Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2016 i The Explorers Journal

Members of The Explorers Club care deeply about the conservation of the world around us, and have a long and distinguished history with respect to understanding and preserving our planet. In recognition of this passion, we dedicated this year's Lowell Thomas Awards Dinner to "Visionaries of Conservation," a celebration of the ways in which scientists and explorers are creating new and dynamic approaches to an age-old challenge. Looking at the accomplishments of this year's award recipients, they encompass a rich blend of fieldwork, technological advances, cross-disciplinary approaches, and, of course, communication. This year's awardees are part of a larger tapestry of researchers and activists that spans our nation and the globe. On Montana's magnificent Great Plains, the American Prairie Reserve is in the midst of creating what will be the…

RETURN TO ANTIKYTHERA famed first-century B . C . E . ship continues to yield its secrets A team of archaeologists excavating the ancient Greek shipwreck that yielded the Antikythera Mechanism more than a century ago have recovered more than 50 items, including a bronze armrest (possibly part of a throne), remains of a bone flute, fine glassware and ceramics, a pawn from a board game, and elements of the ship itself, including two lead anchor stocks and fragments of lead hull sheathing. "This shipwreck is far from exhausted,"says project codirector Brendan Foley, a marine archaeologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The shipwreck, which dates to around 65 b.c.e., was discovered by Greek sponge divers in 1900 off the island of Antikythera in the southwestern Aegean. At that time,…

TRACTS OF RAINFOREST IN BORNEO ARE BURNED AND CLEARED FOR PALM OIL PRODUCTION. Ben Cherry is a U.K.­based environmental photojournalist dedicated to communicating the beauty and importance of the natural world. He is currently engaged in efforts to document and conserve the scarlet macaw of Costa Rica. A powerful aroma mixed with the smell of insect repellent and tobacco from our guides as our boat creaked towards the riverbank of the Kinabatangan. The sliver of forest clinging to the river's side released a low rumble and the sound of cracking tree branches as small herd of Borneo pygmy elephants came into view, grazing in the dim undergrowth. The sweltering heat proved too much for one adolescent, who slipped head first into the river to cool off. A new-born urged itself…

240 PAGES PP · NEW YORK: THAMES & HUDSON, 2015 · ISBN-10: 0500252149 · ISBN-13: 978-0500252147 · $39.95 Described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who penned the introduction to this volume, as "the last of the truly great explorers," Sir Wally Herbert spent more than 15 years in the Arctic regions, traveling more than 37,000 kilometers. He is credited as being the first to walk to the North Pole and by many as leading the first expedition to arrive at the pole on foot, as Cook and Peary had claimed. In 1968, Herbert undertook an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society to ascertain whether Peary had indeed reached the North Pole. Based on his findings, he concluded that Peary had come very close but still fell short of his goal.…

This edition, we highlight the plight of several species, whose populations have plummeted due to an escalation in poaching and rapacious habitat destruction, in Southeast Asia and Africa. Habitat loss and fragmentation wrought by the conversion of wilderness areas into palm oil-producing plantations in Borneo, for example, have hastened the demise of the pygmy elephant and the Bornean orangutan, while a false belief in the efficacy of pangolin scales in treating all manner of ailments has taken a toll on this forest-dwelling creature, whose keratin armor had until recently served it well in terms of survival. We also catch up with Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Over the years, Marker and her Namibia-based colleagues have made great strides toward stabilizing surviving…

SIR CHRIS BONINGTON, NOW 81, LED THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL ASCENT OF ANNAPURNA'S TREACHEROUS SOUTH FACE IN 1970. IT TOOK TWO MONTHS TO PUT CLIMBERS DOUGAL HASTON AND DON WHILLANS ATOP THE 8,091-METER PEAK. THE BRITISH MOUNTAINEER, WHO WAS KNIGHTED IN 1996, TALKS FEAR AND LEARNING FROM MISTAKES. JC: How do you handle fear? CB: There are two levels. One is anticipatory. I know this type from my early climbing days and experienced it my first time on Everest. It is not so much about physical danger, but more about the huge responsibility and doubts I had as team leader. With this type of fear, you've basically got to calm yourself and get positively through it. The other kind of fear is when you're actually on a climb. It is a…

JOIN THE "EXPLORERS IMMORTALS" AND ENGRAVE YOUR NAME OR DEDICATION IN STONE ON  NEW PAVERS FOR THE LEFRAK TERRACE AT EXPLORERS CLUB HEADQUARTERS. ADORN OUR  LANDMARK OUTDOOR SPACE AND HELP PAY FOR URGENT WORK FOR PHASE II RENOVATIONS  BY MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION OF $2,500 PER DEDICATED PAVER TO OUR LOWELL  THOMAS BUILDING FUND. THE EXPLORERS CLUB WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING  WHO HAVE PURCHASED A PAVER: Robert Ashton, James H. Alexander, John G. Alexander, Darlene T. Anderson, Jeanne D. Andlinger, Barbara Annan, Robert J. Aresty, Atlanta Chapter, Robert J. Atwater, Norman L. Baker, Andreas Bender, Josh Bernstein, John Bierley, Bruce Blanchard, John R. Bockstoce, Brian M. Boom, John R. Boreske Jr., Gary W. Bowersox, Lawson W. Brigham, Diane Britz-Lotti, Julianne M. Chase, James M. Clash, Allen S. Counter,…

CLOUD - CLOAKED FJORD THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA IS THE LARGEST TEMPERATE RAINFOREST IN THE WORLD AND, AT 17 MILLION ACRES, THE LARGEST SINGLE FOREST IN AMERICA'S NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM. Photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum has spent more than 40 years documenting our planet's wild places. He holds a BA from UCLA and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and has published numerous books, including Northwest Passage with Barry Lopez; his work is held by institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Named one of the 100 people "who shaped the environmental movement of the twentieth century" by Audubon magazine, Ketchum, a fellow of The Explorers Club since 1988, is a recipient of the organization's 2015 Lowell Thomas Award.…