Celebrate Nisha’s first birthday and protect elephants in the wild with Dickerson Park Zoo’s Elephant ADOPT promotion. Nisha, Dickerson Park Zoo’s Asian elephant calf, was born on July 18, 2006.

The $75 ADOPT package includes a 12” Ty® Classic plush elephant, a 5 x 7 color photograph of Nisha, a personalized ADOPT certificate, an elephant fact sheet, two one-day zoo passes and a subscription to the zoo’s WildTimes…[more]

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Golf courses are known as centers for human recreation, but if managed properly, they also could be important wildlife sanctuaries, a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher has found.

“There are more than 17,000 golf courses in the United States, and approximately 70 percent of that land is not used…[more]

John Tharp caught a lot more on his fishing trip than he ever wanted.

While fishing on a lake in Dixon, Mo., May 26, Tharp, 59, of Columbia, received a tick bite. Eight days later, he became terribly ill with high fever, upset stomach, vomiting and complete malaise.

A doctor diagnosed his condition as ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease, and prescribed a regimen of antibiotics. Tharp had…[more]

Although there is high water in some areas at Harry S Truman and Pomme de Terre state parks, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources would like to invite everyone to keep their vacation and weekend plans alive. Some facilities there are temporarily closed due to flooding, but the majority of the parks’ campgrounds, amenities and interpretive services are open. Full-service marinas at both parks are open and ready to serve…[more]

Corn and potato crops may soon provide information to farmers about when they need water and how much should be delivered, thanks to a University of Colorado at Boulder invention optioned to AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colo., high-tech company.

The technology includes a tiny sensor that can be clipped to plant…[more]

It took a visit to Wikipedia — the Web-based encyclopedia — to make sense of a headline in a recent edition of St. Louis’ s Suburban Journals newspaper.

“Two headed snake to get stuffed in Twin Cities” – the headline on an article about the afterlife of City Museum’s albino two-headed reptile – actually meant that the late lamented (and popular) We was being sent to a taxidermist…[more]

A researcher for Washington University in St. Louis, along with colleagues at the Saint Louis Zoo and Saint Louis University are tracking timber rattlesnakes in west St. Louis County and neighboring Jefferson County. They are investigating how developing subdivisions invade the snakes’ turf and affect the reptiles.

Wayne Drda,…[more]

While much of the Midwest has recovered from the drought that parched the area last year, horses are continuing to experience effects from the hot dry summer of 2006. Due to a bad hay crop, University of Missouri-Columbia veterinarians are reporting an increased number of horses with chronic selenosis and vitamin E deficiency,…[more]

Cane Creek State Park in Star City and Mt. Magazine State Park near Paris are the locations of the two latest geocaches in the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism “Cache in with The Natural State” program.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt, where people use Global Positioning Systems to pinpoint spots on the earth where caches are hidden. They are stashed all over the world in locations…[more]

Box turtles are fascinating animals that lend themselves to long-term observation by amateur naturalists. They do not survive long in captivity, however, and the Missouri Department of Conservation urges nature lovers to leave turtles where they belong – in the wild. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)
Three-toed box turtles are fascinating,…[more]