Florida’s wetlands are having a tense moment, the kind that makes biologists speak quietly and glance at the sky. From the sawgrass prairies of the Everglades to the mangrove-fringed flats of the Keys, rare animals are blinking red on scientists’ dashboards. Some species show flashes of recovery; others are slipping faster than expected. The drama ...
Picture this: under the moonlit skies of a warm Florida night, an ancient ritual unfolds on sandy beaches that has been happening for millions of years. Florida’s coastline provides critical nesting habitat for loggerhead, green, and leatherback sea turtles that use the state’s beaches to lay nests each year. What many people don’t realize is ...
At first glance, Florida’s looks like a calm, flat slash of water wedged between barrier islands and the Atlantic. Look closer, though, and it becomes something far stranger and more dramatic: a liquid crossroads where tropical and temperate species collide, where manatees graze alongside seagrass meadows, and where microscopic plankton quietly shape the fate ...
In a landmark victory for wildlife conservation, 41 federally threatened eastern indigo snakes, North America’s longest native serpent, have been released into Florida’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve (ABRP). This marks the eighth consecutive year of reintroduction efforts, bringing the total number of released snakes to 167. But the real triumph? For the first time ...
Picture this: You’re watching gentle giants the size of small boats gliding through crystal-clear Florida springs, and these massive creatures are quietly rewriting their survival playbook right before your eyes. For decades, you’ve known manatees as those lovable “sea cows” that lazily munch seagrass in warm waters. Yet what’s happening beneath the surface tells a ...
The Florida panther story was never supposed to turn around. This ghost of the Everglades once hovered near vanishing, with only a few dozen left and a gene pool on fumes. Yet today, tracking data, den checks, and road‑mortality records point to a population that’s recovered to roughly the low hundreds and is pushing its ...
The waters lapping Florida’s coastline tell an extraordinary story of recovery and hope. While many wildlife conservation efforts struggle to show measurable success, are delivering spectacular results that have scientists and conservationists celebrating. Florida reportedly recorded over 126,000 sea turtle nests across all species in 2024. Yet this remarkable achievement came with its own challenges, ...
On Florida’s coasts, the water is creeping higher, the chemistry is shifting, and the old rules that crabs lived by are being rewritten in real time. Estuaries that once felt predictable now swing between fresher deluges and salty king tides, warming faster than many fishers remember. Yet amid the churn, a quiet story of ...
The crystal-clear waters of Florida’s natural are once again welcoming their beloved winter visitors. Manatees are making their annual journey to these warm-water refuges, creating one of nature’s most heartwarming spectacles. As temperatures drop across the Sunshine State, these gentle giants seek out the constant warmth that provide. This year’s return has been nothing short ...
Picture this: you’re driving through the Florida Keys and suddenly spot a deer no bigger than a golden retriever standing at the roadside. These aren’t your typical mainland deer. The Key deer is the smallest deer species in North America. The deer live only in the low-lying Florida Keys. They are considered federally endangered, with ...
