Background Articles

"We never know for sure how they died, but it does seem like a lot of the evidence points to killer whale predation," Steve Ferguson, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said Thursday.

Coyotes’ recent occupation of one of the most densely human-populated cities in America may have started around 2003. That’s when a team led by Benjamin Sacks of the University of California, Davis extracted DNA from the blood of a male coyote captured in the Presidio and later returned there.

North Pacific right whales, once numbering in the tens of thousands, swam throughout the Bering Sea until they were nearly wiped out by commercial hunters. Now the Eastern North Pacific right whale population is estimated to total about 30 individuals, and its habitat is believed to be concentrated in the southeastern corner of the Bering Sea.

Landmark report says invasive species are major threat to biodiversity and dealing with them requires global cooperation

Scientists looking at salmon found in Arctic waters are still asking northern harvesters and fishers to submit any unusual catches in exchange for compensation. It's part of the Arctic Salmon Project, which is a collaborative effort involving Fisheries and Oceans Canada, scientists from the South and local hunters and trappers organizations.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma are using Unangax knowledge and oral traditions to solve the mystery of ancient bear bones found on Unalaska and Amaknak Islands in Alaska, with the possibility that the bones were transported by sea from a neighboring island.

Once believed extinct, Alaska’s wood bison have survived their first winter, and new calves represent a huge milestone for the state’s experimental project.

Biologists were able to collect valuable data on these rare animals during a special whale survey in August.

“Our results suggest that warming is both increasing freshwater habitat and improving early marine survival of pink salmon in the northern Bering Sea,” said Ed Farley, NOAA Fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, who led the study.

A fungus that lurks in desert soil makes thousands of Americans sick every year with a condition known as Valley Fever. Thanks to climate change, it’s spreading north.

“Dramatic”, says researcher Henrik H. Berntsen. The Norwegian Environment Agency has launched a major offensive to get rid of the invasive species. But, despite more fishing, there appear to be ever more humpback salmon arriving in Norwegian rivers. Currently, around 70,000 pink salmon have been caught in Norwegian watercourses this year.

In recent years, polar bears in the Beaufort Sea have had to travel far outside of their traditional arctic hunting grounds which has contributed to an almost 30% decrease in their population.

About a week ago, we noticed an intruder in our front yard -- a vivid yellow, blob-like substance that appeared to be invisibly oozing across our garden mulch like the beginnings of a horror film.

A wildlife biologist says the search isn’t over. Opossum litters are usually eight or nine joeys — and can be as many as 13.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and Agency for Marine and Water Management want to create a national list of invasive species, and have presented ...

Authorities are searching for a brown bear near the village of Provideniya in Chukotka, Russia. The bear has been sighted near the village, prompting concerns for the safety of the local residents.

There are more than 20 invasive plant species in the Yukon that spread, change the makeup of the soil and generally prevent native plant species from thriving in their natural environment. here's what you can do about six of the most common ones.

Biologists want to know why there are so many moose. It may have a lot to do with shrubs — moose feast on their leaves during the spring and summer. These short woody plants are spreading west, aided by climate change, and moose populations are expanding along with them.

Beavers, on the other hand, leave a mark on the landscape that you can sometimes see from space.Swarming ponds, building dams and expanding waterways, beavers are moving farther and farther into the Arctic, and are changing what the region looks like.

As ocean temperatures trend warmer than average, green crab larvae dispersed in ocean currents from more southern latitudes will find more suitable habitat along the Alaska coast. Recently, adult green crabs have been detected in Skidegate Inlet on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, and larval crabs have been found in Prince Rupert, both less than 100 miles south of Ketchikan.