Nature & Wildlife Stories

Rebecca Self

Bearded Vultures and Beyond: Where to See Nature’s Clean Up Crew

For many people, our first encounters with vultures are as dark, shadowy, even menacing figures in fairy tales. That’s a shame, because vultures play helpful,...

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Megan Brief

Discover the Desert Secrets of the Southwestern United States

Have you ever seen a greater short-horned lizard scrape its crown of spines along a canyon rim? Smelled the fresh spray of a cascading spring? Heard the love...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

The Influence of Gophers and the Impacts of Wolves

On the surface, gophers and wolves don’t seem to have much in common. Gophers are small (just a few inches long), burrowing rodents that primarily consume...

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Rebecca Self

What’s the Difference Between Manatees and Dugongs?

Growing up on the Gulf Coast of Florida, manatees were part of our lives. We’d see them in marinas and on school field trips. I remember one day near the end...

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Rebecca Self

Ancient Legends, Modern Challenges: Protecting the Amazon’s Pink River Dolphins

The Amazon river dolphin is known as the botoin in Brazil and as bufeo or bufeo colorado in Spanish-speaking parts of the Amazon Basin, including Peru,...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Nature in 2025: Aid to Attention, Happiness and Well-Being

In 2024, I started the year by writing about nature: CO2 emissions, temperatures and the optimism a lot of us felt about clean energy technologies with...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Deer, Reindeer and REM Sleep

At first glance, geese and reindeer (called “caribou” in North America) may not seem to have much in common. But there is a link: in some places, they share...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Snow: Glacier Guardian, Water Supply and Mousing Medium

From my perspective, the best thing about winter is snow. When it falls, this natural element covers everything in a white blanket, creating a sense of...

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Rebecca Self

Cheetah Adaptation: Survival of the Fastest

Cheetahs survive on speed, but it is only one of many physical and behavioral adaptations they rely upon to survive a complex set of interlinking challenges....

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Rebecca Self

Benefits of Birdsong: 5 Ways Birdsong is Good For You

One of the things I most love about Spring—and miss the rest of the year—is the raucous 5 am wake-up call from birds outside our window. It’s the only noise...

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Cathy Brown

Get to Know the Geology of the American Southwest

Two billion years of the Earth’s history are represented in the landscape of the American Southwest. Geologic forces created some of the most archetypal and...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Wild Turkey Chicks and Post-Flight Reindeer Feasts

Every year, without fail, Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to come right on top of each other. The four weeks between the two holidays fly by, with hardly...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

The Social Behavior of Animals Changes with Age

If you look at almost any bird identification guide or mammal encyclopedia, you’ll typically see two to three images of any one animal: an adult female, an...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Polar Bear Paws, Problems and a Promising Plan

As the end-of-the-year holidays approach, themes of ice-skating rinks, snowflakes and cute polar bears in sweaters decorate many homes and shops. But if...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

The Climate Change Complexities of Bird Migrations

The beginning of November always makes me think of the fall migrations of birds. In the United States, this annual ritual typically begins around August 1 and...

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Wendy Redal

Mexico’s Monarchs Return for the Day of the Dead

All Souls Day, observed on November 2, is a little-known holiday in most of the U.S. outside of some Catholic circles, but in Mexico, the date is heralded by...

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Candice Gaukel Andrews

Halloween 2024: Bat Nightclubs and Owl Haunts

With the end of October near and Halloween decorations almost everywhere you look, you might be wondering why certain animals are so often featured as we...

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Rebecca Self

Four Reasons to Visit Zimbabwe: Iconic Landscapes, Rich Wildlife, Resilient People and Conservation

Zimbabwe is a land of striking contrasts, where ancient and recent, natural and built environments coexist. In the news, we hear and read about Zimbabwe as a...

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