wildlife

Women make up nearly half of the people working in the life sciences in the United States, including biology, conservation, and wildlife professions. Even so, they face discrimination and harassment. Now, a new book gathers dozens of stories from female wildlife biologists to highlight the challenges they face. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with coeditor Carol Chambers of Northern Arizona University about the project.

Bison are among the most emblematic animals of the American West. Many Indigenous peoples relied on them for survival. Some, such as the Zuni, have oral histories of hunting them and performing a Buffalo Dance ceremony. Bison are known primarily as Plains animals, but historically they did extend into the Southwest.

The Grand Canyon is riddled with caves, and many of them hold secrets…. But none so strange as the Mystery of the Mummified Bats.

Large wildfires in the West fueled by climate change are posing increased threats to fish species. The blazes are often followed by torrential rains that wash ashy muck into streams, killing fish and smothering their feeding and spawning areas.

The Bureau of Reclamation says low levels and warming water in Lake Powell have led to depleted levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, posing a threat to trout living below Glen Canyon Dam.

Conservationists are seeking U.S. protection for a rare Nevada butterfly near a geothermal project the developer plans near the Oregon line.

They call him “El Jefe,” he is at least 12 years old and his crossing of the heavily guarded U.S.-Mexico border has sparked celebrations on both sides.

Pinyon jays are sky blue birds that live in large flocks in the pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau. They are not officially endangered, but their populations have plummeted in the last half-century. The Audubon Society has found an unusual way to raise awareness about their plight: specialty brews from the Drinking Horn Meadery in Arizona, and the Bosque Brewing Company in New Mexico.

More than 200 organizations representing Mexico, Canada, the U.S., and Indigenous Nations, came together for a multi-national summit on conserving North America’s Central Grasslands. More than 50 million acres of grassland have been lost in the last 10 years alone as human development and climate change impact conservation efforts.

A federal judge has given U.S. wildlife officials 18 months to decide if wolverines should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The move follows years of dispute over how much risk climate change and other threats pose to the rare and elusive predators.