The tail. Everybody loves “the tail.” It’s the collective gasp from the crowd aboard any whale watching vessel when the observed whale decides it’s time to forgo the surface and dive deeper. Up its body arches and then, just before the hulking cetacean plunges downward, the fluke emerges from the water, dripping, waving, announcing its [...]
They tussle with each other, chew bones and frolic with their parents before hitting the snooze bar under a shady tree. But little f1226, f1227, m1228 and m1229 are more than just new wolf cubs learning the lupus law of the land at the California Wolf Center in Julian — they may be the pups [...]
It’s been almost 100 years since the California common murre chicks have hatched on the Channel Islands, but researchers have discovered the that bird species has re-established its former southern range on far oft Prince Island, a small islet off San Miguel Island. Ecologists from the USGS and NPS are gushing like proud parents about [...]
A milestone was celebrated recently at the Chula Vista Nature Center with the release of 26 endangered light-footed clapper rails into local marshes — the big event marked the 300th bird released in the 10-year breeding program. The Clapper Rail Recovery Program started when biologist and clapper rail champion, Richard Zembal, along with the Nature Center, decided [...]
For the second time this year, a sperm whale has been seen off the Southern California coastline – and this rare encounter was witnessed by leviathan-lovers aboard a local whale watching excursion who will NOT be asking for their money back any time soon. According to Pete Thomas Outdoors: …Natalie Booth-Massey and others aboard the [...]
It’s all right here, people. Honestly, is there anything that Griffith Park doesn’t have? Concerts, zoo animals, observatory, playground, merry-go-round, train rides, bike paths, jogging trails, golf courses… Keep reading; we’re going to add to that litany. Comprised of 4,310 acres, L.A.’s biggest park – heck it’s the one of largest urban parks in the [...]
A host of critters will have more roaming room that can’t be found on a GPS, thanks to a recent land acquisition by the Bureau of Land Management this week. Situation about 50 miles northeast of San Diego in northern San Diego county, this 400-acre land parcel was arranged through the Conservation Fund with the [...]
Comparing the waterways around the Channel Islands to a freeway (shades of Carmageddon!), scientists are surveying the oceanscape in small research planes with the aim of providing data that will keep whales and ships far, far apart.
In June, we reported that animal rights groups were maintaining that the current stock of wild horses that roam on public lands are descendants of native horses that roamed the area about 1.5 million years ago. Armed with DNA and archeological data, these groups want these ‘native’ horses to get the cred they deserve as [...]
It’s not every day that zoo staffers get the chance to return a wild animal back to the wild. Back in May, we reported that the L.A. Zoo has joined in the effort to repopulate the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs with the native, and horribly endangered, mountain yellow-legged frog, a little amphib [...]