Nature & Wildlife
If you were asked to name a giant that now lives among us, you might immediately think of an African elephant, a blue whale, a mountain gorilla, a polar bear or a rhinoceros. There are, however, some other, lesser-known—but fascinating—leviathans in our midst.
Nature & Wildlife
More-than-human animals predate humans on Earth by approximately 500 million to more than 800 million years. While modern humans (Homo sapiens) have existed for only about 300,000 years, the first animal life (likely sponges) appeared in the ocean hundreds of millions of years prior to the human lineage.
Conservation
The theme for the 56th annual Earth Day, April 22, 2026, is “Our Power, Our Planet.” According to the official Earth Day website, “it emphasizes collective action, community mobilization and the role of individuals in defending environmental protections, accelerating the transition to clean energy and ensuring a sustainable future.”
Conservation
Conservation is growing up. The field is no longer just about how to protect an animal group’s numbers and making efforts to keep it from going extinct by identifying key habitats and focusing on natural resource management. Ethnobiology has entered the conservation space in a big way.
Nature & Wildlife
Human beings have been telling stories for as long as there have been languages to tell them in. We think in stories, we remember in stories, and we turn just about everything that we experience into a story.
Nature & Wildlife
Many Native American communities belong to a clan that identifies with an animal, such as a bear, eagle or turtle. Such four-legged, winged or swimming family members are considered brothers and sisters. Several play major roles in creation stories, and conversations between them and people flow freely.
Conservation
Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist, author Robin Wall Kimmerer in her now iconic 2015 book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants intertwines the knowledge she gained during her Potawatomi upbringing with the education she later received as a scientist—specifically, a plant biologist.
Nature & Wildlife
Wolves are probably one of the most widely studied species on the planet. What’s fascinating, though, is that just when we think we know almost everything there is to know about them, they find a way to surprise us. It’s estimated that 2 million wolves once roamed freely throughout North America.
Conservation
Today, across the planet, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as rural outmigration, or people leaving for urban centers. Some people leave their rural lives behind to seek economic prosperity in cities when agriculture is no longer profitable.
Nature & Wildlife
Throughout time, reindeer have been used for economic purposes by various circumpolar peoples, including the Chukchi, Evenks, Khants, Nenets and Sami. Long heralded for their dependable and docile natures and their dexterity in a range of tasks, reindeer were even widely used during World War II by the Soviet forces to help transport injured soldiers.
Nature & Wildlife
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown, isolated population of polar bears living in Southeast Greenland that has found a unique way to survive.
