Animals

You're Not Even Safe From Bears In The Water

5:12am May 25, 2017

Brad Meck of Pennsylvania noticed a black object in the water while fishing. It was a baby bear. Meck pulled the bear into his boat and it just sat quietly. He dropped the bear off on land.

A blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, engulfs krill off the coast of California.

Science

How The Biggest Animal On Earth Got So Big

7:19pm May 23, 2017

by Madeline K. Sofia

Whales might be the largest animals on the planet, but they haven't always been so huge. Researchers say the ocean giants only became enormous fairly recently, and over a short period of time.

This is a vertebrae of the Selam skeleton.

3.3 Million-Year-Old Fossil Sheds Light On How The Spine Evolved

6:58pm May 23, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

It's hard evidence that the type of spinal segmentation and numbering found in modern humans emerged 3.3 million years ago, the scientists say. The remarkable fossil was discovered in Ethiopia.

International Eel Smuggling Scheme Centers On Maine

5:12pm May 22, 2017

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Bill Trotter, a fishery and environmental reporter for the Bangor Daily News, about the illegal eel fishing scheme in Maine.

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Rodney Stotts carries Sky, a rehabilitated hawk, up the stairs at the Matthew Henson Center.

In Washington, D.C., A Program In Which Birds And People Lift Each Other Up

1:51pm May 20, 2017

For 25 years, the Earth Conservation Corps has been cleaning up the capital's polluted Anacostia River. Volunteers have turned their lives around and now work to help others do the same.

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A ladybug unfolds its wings. Scientists have had trouble figuring out how ladybugs fold their wings back up — but a team in Japan found a way to see the process.

Science

Scientists Sneak A Peek At How Ladybugs Fold Their Wings

9:00am May 20, 2017

by Camila Domonoske

Ladybugs are famous for their spotted wing cases. But researchers in Japan were interested in what was happening under that colorful exterior: How delicate wings were folding origami-like into place.

National

Don't Feed Parrots Chocolate, Despite What Happens In Minecraft

8:02am May 20, 2017

by Scott Simon

In the game Minecraft, a chocolate chip cookie will tame a parrot, but they're poisonous to the birds in real life. Minecraft has promised to update the game.

Environment

Why Do Journalists Love Reporting On The Everglades?

8:02am May 20, 2017

by Kate Stein

The Florida Everglades is known for its beauty, and recently for its pythons. Efforts are accelerating to rid the ecosystem of the pesky invasive species. It's a huge story ... for journalists.

"I have been ordered to say that Lord Bigglesworth believes he was put on this earth to be decorative and be worshipped by his human slaves," writes Gina Brett of Cat People of Melbourne.

Will Someone Please Adopt This 'Utter Bastard Of A Cat'?

3:02pm May 19, 2017

by Camila Domonoske

A rescue group in Australia is looking for someone to take in a gorgeous black rescue cat. But be warned: "Mr. Biggles is a despot and a dictator" who "does not like to be thwarted."

Workers prepare to release thousands of fingerling Chinook salmon into the Mare Island Strait in Vallejo, Calif., in 2014. A new report names climate change, dams and agriculture as the major threats to the prized and iconic fish, which is still the core

Many Of California's Salmon Populations Unlikely To Survive The Century

7:08pm May 17, 2017

by Alastair Bland

Climate change, dams and agriculture are threatening Chinook salmon, the iconic fish at the core of the state's fishing industry, a report predicts. And 23 other fish species are also at risk.