The lowest registers of an elephant’s voice are inaudible to humans—but they’ve been a longstanding puzzle all the same
Animals
Ivory Bonfire Highlights Elephant Poaching Crisis in Africa
Gabon is among many Central African countries attempting to crack down on the ivory trade after a record-breaking number of elephants were slaughtered in 2011.
Face to Face with a South American Jaguar
The near threatened jaguar is the only big cat found in the Americas, and it’s usually quite shy. With good reason — jaguars are hunted for their skins, and their jungle habitat is being cleared for agriculture. And now the …
How to Greet a Mountain Gorilla
Rwanda’s mountain gorillas are the centerpiece of a program that combines tourism with conservation
Why an English Butterfly Is a Rare Winner in Global Warming
Little is expected to benefit from climate change, with the possible exception of air-conditioning manufacturers, Popsicle makers and Canada. But scientists have found at least one species that seems to be better off in a rapidly …
Can Polar Bears Keep Their Heads Above Water in a Warming World?
Polar bears are classified as marine mammals, like a seal or a walrus, which might come as a surprise given that they’re usually pictured on land. But polar bears spend a lot of their time in the waters of the Arctic, fishing or …
What’s the Buzz: Study Links Pesticide With Honeybee Collapse
Colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the sudden and massive die-off of honeybees—has emerged as one of the most mysterious ecological disasters of the past several years, and one of the most expensive. Around the middle of the last …
Indonesia Punishes Wildlife Traffickers
From the jungles of Borneo to the markets of Jakarta, illegal wildlife trafficking in Indonesia is growing. But recent jail sentences might change that.
How U.S. Soldiers Are Fueling the Endangered Species Trade
You’re a U.S. soldier, abroad on your first deployment in Afghanistan. Like any world traveler, you want to bring a souvenir back home to the family, something they could never get at home. So you visit the local market on base, …
Little People: Will Climate Change Shrink the Species?
If you think there are no new reasons to get freaked out by climate change, try this: there’s at least a theoretical possibility that a warmer and warmer world could lead to tinier and tinier humans. That’s the inevitable …
