endangered species

Blog | Island Press

Fueled by Hope: A Conversation with Brooke Bessesen

The vaquita is not hunted. Nor is its habitat disappearing or degraded. Nicknamed “panda of the sea,” this diminutive porpoise is even protected by law. So why is the species on the brink of extinction, with fewer than twenty animals remaining? Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez unravels the haunting story of the world’s most endangered marine mammal and asks, is there time to save the vaquita?
Photo credit: Flock/bandada by Flickr.com user Rafael Edwards

Recovery of the Great Bear?

As was the case for other large carnivores in the lower 48 United States, by the 1960s grizzly bears were nearly extinct.

The Count: Tracking a Formerly Endangered Species

They went into the muslin bags easily as we freed them one by one from under the heavy net. Some were stunned, frozen, immobile; others struggled between the strands, exploding with powerful wings when handled. I was a tag-along, a newbie, an invited guest to this fall ritual of trapping, counting, banding, and collaring Aleutian cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia), an annual joint venture between the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
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El Lobo's Uncertain Future

Mexican gray wolf, California Wolf Center. Photo by Cristina Eisenberg.
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PRIDE: Coexisting with Lions

We're pleased to be able to share Roshan Patel's award-winning documentary about coexisting with endangered Asiatic lions in India. The lion once roamed from northern Morocco to central India, but by the early twentieth century, fewer than 50 survived, tucked in the province of Gujarat. Since then, Patel shows, locals have come together to protect the lion, embracing its impact on the surrounding ecosystem and developing a respect that allows humans and top predators to coexist peacefully.

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