mark shepherd journal

The Elusive Tayra: Moving Through Peru’s Forest Shadows

The Elusive Tayra: Peru’s Hidden Carnivore In the forests of Peru, a sleek and restless predator moves largely unseen. The...

In the tropical forests of Central and South America, the army ant Eciton hamatum moves in vast, coordinated swarms. As...

On a recent trip to research insect populations, I visited a small sliver of the Chihuahua desert that runs through...

Defining Biodiversity Species By some measures, worldwide biodiversity may be increasing. At the same time the rate of extinction, due...

Only a few years ago (2013 – 2015) most of the kelp forests of Northern California disappeared. Ninety percent of...

Sometime between 500 and 600 million years ago, the very first coral species appeared on earth. Of course, no one...

Madagascar is a land of wonders. Most species living on this, the World’s fourth largest island, are found nowhere else....

A new plastic ban is in effect in Pune, Maharashtra, located in western India. I visited in July, shortly after...

Nostalgic Days Do you miss the days when all you had to worry about when cutting the grass was a...

Vaquita Rescue Program Setback A rescue program to save the vaquita, the world’s most endangered cetation (whales, dolphins and porpoises),...

Painful stings leave an impression. Everyone who has ever been stung has a story to tell. Some of the stories...

Another species of marine mammal is on the verge of extinction. The Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a small porpoise endemic to...