The Virginia opossum

The Strange Career of the Lady Possum of the New World

Marsupials make people think of Australia, but Europeans encountered and described their first marsupial, the Virginia opossum, in 1499.
Cougar Silhouette

Ghost Cats of the East

Why do people claim to see cougars in the eastern United States when the cats are now extremely rare in that part of North America?
A North American Beaver - Castor Canadensis - sitting in the grass grooming itself

Beaver Politics in Oregon

Reintroduction of the beaver may help mitigate the effects of climate change, but the obstacles between these toothy rodents and their ponds are many.
Two horses bred at the Bitter Root Stock Farm in Montana

Racing to Respectability

The bankers and entrepreneurs of Montana Territory turned to the race track to bolster their reputations.
"Freya" correctly detects a sample of malaria from a row of sample pots at the "Medical Detection Dogs" charity headquarters on March 27, 2020 in Milton Keynes, England.

Why Aren’t There More Dogs at the Doctor’s Office?

Dogs can use their superb sense of smell to identify disease in human patients. What’s keeping them from using this ability in the healthcare industry?
Heck cows

Cows Gone Wild: The Cattle of Heck

Returning large, wild herbivores to Europe could help maintain soil health and discourage invasive species, but these cows have some political baggage...
A hand feeding a bird on the road

The One Health Framework

A policy framework proposal seeks to elevate the needs and rights of all living organisms in the environment.
From The Wilton Diptych, c. 1395-99

Animal Teachers and Marie de France

The twelfth century poet Marie de France used animals to teach lessons of courtly love.
Nomadic ethnic Tibetan women stand amongst their Yak herd at a camp on July 27, 2015 on the Tibetan Plateau in Yushu County, Qinghai, China.

Yaks in Tibet

As China tried to expand into Tibet in the late 1930s, it looked to the yak as a way to "modernize" Tibetan culture.
American Anti-Vivisection Society 1909

Scientists vs. Animal Welfare Activists in the 1920s

The movement against vivisection—experiments involving live animals—swelled with women. A group of scientists was determined to stop them.