Featured Species
- Episode
- 49
Florida Manatee 18:43
Host: Madeline Prush with Ivan Vicente
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Trichechus manatus latirostris
Description: Florida manatees are gentle and slow moving mammals that occur primarily in Florida and southeastern Georgia usually in freshwater, brackish, and saltwater habitats.
- Episode
- 48
Puerto Rican Parrot 15:52
Host: Madeline Prush with Marisol Lopez
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Amazona vittata
Description: The Puerto Rican Parrot, an endemic bird to Puerto Rico, was abundant throughout the island, and also the islands of Culebra, Vieques and Mona. It is estimated that when the Spaniards colonized Puerto Rico, the population of parrots was about a million individuals.
- Episode
- 47
Kirtland's Warbler 12:58
Host: Dave Harrelson with Chris Mensing
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Dendroica kirtlandii
Description: The Kirtland's warbler, an endangered species, is a songbird that nests in young jack pine stands. Until 1995 Kirtland's warblers had only been known to nest in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Today, they also nest in the Upper Peninsula, and since 2007, have nested in Wisconsin and Canada. They migrate from their nesting grounds to the southeastern coast of the United States on their way to wintering grounds in the Bahamas.
- Episode
- 46
American chestnut
Description: The American chestnut was once the most abundant tree in eastern United States, accounting for nearly one quarter of the trees in the Appalachian forests. First detected in 1904, an Asian fungus to which native chestnuts had little resistance appeared in New York City trees. The blight spread quickly, and by 1950 the American chestnut was virtually extinct except for occasional root sprouts that also became infected.
- Episode
- 45
Drosophila
Description: Far back in the deep gulches of the Wai'anae range, some of the rarest animals in Hawai'i survive in pockets of native forest. The picture-winged pomace flies, Drosophila, live quietly in the shaded valleys, almost always unseen; they can only be counted by tempting them out with fermented bananas and mushrooms.
- Episode
- 44
Channel Island Fox (15:39)
Host: Dave Harrelson with Robert McMoran
Description: There are six subspecies of island fox on California's Channel Islands, each named for the specific island they inhabit. The San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cataline island foxs gained Endangered Species Act protection in 2004 following catastrophic population declines caused by golden eagle predation and a canine distemper disease outbreak.
- Episode
- 43
California Condor (5:50)
Host: Dave Harrelson with Dr. Myra Finklestein
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Gymnogyps californianus
Description: Biologists studying the endangered California condor have launched a new web site to enlist the help of citizen scientists in research aimed at reducing lead poisoning, the primary threat to condors in the wild.
- Episode
- 42
Indiana Bat (11:50)
Host: Dave Harrelson with Lori Pruitt
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Myotis sodalis
Description: Indiana bats are found over most of the eastern half of the United States. Almost half of them hibernate in caves in southern Indiana. The 2009 population estimate was about 387,000 Indiana bats, less than half as many as when the species was listed as endangered in 1967.
- Episode
- 41
Light-footed Clapper Rail (08:52)
Host: Brynn Walling with Mike Mace
Status: Endangered/ Listed on October 13, 1970
Scientific Name: Rallus longirostris levipes
Description: The San Diego Zoo has a long history of involvement in the conservation, captive breeding, and return to the wild of light-footed clapper rails. In this interview Mike Mace talks about the efforts to recover this species.
- Episode
- 40
California Condor (08:33)
Host: Brynn Walling with Dr. Mike Wallace
Status: Endangered/ Listed on March 11, 1967
Scientific Name: Gymnogyps californianus
Description: San Diego Zoo Global has a long history of involvement in the conservation, captive breeding, and return to the wild of California condors. In this interview Dr. Mike Wallace talks about the early efforts to recover the species to today's challenges.
- Episode
- 39
Relict Leopard Frog (08:33)
Host: Brynn Walling with Michael Burroughs
Status: Candidate/ Conservation to preclude ESA listing
Scientific Name: Lithobates onca
Description: The relict leopard frog was believed to be extinct until three populations were discovered during the early 1990s. While the rare frog has not been found in Utah since 1950, it is at home in freshwater springs in Nevada and Arizona.
- Episode
- 38
Lange's Metalmark Butterfly (03:50)
Host: Brynn Walling with Josh Hall
Status: Endangered/ Listed on June 8, 1967
Scientific Name: Apodemia mormo langei
Description: The Lange's metalmark is a reddish-orange butterfly with only a 1.5-inch wingspan. Its last known home is the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1980 specifically to protect the butterfly and two related rare plants, the Antioch Dunes evening primrose and Contra Costa wallflower. All three are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.