Welcome to the Judith A Basset Canid Education & Conservation Center, where a California couple has dedicated their lives to showing folks man has even more best friends than previously thought.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-jab-canid-education-and-conservation-center-jabcecc

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Today, we go on a special journey told in two parts, beginning with the world’s largest conveyor belt in the Western Sahara and ending on your dinner plate.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected].

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Have you heard of the Painted Lady butterfly? 

Scientists say this small speckled beauty – no more than 6 cm across – endures the longest migration path of its species. 

Photographer Lucas Fogalia dared to follow the path of this butterfly in his photo book, Constant Bloom, and he says the journey reveals a rich story of strength and vulnerability in our interconnected world.  

Check out:  Lucas Fogalia’s book,  “Constant Bloom”: 

https://www.nazraeli.com/complete-catalogue/lucas-foglia-constant-bloom

Take a peek at some of the images from the bBook: https://www.lucasfoglia.com/constant-bloom/

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected]

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Listeners share their travel resolutions for 2026. 

Plus, we want to hear stories about interesting or unusual places where you’ve stayed the night. How did you find it? Who did you go with? What made the experience of staying there good… or bad? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected].

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We’re taking the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But in the meantime, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected]

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Spring is a popular time to visit Colonial Williamsburg, not least because it’s “lambing season,” the time of year when baby lambs are born and take their first steps (which is obviously very, very cute). But small as they are, these lambs have a big baaa-ckstory (sorry) – they are part of a breed that was once guarded like a trade secret, was smuggled into the American colonies, went extinct in the US in the early 20th century, and then was brought back right here at Colonial Williamsburg. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Williamsburg. 

Find out more at Visit Williamsburg

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The story of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the story of Melaku Belay and his journey from homelessness to international acclaim as a community leader.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fendika-azmari-bet

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected]

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Dawn Anahid MacKeen’s grandfather survived the Armenian genocide, journeying nearly a thousand miles (much of it on foot) out of what is now Turkey and into the Syrian desert. Dawn chronicled his journey in her book The Hundred Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey – and also retraced her grandfather’s route herself to better understand what he endured.

Read Dawn’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Year-Walk-Dawn-Mackeen/dp/0544811941  

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected].

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Kelly McEvers spent years living and working across the globe as a foreign correspondent, reporting from across Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. Today, she shares three places that have shaped her life.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected].

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In the collection of the Lyme Regis Museum in England is a beautiful 19th century tabletop made of delicate, inset stones. The rub is that these stones are… (spoiler alert)... coprolite, or fossilized feces. Amanda and Johanna discuss the man who had this table made, an eccentric scientist named William Buckland, who was a key figure in the early history of paleontology.

For more information about William Buckland’s table, see:

• https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/related-article/bucklands-coprolite-table/
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-father-and-son-who-ate-every-animal-possible
• “The man who tried to eat everything on Earth” from the Royal Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fcaKO_5sk
• https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/unusual-diet-18th-century-geologist-william-buckland
• https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/05/19/me-and-my-monkey/
• On the Kirkdale Cave: https://scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk/object/kirkdale-cave/
• For more on Buckland’s son, Frank, see: “The Man Who Ate the Zoo” by Richard Girling

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Caroline Mazel-Carlton has visited over 1000 Atlas Obscura Places. But the project was about more than ticking off a list – she says it helped save her life. 

This episode contains discussion of suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Suicide Crisis Hotline by calling or texting 988. 

Explore the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-places-in-the-atlas-on-one-map

Learn more about Caroline’s organization, the Wildflower Alliance: 

https://wildfloweralliance.org/

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