Animals

The Marine Mammal Commission was created more than 50 years ago to ensure the Marine Mammal Protection Act is followed, and to provide independent, science-based oversight of federal activities that affect whales, dolphins, seals, and more.

As New England warms, snowshoe hares are increasingly finding themselves the wrong color for camouflaging with their environment. New England scientists are looking at some promising ways to help.

Cars and climate change have made life harder for key species that provide nutrients for creatures all around New England and sequester carbon in soil.

Wildlife officials ask Connecticut residents to remove bird feeders and secure garbage to reduce chances of black bear encounters.

The New England Aquarium identified the pair as 16-year-old “Koala” and 14-year-old “Curlew,” both females. And this, too, is unusual: two right whales rarely remain together for more than a few days, unless it's a mother with her calf.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have teamed up to launch an innovative passive acoustic monitoring network. The aim is to improve detection of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales in Massachusetts waters.

Survey experts with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown say they’ve been thrilled to identify more 162 individual right whales in recent weeks — that’s out of a total of about 370.

Bing, a Great Dane, is getting a lot of attention for his performance in "The Friend." Bing is a star thanks to a Connecticut-based animal trainer, Bill Berloni. For decades, Berloni has tracked down dogs and other animals and trained them humanely to perform in film, TV and theatre.

Predators like hawks and eagles are getting sick and dying from consuming poisoned rodents. Advocates say there are alternatives that don't put animal health at risk.

A new study out of the University of Vermont quantifies just how much migrating female whales do to sustain ocean ecosystems. The answer is: a lot.