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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Why are bats dying in North America? An estimated 6.7 million bats have died since 2006 because of an outbreak of white-nose syndrome, a fast-moving disease that has wiped out entire colonies and left ...

DESCRIPTION: Pacific lamprey are slender, eel-like fish that are dark blue or brown in color and grow to about 30 inches long. They have lateral eyes, lack paired fins, and have no scales. Adult ...

The BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in 2010 spilled 205.8 million gallons of oil and 225,000 tons of methane into the Gulf of Mexico. Only about 25 percent of the oil was recovered, leaving more than ...

Stream channelization, dam construction, and impoundments change the water flow, temperature, and quality to which the Topeka shiner is specifically adapted. Dams also prevent shiners from migrating ...

Gentle and playful marine mammals, Florida manatees have come to represent the amazing biodiversity of Florida. With their large size, slow-moving nature, and fondness of seagrass, it's easy to see ...

The American pika — a small, herbivorous, conspicuously cute mammal related to rabbits and hares — is adapted to the cold climate in high-elevation boulder fields and alpine meadows in the mountains ...

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 ...

Walls built along the U.S.-Mexico border over the past several decades are a blight on the landscapes and cultures of the borderlands. Hundreds of miles of wall have been built across protected public ...

DESCRIPTION: Walruses are easily distinguished by their long, white tusks, cinnamon-brown skin, grizzled whiskers, and bodies full of blubber. Growing up to 3,750 pounds, male Pacific walruses are ...