Nature & Wildlife
Because of ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change, polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the United States under the Endangered Species Act in May 2008.
Europe
Every time I see a puffin, the same thought comes to mind: They’re not real, right? They’re too impossibly cute. For me and for everyone else on the planet, I bet, they seem just too adorable to be of natural origins. But they are.
Nature & Wildlife
More than 400 shark species inhabit our planet. And while facts about some of them may be well-known to researchers and the rest of us, there are many shark species whose behaviors remain mysterious and secretive. In mid-April 2018, we learned that the actions of basking sharks fell into that latter category.
Nature & Wildlife
Whales are complex creatures with very large brains. We are only just beginning to understand small portions of their highly developed cultures. Among the many things we don’t know about them is why they beach.
Conservation
Becoming a locavore—someone who prefers to find and eat local foods—is a growing and, in most cases, healthy trend in the United States. Locavores typically forage for berries, fruits, mushrooms and nuts; and some take up hunting, deciding they prefer to eat free-range, organically grown meat.
News & More
We’re currently living in the midst of what scientists call the sixth mass extinction, the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years.
News & More
As of January 22, 2016, lions will be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Our federal government, of course, cannot regulate conservation practices in other nations.
Conservation
Ursus maritimus (the polar bear) is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species—one step away from the list’s official Endangered designation. Make no doubt about it, Frosty the Snowman is melting, and along with him, so is the sea ice that the King of the Arctic depends on.
Conservation
The classical elemental forces of nature are air, earth, fire and water. But there are other great environmental powers that have a beating heart, such as when millions of wild animals come together as one to surge across an endless African plain. Such is the Great Migration of wildebeests in Kenya and Tanzania.
Nature & Wildlife
There has been a lot of good news for endangered and “missing” wildlife lately, which seems like a breath of fresh air amid all the dire headlines about rapid climate change and environmental degradation.
Conservation
It’s a quandary that often faces travelers to ecologically fragile destinations: tourism can do wonders to raise awareness about the importance of conservation, yet visitors may question whether their very presence is contributing to a problem.
