NGM OCTOBER 2025
MELANISTIC TIGERS

After a half century of boosting wild tiger numbers, India’s iconic cat would seem to be on the road to recovery, but because the tiger population has been forced into isolated pockets, the species is facing a catastrophic genetic collapse. A genetic abnormality is prompting a high-stakes effort to bring isolated tigers together. Can the genetic conundrum facing India’s big cats be solved? Other features in this issue include:

• Today’s older athletes are thriving longer than ever—and teaching us which habits matter. Plus, NFL star Jerry Rice, Olympic icon Nadia Comăneci, and others on how to age like a legend.
• A new way of looking at mountain majesty has revived old debates about summit supremacy. Have we been measuring the great peaks all wrong?
• National Geographic photographer Babak Tafreshi and NASA astronaut Don Pettit teamed up to photograph some of Earth’s most breathtaking places. Pettit’s vantage point: the International Space Station.