The rusty patched bumble bee, which can be identified by a rust-colored patch on its abdomen, was once a commonly seen pollinator from the midwest to the east coast. Unfortunately, scientists believe that it has disappeared from 87 percent of its historic range since the 1990s and that its population has declined by a startling […]
Salmon have been swimming in Pacific Northwest waters for at least 7 million years, as indicated by fossils of large saber-tooth salmon found in the area. During that time, they’ve been a key species in intricate, interconnected coastal ecosystems, bringing nitrogen and other nutrients from the ocean and up streams and rivers to spawning grounds, […]
The official number of moose in Yellowstone National Park is 200. Unofficially, rangers told me that it could be as few as 80 animals. In other parts of the country, Minnesota has seen a dramatic decline in their moose population of 70 percent from 2006 to 2013, while in New Hampshire, 3,800 animals remain of […]
Norway has announced plans to kill more than two-thirds of its remaining wolves, justifying the action as protection for livestock. The plan has sparked outrage by conservationists. Three wolf packs, including pups, will be shot by hunters during Norway’s annual hunting season, which runs from Oct. 1 to March 31. Last year, 11,571 people applied […]
He may be well over 100 years old, but Diego the Tortoise still has plenty of charm and he’s using it to ensure that his species lives on. The giant Galapagos tortoise has been “working” since the 1960s—when there were only 14 wild tortoises, two of which were male, left on Española—to save his native […]
By Nika Knight North America has lost more than 1.5 billion birds over the past 40 years, says the most comprehensive survey of landbird populations in Canada and the U.S. to date, and 86 species are threatened with total extinction—all thanks to human-caused habitat destruction and climate change. Golden-winged warblers are one of the North […]
A team of Russian scientists on a remote Arctic island were rescued by a passing ship after being trapped for days inside their weather station by hungry polar bears. The Polar Bear Programme The scientists were staying on Troynoy Island located in the Kara Sea north of Siberia when, on Aug. 31, a polar bear […]
By Nadia Prupis People are driving marine ecosystems to “unprecedented” mass extinction, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Science. Large-bodied animals will be the first to go, the study says—blue whales, great white sharks and bluefin tuna, for example. Their size is part of their vulnerability, making them more susceptible to […]
Our nation’s management of wild horses has been a long-running debacle of poor execution layered over questionable intentions and flagging resolve. Those problems have been compounded by violence toward horses by ranchers and other private resource users. The latest incident involves an attack on a number of wild horses living on a ranch overseen by […]