Speaker 1: Welcome. This is Marcia for Radio I and today I
Speaker 1: will be reading National Geographic Magazine dated March twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
Speaker 1: people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
Speaker 1: it difficult to read printed material. Please join me now
Speaker 1: for the continuation of the article I began last time,
Speaker 1: entitled The Warrior Women of the Viking Age by Heather Pringle.
Speaker 1: The hinged position of her skeleton suggested that she had
Speaker 1: been buried in a seated position, possibly on a saddle
Speaker 1: whose wood and padding had rotted away, leaving only the
Speaker 1: iron stirrups found by her feet. Moreover, one of the
Speaker 1: horse skeletons on the ledge was bridled, as if ready
Speaker 1: to be ridden. In addition, the grave contained other equestrian gear,
Speaker 1: including what was likely a large currycomb. The battle gear
Speaker 1: arranged around the warrior skeleton also told a story. The arrows,
Speaker 1: for example, were specially designed to pierce an enemy's armor.
Speaker 1: These were not for show. The other weaponry in the
Speaker 1: grave shields, spears, double edged sword, broad axe and battle knife,
Speaker 1: suggested that the warrior woman was also highly trained in
Speaker 1: several forms of attack, including hand to hand combat. Other clues,
Speaker 1: including part of a silver coin minted by the Abbasid Caliphet,
Speaker 1: a sprawling Muslim empire whose capital lay in what is
Speaker 1: now Baghdad, linked the woman to the lucrative Viking trade
Speaker 1: in the East, and an analysis of the clothing fragments
Speaker 1: discovered in the grave revealed a distinctively Eastern style of dress.
Speaker 1: She was buried in a spectacular Eurasian steppe style of
Speaker 1: riding coat, trimmed with silk and possibly ornamented with small
Speaker 1: pieces of mirror glass to catch the light. She also
Speaker 1: wore a costly silk cap decorated with a silver tassel
Speaker 1: and four small silver balls. Both the style and the
Speaker 1: materials inferred that it was likely manufactured in the Viking
Speaker 1: settlement of Kiev, which was perched along a major river
Speaker 1: route leading to Constantinople. Taken together, the clothing pointed to
Speaker 1: a very important person with strong connections to the East. Indeed,
Speaker 1: comparative research by Scandinavian archaeologist and textile specialist INGA. Hague
Speaker 1: suggested that individuals buried in such distinctive hats were likely
Speaker 1: cavalry commanders who reported directly to a king or Prince,
Speaker 1: a theory the researcher proposed before the occupant of the
Speaker 1: famous grave was identified as a woman, Birkas's female warrior
Speaker 1: may have been skilled in a particular kind of equestrian combat.
Speaker 1: During the extensive excavations conducted at Birkus Garrison during the
Speaker 1: late nineteen nineties and early two thousands, archaeologists found remnants
Speaker 1: of use Eastern archery equipment, including arrow heads used with
Speaker 1: composite Eastern bows. The discoveries strongly indicated that some warriors
Speaker 1: garrisoned in Burka were trained in a type of horseback
Speaker 1: archery mastered by nomadic tribes on the Eurasian steps. Today,
Speaker 1: Headen Steernat Jansen thinks the Birka woman may have trained
Speaker 1: as an Eastern horseback archer too. It's a suggestion rather
Speaker 1: than a fact, she explained by e mail, adding that
Speaker 1: it is based on the array of weapons in combination
Speaker 1: with the horses and the general Eastern for example, rous
Speaker 1: and step nomadic feel to the grave and dress. The
Speaker 1: idea that the female buried in the famous warrior grave
Speaker 1: could have fought as a horseback archer was deeply intriguing,
Speaker 1: and I found myself wondering whether that ancient material marshal
Speaker 1: technique may have leveled the playing field for some female
Speaker 1: warriors in the Viking age. To learn more, I decided
Speaker 1: to reach out to a German scientist I knew who
Speaker 1: had undergone years of training to become a horseback archer herself.
Speaker 1: Angela Graefen is an ancient DNA specialist in Germany who
Speaker 1: has studied and published on the genome of Utzi, the
Speaker 1: well known iceman who was discovered melting out of a
Speaker 1: glacier in nineteen ninety one. She wasn't surprised by the
Speaker 1: suggestion that the vehicle woman trained as a mounted archer. Indeed,
Speaker 1: the idea seemed plausible to her. Equestrian disciplines are the
Speaker 1: one Olympic field where men and women compete against each
Speaker 1: other on equal terms, Graefen told me in an e mail.
Speaker 1: While not an Olympic sport, the same applies to horseback archery,
Speaker 1: with several women among the ranks of the world's best.
Speaker 1: Graefen also mentioned published archaeological evidence pointing to a long
Speaker 1: tradition of female horseback archers on the uration steps, an
Speaker 1: area well known to Viking traders and warriors. Excavations from
Speaker 1: as far west as Ukraine and as far east as
Speaker 1: Central Asia have uncovered the remains of approximately three hundred
Speaker 1: armed females, some with horses and equestrian equipment, in burial
Speaker 1: mounds dated to between the eighth century BC and the
Speaker 1: fourth century AD. In one remarkable grave field known as
Speaker 1: Mamaje Gora in Ukraine, archaeologist Elena Fialco of the National
Speaker 1: Academy of Science in Ukraine discovered the burials of about
Speaker 1: a dozen women who formed light armed cavalry. The gear
Speaker 1: interred with these armed Eastern women varied widely, from swords
Speaker 1: and spears to armour and helmets, but the bow and
Speaker 1: arrow appeared to be the weapons of choice. Indeed, one
Speaker 1: ancient burial of a steppe woman along the Nieper River
Speaker 1: contained a quiver holding ninety two arrows. In the view
Speaker 1: of Adrian Mayer, a Stanford University historian and an expert
Speaker 1: on the archaeological evidence of warrior women in antiquity, the
Speaker 1: common nation of an equestrian lifestyle with archery created something
Speaker 1: powerful for women. The horse and the bow were the equalizers.
Speaker 1: Women could be just as tough, fast and deadly as men.
Speaker 1: Mayer wrote in the Journal Foreign Affairs. In twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: the Swedish team published a second article on the Berko
Speaker 1: woman in the journal Antiquity. They laid out pages of
Speaker 1: detailed archaeological and historical evidence to support the contention that
Speaker 1: the woman in the weapon packed grave was a warrior
Speaker 1: and quite possibly a military commander. For many Viking Age specialists,
Speaker 1: including Marianne Mohn, the head of the Department of Archaeology
Speaker 1: at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, this second
Speaker 1: paper was very convincing. By the time Hadden, Stirna Jansen
Speaker 1: and I reached Birka, it was well past midday and
Speaker 1: the sky had clouded over. We walked up the slope
Speaker 1: to the hillfort and the garrison hall, where Birka's warriors
Speaker 1: once feasted and drank on long dark winter night ights.
Speaker 1: Hirdon steer Na Janssen then turned and led the way
Speaker 1: to the burial ground that had once held the famous
Speaker 1: warrior woman. On a high terrace, the researcher pointed to
Speaker 1: the spot where mourners had lowered the body into a
Speaker 1: magnificent weapon filled grave. I had hoped to see some
Speaker 1: kind of marker or sign of distinction, but there was
Speaker 1: nothing at all, No mound, no memorial, no grand vista,
Speaker 1: no outline even of the excavated grave. A dense thicket
Speaker 1: of green shrubs had taken root on the spot, shrouding
Speaker 1: the tomb in branches and leaves. As we lingered there
Speaker 1: for a few minutes, the engraving of the burial chamber
Speaker 1: I had seen earlier in the day flashed through my mind,
Speaker 1: the human skeleton resting on the ground, the weapons of
Speaker 1: a professional warrior carefully arranged all around the bones. For
Speaker 1: nearly one hundred forty years, that image had captivated archaeologists
Speaker 1: and others, raising a myriad of questions about the tomb
Speaker 1: and the identity of its occupant. Now, thanks to the
Speaker 1: work of a modern interdisciplinary team of scientists, we have
Speaker 1: a fuller picture, with evidence showing that this individual was
Speaker 1: a woman, a female warrior whose distinguished life ended in
Speaker 1: a grave of an important military figure. She had not
Speaker 1: just endured the spear storms and weapon thunder of Viking battlefields,
Speaker 1: it seemed, but she'd also excelled there, inspiring the loyalty
Speaker 1: of those who fought with her. And as I think
Speaker 1: about what we have now learned, I am overcome with
Speaker 1: respect for her. Today, nature has reclaimed her grave, but
Speaker 1: Birka's Woman Warrior no longer languishes in obscurity. She is
Speaker 1: once again part of human memory, taking her rightful place
Speaker 1: in the great drama of the Viking Age. Artifacts from
Speaker 1: Osberg The Osberg Ship was looted some time after the
Speaker 1: women spurial, but thieves left behind many intricately decorated everyday objects,
Speaker 1: including tapestries, delicate combs, and carved wood animal habits. The
Speaker 1: number and quality of the artifacts indicate that these women,
Speaker 1: like the Birka Warrior, were high status members of Viking society,
Speaker 1: a sorcereer's term. Vikings often buried their illustrious dead with
Speaker 1: iconic longships, like the famous Osberg ship uncovered on a
Speaker 1: farm in Norway in nineteen o three. This discovery was
Speaker 1: unusual not only for the richness of its grave goods,
Speaker 1: but also for its ninth century occupants, to elite women,
Speaker 1: one believed by some to be a sorceress. In addition
Speaker 1: to new scholarship exploring the role of Viking women on
Speaker 1: the battlefield, discoveries are shedding light on their place in
Speaker 1: the spiritual realm. Some were considered mighty sorceresses or vulvas
Speaker 1: with the ability to see into the future and cast
Speaker 1: spells to aid Viking forces. Supernatural tools. Items found in
Speaker 1: the sorceress's burial site were rare, some with origins overseas.
Speaker 1: Foreign unfamiliar objects could have made her seam otherworldly butlandic
Speaker 1: box brooch, a clothing fastener repurposed as a cup, contained
Speaker 1: white lead and ointment believed to have medical or magical qualities.
Speaker 1: Hen Bane seeds carried in a fur pouch on her belt.
Speaker 1: The seeds have pain relieving properties. If thrown into fire,
Speaker 1: they produce a hallucinogenic smoke. Copper alloy bowl. Originally from
Speaker 1: Central Asia, it once held fat that, when mixed with
Speaker 1: henbane seeds, could produce powerful hallucinogens. Birds feet pendent, possibly
Speaker 1: inspired by or imported from Western Slavic lands. It may
Speaker 1: have served as an adornment attached to a headband or
Speaker 1: veil chair shaped charm. This silver amulet may represent the
Speaker 1: wooden chair, a cirrus used during rituals, and could be
Speaker 1: linked to the chief Norse god odin raiders and traders.
Speaker 1: As our understanding of gender roles in Viking society evolves,
Speaker 1: scientists are discovering them. Women held critical positions in commercial affairs. Scales, weights,
Speaker 1: and other items found at women's grave sites, including those here,
Speaker 1: testified to the work that women performed As Viking groups
Speaker 1: expanded their reach. At Birka and other Viking sites, about
Speaker 1: a fifth of trade related artifacts from voyages to the
Speaker 1: East were found buried alongside women. A case of mistaken identity,
Speaker 1: the Birka Warrior's skeletal remains can be seen as they
Speaker 1: lay when discovered. The grave contained many different weapons and acts,
Speaker 1: multiple blades and iron tipped arrows, suggesting the occupant was
Speaker 1: a skilled fighter. Stirrups and crampons indicated an experienced rider
Speaker 1: comfortable with horses. Taken together, these wartime objects led to
Speaker 1: the mistaken conclusion that the Birka Warrior was male, an
Speaker 1: assumption that stood until twenty seventeen, when DNA analysis finally
Speaker 1: revealed the body was female. Next, the truth about the
Speaker 1: world's biggest eggs. Who laid the largest eggs the world
Speaker 1: has ever seen? It wasn't the dinosaurs by Hicks Wogan.
Speaker 1: The average chicken egg can fit comfortably in the palm
Speaker 1: of your hand. This rare fossilized specimen from National Geographics
Speaker 1: historical collection is more than a hundred times larger. A
Speaker 1: just over a foot long and nine inches in diameter,
Speaker 1: The intact egg belonged to an elephant bird of flightless
Speaker 1: herbivore endemic to Madagascar that's been extinct since at least
Speaker 1: the seventeenth century. To day, researchers believe the bird resembled
Speaker 1: an oversized ostrich though it was most closely related to
Speaker 1: the Kiwi, a smaller species of ratite, Its thick legs
Speaker 1: had to support some serious weight. Adults could grow to
Speaker 1: be ten feet tall and over one thousand pounds. Elephant
Speaker 1: bird lineage dates to around fifty million years ago, but
Speaker 1: their numbers declined as humans settled Madagascar. What happened? Gifford Miller,
Speaker 1: a geologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who has
Speaker 1: studied I. Prinorius egg shells, says human predation may have
Speaker 1: been a cause, perhaps even before the birds could hatch.
Speaker 1: The eggs were probably durable enough for humans to carry
Speaker 1: away from nests. Evidence suggests they were plenty tough. Two
Speaker 1: complete elephant bird eggs have been discovered on beaches in
Speaker 1: Western Australia, apparently having floated four thousand miles across the
Speaker 1: Indian Ocean. For humans, pushing an egg would have been
Speaker 1: simpler than subduing the half ton bird. As Miller notes,
Speaker 1: when it comes to keeping our species alive, we are
Speaker 1: extremely efficient. Next, New York's lost fleet of electric taxis
Speaker 1: the car of our future, was all the rage in
Speaker 1: the late eighteen hundreds. So what happened to those e v's?
Speaker 1: By Christopher Klein. New York City had a horse problem
Speaker 1: in the late nineteenth century. Its streets and alleyways were
Speaker 1: jammed with an estimated one hundred fifty thousand of the animals,
Speaker 1: each one producing more than thirty five pounds of wist
Speaker 1: every day. The logistics of disposing of that much excrement
Speaker 1: created an enormous challenge that New Yorkers were eager to solve,
Speaker 1: and a new invention, the automobile, seemed to be the answer.
Speaker 1: When the city's first motorized taxicab service launched in eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven. It featured a clean energy technology that mike
Speaker 1: shock modern New Yorkers. The cabs were electric vehicles produced
Speaker 1: by the straight forwardly named Electric Vehicle Company. The cars
Speaker 1: were known as Electrobats and were emerging as the market's
Speaker 1: leading electric vehicles. Philadelphia inventors Harriet Henry Morris and Pedro
Speaker 1: Solom patented the electro bat in eighteen ninety four, and
Speaker 1: in two years had developed a smaller, faster version. Weighing
Speaker 1: it at twenty nine hundred pounds. The new model was
Speaker 1: propelled by a lead acid battery. It achieved a top
Speaker 1: speed of twenty miles an hour and was capable of
Speaker 1: covering distances of up to twenty five miles on a
Speaker 1: single charge. The idea of VV gliding around New York
Speaker 1: City in the eighteen nineties might sound like science fiction,
Speaker 1: but battery powered automobiles outsold their internal combustion counterparts. At
Speaker 1: the dawn of the automobile age, electric cars were quietly
Speaker 1: and easy to drive. Back then, you were lucky if
Speaker 1: a gas car started in the morning, says Dan Albert,
Speaker 1: author of Are We There Yet? The American Automobile Past,
Speaker 1: present and driverless. It was noisy, polluting, and rickety, whereas
Speaker 1: an electric car started with a flip of the switch.
Speaker 1: This was the dawn of the age of electricity, a
Speaker 1: moment when technologies harnessing the power source seemed capable of
Speaker 1: overcoming any challenge. If you asked people on the street
Speaker 1: what was going to happen, they would have said that
Speaker 1: electricity is this magic force, says electric car historian David A. Kersh,
Speaker 1: author of The Electric Vehicle and The Burden of History.
Speaker 1: We harnessed it for light, we harnessed it for traction
Speaker 1: through the trolley, spreading everywhere, and now it's going to
Speaker 1: take us around. Morris and Salom bought the electro Bat
Speaker 1: to New York and devised an ingenious battery swapping system
Speaker 1: inside a former Broadway ice skating rink To keep the
Speaker 1: company's cabs in continuous operation. Employees maneuvered vehicles with elect
Speaker 1: elevators and hydraulics so that an overhead crane could pluck
Speaker 1: out the depleted twelve hundred and fifty pound batteries and
Speaker 1: insert freshly charged ones. The process took only three minutes.
Speaker 1: It was much faster than changing a horse team and
Speaker 1: probably as fast as what we would today associate with
Speaker 1: filling a tank of gas. Kerchese. The electro Bat's rapid
Speaker 1: acceleration and quiet ride pose some unforeseen challenges. In May
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety nine, cab driver Jacob Jerman became the first
Speaker 1: automobile operator arrested for speeding after whizzing down Lexington Avenue
Speaker 1: at twelve miles an hour. A few months later, in
Speaker 1: al electric taxi fatally struck real estate broker Henry Bliss
Speaker 1: as he stepped off an Upper west Side street car.
Speaker 1: The first pedestrian killed by an automobile never heard of
Speaker 1: the elector bat coming. Morris and Saloam decided that rather
Speaker 1: than sell their vehicles, they would lease them on either
Speaker 1: a monthly or per ride basis across New York City.
Speaker 1: Their cab service, the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company, took off.
Speaker 1: Their taxi fleet expanded from a dozen cars in eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven to more than one hundred and eighteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1: With their business growing, Morris and Salom imagined a grand
Speaker 1: future for their car. They found new backing from wealthy investors,
Speaker 1: notably New York financier William Whitney, known for his success
Speaker 1: in electrifying the city's street cars. Under Whitney's ownership, the
Speaker 1: group also purchased a leading battery manufacturing firm, Aiming to
Speaker 1: control the majority of the electric vehicle market nationwide. The
Speaker 1: electric vehicle companies swiftly exped and its taxi operations to
Speaker 1: major cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston, eventually becoming the
Speaker 1: nation's largest automobile manufacturer. However, its rapid expansion proved unsustainable.
Speaker 1: Operations outside New York were poorly run, and investors felt swindled.
Speaker 1: When an eighteen ninety nine New York Herald investigation revealed
Speaker 1: the Electric Vehicle Company had fraudulently secured alone, the company's
Speaker 1: stock fell and the enterprise's finances grew strained. By nineteen
Speaker 1: o two. The company's collapse sent shockwaves through the investment
Speaker 1: community and cast a dark shadow over the formerly bright
Speaker 1: future of electric vehicles. The thing that killed it is
Speaker 1: not really the idea, the technology, or the business model,
Speaker 1: Albert says, it was the shadiness of the wheeler dealers
Speaker 1: behind it. A devastating fire destroyed a significant portion of
Speaker 1: the fleet, and then the Panic of nineteen o seven,
Speaker 1: a nationwide financial crisis, caused car production to plummet, dealing
Speaker 1: a final blow to electric cabs in New York City,
Speaker 1: but gasoline powered vehicles were gaining momentum in the market.
Speaker 1: In nineteen oh seven, local businessman Harry Allen introduced a
Speaker 1: taxi service with sixty five gasoline powered cabs imported from France.
Speaker 1: Within a year, his fleet had swelled to seven hundred vehicles.
Speaker 1: It seemed New York would never look back. The Eve's
Speaker 1: days were numbered, especially after the affordable gas powered Model
Speaker 1: T debuted in nineteen o eight. Electric cars hung on
Speaker 1: until the nineteen twenties, while the internal combustion engine grew
Speaker 1: ever more popular, going on to drive the next American century.
Speaker 1: But electric cars would make a comeback when twenty five
Speaker 1: all electric taxis began operating on the streets of New
Speaker 1: York in twenty twenty two, the car of the future
Speaker 1: arrived again. Next, a hike with explosive views in Guatemala's
Speaker 1: Sierra Madre. A spectacular trek puts you close to one
Speaker 1: of the Central america As most active volcanoes, but not
Speaker 1: too close by Erik Pinego. There aren't many hikes that
Speaker 1: offer their grandest views at night. Of course, there aren't
Speaker 1: many hikes that bring you to the edge of a
Speaker 1: frequently erupting volcano either. High in Guatemala's Sierra Madre, Volcan
Speaker 1: de Fuego is a geological marble that has become a
Speaker 1: singular tourist experience the volcation is best glimpsed from the
Speaker 1: heights of its neighbor, the currently inactive Volcanda Acca Tenago,
Speaker 1: which at thirteen thousand forty five feet, is the third
Speaker 1: highest mountain in Guatemala. The strenuous hike to the summit
Speaker 1: moves visitors from leff lush coffee plantations through cloud forests
Speaker 1: up to the otherworldly terrain near the peak. From there,
Speaker 1: the reward is an incredible view of Fuego's spewing gas
Speaker 1: and ash as the earth rumbles under foot. The most
Speaker 1: natural starting point for the journey is in the small,
Speaker 1: cobblestoned colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala. Until the late eighteenth century,
Speaker 1: Antigua functioned as Guatemala's capital. Later it became a center
Speaker 1: of coffee production and more recently a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
Speaker 1: a distinction that has protected its rich Spanish architectural legacy.
Speaker 1: At five thousand feet above sea level, the city offers
Speaker 1: the intrepid adventure a place to acclimatise to the altitude
Speaker 1: and enjoy some of the local cuisine, from a hardy
Speaker 1: bowl of Shoutit del soup at Cafe Candesa to the
Speaker 1: mouth watering stake offered by La las An Torkas word
Speaker 1: to the wise, hold off on drinking or smoking before
Speaker 1: the hike. A post hike celebratory drink goes down much
Speaker 1: smoother than the night before chug that will leave you
Speaker 1: keeled over. At ten thousand plus feet, hikers, whether employing
Speaker 1: a tour guide or not, make their way to the
Speaker 1: village of La Soledad, where they ship out. The hike
Speaker 1: to base camp on Acatanango takes five to six hours
Speaker 1: on average to depending on pace and weather conditions. Some
Speaker 1: tours offer a limited horseback option for travelers inclined to ride,
Speaker 1: but be aware the final stretch of the climb to
Speaker 1: Acitanago's summit must be done on foot, and while the
Speaker 1: round trip hike can be completed in a single day
Speaker 1: over the course of ten to twelve hours, many travelers
Speaker 1: opt for a two day trip, overnighting at base camp
Speaker 1: before making the final push to Akitanago's crater. Visitors can
Speaker 1: take in the spectacular sights and sounds of lava gurgling
Speaker 1: on fuego and glowing beneath the starlit sky before the
Speaker 1: sun greets hikers and volcanoes alike. Travelers who venture up
Speaker 1: the mountain and stay over night should be prepared for
Speaker 1: a dramatic temperature change on account of the hike's five
Speaker 1: thousand foot elevation gain. Daytime highs can reach beyond sixty
Speaker 1: eight degrees fahrenheit, while at night the temperature can fall
Speaker 1: below freezing. The clearest views of Fuego are typically found
Speaker 1: from November to April, during the area's dry season, though
Speaker 1: the volcano's eruptions can be a bit unpredictable from day
Speaker 1: to day. Fuego and at Atenaco share the landscape with
Speaker 1: a third nearby volcano, Agua, which attracts its fair share
Speaker 1: of hikers. Although Fuego and Achitanango are not physically connected
Speaker 1: to Agua, the trio is part of the larger Central
Speaker 1: American Volcanic Arc, which runs some eight hundred miles from
Speaker 1: Panama to Mexico. The journey up a Achitanago to view Fuego,
Speaker 1: while demanding, has become one of the most popular hikes
Speaker 1: in Central America. For good reason, and for those who
Speaker 1: make the overnight trip with a guide, the payoff comes
Speaker 1: in the form of a well earned glass of wine
Speaker 1: along with a sky lit by stars and lava. Next
Speaker 1: the fight to save the desert's most tenacious bird. In
Speaker 1: the vast urban sprawl of Arizona, the habitat of the
Speaker 1: tiny western burrowing owl is being destroyed, prompting conservationists to
Speaker 1: think creatively about how to help. By Jessica Cuts, the
Speaker 1: cardboard pet carrier rested on a patch of desert grass
Speaker 1: with a towel draped over it, while an animal rescuer
Speaker 1: named Eric Murray squatted on a nearby cinder block, adjusting
Speaker 1: his thick gloves for the extraction. Then, in one swift motion,
Speaker 1: Murray reached into the carrier and retrieved a small owl
Speaker 1: with brown and white speckled feathers. Although an adult, the
Speaker 1: owl was only about nine inches tall, with long, spindly
Speaker 1: legs and sharp talons. Its large yellow eyes widened as
Speaker 1: it slowly rotated its head at an uncanny angle to
Speaker 1: survey the surroundings. On this hot spring day, Murray in
Speaker 1: about a dozen volunteers clad in work gloves and sun hats,
Speaker 1: gathered at Martin Farm, a two hundred forty one acre
Speaker 1: parcel of grassland northwest of Tucson, Arizona, to participate in
Speaker 1: a unique kind of bird relase. After care fully spreading
Speaker 1: one of the owl's wings to confirm its sex as female.
Speaker 1: It's quite barred all the way down, Marie said, while
Speaker 1: pointing to a dark pattern along the inner feathers. He
Speaker 1: turned to a recently assembled temporary shelter, a ten by
Speaker 1: ten foot tent made of sheer black shade cloth. He
Speaker 1: lifted one corner of the canopy and gently tossed the
Speaker 1: creature in. The bird took a look around and flew
Speaker 1: headfirst into a fabric wall, tumbling onto a patch of
Speaker 1: freshly dved dirt. She shook it off, but repeated the
Speaker 1: process again and again. Probasita, said one volunteer, which is
Speaker 1: Spanish for poor thing. No sabe, she doesn't understand. Next
Speaker 1: volunteers added another owl to the shelter. Both birds continued
Speaker 1: to flutter about in agitation. While difficult to watch, this
Speaker 1: process would be repeated hundreds of times throughout the year
Speaker 1: at Martin Farm. This canopy was one of twenty five
Speaker 1: spaced at intervals along the property. In recent years. Wild
Speaker 1: at Heart, the animal rescue group behind these operations, persuaded
Speaker 1: the city of Tucson to set the tract aside as
Speaker 1: a conservation area. The group has seven active sights on
Speaker 1: public and private lands in Arizona. The hope was that
Speaker 1: in a month, the tent could be removed and the
Speaker 1: birds would have nested in this spot, or rather below it.
Speaker 1: That's because these are burrowing owls and increasingly threatened species
Speaker 1: that has evolved to live underground. Once one of the
Speaker 1: most populous owls on the continent, the burrowing owl has
Speaker 1: seen a sharp decline over the past one hundred fifty years.
Speaker 1: The population is now a small fraction of its former numbers,
Speaker 1: with the species listed as endangered in Canada, threatened in
Speaker 1: Mexico and Florida, and assigned various degrees of protected status
Speaker 1: throughout much of the American West. The culprits are largely
Speaker 1: urban development and commercial farming, which chirn up land where
Speaker 1: the animals used to roost. Nowhere else in America is
Speaker 1: that disastrous progression as a parent, as in Arizona, especially
Speaker 1: the Phoenix metro area, one of the fastest growing in
Speaker 1: the country, Industrial operations in solar fields are rapidly popping
Speaker 1: up all around its outskirts burrowing owls have evolved to
Speaker 1: take over abandoned burrows, commonly of badgers, prairie dogs and
Speaker 1: ground squirrels. Out West, the numbers of many of the
Speaker 1: creatures they once relied on have dwindled because of drought
Speaker 1: and past extermination campaigns. But in Arizona, Wild at Heart
Speaker 1: is proving it can bring these animals back from the brink,
Speaker 1: even while grappling with fatal trial and error in the process.
Speaker 1: It all starts with a network of artificially manufactured burrows
Speaker 1: just below the surface. This concludes readings from National Geographic
Speaker 1: Magazine for today. Your reader has been Marsha. If you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed hearing this content, please give us call at eight
Speaker 1: five nine four two two six three nine zero. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening, and have a great day.