Curated playlist
Least concern biota of the United States
- BobcatThe bobcat, Lynx rufus, has turned up in some surprising places. In early March 2010, animal control authorities captured one in a parking garage in downtown Houston. In 2018, another was captured on a tourist boat in downtown Pittsburgh,…
- American black bearIn Yosemite National Park, only 9 percent of American black bears are actually black. The other 91 percent are brown or blonde. The American black bear, Ursus americanus, is the smallest bear in North America and also the most widespread.…
- CoyoteIn 2026, a coyote, Canis latrans, swam to the southern edge of Alcatraz Island. To get there, it crossed more than a mile of water from the nearest land in San Francisco. A swim like that would surprise anyone who pictures the coyote only…
- MallardThe deep quack people imitate as a duck sound belongs to the female mallard.
- White-tailed deerWhen a white-tailed deer senses danger, it lifts its tail and flashes the white underside. The animal, known scientifically as Odocoileus virginianus, goes by the names whitetail and Virginia deer. It is a medium-sized deer native to both…
- Canada gooseThe largest wild goose ever recorded was a male Canada goose. It weighed 10.9 kilograms and had a wingspan of 2.24 metres. That bird came from the giant subspecies, whose males rarely exceed 8 kilograms. This documentary follows a bird…
- Grizzly bearWhen Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first described the grizzly bear, they wrote its name as grisley. That spelling can be read two ways. It can mean grizzled, as in hair tipped with grey. It can also mean grisly, something that…
- Common ravenA piece of meat hangs from a perch on a length of string. Five common ravens were given this puzzle in an experiment on insight and problem-solving. Four of them solved it. To do so, a bird had to stand on the perch, pull the string up a…
- Bald eagleBy the 1950s, only 412 nesting pairs of bald eagles remained across the 48 contiguous states of the United States. In the early 18th century, the population is estimated to have stood between 300,000 and 500,000. The bald eagle, Haliaeetus…
- OspreyThe osprey, Pandion haliaetus, eats almost nothing except fish. Fish account for 99 percent of its diet. Older names capture the habit: sea hawk, river hawk and fish hawk. This large daytime bird of prey lives on every continent except…