Wildlife

"The newly formed group of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep barreled up rugged Olancha Peak last month, the 10 females and four males becoming the first new herd of the endangered animals reintroduced in California in 25 years."

"Nearly 140,000 whales and dolphins could be injured if the Obama administration allows energy companies to conduct seismic research aimed at identifying oil and gas along the Atlantic Coast, according to a new report issued Tuesday."

"Giant snail invasion puts more than 500 plant species and even stucco and plaster at risk. More than 1,000 giant African land snails caught each week in Miami and invasion expected to spread in upcoming rainy season."

While honey bee die-offs often called "colony collapse disorder" have been increasing for several years, so has scientific evidence that a widely used class of pesticides called neonicotinoids could well be an important contributing cause. In 2011, EPA said it would review its approval on one such pesticide. Now it says it expects to finish in five years.

"They’re back. Seventeen years after a major swarm of bug-eyed cicadas staged one of nature’s weirdest — and loudest — mating rituals, their offspring are preparing to rise in Washington’s suburbs and the Mid-Atlantic."

"A fungus tied to a disease devastating hibernating bats in the United States has been found in an Alabama cave system critical to the survival of endangered gray bats, government scientists said on Monday."

"A federal agency has declared that more sick and dying sea lion pups have stranded themselves on southern California beaches so far in 2013 than in the previous five years combined, but scientists are still unsure what is afflicting the mammals."

"WASHINGTON -- The chemical pesticide lobby is waging a multi-million dollar battle to prevent regulation of chemicals linked to the dramatic escalation in the deaths of pollinating bees over the past year."

"...Over the past couple of years, the number of monarch butterflies that reach the Mexican sanctuaries has been declining, generating concern among rural communities that rely on spillovers of butterfly tourism activities, as well as entomologists, biologists, ecologists and monarch aficionados around the world. ..."

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"WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt to threats from climate change."