National Geographic magazine, October 2025 Issue

The tigers who changed their stripes. National Geographic stories take you on a journey that's always enlightening, often surprising and unfailingly fascinating. This month–the tigers who changed their stripes.

In this issue: The Curious Case of the Tigers Who Changed Their Stripes — Decades ago, India’s tigers were on the brink of extinction. Slowly, their numbers have rebounded. But that ecological success has prompted a dire problem—and a race to save many of them from genetic collapse.; Tracking a rare tiger for 120 days to get the perfect cover shot — Prasenjeet Yadav had one goal: capture the perfect image of a pseudo-melanistic tiger for his story on India’s Similipal Tiger Reserve. Easier said than done.; Do the oldest satellites in space need saving? — A coalition of scientists and historians are floating a long-shot plan to retrieve orbiting relics—raising questions about what is space junk or space treasure.; 'I want to live to be 100.' Longevity lessons from sports icons — Carl Lewis, Nadia Comăneci, Cheryl Miller, and Jerry Rice were the best at what they did—so who better to ask about getting the most out of our bodies as we age.; How to start aging like an athlete — These over-50 champs—and a growing body of research—show what we gain by staying active later in life.; Your game plan for fighting Father Time — Five research-backed ways to start extending your health span now—no matter how old you are.; The world's tallest mountain? It might not be what you think — Here are the underappreciated giants challenging Everest for the title.; Have we been measuring mountains all wrong? — A new method for quantifying grandeur is reshuffling the pecking order of the planet’s most impressive peaks. Turns out Everest has steep competition.; Ice hockey is flourishing in ... Nairobi — There's only one rink in the country—and it's tiny—but the Kenya Ice Lions have their sights set on the Olympics.; How Jackie Kennedy helped save an iconic ancient Egyptian temple — Sixty-five years ago, the monumental Abu Simbel was destined to disappear beneath the floodwaters of a new Nile dam. Then the first lady of the United States stepped in.