DISCOVER Magazine. Science, Technology and The Future
Current Issue
Subscribe Today »
  • Renew
  • Give a Gift
  • Archives
  • Customer Service
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Newsletter
  • Health & Medicine
  • Mind & Brain
  • Technology
  • Space
  • Human Origins
  • Living World
  • Environment
  • Physics & Math
  • Video
  • Photos
  • Podcast
  • RSS
Visual Science
« Ice Ice Baby
Garage Alchemy Is Not for the Weak of Stomach »

The Deaths Within the Death of the Aral Sea

<p>A preserved ship sturgeon sits in the history museum in Aralsk, Kazakhstan. In the decades since 1960, the nearby Aral Sea, where the fish once lived, has shrunk to a quarter of it's original size due to diversion for irrigation. This species is now locally extinct and critically endangered worldwide. But the <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2006/sep/returnaralsea">Aral Sea itself may be recovering</a>: A dam built in 2005 has <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/04/22/aral-sea-shows-signs-of-recovery-while-the-dead-sea-needs-a-lifeline/">brought rising water levels to its Northern part</a>.</p> <p>Photographer Carolyn Drake made these photos during an ongoing project in Central Asia. Drake commented on what it was like in Aralsk; "Being in Aralsk is not like seeing these photos or going to the museum where I took them. The place is spotted with monuments to a decaying past--rusting ships, toxic puddles, crumbling factories--but it's also Real. People visit hospitals, get married, drink vodka and beer, open shops, scrounge for work, billboards go up, cars are bought, trash is burned, water is collected, dogs bark. There is a strong feeling of the past there, and of the consequences of it- that's a big part of what I'm looking at in the <a href="http://www.carolyndrake.com">Paradise Rivers project</a>."</p> <p> </p><p>Taxidermy on display in the History Museum of Aralsk, a formerly bustling Soviet fishing port on the Aral Sea. These animals were placed in Kazakhstan's "Red Book" of endangered species.</p> <p> </p><p>Preserved fish in the History Museum of Aralsk, Kazakhstan.</p> <p> </p><p>Taxidermy in the History Museum of Aralsk, Kazakhstan.</p> <p> </p>
Share

July 8th, 2010 by Rebecca Horne in Environment | 1 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

One Response to “The Deaths Within the Death of the Aral Sea”

  1. 1.   Tweets that mention The Deaths Within the Death of the Aral Sea | Visual Science | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com Says:
    July 8th, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ron Simon. Ron Simon said: The Deaths Within the Death of the Aral Sea: http://bit.ly/atTe0j [...]

Leave a Reply





    • About the Blog

      Rebecca Horne is the photo director for DISCOVER, scouring the known world for the most striking and surprising images at the overlap of science and art.

      Visual Science showcases photography, video, and art that catches her attention, and also gives readers a behind-the-scenes peek of the making of DISCOVER.

      To contact Rebecca, leave a comment or shoot an email to rhorne [at] discovermagzine [dot] com.

      The RSS feed for Visual Science is here RSS.

    • RSS Recent Posts

      • Patterns of Paper Pollution
      • High Winds, High Altitude, High Ambition
      • Is That a Rain Forest in Your Gas Tank?
      • NASA’s Shiny New Eye on the Sky
      • Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Unnatural History
    • rss facebook newsletters twitter


    • Kalmbach Publishing Co.

    Copyright © 2012, Kalmbach Publishing Co.

    Privacy - Terms - Reader Services - Subscribe Today - Advertise - About Us