Death Valley National Park: Diving for fish in the hottest place on Earth

The Wild with Chris Morgan

KUOW News and Information

Science, Nature

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris joins a team of scuba divers...in the desert!

Death Valley National Park is the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America. The heat that builds beneath Death Valley’s cloudless skies radiates off barren rocks and sinks into the valley bottoms, where it warms, baking everything it touches and evaporates any water foolish enough to linger at the surface.

But beneath miles of dry desert land - in the largest national park in the lower 48 - is something you can't see from the crusty surface. A secret watery world, hidden underground. And a cave system that is home to the world’s rarest fish. The Devil’s Hole pupfish is less than an inch long, but has caused quite a stir.

In this episode of THE WILD, Chris travels to Death Valley National Park to learn about how this tiny fish has made history and has changed our understanding of desert water in some remarkable ways.

This show would not be possible without listener support. You can help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by donating at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.

For some great photographs and clips from our journey through the national parks, check out our Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife.

THE WILD is a production of KUOW, Chris Morgan Wildlife, and the NPR Network. This episode was produced by Lucy Soucek, written by Christopher Preston and edited by Jim Gates. THE WILD is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is free and it's accessible to everyone thanks to support from listeners like you.
0:06.1	If you value this show, please consider supporting its production by donating to our home, KUAW. It only takes a minute to give and you'll be helping to support
0:16.5	the production of this podcast. Make a donation at KUOW.org or follow the link in the show notes.
0:24.5	And thanks.
0:28.3	Hi everyone, Chris here.
0:30.0	I just wanted to let you know that we're expanding this season of the wild to include three different types of episodes
0:35.8	so you're beginning even more great content from us every week.
0:40.0	First there's our new series on America's National Parks, coming out every three weeks.
0:46.5	We'll also be presenting episodes featuring interviews with the sharpest minds in wildlife conservation and dipping into our archives
0:55.9	and sharing our favorite shows from the past with new commentary from me.
0:59.9	Enjoy.
1:14.8	I'm in the driest place in North America. It's so dryer that I can hear static in my hair when I run my fingers through it.
1:22.1	I've driven over 1,200 miles to get here through countless different landscapes, all the way from Washington State, a place known for its rainfall.
1:25.9	Washington gets almost 40 inches of rainfall a year, where I'm standing here gets two. And it's not just a lack of rainfall that makes this place
1:37.7	unique. This enormous desert ecosystem is a land of extremes.
1:44.0	From the towering sand dunes.
1:49.0	And walking up the sand dunes here.
1:51.0	It just looks like a slice of Saudi Arabia. To mountains covered in dry crusty
1:58.4	shale. With brown bulges and black rock cascading down the slopes like chocolate syrup.
2:07.0	It's like a giant scooped a whole bunch of ice cream.
2:12.0	It's like we're on ice cream.
2:14.0	I've never seen anything like this.
	...

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