Wildlife

"At a Halloween happy hour recently in Washington, D.C., a small crowd gathered to celebrate the relationship between bats and spirits."

"He campaigned as a guardian of birds. Now, his administration is pushing policies that could send billions of them to their graves."

"Federal wildlife officials say Hurricane Irma didn't wipe out a herd of tiny, endangered deer found only in the Florida Keys."

"Not long ago, a lengthy drive on a hot day wouldn't be complete without scraping bug guts off a windshield. But splattered insects have gone the way of the Chevy Nova — you just don't see them on the road like you used to."

"The Senate rejected an amendment Thursday that sought to block a key panel from raising revenue through drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a move that could make it easier for future oil and gas drilling to take place there."

"It may be one of the stranger signs of climate change: the nine-banded armadillo, which is native to Latin America and more recently Texas. Scientists say warmer winters have lured the mammals northwards, bringing with them parasites and diseases."

"FARMINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA—In a chamber a few hundred feet underground known as the Stomach, long-time cave guide Lisa Hall is talking about bats. Less than a decade ago, this cave system was home to thousands of them—little brown bats, northern long-eared bats, Indiana bats, and big brown bats. Today, she says, when the staff spot a single individual (almost always a big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus), they get excited."

"The cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls that inhabit Arizona are sticking the Fish and Wildlife Service with a pretty big problem."

"On Oct. 4, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that 25 animals were not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Nineteen of those species — ranging from a sooty-colored woodpecker that hunts beetles in burned forests, to tiny snails found only in a few isolated springs in the Great Basin desert — live in the West."