Animals

Humpback whales and tanker in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in Massachusetts Bay.

Listening To Whale Migration Reveals A Sea Of Noise Pollution, Too

4:24pm August 19, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

Christopher Clark, an engineer turned whale biologist, wired the world's oceans with hydrophones. Whales sing as they migrate, he learned. And the ship sounds clouding the ocean can deeply interfere.

Queue Listen Now

News

Updated: Counties Cancel Animal Shelter Contracts Over Abuse Concerns

5:43pm August 17, 2015

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture revoked the licenses of the organization that ran animal shelters in Guilford and Davidson Counties Monday.

Queue Listen Now

Common marmosets can copy the sounds and intonations of their parents.

Chatty Marmosets Have Something To Say About Vocal Learning

5:06pm August 17, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Scientists have found that marmosets have the capability to learn calls from their parents. Studying the small monkeys may provide insights into developmental disorders in humans, like autism.

Queue Listen Now

Young pigs stare out of a pen at a hog farm in North Dakota. In coming months, consumers will start to see a new label on some packages of pork: Produced

National

A Muscle Drug For Pigs Comes Out Of The Shadows

2:34pm August 17, 2015

by Dan Charles

The USDA is allowing a pork retailer, for the first time, to label products as raised with "no ractopamine." It may lead to pressure on farmers to stop using the muscle-promoting drug.

Queue Listen Now

Science

Decoding Nature: Identifying Sounds A Horned Owl Makes

12:29pm August 17, 2015

A listener responded to our invitation to send recordings of backyard wildlife with audio of a spooky bird screech. An expert at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology helped solve the mystery.

Queue Listen Now

The dik-dik is a small antelope that is hunted as bush meat. This picture was taken in Voi, a town in southern Kenya.

Laws Prohibiting Bush Meat Are Actually A Boon For The Bush Meat Biz

10:05am August 17, 2015

by Emily Sohn

That's what researchers in Equatorial Guinea have found. Endangered animals are at risk. So are humans, from diseases the animals could harbor. So how do you stop the bush meat trade?

Close Listening: How Sound Reveals The Invisible

6:44pm August 14, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

The stethoscope seems so simple — a 19th century tool for listening more closely to the human heart or lungs. It also sparked a culture of listening that is transforming the way scientists learn.

Queue Listen Now

National

Female Grizzly Bear In Yellowstone Put To Death After Killing Hiker

2:53pm August 14, 2015

by Lucy Perkins

The adult female grizzly killed Lance Crosby last week, when he was hiking near the Elephant Back Loop Trail in the national park.

In a speech on Monday, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said his compatriots failed to protect Cecil the lion.

World News

Zimbabwe's President Blames 'Vandals' For Killing Cecil The Lion

2:33pm August 14, 2015

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

President Robert Mugabe made his first public statement about the lion, saying his compatriots must protect their country's natural resources from foreign "vandals."

Queue Listen Now

A brown bear in its natural habitat. Wildlife ecologists in Minnesota found that black bears in their study experienced an increase in heart rate when buzzed by drones.

Drones Increase Heart Rates Of Wild Bears. Too Much Stress?

12:52pm August 14, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists studying animals in their natural habitats can now just send in a drone with a camera, rather than trudging through rough terrain. But a new study finds that the drones don't go unnoticed.

Queue Listen Now