Wildlife

"Purebred bison – direct descendants of the animals that blanketed North America before colonization – are scant, protected and short on genetic diversity."

"The mouse-size dunnart is not as iconic as the koalas or platypuses that draw tourists, but it is arguably the most special mammal on Australia’s Kangaroo Island. Now the Kangaroo Island dunnart’s days may be numbered."

"The snowy owl was first spotted just beyond the 18th hole of one of the most expensive golf courses ever built."

"No one knows when millions of monarch butterflies began crisscrossing North America, spending their winters clustered on the same hillsides in Central Mexico, a blaze of orange wings in the green forest."

"As the state of Virginia prepared for a major bridge and tunnel expansion in the tidewaters of the Chesapeake Bay last year, engineers understood that the nesting grounds of 25,000 gulls, black skimmers, royal terns and other seabirds were about to be plowed under."

"Two environmental groups concerned the Trump administration won’t defend an Obama administration-era policy on sage grouse protections are seeking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Idaho ranchers."

"From the bulging peak of Rabbit Mountain, at 6,000 feet on the edge of the foothills north of Boulder, Colorado, you can watch a transition unfold. To the east, a tabletop of pasture and farmland spreads out to the horizon. To the west, the Rocky Mountains rise impenetrably."

"HELENA, Mont. — Ranchers and government officials here are keeping watch on an enemy army gathering to the north, along the border with Canada. The invaders are big, testy, tenacious — and they’ll eat absolutely anything. Feral pigs are widely considered to be the most destructive invasive species in the United States."