Hellbender conservation in the Ozarks, Great Smoky Mountains
A Florida Museum herpetologist examines effects of collecting and flooding upon imperiled giant hellbender salamanders, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. Hellbender salamanders are…
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Filling the Andean butterfly gap, one species at a time
It’s a mammoth job, setting out to document all the butterflies of South America’s tropical Andean cordillera — a 3,000-mile…
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Racing to survey coral reefs
Around the globe,scientists are ringing alarm bells about coral bleaching—when corals expel their symbiotic, food-producing algae due to heat stress,…
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New Frogmouth bird genus found in South Pacific Solomon Islands
Your bird field guide may be out of date now that Florida Museum of Natural History scientists discovered a new…
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‘Terror bird’ arrived in North America before land bridge
Evidence from a study led by the Florida Museum of Natural History confirms that the carnivorous, seven-foot-tall “terror bird” likely…
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Lost and found?
Every so often scientists discover a plant or animal that was thought to be extinct. A dramatic example is the…
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Big-game hunters, not climate change, killed off sloths
Prehistoric big game hunters and not the last ice age are the likely culprits in the extinction of giant ground…
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Global warming dramatically changed ancient forests
Palmettos in Pennsylvania? Magnolias in Minnesota? The migration of subtropical plants to northern climates may not be too far-fetched if…
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The astonishing Monarch
Imagine walking into a towering cathedral draped with million-faceted curtains of orange-gold and black, shimmering in the morning sunlight. Then…
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Heavy rains lead to toad, frog population explosion
Four hurricanes visited Florida in 2004: Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. Charley crossed the southern peninsula from southwest to northeast….
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