Latest Animals News

Wisconsin Gov. Evers finally appoints new DNR secretary after yearlong search

Dec. 23, 2024 17:08 PM EST

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has finally picked a new leader for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The governor announced Monday that he has appointed Karen Hyun as the agency's secretary. Hyun has worked as chief of staff of the National Oceanic and...

Burt, the huge Australian crocodile who had a cameo in ‘Crocodile Dundee,’ dies at 90

Dec. 23, 2024 16:58 PM EST

Burt, the huge crocodile that rose to fame with a cameo in the movie “Crocodile Dundee” and continued to impress visitors with his fiery temper and commanding presence, has died. Burt died over the weekend, the Crocosaurus Cove reptile aquarium in Darwin, Australia, said. He was...

Third entangled endangered whale spotted in span of a week off East Coast

Dec. 23, 2024 12:38 PM EST

A third endangered whale has been spotted entangled in fishing gear off the East Coast, marking an alarming end to the year for a species threatened with extinction. The whales are North Atlantic right whales, which number fewer than 400 and are vulnerable to ship collisions and...

AI will eavesdrop on world's wildest places to track and help protect endangered wildlife

Dec. 23, 2024 10:51 AM EST

PUERTO JIMÉNEZ, Costa Rica (AP) — The endangered Geoffrey’s spider monkeys that dangle high in the rainforest canopy are elusive and hard for scientists to track. So biologist Jenna Lawson hid 350 audio monitors in trees across Costa Rica's lush Osa Peninsula to spy on them. ...

Pandas An An and Ke Ke celebrate their 1st Christmas in Hong Kong

Dec. 23, 2024 03:01 AM EST

HONG KONG (AP) — A pair of five-year-old pandas, named An An and Ke Ke, celebrated their first Christmas early in a Hong Kong park Monday, munching on special treats and looking cute for the cameras. An An, the male panda, was presented with an ice slab that had “Merry...

California declared an emergency over bird flu. How serious is the situation?

Dec. 21, 2024 09:18 AM EST

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

Dec. 20, 2024 13:56 PM EST

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

Dec. 20, 2024 10:45 AM EST

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

Dec. 20, 2024 09:52 AM EST

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

Dec. 20, 2024 02:01 AM EST

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...