Recovery: Saving Timber Rattlesnakes, Why Wildlife Recovery Isn’t a Popularity Contest

You know you’ve arrived as a naturalist when you support saving timber rattlesnakes. Ted Williams reports.

Ted Williams

The Alligator in the Basement: Breeding Bird Colonies Benefit Alligator Health in the Florida Everglades

Scientists have discovered that alligators living near nesting bird colonies in the Florida Everglades are healthier than those without access to this food resource.

Justine E. Hausheer

Five Close Encounters of the Crocodilian Kind

Want to see a crocodile, an alligator or a gharial? Our blogger shares the best places to get your crocodilian fix.

Matthew L. Miller

Ten Strange, Endearing and Alarming Animal Courtship Rituals

To celebrate humans' holiday of love and romance, our blogger asked biologists for tales of fascinating animal mating habits. Here are some of the strangest and most endearing.

Christine Peterson

Can Helicopter-deployed Toad Sausages Save Australia’s Northern Quoll?

Australian scientists are teaching endangered northern quolls to avoid deadly cane toads by feeding them toad sausages laced with nausea-inducing chemicals. Yes, really.

Justine E. Hausheer

Recovery: Rare Turtle Gets a Second Chance

Only 300 Plymouth redbellies remained – making them arguably the continent’s rarest turtle. They were confined to one county. And they weren’t breeding. What saved the redbelly from extinction?

Ted Williams

Indigos Return: A Florida Breeding Program Raises Eastern Indigo Snakes for Reintroduction

Meet the captive-bred eastern indigo snakes destined for release at the Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve.

Justine E. Hausheer

Sea Turtle Tasks: A Night in the Life of a Researcher

Seeing a sea turtle lumber onto a beach and lay its eggs is a spectacular experience and, for researchers, a lot of work. Follow them through a typical night on the beach.

Matthew L. Miller

Sea Turtles of St. Croix: Research Benefits Nesting Beaches

Nesting sea turtles have staged a dramatic comeback at a Nature Conservancy site on St. Croix. What's behind the success? Our blogger heads afield for a firsthand look at turtle research and monitoring.

Matthew L. Miller

Tracking a Secretive Snake on the Prairie

The plains hog-nosed snake -- does it think it's a cobra, or a possum? Researchers are finding a lot of surprises tracking this mysterious grasslands creature on Minnesota's Chippewa Prairie, near a Nature Conservancy preserve.

Matthew L. Miller

Alligator Rescue on the Border

The alligator was trapped and destined to die a slow death: time for a rescue operation. An unexpected twist at one of the most biodiverse nature reserves in the United States, the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas.

Matthew L. Miller

Silence of the Rattlesnake Researchers: Snakes, Culture and Conservation

Snakes should fear us more than we fear them. In Vermont, timber rattlesnake research unexpectedly exposes humanity's tangled relationship with snakes. Can education shape a new future?

Matthew L. Miller