bears

evolutionary effect. credit: Skansen, FlickrCC

Evolutionary Effect: Hunting Pressures Force Species to Evolve, Adapt

Lindsey Blomberg animal, bear, bears, behavior, behavioral, cubs, effect, evolution, fish, Sweden, wildlife

Modern-day hunting practices are affecting the behavior and evolution of various wildlife species.

Delisting the Yellowstone Grizzly: Good News or Bad?

Doug Moss and Roddy Scheer act, bear, bears, Center for Biological Diversity, endangered, federal, grizzly, IUCN, Red List, Ryan Zinke, species, wildlife

Yellowstone’s grizzly bear population has bounced back since the mid-1970s, but environmentalists think the iconic predator still needs federal protection…

EarthTalk

Whazzup with ANWR?

Doug Moss and Roddy Scheer ANWR, Arctic, bear, bears, caribou, coastal plain, Ed Markey, Michael Bennet, musk oxen, polar, Senate, wildlife, wildlife refuge

Senate Democrats Michael Bennet and Ed Markey introduced legislation last December calling for permanently designating the most sensitive sections of ANWR as wilderness off limits to development.

Wild & Wooly

How Wolves Change Rivers

E The Environmental Magazine bears, deer, elk, National Park, reintroduction, rivers, trophic cascades, wildlife, wolf, wolves, Yellowstone

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” – John Muir When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable “trophic cascade” occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do […]

EarthTalk

Are Polar Bears Faring Better Given Endangered Species Protection?

Doug Moss and Roddy Scheer Arctic, bears, Endangered Species Act, Environment Canada, Far North, Fish and Wildlife Service, polar bear, public comment, Russia, sea ice, threatened, US FWS, USFWS

Dear EarthTalk: How have polar bear populations in the Arctic been faring since the U.S. put them on its endangered species list in 2008, and what efforts are underway to protect them? —Melissa Underhill, Bangor, MER Biologists estimate that as many as 25,000 polar bears […]

EarthTalk

Is Grizzly Bear on the Ropes?

Ellen Cools bears, endangered, Endangered Species Act, grizzly, list, species, threatened

Dear EarthTalk: What is being done to safeguard grizzly bears now? I heard that their numbers are dwindling and they could vanish from the Lower 48 if we don’t protect them. —Jim Meth, Akron, OH Before European colonization of North America, upwards of 50,000 grizzly bears—also known as brown bears—roamed free across what is now […]