Animals

The largest known coral colony in the world has been found in the southwest Pacific, near the Solomon Islands. Visible from space, the “mega coral” — a collection of tiny coral polyps forming one organism — could be over three centuries old, reported BBC News. The giant coral colony was discovered by a National Geographic […]

Plastics, ubiquitous in modern society, have become a toxic menace all over the world, leaching PFAS “forever chemicals,” breaking down into microplastics and choking the world’s seas and landfills.  In a promising study, scientists have discovered that mealworm larvae are capable of consuming polystyrene. They are one of few insects — and the first native […]

Over the course of the last several decades, people seeking to move out of populated areas have been increasingly building homes in neighboring wildlands. Wildland-urban interface (WUI) — places where human development meets undeveloped natural areas like grasslands, deserts or forests — grew by 35.6 percent from 2000 to 2020, according to new research led […]

Photos of wildlife on social media have the power to boost conservation by depicting predators not only as beautiful, but as similar to domestic pets. A new study has found that, through their millions of followers, Instagram and Facebook can steer public engagement and awareness toward support for predators like wildcats, who are sometimes shot […]

The voices of the night, coyotes are incredibly resilient, even in the face of mounting environmental pressures. A new study has found that the baying omnivores — the most successful predators in North America — are thriving and becoming even more successful, despite hunting, human development and competition with larger carnivores like pumas and black […]

The COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, ended in disappointment this weekend, with countries failing to determine how to raise $200 billion a year in funding for conservation by 2030, reported Reuters. Originally intended as a check-in on countries’ progress with meeting the goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), COP16 went into […]

After 16 years of efforts by grassroots organizations, local Puerto Rico communities are celebrating the establishment of the country’s new marine protected area (MPA), Jardines Submarinos de Vega Baja y Manatí. The new marine reserve on Puerto Rico’s north coast will protect 77 square miles of marine biodiversity, a press release from the Wildlife Conservation […]

Happy Halloween!  That is, unless you’re an unsuspecting creature in the woods looking for something tasty to eat. If that’s the case, things can get downright frightening around this time of year as people toss their old Halloween pumpkins and other squash into nature once the holiday is over.  In fact, the risks are so […]