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Downward Spiral
The nautilus’s lineage made it through all five of Earth’s previous mass extinctions. But can it survive the Anthropocene?
The Big Picture 2022 06.08.2022 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places. 
Atonement in the Kitchen 06.03.2022 Article - One way to make sense of the senseless slaughter of roadkill? Salvage it for food. 
Love Train 06.03.2022 Spotlight - The Kangaroo Island echidna may seem bizarre, but the spiky mammal’s quirks have helped it survive cataclysmic change. 
Sassy Sousliks 05.10.2022 Spotlight - Facing stiff odds and steep population declines across Europe, can these versatile and tenacious ground squirrels fight back? 
To Rewild a Rhino 05.10.2022 Article - In northeastern India, taking care of a vulnerable species also means looking after the humans who live alongside it. 
Clear Water Revival 05.02.2022 Photo Essay - In a biodiversity wonderland hardly known outside South Africa, a decades-long effort to restore native fish and their streams is starting to pay off—but new trouble could undermine this fragile comeback. 
Undertakers of the Forest 05.02.2022 Spotlight - Tiny, shape-shifting slime molds have an outsized influence on the cycle of life. 
Beautiful Ugly 04.22.2022 Spotlight - While the Asian sheepshead wrasse’s allure may be debatable, the fish’s color-changing, sex-changing abilities are hard to disregard. 
Keeping the Magic Alive 04.19.2022 Spotlight - Paired black-browed albatrosses perform elaborate bonding rituals, but climate change may lead to higher divorce rates. 
Ghana’s Sacred Monkeys 04.19.2022 Article - Myth and mystery have long protected two species of monkey and the West African forests they depend on, but for how much longer? 
The Tale of the Trojan Trout 02.21.2022 Article - Can the introduction of a modified invader save the West’s native fish? 
Potty Plant 02.21.2022 Spotlight - A carnivorous plant in Southeast Asia offers its leftovers to local fauna, and gets fertilized by those animals’ feces in exchange. 
City Owl, Country Owl 01.21.2022 Spotlight - Unlike its more iconic cousin, the diminutive northern pygmy owl thrives in urban forests—some just a stone’s throw from the local café. 
Snuggle for Survival 12.26.2021 Spotlight - Teamwork helps the world’s largest penguin species thrive under the harshest conditions. 
Breakfast with a “Garbage Bin” 12.02.2021 Spotlight - Socotra’s gregarious Egyptian vultures are a bright spot in an otherwise sobering global story. 
When Turtles Fly 11.30.2021 Article - A massive human-assisted migration lands stranded sea turtles back in warmer seas. 
Nomads of the North 11.24.2021 Photo Essay - A writer and photographer shares an intimate portrait of the annual migration and uncertain future of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd. 
Single Mom 11.24.2021 Spotlight - In a delicate ritual that might last only a few minutes, this female squid demonstrates remarkable self-sufficiency. 
Seeing Spots 11.12.2021 Spotlight - Spotted eagle rays’ distinctive markings are turning out to be important identifiers, and may become essential for their protection. 
Water Makes a Hive Thrive 11.04.2021 Spotlight - Just like us, honeybees can die if they get too hot. To cool off, they’ve devised their own kind of air conditioning, ferrying water home and then fanning it with their wings. 
Bringing out the Dead 10.28.2021 Article - By sinking a wide array of carcasses into the deep ocean and studying what turns up when they fall, scientists are learning about some of the world’s most exotic scavengers and the roles they play in the darkness. 
Eye Spy 10.28.2021 Spotlight - While this highly adapted fish peers out on its prey- and predator-rich surroundings, shapeshifting, pigmented cells enable it to all but disappear into its environment. 
Hanging with Dad 10.22.2021 Spotlight - A male African jacana has his feathers full while navigating Botswana’s rich but treacherous wetlands. 
A River’s Right to Flow 10.22.2021 Article - Indigenous communities and conservationists around the world are challenging the view of water as a human commodity, and fighting to keep this precious resource in the ecosystems it sustains. Can the same approach work in the arid Southwest? 
Letters Between Trees 09.09.2021 Article - With a pandemic and record-breaking fire season raging, two individuals, seemingly worlds apart, find solace in their connections with one another and within the ecosystems they call home. 
Heeding the Pandemic’s Warnings 08.27.2021 Article - While wildlife trafficking receives more media attention, experts are urging global leaders to clamp down on legal wildlife trade and the significant disease threats it poses. 
Starling-Studded Skies 07.13.2021 Photo Essay - A modern approach to a 19th-century photography technique celebrates both the art and science behind one of the planet’s most mesmerizing spectacles. 
Signs of the Times 07.08.2021 Article - Despite their perceived abundance, the periodical cicadas that emerged across the eastern United States this summer point to a growing set of threats facing both the insects themselves and the ecosystems they help support. 
What it Means to be Wild 07.08.2021 Opinion, Review - Against the backdrop of a world so thoroughly altered by humankind, Emma Marris's latest book, Wild Souls, challenges our assumptions about nature and how we protect it. 
Into the Wild 06.18.2021 Article - North America’s rarest wolf subspecies is finally reclaiming its native territory in the Southwest, thanks in part to a fostering program that places captive-born pups into wild dens. 
The Big Picture 2021 05.27.2021 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places. 
Antarctica’s Upside Down World 05.12.2021 Article - Clinging to the underside of ice hundreds of meters thick, strange communities of sea life eke out a living in perpetual darkness. Now, researchers are racing to find and study these creatures before they—and their ice sheets—disappear. 
Life, Death, and Renewal in the Campo Rupestre 04.22.2021 Photo Essay - In a little-known region of Brazil that calls to mind Tolkien’s Middle-earth, unique lifeforms have evolved to endure innumerable environmental challenges. Can they survive the country's latest era of deregulation? 
Are You My Mother? 03.29.2021 Spotlight - Before a timber rattlesnake mom leaves her babies to fend for themselves, she passes on an important piece of information: her scent. 
Extraordinary Animals and the People Who Love Them 03.29.2021 Review - The new book Beloved Beasts hacks through the undergrowth of the conservation movement in search of a clear path forward. 
Home on the Range 03.23.2021 Article - Once thought to be extinct, tule elk have returned to roam across California's Point Reyes National Seashore, but the park—which also supports beef and dairy cattle—is getting crowded. 
Scales of Reference 03.11.2021 Article - Collected at the tail end of British Columbia's "silver fever," hundred-year-old salmon scales are now helping conservation scientists reconstruct and better manage the populations of one of Canada's most important fish. 
How to Count a Wolf 02.25.2021 Video - The first step in managing a rare and controversial predator—particularly in a state where it's been absent for decades—is knowing how many you have. That’s easier said than done with a species as elusive as this one. 
