Conservation
By Lisa Poppleton Certain national parks are particularly renowned for their animal denizens. Recently, I was in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, where bison, moose, elk, and osprey were roadside attractions. Invisible, at least on this trip, but on every visitor’s mind are the wolf and grizzly bear.
Conservation
As someone who loves wild, natural places, you’ve heard plenty of dire environmental alerts and communications. There are more tigers in people’s backyards than there are tigers in the wild. Rhinos are being poached to the point of extinction. The last Galapagos giant tortoise from Pinta Island has passed away.
Videos
All bear cubs appear to be incredibly curious, and black bear cubs are no exception. However, this penchant for wanderlust and exploration can sometimes result in some thrilling—but not exactly welcome—adventures. Watch the one-minute video below. Mother bear is frantic: three of her cubs have fallen inside a roadside dumpster.
Conservation
Move over, Disney World: From liberal Democrats to Tea Party Republicans, Americans are united when it comes to valuing nature and our national parks, a new survey reveals. I remember vividly my son’s reply to a question I posed after a family vacation in central Florida when he was seven.
Videos
The passing of Lonesome George last month was a sobering event for the whole world. With him went the last of his kind, the giant Galapagos Pinta tortoise.
News & More
Antibacterial soaps, alcohol wipes and bleach in our everyday cleaning products have made us focused on eliminating all the germs that we possibly can from our lives. And when it comes to our children, it seems that focus turns into an obsession. It’s here, though, where we soon become at odds with nature.
Nature & Wildlife
Only 30-35 Amur leopards remain in the wild. Through establishment of a new national park in the Russian Far East, The Land of the Leopard, the World Wildlife Fund and its partners have joined local and national governments and community groups in an urgent effort to save this magnificent species.
Videos
When you hear about the great journeys undertaken by some of nature’s smallest creatures, you can’t help but feel inspired to step into adventures of your own that may be outside your comfort zone. And no odyssey is greater than that of the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea).
News & More
I’m not talking about a spirulina smoothie, though that can be good for you, too. Nope, it’s actually “Vitamin N” that’s the focus – “N” for “nature.” It’s author Richard Louv’s term for the health benefits of time spent in the natural world, detailed in his book The Nature Principle.
Nature & Wildlife
Scientists—and those of us who are polar bear enthusiasts—have long thought that polar bears started off as brown bears about 150,000 years ago, adapting to their cold environment by developing smaller ears, thicker fur and teeth ideally shaped to tear into seal flesh.
Conservation
Cute, adorable animals are often used to garner support for environmental causes in places that are remote. After all, it’s hard to have concern for an area that is at the opposite end of the Earth from where you live and for which you have no plans to ever see.
Conservation
It is a conflict as old as the hills: the predation of domestic livestock by a wild animal and subsequent eradication of the predator by the deprived herder. In this era of endangered species and declining natural habitat, such retaliation can hasten the extinction of an already imperiled animal.
