State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

animals

  • Plans to ‘Rewild’ Guanacos in Argentina Trigger Scientific Debate and Legal Threats

    Plans to ‘Rewild’ Guanacos in Argentina Trigger Scientific Debate and Legal Threats

    A decision to translocate a group of guanacos across Argentina has raised concerns among scientists and provoked intense scientific and legal controversy.

  • What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

    What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

    A student in the M.S. in Sustainability Management program discusses the importance of mountain lions to the California ecosystem and how changes in climate and human behavior are getting in their way.

  • Switch From Hunting to Herding Recorded in Ancient Pee

    Switch From Hunting to Herding Recorded in Ancient Pee

    In a new study, scientists use urine salts to reconstruct the timing and scale of the Neolithic revolution at a Turkish archaeological site.

  • Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    A golf-ball-sized rhinoceros beetle flies through the open-air pavilion and lands on my table. I look up from my notes, an attempt at reworking my African wild dog study methods, and realize I haven’t seen one of these mighty beasts since my junior year in South Africa. The beetle is a welcome companion on this…

  • Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    As holidays approach and we plan our ‘seasonal’ migrations to see our families, many other species are making their own migrations — though with a few more snafus than we humans might hit.

  • The Male Seahorse – Supermom?

    The Male Seahorse – Supermom?

    The term, male-pregnancy, may seem to border on oxymoronic, but seahorses will prove to you otherwise.

  • Extinction Exposed – The Sea Otter

    Extinction Exposed – The Sea Otter

    Despite being a keystone species in important ecosystems that span the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean, sea otters have historically had a complex and sometimes troubling relationship with humans.

  • Wondrous Wildlife of The Week – The Pebble Toad

    Wondrous Wildlife of The Week – The Pebble Toad

    Organisms in the natural world are constantly striving to avoid predation. Some prey depend on morphological characters to outsmart a worthy predator, utilizing camouflage or mimicry to avoid detection; others must engage in battle, relying on agility or strength. The Venezuela pebble toad, however, has an extremely peculiar defense mechanism: it rolls itself into the…

  • Critter Corner: News Roundup on Biodiversity – Week of 9/5

    Critter Corner: News Roundup on Biodiversity – Week of 9/5

    Read more about White Nose Syndrome Bats, Hen Sex Strategy, Circadian Clocks in Blind Fish, The Discovery of an Ancient Woolly Rhino, a New Shark Species in this week’s edition of The Critter Corner.

  • Plans to ‘Rewild’ Guanacos in Argentina Trigger Scientific Debate and Legal Threats

    Plans to ‘Rewild’ Guanacos in Argentina Trigger Scientific Debate and Legal Threats

    A decision to translocate a group of guanacos across Argentina has raised concerns among scientists and provoked intense scientific and legal controversy.

  • What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

    What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

    A student in the M.S. in Sustainability Management program discusses the importance of mountain lions to the California ecosystem and how changes in climate and human behavior are getting in their way.

  • Switch From Hunting to Herding Recorded in Ancient Pee

    Switch From Hunting to Herding Recorded in Ancient Pee

    In a new study, scientists use urine salts to reconstruct the timing and scale of the Neolithic revolution at a Turkish archaeological site.

  • Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    A golf-ball-sized rhinoceros beetle flies through the open-air pavilion and lands on my table. I look up from my notes, an attempt at reworking my African wild dog study methods, and realize I haven’t seen one of these mighty beasts since my junior year in South Africa. The beetle is a welcome companion on this…

  • Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    As holidays approach and we plan our ‘seasonal’ migrations to see our families, many other species are making their own migrations — though with a few more snafus than we humans might hit.

  • The Male Seahorse – Supermom?

    The Male Seahorse – Supermom?

    The term, male-pregnancy, may seem to border on oxymoronic, but seahorses will prove to you otherwise.

  • Extinction Exposed – The Sea Otter

    Extinction Exposed – The Sea Otter

    Despite being a keystone species in important ecosystems that span the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean, sea otters have historically had a complex and sometimes troubling relationship with humans.

  • Wondrous Wildlife of The Week – The Pebble Toad

    Wondrous Wildlife of The Week – The Pebble Toad

    Organisms in the natural world are constantly striving to avoid predation. Some prey depend on morphological characters to outsmart a worthy predator, utilizing camouflage or mimicry to avoid detection; others must engage in battle, relying on agility or strength. The Venezuela pebble toad, however, has an extremely peculiar defense mechanism: it rolls itself into the…

  • Critter Corner: News Roundup on Biodiversity – Week of 9/5

    Critter Corner: News Roundup on Biodiversity – Week of 9/5

    Read more about White Nose Syndrome Bats, Hen Sex Strategy, Circadian Clocks in Blind Fish, The Discovery of an Ancient Woolly Rhino, a New Shark Species in this week’s edition of The Critter Corner.