endangered species

This rare, intelligent species of crow is taking flight in Hawaii again

4:26am February 20, 2025

by Lauren Sommer

Hawaiian crows are extinct in the wild and are found nowhere else on Earth. Now, a small group, safeguarded in captivity, has been released in the forests of Maui.

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Republican primary challenger for Rep. Richard Pombo's seat, former Rep. Pete McCloskey, is shown at his law office in Redwood City, Calif., March 16, 2006. Former California Rep. McCloskey, who ran as a Republican challenging President Richard Nixon in 1972, died on May 8 at age 96.

Politics & Government

Pete McCloskey's life reminds us how politics long in the past live on in the present

1:24pm May 18, 2024

by Ron Elving

McCloskey's story has both deep roots and burgeoning relevance. He died this month at 96 and had long been out of the limelight, but the issues he had been willing to champion are as salient as ever.

The Key deer is the smallest deer species in North America. The deer live only in the low-lying Florida Keys. They are considered federally endangered, with an estimated population of around 1,000.

A tiny deer and rising seas: How far should people go to save an endangered species?

5:30am November 12, 2023

The Key deer is losing the only place it lives, raising uncomfortable questions for the people tasked with keeping endangered species alive.

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The historical range of the Bachman's warbler included Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Environment

21 species have been declared extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says

8:05pm October 17, 2023

by Ayana Archie

The species, including birds, mussels and a bat, have been moved off the threatened and endangered list. They join 650 other species that have gone extinct in the U.S.

A study published in the journal Nature found that the status of amphibians globally is "deteriorating rapidly," earning them the unenviable title of being the planet's most threatened class of vertebrates. Here, an endangered Agalychnis annae, commonly known as a Blue-Sided Leaf Frog, is seen at National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, INBio, in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Scientists looked at nearly every known amphibian type. They're not doing great

4:36pm October 04, 2023

by Nathan Rott

A new global assessment of the world's amphibians finds that more than 2 of every 5 known species is at risk of extinction. Habitat loss, disease and climate change are the main drivers.

A female red wolf is shown in its habitat at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C.

More endangered red wolves will be released in the U.S. under a legal settlement

1:20pm August 10, 2023

by Emily Olson

There were only an estimated seven red wolves left in the wild when a coalition of conservation organizations decided to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Devils Hole pupfish gather on the precious rocky shelf that supports their entire fragile existence in the wild.

Against all odds, the rare Devils Hole pupfish keeps on swimming

5:00am July 07, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The Devils Hole pupfish's natural habitat is a single water-filled hole in a cave in the Nevada desert. Its numbers at one point dwindled to just 35 animals. How does it manage to survive?

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Environment

Greensboro Science Center hosts rare pygmy hippo birth

10:39am May 30, 2023

by Neal Charnoff

The Greensboro Science Center is celebrating the arrival of a rare pygmy hippo.

A gopher tortoise is seen at San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park in Gainesville, Fla. Gopher tortoises that are threatened by loss of habitat and development should be placed on the endangered species list in four southern states, environmental groups said Wednesday.

National

Gopher tortoises in Southern states deserve federal protections, groups say

1:59pm March 22, 2023

by The Associated Press

The tortoises imperiled by loss of habitat should be put on the endangered species list in four southern states, environmental groups said as they prepared to sue the U.S. government over the issue.

A flock of wood storks mingles with egrets as they stand in a retention pond along a road in Atlantic Beach, Fla., on Aug. 12, 2015.

National

After a big recovery, the wood stork may soon fly off the endangered species list

6:08pm February 14, 2023

by The Associated Press

The ungainly yet graceful wood stork, which was on the brink of extinction in 1984, has rebounded dramatically in Florida and other Southern states, officials say.