Conservation

The Joshua tree is one of the Mojave Desert's most iconic inhabitants. But it's under threat—and the key to saving it may lie in better understanding its tiny winged partner.

How a Tree and Its Moth Shaped the Mojave Desert

The partnership between the Joshua tree and the yucca moth may be key to understanding how plants and insects co-evolve

A green bluebottle fly, part of the Calliphoridae family of carrion flies.

How Fly Guts Are Helping Researchers Catalog the Rainforest

These tiny, buzzing lab assistants provide scientists with a treasure trove of conservation data

Musk ox have laid claim to this tundra for thousands of years, but today they face new threats. Joel Berger is determined to find out just what they are.

To Understand the Elusive Musk Ox, Researchers Must Become Its Worst Fear

How posing as a grizzly helps one biologist grasp the threats facing this ancient beast

Each Summer, These Armenian Villages Are Taken Over by Hundreds of White Storks

Villagers participate in a “Nest Neighbors” program to monitor the health of their new house guests

Christina Gebhard prepares to measure a condor's wingspan

Behind the Scenes: Skinning Condors in the Name of Science

One intrepid reporter documents the careful science, artistry and gross factor of a very strange party

Bile bears on a farm in Vietnam

Vietnam Commits to Shut Down Bear Bile Farms

Though the new agreement is promising, the practice remains prevalent throughout China and southeast Asia

Podnar shoots dry ice pellets, which sit at a frosty temperature of around negative minus-180-degrees Fahrenheit, at the object's surface

Conservation of a Pair of Saint-Gaudens Goes al Fresco at the Freer

The beauty of dry ice cleaning is the efficient and environmentally safe process; but also the procedure was on view from the street

A scuba diver swims in the coral reefs of Palau. Beneath the depths that humans can dive, natural wonder and a better understanding of our planet awaits.

Why The First Complete Map of the Ocean Floor Is Stirring Controversial Waters

Charting these watery depths could transform oceanography. It could also aid deep sea miners looking for profit

The pale tiger found in Tamil Nadu

Stunning Images Capture Rare Pale Tiger in India

An unusual genetic combination likely led to the creature's exceptionally light coloration

A horseshoe crab.

Forget Dinos: Horseshoe Crabs Are Stranger, More Ancient—And Still Alive Today

But now evolution’s ultimate survivors may be in danger

One of the mine-hunting dolphins being retrained to find vaquita porpoises

Mexico Will Use Dolphins to Herd the Endangered Vaquita to Safety

Mine-hunting dolphins will help researchers transfer the remaining creatures into marine sanctuaries

The big tree being prepared for its move in Boise, Idaho.

Watch a 100-foot-tall Giant Sequoia Get Transplanted in Boise

A gift from John Muir, the beloved tree was transferred to a local park by St. Luke's Medical Center so the facility can expand

The endangered blobfish, once named world's ugliest animal, has leveraged its unusual looks to win the Internet's adoration. Can other less-traditionally appealing creatures do the same?

When It Comes to Conservation, Are Ugly Animals a Lost Cause?

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but good marketing can do wonders

The olm, or cave dragon, is the largest cave-adapted animal in Europe. These strange creatures spend their entire lives in caves, and face threats from pollution runoff from agriculture and chemical plants on the surface.

Cave Dragons Exist—And Saving Them Could Be Key to Protecting Drinking Water

New DNA techniques are letting researchers track down the largest, strangest cave animals in the world

Small but mighty!

The Little Brown Bat’s Mighty Talent

Accounting for body size, the little brown bat lives longest of any mammal–but no one knows why

Compared with the trees, lianas are able to put more energy into the production of leaves and seeds and less towards growing a trunk.

Tarzan's Favorite Mode of Travel, the Liana Vine, Chokes Off a Tree's Ability to Bear Fruit

With lowered fruit production, fewer seeds are dispersed to grow new trees

Marine algae blooms like these in the northern Ross Sea are often vast enough to be visible from space.

Who Owns Antarctica's Pristine Oceans?

How humans finally stopped squabbling and protected one of the world's most pristine marine areas

A man dives in the Coral Triangle off Ghizo, Solomon Islands, in 2011.

Three Things to Know About the Coral Triangle, the Ocean's Biodiversity Hot Spot

At more than a billion acres of ocean, the Coral Triangle is one of the world's biggest and most important marine regions

A female Limosa harlequin frog sports a miniature radio transmitter.

A Pioneering Force of Harlequin Frogs Set Out to Help Save Their Species

Outfitted with tiny transmitters, these frogs are released to face the challenging chytrid fungus that decimated their populations

“These males were still alive and living around the females, they just apparently weren’t getting any of the matings, or the matings weren’t working,” says Robert C. Fleischer.

Safer Digs for Tortoises Put a Damper on Their Love Lives

A new genetic study surprised scientists who learned the males were not breeding

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