We're in the midst of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction crisis. Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson estimated that 30,000 species per year (or three species per hour) are being driven to extinction.

Despite their dainty appearance, desert kit foxes are hardy animals, well adapted for living in the hot, harsh desert habitat from which they never stray. This cat-sized kit fox subspecies has long, ...

After Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida in 1992, the already-scarce Miami blue butterfly almost went extinct: No one recorded a single sighting for years. Finally, in 1999, a cheer went up ...

A tiny, scaleless, freshwater fish, the highly endangered unarmored threespine stickleback is a fierce protector of its nest, which it defends by dashing forward with gaping mouth and “hackles” raised ...

The Center for Biological Diversity was founded beneath the ancient ponderosa pines of New Mexico's Gila wilderness, where Kierán Suckling, Peter Galvin, and Todd Schulke met while surveying owls for ...

The colorful Yosemite toad was once one of the most common high-elevation Sierra amphibians. Active for only four to five months per year, it has just a short time in which to reproduce and eat enough ...

For every county in the United States, the map below shows information on all the animals and plants protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as threatened or endangered. To see the number of ...

A slumbering Arctic fox in winter will wrap its long, bushy tail around its body for added warmth. Its feet are covered in dense fur to insulate against the cold and provide traction on the ice.

For generations, Nevada’s big-eyed, black-freckled Dixie Valley toad thrived in a small desert oasis, hidden from humans. But by the time scientists described it in 2017, the toad was already ...

Coquí frogs are cultural symbols in Puerto Rico, well known for the “ko-kee” call made by the common coquí, Eleutherodactylus coqui. In fact, 16 distinct species can be found on the island — and ...

DESCRIPTION: Adult Hermes copper butterflies have a wingspan between one and 1.25 inches. Upperside forewings are brown with yellow, brown-spotted centers; upperside hindwings are also brown and have ...

Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis. Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences that make up about 40 percent of the world's ocean ...