DESCRIPTION: Loggerhead sea turtles are named for their large heads, which contain powerful jaws and a thick beak. An adult loggerhead's top shell is slightly heart-shaped with a reddish-brown color; ...

Hellbenders may not be pretty to everyone, but these strictly aquatic salamanders are as interesting as their awesome name implies — and they grow up to 2 feet long and sometimes top 4 pounds, making ...

DESCRIPTION: Both species are moderately sized salamanders that are black to chocolate-black, with light gray lines and specks that form a cross-banded pattern across their backs. They can be ...

With heavily muscled bodies, skinny legs, and strong hooves that balloon to the size of dinner plates come winter, mountain caribou — the "mountain ecotype" of the woodland caribou — are well adapted ...

A cherished icon of the West, the prehistoric-looking California condor remains one of the world's most endangered species. North America's largest avian narrowly escaped extinction in the mid-1980s ...

DESCRIPTION: Gray wolves are the largest wild members of the dog family, with adults ranging from 40 to 175 pounds. Wolves' fur color is frequently a grizzled gray, but it can vary from pure white to ...

Known for their 6-foot-long necks, distinctive patterning and long eyelashes, giraffes have always captured the human imagination. These amazing African animals have the highest blood pressure among ...

After Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida in 1992, the already-scarce Miami blue butterfly almost went extinct: No one recorded a single sighting for years. Finally, in 1999, a cheer went up ...

Unlike most frogs and toads, Amargosa toads never make a sound unless they're chirping their “release call” when grasped below their forelimbs. These occupants of southern Nevada's Oasis Valley, a ...

An analysis of oil and gas pipeline safety in the United States reveals a troubling history of spills, contamination, injuries and deaths. This time-lapse video shows pipeline incidents from 1986 to ...

The word jaguar comes from the South American Tupi and Guarani languages. A likely origin is the word yaguareté, meaning “true, fierce beast.” DESCRIPTION: The largest cat native to North America and ...

Can you think of a more destructive way to extract resources than blowing up a mountain? How about if the waste from doing it is dumped straight into mountain streams? Mountaintop removal is a radical ...