The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered whales. Once common along the eastern U.S. seaboard, the whale was hunted to near-extinction by the 1750s. While no longer pursued ...

DESCRIPTION: The giant Palouse earthworm can reach three feet or more in length, has light-pink skin, and emits a unique, sweet fragrance. HABITAT: This species inhabits permanent or semipermanent ...

The Gila chub once benefited from the engineering feats of beavers living in the upper Gila River basin, whose dams created deep, slow-moving pools the chub loved. So in the late 1800s, when beavers ...

DESCRIPTION: Sturgeon have cartilaginous skeletons and a tube-like mouth. In the Kootenai River, they can grow to be larger than 200 pounds. They are gray in color. HABITAT: Kootenai River white ...

For generations, Nevada’s big-eyed, black-freckled Dixie Valley toad thrived in a small desert oasis, hidden from humans. But by the time scientists described it in 2017, the toad was already ...

The black-capped petrel is a small seabird with long, black-framed wings that is also known as diablotin, or “little devil,” due to its eerie nighttime mating calls. These birds nest in the Caribbean ...

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 ...

Can you think of a more destructive way to extract resources than blowing up a mountain? How about if the waste from doing it is dumped straight into mountain streams? Mountaintop removal is a radical ...

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 ...

Coquí frogs are cultural symbols in Puerto Rico, well known for the “ko-kee” call made by the common coquí, Eleutherodactylus coqui. In fact, 16 distinct species can be found on the island — and ...

DESCRIPTION: The Newell's shearwater is a small to medium-sized shearwater measuring 12 to 14 inches with a wing span of 30 to 35 inches. Adults are dark, sooty brown on top contrasted by a striking ...

Exclusively in Iliamna Lake, Alaska’s largest body of freshwater, lives a small population of rare freshwater seals — one of only two freshwater harbor seal populations in the world. Alaska natives, ...