Rhonda Fletcher

1 week ago | thetravel.com | Rhonda Fletcher

Whales are beautiful creatures and are vital in keeping our oceans healthy. The mysterious sands of Pakistan have long protected a significant milestone in whale evolutionary understanding. But thanks to Philip Gingerich and his research team, strange mammal fossils were discovered in the early 1980s. The fossil evidence, furry and four-footed, was quickly recognized as a 50-million-year-old cetacean ancestor.

1 week ago | thetravel.com | Rhonda Fletcher

Link copied to clipboard Sign in to your TheTravel account Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons A charismatic billionaire philanthropist is using his passion for art to fund wildlife conservation. Known for the New York Leiden Collection, Thomas Kaplan has spent his life as an arbiter of the Dutch Golden Age and 17th-century masterpieces. He continues to make headlines with record-breaking acquisitions for one of the world's largest private collections. Recently, Kaplan's passions...

1 week ago | thetravel.com | Rhonda Fletcher

The Darwin's fox, a diminutive and elusive creature native to the temperate forest habitats of Chile, faces a dire and immediate threat with a dwindling population of fewer than 1,000. This rare species, named after the famed naturalist Charles Darwin, has crossed the extinction threshold due to habitat loss, disease, and invasive predators.

2 weeks ago | thetravel.com | Rhonda Fletcher

Imagine a creature that drapes your mini car like an oversized red ribbon. Spindly legs, beady eyes, and large pincers are all wrapped up in a crusty reddish shell. These monstrous ocean creatures are more like something from a black and white, 1950s sci-fi thriller. They are a far cry from their cousins catching rays on Crab Island in the Florida sun. Luckily, because of their size (and Japanese law banning fishing during the spring), they are not likely to be on a Cape Cod best menu list.

3 weeks ago | thetravel.com | Rhonda Fletcher

A two-foot-long tubular animal that roams the West is officially back from extinction. Originally thought to be extinct, a Meeteetse, Wyoming, canine discovered a ferret in 1981. Highly tenacious, the black-footed ferret is a uniquely specialized weasel-like mammal, with, you guessed it, black feet. Shortly after the confirmed discovery of the ferret carcass confirmed there was hope for the species, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department initiated strong conservation and reintroduction efforts.