DESCRIPTION: Pangolins are mammals but are uniquely covered from head to tail with large, geometric scales made of keratin. Pangolins range in weight from just 4 pounds to a record 70 pounds.

DESCRIPTION: Hellbenders are considered to be living fossils because they have changed so little over time. They are large, stout-bodied, fully-aquatic salamanders that grow to be two feet long with ...

The word jaguar comes from the South American Tupi and Guarani languages. A likely origin is the word yaguareté, meaning “true, fierce beast.” DESCRIPTION: The largest cat native to North America and ...

The Sonoyta mud turtle has evolved as an aquatic species in one of the driest parts of the Sonoran Desert. With webbed feet and an innate ability to swim, this turtle depends heavily on what little ...

Climate change presents the gravest threat to life on Earth in all of human history. The planet is warming to a degree beyond what many species can handle, altering or eliminating habitat, reducing ...

An analysis of oil and gas pipeline safety in the United States reveals a troubling history of spills, contamination, injuries and deaths. This time-lapse video shows pipeline incidents from 1986 to ...

The country has learned a lot since Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring alerted us to the hazards of poisonous chemicals. But pesticide use still poses major threats to imperiled wildlife and ...

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 ...

DESCRIPTION: Savannah elephants are the larger of the two African elephant species. They also have thicker, more curved tusks, more triangulated ears, and differently shaped skulls. Both elephant ...

Our planet now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. But there’s still ...

Reaching up to 800 pounds and 8 feet tall when standing, grizzly bears boast tremendous size and physical strength and have almost no natural enemies. Or just one — humans. But we’ve proved formidable ...

Can you think of a more destructive way to extract resources than blowing up a mountain? How about if the waste from doing it is dumped straight into mountain streams? Mountaintop removal is a radical ...