National Geographic magazine, May 2025 Issue

Secrets of the penguins. National Geographic stories take you on a journey that's always enlightening, often surprising and unfailingly fascinating. This month–uncover secrets of the penguins.

In this issue: What the ‘trash heap’ penguins of Argentina are teaching us about survival — For more than 60 million years, penguins of all kinds—including the opportunistic Magellanic penguin—have been driven by an evolutionary urge to reach beyond their boundaries. Today, many are surfacing in the most unlikely places.; The world’s rarest penguins don’t fear the heat. Here's how they learned to embrace it. — These birds have evolved to withstand the equatorial sun and shelter in volcanic rocks along a subtropical coastline. After 50 years, biologist Dee Boersma continues to learn new things about the species.; How Antarctica’s penguins became nature’s daredevils — From diving off cliffs to starving for months, emperor penguins are continuing to surprise scientists with their ability to adapt to one of the world’s most extreme environments.; Can you hold your breath longer than a penguin? Take this interactive quiz. — Test your knowledge of one of nature's most beloved and resilient animals, from emperor penguins to Galápagos penguins.; Bertie Gregory’s filmmaking offers a front-row ticket to wildlife in action — The wildlife filmmaker brings his audience along for every insightful and amusing moment of his storytelling; Pablo “Popi” Garcia Borboroglu has dedicated his life to protecting penguins around the world — The Argentinian marine biologist and conservationist has spent the past 36 years championing the world’s penguins and their habitats. The penguins in turn fuel his passion anew each day.; Australia has an absurdly huge feral camel problem — These 1,000-pound creatures travel in large herds and can smell water miles away. Now, the race is on to stop them from inundating Australia’s fragile ecosystems—one camel burger at a time.; The Hittite Empire transformed the world—and then the world forgot it — They fought the Egyptians, sacked Babylon, and built elaborate cities. Then the Hittites vanished. Today, new discoveries are restoring the legend of a forgotten superpower.; This is the ‘Appalachian Trail’ of rivers — A season on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail—stretching from the Adirondacks to northern Maine—reveals fresh possibilities for an ancient route.; Who should really be allowed to dig for dinosaurs? — The French countryside is rich in fossilized eggs, footprints, and bones. A battle is raging over who is allowed to hunt for them.; Visiting the Titanic is suddenly a lot easier than you think — Fresh advances in 3D scanning technology are making it possible to explore some of the hardest-to-reach and most fragile sites on Earth.; These beetles eat rotting flesh—and could unlock the next generation of antibiotics — Scientists are studying the American burying beetle's death-defying resilience to benefit human health.