Latest Animals News
California declared an emergency over bird flu. How serious is the situation?
California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial...
Flood gates are dropped from a plan to protect the Jersey Shore's back bays from catastrophic storms
MANASQUAN, N.J. (AP) — The federal government has dropped huge gates at the mouths of three inlets, as well as internal waterway barriers from a plan to protect New Jersey's back bays from the type of catastrophic flooding they endured during Superstorm Sandy. Instead, the U.S....
Giant sloths and mastodons lived with humans for millennia in the Americas, new discoveries suggest
SAO PAULO (AP) — Sloths weren’t always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge — up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) — and when startled, they brandished immense claws. For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas...
Takeaways from AP's story on the Miccosukee's fight to protect the Everglades
EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has long fought to heal and protect the Everglades and what remains of their ancestral lands. Decades of massive engineering projects for development and agriculture severed the vast wetlands to about half its...
Activists sue federal government for images of dead orcas entangled by fishing boats
MIAMI (AP) — Activists sued the federal government Thursday to release images of dead orca whales, sea lions and other marine mammals entangled by commercial fishing boats off the U.S. West Coast. The complaints were filed after the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
Alaska governor asks Trump to roll back restrictions on oil and gas drilling
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s wish list for the incoming Trump administration includes oil and gas exploration in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reversing restrictions on logging and road-building in a temperate rainforest that provides habitat for wolves,...
Invasive 'murder hornets' are wiped out in the US, officials say
SEATTLE (AP) — The world's largest hornet, an invasive breed dubbed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a honey bee hive in a matter of hours, has been declared eradicated in the U.S., five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near...
These Brazilian caramel-colored stray dogs were long overlooked. Now, they're having a major moment
SAO PAULO (AP) — For decades, they have scrounged for food on streets across the country — undesired, abandoned and overlooked. But today, the caramel-colored mutts of Brazil are having a major moment. The “vira-lata caramelo” (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper) is being...
Endangered whales found entangled in rope off Massachusetts, and 1 is likely to die
Two endangered whales have been spotted entangled in fishing gear off Massachusetts, and one is likely to die from its injuries, the federal government said. They are North Atlantic right whales, which number less than 400 and face existential threats from entanglement in gear and...
Not quite the 'Girl from Ipanema', a fur seal's rare appearance on Rio's famous beach turns heads
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Short, and dark, and young, and tired, the seal on Ipanema was basking ... The fur seal on Rio de Janeiro’s iconic beach was turning heads of locals and tourists alike Wednesday morning — though not for the same reasons as the famous "Girl from Ipanema." ...
