Animals

A herd of bison graze near the trail inside the bison range.

Environment

Native tribes celebrate Montana land ownership and bison range restoration

8:28am May 25, 2022

by Freddy Monares

The 18,000-acre bison range is located on land taken away by the U.S. government 100 years ago. Congress passed a law in 2020 giving the land back to the local native tribes.

Queue Listen Now

Animal sexuality may not be as binary as we're led to believe, according to new book

4:27pm May 24, 2022

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Eliot Schrefer, author of Queer Ducks (And Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality. It's about how "natural sex" may not be as binary as some think.

National

Eva, the hero dog, beats back a mountain lion that attacked her owner on a hike

5:00am May 21, 2022

by Raquel Maria Dillon

Erin Wilson recounts how her dog saved her from a mountain lion attack while she hiked along a river in remote Northern California. Eva the Belgian Malinois is recovering.

Christian Cooper watches distant shorebirds at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in California. The National Geographic channel has announced that Cooper will host a series called Extraordinary Birder. Cooper was in the spotlight after a

Bird-watcher wrongfully accused in Central Park video gets a bird-watching TV show

7:52pm May 19, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

In the series, Christian Cooper will take viewers into the "wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds," according to National Geographic.

Disco lights, all the rage in the 70s, are still going strong underwater

6:43am May 19, 2022

British scientists had been trying to catch lobsters and crabs without using fish. They decided to bate their traps with LED lights. The light show did attract a lot of scallops.

Queue Listen Now

Bronx Zoo elephant Happy strolls inside the zoo's Asia habitat in New York in 2018.

National

Happy is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person?

8:33pm May 18, 2022

by The Associated Press

Through an attorney, the Bronx Zoo argues Happy is neither illegally imprisoned nor a person, but a well-cared-for elephant "respected as the magnificent creature she is."

National

It's a mink... It's a muskrat... It's an otter in the Detroit River

6:12pm May 17, 2022

The first recorded sighting of a river otter in the Detroit River in more than 100 years is an indicator that the environment is improving.

Queue Listen Now

Scientists eavesdrop on an ancient river giant: the lake sturgeon

4:55pm May 16, 2022

by Shahla Farzan

Lake sturgeon used to be common in rivers and lakes from Minnesota to Louisiana. Now the species is near extinction. Scientists are implanting radio transmitters to see how they can help save them.

Queue Listen Now

Sarah Peper, Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist, downloads fish tracking data on the Mississippi River in West Alton, Mo.

Science

Missouri scientists work to save lake sturgeon by electronically tracking them

2:58pm May 16, 2022

by Shahla Farzan

With a decreasing population of lake sturgeon, nine states have listed the species as endangered. To protect them, scientists are studying where lake sturgeon travel before and after they reproduce.

It is still partially a mystery how Nala, a lost dog, was able to get into the house of Julie and Jimmy Johnson and climb her way into their bed overnight.

National

This dog broke into a Tennessee couple's house and snuggled her way into their bed

5:00am May 16, 2022

by Wynne Davis

Julie and Jimmy Johnson woke up to quite the surprise after a night of thunderstorms earlier this month. While they have three dogs of their own, the dog sandwiched between them was a total stranger.