Megan Ewald

Saltwater crocodiles crossed the Indian Ocean to reach the Seychelles — before humans arrived and wiped them out DNA study reveals crocs that lived in the Seychelles represented the westernmost population of saltwater crocodiles, having swam at least 1,800 miles to reach the island.

www.livescience.com/animals/alli...

A diver swims in clear water with a long nose gar fish in front of him.

Underwater photo of a Florida soft shell turtle.

Alligator gar and submerged aquatic vegetation.

Gar, turtles, and aquatic vegetation, oh my! The air temp may have been 24, but #rainbowriver and the #floridasprings water was 72 degrees and magnificent.

Senator Amy Klobuchar Launches Campaign for Minnesota Governor As Democratic minority leader for the Senate Agriculture Committee, Klobuchar has been a vocal opponent to USDA reorganization plans and cuts to food assistance.

As Democratic minority leader for the Senate Agriculture Committee, Klobuchar has been a vocal opponent to USDA reorganization plans and cuts to food assistance.

The Curse of Dead Corals - bioGraphic When heat waves bleach reefs, do dead coral skeletons help or hinder recovery?

"As marine heat waves increase in number and intensity, coral reefs around the world bleach and decay. Kopecky’s findings hint at a potentially overlooked tactic to help these struggling reefs recover."

www.biographic.com/the-curse-of...

A dog in a sweater on a snowy field next to a woman on cross country skiis.

Papaya may be the only #Malawian village dog to take up cross country skiing! Hoping for more snow on the mountains during this dry and warm Washington winter.

This handprint is the oldest known cave art Beating the previous record for the oldest known cave artwork by at least 15,000 years, a hand stencil in an Indonesian cave might shed light on when early humans migrated to Australia

"A new chemical analysis of the stencil reveals that it dates back at least 67,800 years, an astonishing 15,000 years older than the next-oldest cave art found on the same island, Sulawesi."

www.scientificamerican.com/article/olde...

Colorado wolves are on the move - High Country News Almost two years after reintroduction began, wolves are nearing the state’s southern and western borders.

Almost two years after reintroduction began, wolves are nearing the state’s southern and western borders.

Costco loses $400,000 worth of lobster The wholesale club recently found itself in a pinch after scammers stole a truck carrying lobster meat that was headed to its stores.

It’s 10:00, do you know where your lobsters are?

Costco loses $400,000 worth of lobster as cargo theft rises

www.seattletimes.com/business/cos...

2 iconic coral species are now functionally extinct off Florida, study finds – we witnessed the reef’s bleaching and devastation The crucial reef-building corals were decimated by a marine heat wave in the Florida Keys. Can advances in restoration help them recover?

Two of Florida’s most iconic coral species are now functionally extinct. The 2023–2024 marine heat wave wiped out 97.8% to 100% of staghorn and elkhorn corals across nearly 400 surveyed reefs, according to marine scientists.

Why Are Loons Still Dying from Lead Poisoning? In the United States, efforts to save a beloved species face pushback from a surprising foe: gun rights advocates.

Since you’re on Bluesky you probably didn’t need another reason to resent the gun lobby, but just in case you were on the fence… it’s killing the loons! (Though we anglers deserve most of the blame tbh.)

Great/frustrating @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social feature. 👇

www.biographic.com/why-are-loon...

Crabeater Seal Despite their name, Crabeater Seals eat primarily krill. They have specialised teeth for filtering their prey. These two remind me of my Labrador... Antarctica expedition 2025

Despite their name, Crabeater Seals eat primarily krill. They have specialised teeth for filtering their prey. These two remind me of my Labrador... #saef_arc #sydney_science #aurora_expeditions #marineexplorer 🧪🦑 flic.kr/p/2rNkjek

We can always invest in improvements, but the light rail and bus systems are pretty top notch.

Bring congestion pricing to Seattle!

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…

* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M

So YES this has been a huge success.

I love a ground sloth. I’ll check it out!

Coyote who got too comfortable around humans killed at Seattle park A coyote was trapped and killed at the Arboretum near UW after two close encounters with people. Seattle Parks advises how to keep yourself and coyotes safe.

My dog and I were surrounded by four #coyotes in the arb, but I hate to see this.

Be a good #Seattle #ubanwildlife neighbor: never leave food out, don’t harass wildlife, and keep your dogs on leash and cats indoors.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

How to Survive Toxins Like Other Animals Do Critters have evolved a suite of clever strategies to keep out of harm’s way

Living beings have been wielding deadly molecules to kill each other for hundreds of millions of years. In response, many animals have evolved ways to survive these toxins. Scientists are beginning to unravel these defenses and hope as a result to identify better treatments for poisonings in people.

You know what was cool? How department stores were set up so every section had its own central desk where if you wanted help with something you could easily ask for it and the person there was an expert in that section and also you could checkout right there, too

Studies: Extreme Weather Fueled by Climate Change Is Adding to Bird Declines • The Revelator Scientists have typically pointed to habitat loss as the key factor behind the worldwide drop in bird populations worldwide, but climate change poses a second, closely linked threat.

I've been pretty quiet here lately, trying to cut down on doomscrolling for the sake of my mental health... BUT I have a new story out at @therevelator.org, on how climate change is contributing to bird population declines in multiple biomes around the world. #birds 🪶🌏

The global biomass of mammals since 1850 - Nature Communications Here, the authors estimate mammalian biomass from the 1850’s to today, tracking an increase of over five-fold in human and domesticated mammal biomass and a two-fold decrease in wild mammal biomass. R...

🌍 In the 1850s, humans and their livestock weighed about as much as all wild mammals 🐋🐘 combined.
Today, they outweigh them nearly 20 to 1.
A quiet biomass revolution. Life reshaped to serve one species.

#Anthropocene #Biomass #WildlifeLoss #Beef

Hoiho - the world’s rarest penguin, fewer than 150 mainland pairs left

🐧We researched one of the world’s rarest #penguins. The yellow‑eyed penguin (aka hoiho/takaraka) isn’t one homogeneous species after all!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature

Kingfisher this morning at Herriots Bridge, CVL.

Dozens of brightly colored fish swim in Lake Malawi.

A blue and black striped cichlid.

Lake Malawi #cichlids are the textbook example of adaptive radiation in evolution. From a single fish, hundreds of species have #evolved into spectacular colors and specific niches as they munch algae in Malawi’s clear, warm waters.

Great Masters by Research opportunity working with Prof @darrencroft.bsky.social and collaborative team on killer whales!

More info in Darren's original post. ⬇️

🦑🌍🐬🧪🦤🌐
#AcademicSky

a closeup of bivalve shells. text overlaid in a bold white font: Clam shells sound warning of Atlantic ‘tipping point’. New Uni of Exeter study finds evidence of "stability loss"

Clam shells sound warning of Atlantic ‘tipping point'.
New research from @exeter.ac.uk using centuries-old clam shells has found signs that key Atlantic Ocean currents may be losing stability.

Full paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🦑🐟🧪🌐🌍🌊 #AcademicSky @uniofexeternews.bsky.social

You absolutely should! It’s an incredible country. We camped two nights but you can do it with one campsite between lodges.

The campsite had tree ferns and the best view from a pit latrine I’ve ever seen. 10/10 recommend.

Zebra stands in green ferns.

Eland stands in green ferns.

Roan antagonist run through water

Red francolin, an endemic species to Nyika National Park.

Nyika National Park, situated on a plateau 5,000 feet above sea level, is Malawi’s oldest, biggest, and wildest National Park. We hiked across #Nyika for three days and saw endemic wildlife and mile after mile of stunning rolling grassland.

#Malawi should be on more people’s safari radar.

I can’t fight the eel-ing that this is the best investment you can make this holiday season.

Line graph time series of 2025's daily Arctic sea ice extent compared to decadal averages from the 1980s to the 2010s. The decadal averages are shown with different colored lines with purple for the 1980s, blue for the 1990s, green for the 2000s, and white for the 2010s. Thin white lines are also shown for each year from 2000 to 2024. 2025 is shown with a thick gold line. There is a long-term decreasing trend in ice extent for every day of the year shown on this graph between July and October by looking at the decadal average line positions.

Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 12th lowest on record (JAXA data) 🧪

• about 130,000 km² above the 2010s mean
• about 960,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,080,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,780,000 km² below the 1980s mean

More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys is hiring a volcanologist who would work with the Alaska Volcano Observatory. A fantastic opportunity to work with great people and study very active volcanoes. Details in link below. Applications close on Oct. 1. ⚒️🌋🧪 bit.ly/3IkqN9n