About 20,000 years ago, somewhere along the crease where the Cascade Mountains drop into the plains, black-tailed jackrabbits and snowshoe hares mated. But as snowshoe hares, with their unique ability to seasonally change from brown to white, bounded away, they took with them a black-tailed jackrabbit gene, one that would serve them well millennia later: … Read more
Nearly all migratory birds migrate first, then nest once they arrive where they’re going. To do otherwise would be counter-intuitive, a process requiring a tremendous amount of energy all at once. But the American woodcock—a migratory shorebird found in the eastern United States—may do just that. Known as itinerant breeding, it’s a behavior so rare … Read more
I raised my binoculars, expecting to get a view of a mule deer. I often spotted them in this little valley, and when I saw the tan form, I knew what it was. Or thought I knew. Because as I focused on the animal, something seemed off. And then it moved. It had a long … Read more
Set out on a hike at Florida’s Tiger Creek Preserve, and it won’t be long before you see a small brown lizard scuttle through the undergrowth. And while some of them might be the ubiquitous brown anole, an introduced species from Cuba, others merit closer inspection. The dark lateral stripe along the lizard’s body might … Read more
Longline fisheries are a well-recognized risk to sea turtles. However a brand new research finds that native, small-scale fisheries trigger considerably larger mortality, harvesting as much as 97% of the ~12,000 turtles killed every year within the Solomon Islands. The Gist Researchers estimate the size of turtle catches in two Solomon Islands fisheries: an area, … Read more
Digicam traps in Chile’s Valdivian Coastal Reserve and adjoining Alerce Costero Nationwide Park just lately documented a big enhance in websites the place the long-nosed Chilean shrew opossum—a marsupial largely unchanged for thousands and thousands of years—is understood to be current. The Gist The long-nosed shrew opossum (Rhyncholestes raphanarus) is the one surviving member of … Read more
Yes, you read that right. In the forests of Chile’s Valdivian Coastal Reserve, there is a small mammal known, in English, as the “long-nosed Chilean shrew opossum.” In Spanish, it’s comadrejita trompuda, and to scientists, it’s Rhyncholestes raphanarus. In all languages, this fascinating relict marsupial is the last of its kind—the only known living member … Read more
This story is part of a series designed to introduce the perspectives of alumni from the The Nature Conservancy and National Geographic Society’s global youth externship program. Each guest author is an emerging leader in conservation and storytelling. The morning air feels cold along the river’s edge as I watch the fish in front of … Read more
It’s not every day that a young female scientist is honored alongside David Attenborough and E. O. Wilson. But that’s exactly what happened to TNC scientist Suzana Bandeira, who earlier this year was immortalized in Linnean binomial when a new Angolan skink species was named in her honor. “It’s such an honor,” says Bandeira, speaking … Read more
The striped skunk is likely one of the most acquainted mammals of North America, immediately recognizable by sight or odor. However there are 9 different species of skunks, and arguably the cutest of the bunch is the noticed skunks. There are three very comparable species of noticed skunk that stay over a variety of the … Read more