Lead kills the beloved birds, and the fix could be easy. But the gun lobby won’t let that happen. From our friends at @biographic.bsky.social:

In an era when many species are declining because of multi-pronged, seemingly intractable problems, the solution to protecting common loons is relatively straightforward. So why are these beloved birds still dying?

We are a nonprofit online magazine covering biodiversity and conservation, and our small team works hard to make sure we never publish anything written by generative AI. We have language in our contracts specifically banning it, as well as a clear language in our submission guidelines. No slop here!

Consistently wonderful insightful & inspiring stories illustrated gorgeously @biographic.bsky.social never disappoints Quality storytelling for #GenerationRestoration

Of all the weird and wonderful critters in our mysterious ocean, gelatinous salps and their miraculously camouflaged hitchhikers are definitely some of my new favorites after writing this @biographic.bsky.social spotlight!

Do you know about gelatinous salps? No? Trust us, you probably want to: www.biographic.com/pelagic-pack...

What happens when herbicides don't stay where they're sprayed? @christianelliott.me investigates how rampant herbicide use is impacting the last patches of native forest in a region largely given over to industrial agriculture. Read more:

In the fall of 2020, Colorado voters did something unprecedented: They passed a ballot measure to reintroduce gray wolves to the state. Yet the messy reintroduction shows how difficult it is to restore top predators to a landscape dominated by humans—especially for an animal long vilified.

If you haven't heard of salps but, like me, love bizarre ocean creatures, I highly recommend this @biographic.bsky.social piece from @sarahmilligan.bsky.social

Mercury Rising When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they started getting sick. by @gennarotomma.bsky.social www.biographic.com/mercury-risi...

Loved writing this story for @biographic.bsky.social 🐺 There’s everything you would find in a mystery novel: a suspicious death, an investigation, and a final unexpected twist. www.biographic.com/mercury-risi...

We are SO CLOSE to reaching our $75,000 fundraising goal! If you support independent, nonprofit journalism about biodiversity and conservation, your donation could help us get to the finish line! 🫶 give.calacademy.org/campaign/746...

We have a generous donor who will match up to $75K in reader donations! Doubling your donation means we can publish more journalism about slime molds and sunflower stars, cormorants and caddisflies; stories that help you feel more connected to the natural world and inspired to protect it.

To build their model, the Heiltsuk used knowledge of bear movements garnered from DNA samples of bear fur collected across the territory, community interviews, and the Heiltsuk Traditional Use Study, which started gathering oral histories and traditional knowledge from Heiltsuk elders in the 1990s.

Charting a Course Through Bears’ Eyes In British Columbia, stewards from the Heiltsuk First Nation are using computational models and Indigenous knowledge to protect bears’ access to salmon. by @tjanepalmer.bsky.social www.biographic.com/charting-a-c...

DEADLINE EXTENDED! We're giving you an extra few days to apply for up to $5,000 to cover climate and environmental stories in rural communities. Apply by **Dec. 8** https://grist.org/updates/grist-opens-applications-for-new-rural-reporting-grants-on-climate-and-environmental-justice/

Nonprofit journalism is facing stormy waters. Can you give us a flipper -- er, a hand -- so that we can continue reporting stories about biodiversity and conservation in 2026 and beyond? Click the link below to donate (and get some cool stickers!) give.calacademy.org/campaign/746...

Great list of the year’s 10 best science books. Special shout to Washington State’s Drew Harrell, star (so to speak) of my @biographic.bsky.social story this year about unraveling the riddle of what is killing billions of sea stars along the U.S. West Coast. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Giving Tuesday is tomorrow! Please consider supporting bioGraphic 🫶

Nonprofit journalism is facing stormy waters. Can you give us a flipper -- er, a hand -- so that we can continue reporting stories about biodiversity and conservation in 2026 and beyond? Click the link below to donate (and get some cool stickers!) give.calacademy.org/campaign/746...

It's really hard to overstate the conservation significance of this, and what doors it unlocks for future conservation. Mood among my global endangered species conservation colleagues is off-the-charts happy today.

Note that this documentary grew out of a story FERN produced in 2023 with bioGraphic. You can read it here: thefern.org/2023/01/trou... @biographic.bsky.social

Despite having the most prolific remaining wild salmon runs on Earth, Alaska leads the world in salmon hatchery production. But as Miranda Weiss and Rafael de la Uz explain in their video documentary for FERN and Alaska Public Media, this production comes at a cost.

🦇🦍🦉 Do you root for the weird, wild, under-appreciated species of the world? The slime molds and sunflower stars; the cormorants and caddisflies? So do we. And we need your help! A donation of any amount goes straight to supporting narrative journalism about biodiversity. Pls spread the word! 🐢🐛🌵

Remember last year, when bioGraphic and Hakai Magazine were both facing uncertain futures? Your donations saved the day--we raised $140,000 and lived to publish another day! Now we need help balancing our 2026 budget. Please donate via the link below, and snag some cool stickers to boot!

If you're new to Bluesky and are looking for folks to follow, don't miss our ever-updating starter pack of bioGraphic contributors! go.bsky.app/KbjGfSQ

For @biographic.bsky.social, I reported from across rural Illinois on an environmental crisis unfolding in the Midwest: herbicides drifting off millions of acres of crop fields are slowly killing oaks and other native tree species. #longreads

Rare samango monkeys are collateral damage as global heating forces people to move up mountainsides

The Collateral Damage of Climate Migration As the planet warms, people are moving—bringing familiar fights to new battlegrounds. by @mambondiyani.bsky.social www.biographic.com/the-collater...

Yet another valuable, fascinating and beautifully illustrated story from @biographic.bsky.social #DefendTheDeep

Scientists long assumed that inactive vents, without the mineral-rich plumes that make active vents so mesmerizing, didn’t host unique lifeforms. “It turns out that we just weren’t looking very closely,” says marine biologist Jason Sylvan. www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...

Svalbard rock ptarmigan are the northernmost land-dwelling birds on the planet, never leaving their island haunts of Svalbard in Norway and Franz Josef Land in Russia, even during the four-month-long darkness of the high-Arctic winter. How do they do it? Find out here:

The Collateral Damage of Climate Migration As the planet warms, people are moving—bringing familiar fights to new battlegrounds. by @mambondiyani.bsky.social www.biographic.com/the-collater...

Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe. Preventing them from getting worse will require cutting carbon emissions and righting centuries of flawed land management. But animals can help make our increasingly scorched planet more resilient—if we let them. www.biographic.com/its-time-for...

There are about 1 billion dogs on the planet - but most of them (80%!) are not pets. What can their success teach us about how animals adapt to human landscapes, and how to make our environments more welcoming to them. My story for @biographic.bsky.social 🧪 www.biographic.com/canis-famili...

Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”? by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social www.biographic.com/critical-min...

Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold. by Elyse Hauser www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...

A remarkable and quiet ecological movement has been slowly growing for decades in Tucson, Arizona. Instead of only focusing on restoring degraded habitat, it encourages people to reimagine and reconnect with their local landscapes—beginning by accepting them on their own imperfect terms.

Look at these itty bitty little beauties--microscopic snails and other species that scientists say may be uniquely associated with cold, inactive deep sea hydrothermal vents

Ping, You’ve Got Whale A new artificial intelligence-powered detection system is giving ship captains real-time alerts when a whale is in their path. by @ashleybraun.bsky.social www.biographic.com/ping-youve-g...

Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold. by Elyse Hauser www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...

Also- Check out their COBRA webinar 🌊🧪 “Ecology and ecosystem services of inactive hydrothermal vent deposits” Dr. Jason Sylvan (Texas A&M University) & Dr. Amanda Achberger (Louisiana State University) Watch recording here:

Every now and then I remember that sponges are ANIMALS — that these seeming hybrids of plant and rock; these sessile, porous, tissue-and-organ-less barrels, tubes, and blobs are just as much an animal as a falcon, wolf, or shark — and marvel once more at the wonderful weirdness of life on Earth.

Very cool story. More deep sea beauties uncovered!

🧪⚒️ Makes sense that alteration of a big pile of sulfides could still be an energy source , but the amount and diversity of life supported after active venting has ceased is a cool surprise! Yet more evidence of how stupid and destructive deep sea mining would be.

I love the way each of the six baby crocodiles in this photo seems to have a completely distinct personality. Top (l.-r.): Introvert, idealist, jerk Bottom (l.-r.): Class clown, stoner, pessimist

By the mid-1970s, only 200 American crocodiles remained, their habitat largely gobbled up by sunseekers. But hope lurked in the shadows of a nuclear power plant—the same facility built to air-condition the homes that had led to the reptiles’ demise. Read more about this unlikely partnership:

Strange things are afoot in the forests of Madagascar. @inkfish.bsky.social investigates for @biographic.bsky.social! 🧪 www.biographic.com/investigatin...

Hyperaccumulating plants can become as much as 5% metal by weight. In the emerging field of phytomining, scientists and industrialists are learning to extract these valuable metals in a way that is much gentler on the landscape than conventional mining. www.biographic.com/critical-min...