Animals

National Park Enlists Predator Beetle To Stop Hemlock-Killing Insect

5:04am June 02, 2016

by Nathan Rott

The forests at Great Smoky Mountains National Park are sick, infected by invasive bugs and plants. The park's vegetation crew is like the nursing staff, protecting native plants and treating trees.

Officers with Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation observe the carcasses of 40 tiger cubs and a binturong (also known as a bearcat) found at the "Tiger Temple" on Wednesday.

World News

40 Dead Tiger Cubs Found In Freezer At Thai Buddhist Temple

12:55pm June 01, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Thai authorities raided the temple, which operated as a zoo, after it was accused of illegal wildlife trafficking. Parks officials have been moving the temple's adult tigers to shelters elsewhere.

Loveland, Colo., resident Mary Pullen (left) and her son Nick Balla plant milkweed near the Big Thompson River as part of a community campaign to restore milkweed in the area.

Can Planting More Milkweed Save Monarch Butterflies? It's Complicated

5:10pm May 31, 2016

by Luke Runyon

Conservationists have long blamed farmers' use of pesticides for decimating the milkweed that monarch caterpillars like to eat. But scientists say simply planting more milkweed isn't the answer.

Scientists say bumblebees can sense flowers' electric fields through the bees' fuzzy hairs.

Science

Bumblebees' Little Hairs Can Sense Flowers' Electric Fields

3:00pm May 30, 2016

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The fields bend the hairs and that generates a nerve signal, scientists say.

Scientists in California are turning to big data to help save the red-legged frog, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Using Algorithms To Catch The Sounds Of Endangered Frogs

5:16pm May 29, 2016

by Sam Harnett

Scientists are turning to big data to try to save California's state amphibian. They're using software to comb through hours of recordings to find the red-legged frogs that remain.

Video shot by a witness shows the 17-year-old gorilla handling the child and standing over him in the enclosure's moat.

National

Gorilla Killed To Save Boy At Cincinnati Zoo

9:50am May 29, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

After a 4-year-old slipped into the gorilla enclosure on a crowded day at the Cincinnati Zoo, a security team killed the gorilla to save the child. A tranquilizer shot was deemed too dicey.

Wrecked By Superstorm Sandy, Conservationists Work To Restore Migratory Birds' Refuge

7:40am May 29, 2016

by Eilis O'Neill

The migratory birds of the East Coast are about to get back a piece of habitat they lost to Hurricane Sandy — a freshwater pond in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City.

A horse and mules thresh wheat in Spain. The World Organisation for Animal Health has adopted the first set of global standards to ensure equine welfare.

Health & Safety

Working Horses Can Now Breathe A Whinny Of Relief

3:37pm May 27, 2016

by Nurith Aizenman

The World Organisation For Animal Health has adopted its first standards to provide good care for equines — part of a broad agenda at its just-concluded powwow.

National

New England, Back Away From The Seal Pups

8:58pm May 26, 2016

by Dana Farrington

Please do not take selfies with the animals, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration asks. It's pupping season, so there may be a tempting number of seals about this weekend.

Feral hogs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are an invasive and hugely destructive species.

On The Trail Of The Wily Wild Hog

3:07pm May 26, 2016

by Nathan Rott

These descendants of wild boars were brought over from Europe decades ago. They're highly invasive and hugely destructive — threatening native bears and deer in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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