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Hurricane Helene Battered the ‘Salamander Capital of the World’ With Floods and Landslides. Will the Beloved Amphibians Survive the Aftermath?

Alexa Robles-Gil Daily Correspondent When Hurricane Helene hit Valle Crucis in North Carolina, the creek across the Watauga River was already overflowing from 11 inches of rain, according to local resident Jessica Valky-Bryant. The swollen creek then went over its banks, flooding and destroying Valky-Bryant’s private road. Trees and mud puddles were everywhere. “In the […]

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Science

African giant rats trained to sniff out illegal wildlife products

Researchers trained African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife species and remember targets for several months. Credit: APOPO In the past, African giant pouched rats have learned to detect explosives and the tuberculosis-causing pathogen. Now, a team of researchers have trained these rats to pick up the scent of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, […]

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Science

From Prolonging Wallaby Pregnancies to Disorienting Hatchling Turtles, 11 Ways Artificial Lights Affect Animals

Brian Handwerk Science Correspondent When the sun sets, darkness guides the ways many animals live and die. The night helps wary mice hide from some predators, but it also helps hunters like keen-eyed owls score their next meal. Many species mate under cover of darkness, like calling crickets that find one another in the night. […]

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Science

Even as A.I. Technology Races Ahead, the Prehistoric Science of Wildlife Tracking Is Making a Comeback

By Ben Goldfarb Photographs by Mette Lampcov The 28th question of the hardest exam I’d taken since college was a smudged footprint pressed lightly into damp sand. The track possessed four teardrop-shaped toes and a vaguely trapezoidal heel pad; one toe, third from the left, jutted above the others, like a human’s middle finger. I […]

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Science

Can the Endangered Rusty Patched Bumblebee Survive?

On a sweltering summer day in Madison, Wisconsin, Jade Kochanski wades through a prairie bursting with wildflowers. Insect net in hand, she carefully scans the colorful blossoms. She’s on a mission to capture and identify the bumblebees that live there. If she’s lucky, she’ll discover a rare find—an endangered rusty patched bumblebee, named for the […]

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Science

13 memorable and metal Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners

In a village where forests once grew, a tiger lounges on a grassy hillside. India’s Western Ghats has a stable population of the majestic big cats, but nearby development has impacted the area’s overall tiger population. Using a drone, Robin Darius Conz captured a compelling image that illustrates this ongoing clash between humans and wildlife. […]

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