Land (Page 3)

The science—and practice—of safeguarding wildlands and helping developed areas return to nature.

Latest in Land

a papier mache bird sits in a field

Grand Teton deploys papier-mâché birds

By Popular Science Team

a brown building against mountain backdrop

Visit one of the world’s most prolific research stations in Colorado mountains

By Alisha McDarris

Coiled rattlesnake near flowering bush

Rattlesnakes may evolve specialized venoms

Gold mining operation on banks of river in Amazon rainforest

Trees can snitch on illegal gold miners in the Amazon

Man swimming in river seen from POV of GoPro camera

YouTuber arrested for approaching uncontacted tribe in India

a small bird with yellow plumage stands on a branch with its mouth wide open

Traffic noise is making these Galápagos birds more aggressive

By Laura Baisas

Cougar kitten next to car tire in the snow

Cougar cubs spotted in Michigan for first time in over a century

two baby eagles tended to by their parent

The famous bald eagle nest live cam is back and we have 3 baby eaglets

By Laura Baisas

a large hornet dismembers a honey bee

1,400 different bug species found in the guts of Asian hornets

By Laura Baisas

An argentine ant is farming aphids on a young leaf.

Vicious invasive ants form gigantic supercolonies

Nutria looking at camera against plant background

US Fish and Wildlife is begging you to eat more invasive marsh rodents

a newly discovered species of plant. it has fuzzy white wool on its green leaves, a yellow center, and two small red flowers

New species of fuzzy sunflower found by national park volunteer

By Laura Baisas

lush green tropical rainforest in Brazil. Mata Atlantica

Man from uncontacted tribe emerges from rainforest, signals to villagers

a long python snake coiled in the grass with its head poking up

Hunting for Burmese pythons is best done in the dark

By Laura Baisas

a brown dog ups up onto a tree and sniffs it, while its human handler points to what it is sniffing

Sniffing dogs join the fight against invasive spotted lanternflies

By Laura Baisas

a strange fish with a blob on its head sits on a rock

27 new, exciting, and blobby species discovered in the Peruvian rainforest

By Laura Baisas

A Sombrero ground lizard (Pholidoscelis corvinus) photographed on Sombrero Island in June 2021. This species is endemic to the Carribbean island.

Population of nearly extinct lizard grows 16X in only six years

By Laura Baisas

An Andean bear at the nature reserve Bioparque Wakata, in Briceno municipality near Bogota, Colombia, on June 21, 2023.

Shy ‘Paddington’ bears need more plants to survive

By Laura Baisas

a hand touching grass

What happens to our bodies when we touch grass

By Kathy Willis

a female mountain lion walks at night with some kittens behind her

Mountain lions in Los Angeles become night owls to avoid humans

By Laura Baisas

Pocket gopher emerging from burrow

How a crew of gophers helped Mount St. Helens bounce back

a lone coyote in a forest looks into a camera lense

Coyotes appear to be thriving under pressure

By Laura Baisas

a bat with brown, black, and white fur and open eyes

Robert Battinson, Batlor Swift, and more face off in Bat Beauty Contest

By Laura Baisas

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell scaling Devil's Climb in Alaska

Rock climbing legend Alex Honnold talks his Devil’s Climb, Google Maps, and biking with wild horses

a small frog with light green coloring and dark spots sits on a green leaf

Seven new frog species named for their ‘Star Trek’-esque calls

By Laura Baisas

a condor, a large bird with black plumage, stands near a creek

4 endangered California condors will be released into the wild

By Laura Baisas

three species of crane stand in tall grass. the first has grey, black and white plumage and is the tallest. the second has mostly white plumage. the last one is small with gray plumage.

Cranes can migrate 4,000 miles, but that’s not the hard part

By Laura Baisas

a small baby pygmy hippopotamus sits on the ground

Humans likely wiped out Cyprus’ tiny hippos and elephants in record time

By Laura Baisas

a bunch of yellow bananas

Bananas are at risk of extinction, but scientists have a plan

By Laura Baisas

a group of earthworms in rich, dark soil

Hear the ‘rave’-like sounds of a healthy soil

By Laura Baisas

a spotted cat walks through a mountain region at night

Rare, endangered ocelot caught on camera

By Laura Baisas

Two black morels in spring are well camouflaged on the forest floor

How to start forest farming: Grow delicious food in the woods

By Alisha McDarris

an orange, black, and white monarch butterfly on a pink milkweed flower

How everyone can help monarch butterflies

By Laura Baisas

a firefly with its bottom half illuminated

A new theory on why fireflies glow—and why they need help

By Laura Baisas

Solar farm panels in meadow

There’s a right and a wrong way to build a solar farm

a baby crocodile hatches from an egg, surrounded by other eggs.

106 critically endangered Siamese crocodile eggs spotted in Cambodia

By Laura Baisas

a large lizard with yellow spots in the dirt

Giant lizards could keep flesh-eating maggots off Australia’s sheep

By Laura Baisas

California Forever concept art of utopian cityscape

California’s billionaire utopia may not be as eco-friendly as advertised

a large bird with blue plummage and orange eyes called a cassowary

The world’s most dangerous bird is at risk of extinction

By Laura Baisas

an american flamingo. the bird has pink and white plumage with a black beak

A ‘pink wave’ of flamingoes settles into the Sunshine State

By Laura Baisas

a brown snail sits on a green lettuce leaf

Slimy slugs and snails surprisingly thriving in LA

By Laura Baisas

a toucan with an orange beak and black and white plumage sits in a tree with its mouth open

How fruit-eating birds could help regrow tropical forests

By Laura Baisas

a juvenile chimpanzee in a forested habitat

Mining of materials needed for ‘green revolution’ puts great ape population at risk

By Laura Baisas

A screenshot of one unidentified small hawkmoth unsuccessful visit to an orchid, recorded with a camera trap.

‘Spectacular’ new orchid species is pollinated by moths

By Laura Baisas

Three eggs in a nest, while a bald eagle attends to it.

Watch: Three bald eagles could hatch any day now

By Laura Baisas

Tiger walking across snow

NASA and Google Earth Engine team up with researchers to help save tigers

A photograph taken in the spring of 2016 of the debris field from an October 2015 landslide extends over the toe of the Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fjord.

A new algorithm could help detect landslides in minutes

By Laura Baisas

‘Lost Bird’ not seen in 20 years photographed for the first time

‘Lost Bird’ not seen in 20 years photographed for the first time

By Laura Baisas

A mother and calf humpback whale swim underwater.

Close to half of migratory species are in serious decline: UN report

By Laura Baisas

A multiple-exposure photograph of insects circling an artificial light at night. The light can mess with a moth’s sense of what direction is up and which way is down.

Why artificial light—and evolution—trap moths

By Laura Baisas

A large rat stands on a tree trunk at night. The Vangunu giant rat is the first new species of rodent described from Solomon Islands in over 80 years.

A legendary Vangunu giant rat was finally caught on camera

By Laura Baisas

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, photographed by a camera trap.

Elusive egg-laying mammal caught on camera for the first time

By Laura Baisas

An endangered Texas ocelot in the vicinity of the highway.

Wildlife exits on Texas roads could help endangered ocelots

By Laura Baisas

Green fir trees in neat rows as seen from the air.

Tree plantations try to offset our carbon pollution. Here’s the problem.

Grizzly bear mom and cubs crossing road in Yellowstone National Park

Grizzlies are getting killed by roads, but the risks are bigger than roadkill

Rafflesia kemumu in the rainforest of Sumatra.

Earth’s stinkiest flower is threatened with extinction

By Laura Baisas

Giant African land snail, an invasive species in Florida, on a red bucket

Invasive snails are chomping through Florida, and no one can stop them

By Maddi Langweil

An orca whale swims around an ice flow with a crabeater seal and penguin on the ice.

New series offers an intimate look into how climate change impacts the lives of wildlife

By Laura Baisas

The Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park, with steam rising and mountains in the distance. Temperatures at Yellowstone’s famous hot springs can reach 198 degrees Fahrenheit.

Don’t lick the toads and other things to avoid at national parks

By Laura Baisas

Maya Tilousi, member of the Hopi Tribe, Havasupai Tribe of Grand Canyon, and the Cheyanne and Arapaho Tribes, shakes hands with President Joe Biden at Red Butte Airfield, 25 miles south of Tusayan, Arizona, on August 8, 2023. Biden announced he is putting the brakes on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and willl give an area of nearly one million acres national monument status.

Nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon is now a national monument

By Laura Baisas

Tourists visit the Solfatara crater, part of the Campi Flegrei Volcano, the biggest caldera of Italy.

Up the coast from Pompeii, another city grows on top of an underground volcano

By Agostino Petroni/Undark

Two penguins and a seal on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctica is in the climate change crosshairs

By Laura Baisas

A flower of a Nasa humboldtiana subspecies called humboldtiana that was rediscovered by a team of botanists and citizen scientists for the first time in 162 years. The flower has four white petals, leading down to a center of pink petals.

These unusual plants had disappeared—until citizen scientists helped hunt them down

By Laura Baisas

A kākāpō chick. The birds are are large flightless parrots from New Zealand who are masters of camouflage and known for a booming call.

A flightless parrot is returning to mainland New Zealand after a 40-year absence

By Laura Baisas