Wildlife

"Blue whales are vulnerable to cargo ship strikes because they are so used to being the largest animal in the ocean that they often fail to avoid the vessels, a Stanford University biologist has found."

"Native American tribes said on Friday they oppose U.S. government plans to strip grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park area of federal safeguards, ultimately opening the way for sport hunting of them in northern Rocky Mountain states."

"As the summer tourist season approaches on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, there’s a growing hope among horse advocates that the iconic wild horses of Corolla can be saved from a fate of inbreeding and deformities."

"The number of breeding males in the greater sage-grouse population of the United States and part of Canada has declined by 56 percent in recent years, in a sign of trouble for the ground-dwelling bird, a study released on Friday showed."

"A common type of pesticide is dramatically harming wild bees, according to a new in-the-field study that outside experts say may help shift the way the U.S. government looks at a controversial class of chemicals."

"If the circus is coming to town, that town won’t be San Francisco under a new regulation that would ban all performances by wild and exotic animals in the city."

"Montana has closed the hunting season on a wild herd of bighorn sheep, with pneumonia suspected of killing dozens of the animals whose seasonal mating rituals attract scores of wildlife watchers."

"In a settlement with a coalition of animal advocacy groups, Mendocino County has agreed to suspend renewal of its contract with a federal wildlife management agency pending completion of an environmental impact report that will consider nonlethal methods of predator control."

"MEXICO CITY — President Enrique Peña Nieto and his top military commanders flew to a modest fishing village in Mexico’s far northwest on Thursday and made a promise to protect a small porpoise called the vaquita that is on the edge of extinction."

"Although contaminants buried in the sediments of Green Bay may be out of sight, they should not be out mind, according to research published last month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Two invasive species – the quagga mussel and round goby – can allow a group of toxic chemicals deposited more than 45 years ago to reenter the food web, passing them to predatory fish and possibly people."