Mallards

Nature Fakers and Real Naturalists

John Burroughs, supported by Theodore Roosevelt, castigated popular nature writers for being too sentimental. They responded by calling Roosevelt a sham naturalist.
Illustration from Le Roman du Renard

What Makes Foxes So Fantastic?

In stories from around the world, foxes offer rewards or punishments to humans, play tricks on their fellow animals, and sometimes transform into foxy ladies.
Juvenile wild rabbit sitting next to its burrow.

Coney Money

Want to make some coin raising rabbits? Get yourself an island. Or not, if you want to protect the existing ecosystem.
The Virginia opossum

The Strange Career of the Lady Possum of the New World

Marsupials make people think of Australia, but Europeans encountered and described their first marsupial, the Virginia opossum, in 1499.
Cougar Silhouette

Ghost Cats of the East

Why do people claim to see cougars in the eastern United States when the cats are now extremely rare in that part of North America?
A North American Beaver - Castor Canadensis - sitting in the grass grooming itself

Beaver Politics in Oregon

Reintroduction of the beaver may help mitigate the effects of climate change, but the obstacles between these toothy rodents and their ponds are many.
Two horses bred at the Bitter Root Stock Farm in Montana

Racing to Respectability

The bankers and entrepreneurs of Montana Territory turned to the race track to bolster their reputations.
"Freya" correctly detects a sample of malaria from a row of sample pots at the "Medical Detection Dogs" charity headquarters on March 27, 2020 in Milton Keynes, England.

Why Aren’t There More Dogs at the Doctor’s Office?

Dogs can use their superb sense of smell to identify disease in human patients. What’s keeping them from using this ability in the healthcare industry?
Heck cows

Cows Gone Wild: The Cattle of Heck

Returning large, wild herbivores to Europe could help maintain soil health and discourage invasive species, but these cows have some political baggage...
A hand feeding a bird on the road

The One Health Framework

A policy framework proposal seeks to elevate the needs and rights of all living organisms in the environment.