands for the rst time in the Tsimshian peoples long collective memoryeight
miles from the nearest land.
Paquet says these types of coastal wolves

U
CA .S.
NA
DA

Mt. St. Elias

18,009 ft
5,489 m

YU
Yakutat

KO

PACI F I C
OCE AN

Skagway

CANA
DA

AREA
ENLARGED

U.S.

No wolves

Juneau

LA

Sitka

COASTAL
CANINES

Gray wolves have adapted to

the diverse ecosystem of British
Columbias Coast Mountains
since the end of the last ice age.
In the temperate rain forests outer
shores live two types of coastal
wolves that researchers suggest
diverged from a common gray
wolf ancestor into whats called
an evolutionarily significant unit,
or ESU, worthy of conservation.

Ketchikan
D

ix

on

En

tr a

nc

Kitsault

Dundas
Islands

HAIDA
No wolves

Kitimat

Tsimshian
Nation

Stra

BEAR

it

Queen

Coastal Wolf, ESU

Heiltsuk
Nation

Sound

Charlotte Bella Bella

Coastal
island

GREAT
Hecate

GWAII

Prince Rupert

RAINFOREST

Coastal
mainland

B
CO RI
LU TIS
M H
BI
A

Common
ancestor

Interior

MATTHEW TWOMBLY, NGM STAFF; EVAN APPLEGATE

0 km

Campbell River
ISLAND

Refinery
50

0 mi

SOURCES: CHRIS DARIMONT, RAINCOAST CONSERVATION

FOUNDATION; VIOLETA MUOZ-FUENTES AND JENNIFER A.
LEONARD, DOANA BIOLOGICAL STATION; ALASKA GAP
ANALYSIS PROJECT; BRITISH COLUMBIA MINISTRY OF
FORESTS, LANDS, AND NATURAL RESOURCE OPERATIONS;
NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; U.S. FOREST SERVICE

VANCOUVER

Shipping terminal

Proposed oil and gas

infrastructure

Genetic differences and factors like diet

and habitat are weighed when defining
ecological types. Coastal wolves, with
small genetic differences but strong environmental adaptations, likely constitute
a separate group from interior wolves.

Squamish

50

Vancouver
Victoria

CA
N

AD
A

U.S

Relatives babysit youngsters at rendezvous sites, and their parents bring them
food until theyre old enough to hunt
and beachcombwith the pack. Coastal
wolves can get as much as 90 percent of
their food from the sea.

arent an anomaly, theyre a remnant. Theres

little doubt these wolves once lived along Washington States coast too. Humans wiped them out.
They still live on islands in southeast Alaska, but
theyre heavily persecuted there. British Columbia permits almost unfettered hunting of wolves,
but the vast, nearly roadless forest, low human
population, and First Nations tenure along
this coast have made the Great Bear wolves
chances for survival look halcyon compared with
the outlook for southeast Alaskas wolves.
Despite these advantages, and despite the

An energy project aims to

run pipelines from Albertas
tar sands. The specter of
the Exxon Valdez disaster
haunts many on this coast.
wolves impressive adaptability, their prospects
are changing.
A controversial energy project called the
Northern Gateway Pipelines aims to bring twin
pipelines from Albertas tar sands across the
Coast Mountains and down to a new terminal
on a fjord far up into the provinces northern
coast. With the pipelines working at capacity, nearly every day a tanker could be making
the perilous inland passage. At the same time
multiple shipping terminals for liqueed natural gas from Canadas fracking elds are on the
drawing board, promising even more tankers
in these waters. The oily specter of the 1989
Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound
haunts many on this coast. In a rare display of
accord, dozens of First Nations bands officially

The photography of Paul Nicklen,

a frequent National Geographic
contributor, focuses on the delicate
relationship between healthy
ecosystems and marine wildlife
particularly in polar environments.
CRISTINA MITTERMEIER

The wolves will scarf

down whole salmon but
often eat just the nutritious brains. Biologist
Chris Darimont says
salmon offer more
protein and fat than deer
and they dont kick.

opposed the Northern Gateway project last year.

Will they have the clout to stop it? Our Nations
have been stewards of our homelands since time
before memory, says Jessie Housty, a young
Heiltsuk Tribal Council member whos actively
opposing the project. Northern Gateway cant
break 10,000 years and more of guardianship.

Were the wolves

difcult to photograph?
Contrary to our perceptions, the wolves were
incredibly shy. I would
sleep by the river, after

seeing nothing all day,

and often hear the wolves
chasing salmon at night.
I had only three days of
productive shooting over
three months of trying.

Nevertheless, at such times, an ancient, rugged

coast can suddenly appear fragile.
The male wolf stalks nearer, closer. Bigger.
My eyes icker over to McAllister. His expression: impassive. Has he brought pepper spray? I
dont think so. I review in my mind what I know
about wolves. Does one look a wolf in the eye?
The wolf is close now, 20 feet from me and still
coming. Staring. Staring.
Then, as if breaching from the waves, a third
wolf porpoises up from below the driftwood
directly in front of mea younger, redder replica of Adonis. It slams an adoring cheek against

the males, whimpering ecstatically, nuzzling

his face from below in an exuberant display of
affection. For a moment longer Adoniss gaze
stays locked on mine. Then he turns to greet
the joyful youngster. The younger wolf ambles
toward the water and lies down on the sand. As
my eye follows the youngster, the alpha male
vanishes. And just as suddenly reappears at my
left, downwind of me, on my drift log. My breath
catches. He sniffs the air. Drills me with his eyes.
Then he abruptly loses interest in our conversation. He steps down to the beach, lies down near
his offspring, and gazes out across the wild gray
Pacic Ocean, where food comes from.j
S e a Wo lv e s  135

Coastal wolves live mostly unmolested

in a wild landscapefor now. Sixty percent
of Great Bear Rainforests old growth is
open to logging, and energy giants want
to send huge oil and gas tankers through
the coasts winding channels.

PROOF

A PHOTOGRAPHERS JOURNAL | proof.nationalgeographic.com

Abstraction Finds
Beauty in Beasts
Story and Photo Illustrations by
MICHAEL D. KERN

P


eople have an almost primeval fear of reptiles, amphibians, and

arachnids. As humans have evolved, weve learned to avoid these
animalsfor good reason, in many cases. That means most of us
never get to experience and appreciate their beauty. And some of
these species need our help. By using abstraction to remove fear
and prejudice, Im trying to help people see the beauty in the beast.
I start by shooting a portrait of an animal, then I deconstruct it into its
most basic elements: color, line, pattern, texture. Those isolated features are
the building blocks of a new image, which I alter in Photoshopmaking a
mirror image of a cropped portion, cropping a portion of the mirrored image,
and so on. The result is a pair of portraits: one abstract, one of reality.
I began this series almost by accident. I wanted to create a letterhead logo
for my photography business, and since Id always loved reptiles, I photographed an iguana. I thought one of its eyes was striking as a stand-alone
picture, but it wasnt the right size for the letterhead. So I tried mirroring the
image on top of itself. What emerged was both beautiful and surrealunlike
anything in nature, even though it was wholly based in nature.
Each abstraction I make is different; theres no formula. Sometimes it
takes just one crop and mirroring, and the image is complete; other times it
takes much more. And some dont work at all. But for me the journey is as interesting as the destination. Watching the image evolve with each iteration is
gratifying; I get to be both creator and observer of the process and its results.
At my shows I like to present the abstract images rst. Initially when
people look at them, I think they sense a tension between the prettiness of
a picture and their fear of the subject its made from. But as they realize its
just a picture, they creep closer, studying the details. When Im successful,
their fear changes to fascination. At this point I hope they can enjoy equally
the beauty of both the abstract and realistic images. I think thats the value
of what Im creating: getting people to open up and appreciate these animals,
which I hope might be a rst step toward protecting them.
A century ago the cubists reduced natural forms to their geometric equivalents and changed perceptions in the process. I hope that my work, like theirs,
can be understood on multiple levels: as a pretty picture, as a puzzle to piece
together, and as a means of empathizing with species that need saving.j

138

PROOF

A PHOTOGRAPHERS JOURNAL | proof.nationalgeographic.com

I consider myself an imagemaker

first and foremost; my job is
to make images that are both
beautiful and impactful. To me
the Abstract Reality series is
the best of both worlds. I get to
photograph these animals in their
purest form and then improvise to
create an alternative reality through
cropping and mirroring features,
such as the face and legs of a
Johnstons three-horned chameleon (A) and the head and plumage
of a Temmincks tragopan (B).

BOTTOM LEFT: PHOTOGRAPHED AT PANDEMONIUM

AVIARIES, LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA

140national geographic Octobe r

2015

Abstract Reality 143

Abstract Reality 145

G
Ive been drawn to reptiles and amphibians
since I was a kid; in fact, theyre what initially
sparked my passion for photography. In making
this series, Ive found that other uncommon or
overlooked speciesespecially in the arachnid
and invertebrate familiesmake great subjects
as well. These include the variable bush viper
(C), the greenbottle blue tarantula (D), the
panther chameleon (E), the rainbow millipede
(F), and the African flower mantis (G).

A b s t r act R e a l i t y  147

In the Loupe
With Bill Bonner, National Geographic Archivist

The Cave Man

This decorated nook gives some suggestion of the reckless
abandon with which the Cavern is supplied with ornamental
furnishings, say notes accompanying this photo by Willis T. Lee,
leader of a six-month-long National Geographic expedition to
New Mexicos Carlsbad Caverns. The woman seen in the loupe
appears in several of Lees images; she may be his daughter.
Lees article on this trip ran in our September 1925 issue. All
did not go well. Describing how he carried a leaky can of gas on
his shoulder (and writing in the third person), he reports that he
noticed a slight dampness in the clothing on his back, but gave
it little attention until his flesh began to smart Not realizing
that a gasoline blister may be serious, he continued to work for
several hours. With the help of a doctor, he spent the next ten
days in growing new skin. Margaret G. Zackowitz
PHOTO: WILLIS T. LEE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

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THE NEWEST THING IN BATTERIES

ISNT 100% NEW.

Introducing Energizer EcoAdvanced

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Our longest-lasting alkaline is also the

WORLDS FIRST AA battery made with 4% RECYCLED BATTERIES.

2015 Energizer
Energizer, Energizer Bunny design, EcoAdvanced, card
and label graphics and other marks are trademarks of Energizer.

thats positivenergy

energizer.com/ecoadvanced