At the end of March, the United Nations held its first Conference on Water in nearly a half century. Its location—New York City—provided a compelling geography to learn from the…
Category: Animals
The food we eat and its impact on climate change
How we grow food, consume it and waste it may play a big role in whether the world can avert a climate catastrophe, environmentalists and climate change analysts say. One…
Troubling news for monarch butterfly populations | Stories
The Eastern migratory monarch butterfly is at risk: new reports show a sharp population decline and a loss of habitat in the forests where they winter each year. In just…
How community and Indigenous efforts contribute to protecting our oceans | Stories
Clearly, change is needed to protect our ocean’s incredible wildlife, but we also need to ensure that such protection doesn’t cut off access to the ocean’s many varied resources for…
Namibia’s female rhino rangers make an impact beyond the areas they survey | Stories
The “desert-adapted” black rhinos in Kunene are the only truly wild black rhino population remaining in the world, living on unfenced communal lands and outside of national parks. The rhinos…
‘Jet packs’ and ultrasounds could reveal secrets of pregnant whale sharks
How do you know if the world’s largest living fish is expecting babies? Not by her bulging belly, it turns out. Scientists thought that an enlarged area on the undersides…
Invasive yellow crazy ants create male ‘chimeras’ to reproduce
Yellow crazy ants break the rules of reproduction. Every male ant contains separate populations of cells from two distinct genetic lineages, making them “chimeras,” researchers report in the April 7…
WWF campaign targets wild meat consumption to protect public health and nature | Stories
These three countries have some of the highest observed levels of wild meat consumption, which often brings wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians into the marketplace and restaurants. Wild meat…
How some beetles ‘drink’ water using their butts
Some beetles “drink” using their butts, and scientists are starting to understand how. Red flour beetles, a major agricultural pest, open their anus to get water vapor in the air…
Capybaras thrive, even near humans, because they’re not picky eaters
Capybaras, the world’s largest rodent, naturally live in vast grasslands, wetlands and rivers throughout South America. Their name literally means grass eater in the Tupi language, which is indigenous to…
