Illustration by Vanessa Zhou April 27, 2026 Dear Snails of the Hudson Valley, I have two of your brethren living in a small pot in my small room, about 100 miles from their home. I would feel compelled to return them to your railroad siding, but they are enjoying a higher quality of life in my spider plant. Why, might you ask, did I kidnap your compatriots? It is a long, treacherous story of heartbreak, exhaustion, and human perseverance. Last fall, my dorm was bare; the drab

One Man’s Search for Fauna in the Most Unlikely of Places. By David Kramer Illustrations by Em Bennett Every day, thousands of cars drive down Broadway, the average 1 train carries 7,000 passengers between dawn and dusk, and tens of thousands of pedestrians hurry across Manhattan. It’s a busy, noisy city. But in the basement of a pet store on Broadway, a tortoise sleeps. His name is George, he’s 28 years old, and he thinks you should feed him strawberries. George leads an a