Natural History Wanderings

The New York Times reports

A herd in the Selkirk Mountains near the Canadian border is down to about a dozen, threatened by wolves and a larger problem: development.

The only caribou left in the contiguous United States are here in northern Idaho where they number about a dozen and live deep in the forests of the jagged Selkirk Mountains, near the Canadian border. Because they are so rarely seen, the caribou — America’s version of reindeer — are known as gray ghosts.

They may very soon become real ghosts: These animals are among the most endangered species in the lower 48 states.

Read full story at America’s Gray Ghosts: The Disappearing Caribou – The New York Times