This 2-foot-long, black-masked member of the weasel family once occurred in central grasslands and basins from southern Canada to Texas but is now one of the most endangered mammals in North America.

Like polar bears on the opposite pole, emperor penguins endure unfathomable hardships to breed and nurture each new generation — fasting for months through the planet's harshest winter. If their ...

Having collected the most recent census data from state and federal bald-eagle managers in each of the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia, the Center for Biological Diversity has determined ...

Trapped, poisoned and shot for “predator control,” gray wolves were nearly eliminated from the U.S. West by 1945. Today, after centuries of unfounded fear and animosity, research has given wolves a ...

An analysis of oil and gas pipeline safety in the United States reveals a troubling history of spills, contamination, injuries and deaths. This time-lapse video shows pipeline incidents from 1986 to ...

DESCRIPTION: The dugong is a marine mammal related to the manatee. It averages nine feet in length and weighs 550 to 1,000 pounds. The Okinawa dugong is slate gray to gray bronze in color and its tail ...

Our planet now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. But there’s still ...

The variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems. Biological diversity, often shortened to biodiversity, is ...

Climate change presents the gravest threat to life on Earth in all of human history. The planet is warming to a degree beyond what many species can handle, altering or eliminating habitat, reducing ...

The vast majority of western dry forests are at risk of large, high-intensity fire because of the effects of poor forest management over the past century. The primary factors that lead to current ...

Monarch butterflies are important culturally and ecologically across North America. Generations have watched in wonder as yellow-and-black striped caterpillars fold into green-and-gold chrysalises and ...

The giant garter snake is one of North America's largest native snakes, reaching up to 64 inches in length and endemic to California's Central Valley, where it originally inhabited natural wetlands.