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

Resources for Science + Natural History Nerds

Want to identify that feather you found on a hike? Or find out what kind of tracks a hermit crab leaves along a beach? These links can help you do that, and more.

Cara Cannon Byington

Harvesting Whitebark Pine Cones to Save a Forest

Near the top of the Rockies, crews climb trees and risk danger to collect pine cones. But this isn’t an extreme sport: their work is key to saving one of the West’s iconic trees.

Hal Herring

Adventures in Alternative Energy: Giant Clam Edition

The world's largest clams may well hold the missing link to large-scale production of clean biofuels from algae.

Cara Cannon Byington

War, Wildlife and a Remarkable Comeback in Gorongosa

Two decades of civil war devastated people and wildlife in and around Gorongosa National Park. You can have fun & learn while you help Gorongosa bounce back.

Lisa Feldkamp

Recovery: Saving Lake Sturgeon, an Ancient Fish with a Bright Future

Lake sturgeon, our elders by some 150 million years, have a bright future — if Americans ignore voices of the past.

Ted Williams

Mapping Reduced-Impact Logging with Lidar

Nature Conservancy scientists are using lidar ⎯ light pulses beamed down from airplanes ⎯ to map reduced-impact logging in Indonesia.

Justine E. Hausheer

Snow Rollers: “Spontaneous Snowballs” at Silver Creek Preserve

The fields looked like a busload of kids had been busy rolling large snowballs. But this was not the work of human hands.

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

They’re Electric: Two New Fish Species Discovered in Gabon

Not your typical fish story: Journey to Gabon to encounter two new species of electric fish.

Matthew L. Miller

White Deer: Understanding a Common Animal of Uncommon Color

For millennia, people have regarded white deer with a mix of reverence, superstition and scientific misinformation. And it continues to this day. What’s the real story of these ghost-like animals?

Matthew L. Miller