After the project cavers found Abby, they left a light for her while Gerry Keene went to get help to get the dog out. Gerry Keene hide caption
Animals
This photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a blacklegged tick, also known as a deer tick, a carrier of Lyme disease. James Gathany/AP hide caption
The wild ponies roam on South Ocean Beach at Assateague Island. Jacqueline Larma/AP hide caption
The Beluga whale swims in the lock of Notre Dame de la Garenne in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, west of Paris, France, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. During Wednesday's rescue operation, the dangerously thin animal began to have breathing difficulties, and experts decided the most humane thing to do was to euthanize the creature. Aurelien Morissard/AP hide caption
The baby calf and mother Bibi are healthy, and the zoo says they are "inseparable." Cincinnati Zoo hide caption
The Galápagos land iguana is making a comeback on Santiago Island. Conservationists say the species is showing signs of being successfully reintroduced. Galápagos National Park Directorate hide caption
Zoos across the country are taking several steps to help animals beat the heat this summer. Eric Gay/AP hide caption
A screenshot of a map showing case counts of COVID-19 reported in different animal species, part of an interactive COVID data tracking dashboard rendered by Complexity Science Hub Vienna. The drawings represent the type of animal, including both domestic and wild; the size of the bubbles reflects the number of cases in each locale. Complexity Science Hub Vienna/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
A researcher holds a Northern long eared bat in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Nick Kalen / Virginia Tech hide caption
A band of wild horses on a mountainside near the Soda Mountain Wilderness area. Photo Courtesy of: Wild Horse Fire Brigade - a non-profit organization hide caption
A captured merlin is held near Lake Michigan on June 27 near Glen Arbor, Mich., where it will be fitted with a leg band and tracking device. The mission will enhance knowledge of a species still recovering from a significant drop-off caused by pesticides and help wildlife managers determine how to prevent merlins from attacking endangered piping plovers. John Flesher/AP hide caption
Researchers caught a Greenland shark off the coast of Belize in April, the first reported sighting of the species in the western Caribbean. The shark is typically found in the Arctic and at depths of up to 7,000 feet below the ocean surface. Devanshi Kasana hide caption
An illustration of Qikiqtania wakei (center) in the water with its larger cousin, Tiktaalik roseae. Alex Boersma hide caption
This fish evolved to walk on land — then said 'nope' and went back to the water
Sue Bell holds one of more than a dozen beagles that arrived at the headquarters of animal rescue group Homeward Trails in Fairfax Station, Va., on Thursday, while posing for a portrait. The dogs were a small portion of the roughly 4,000 beagles rescued from a research facility where the conditions were found to be inhumane. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for NPR hide caption
A Bengal tiger rests in the jungles of Bannerghatta National Park south of Bangalore, India, on July 29, 2015. The number of tigers in the wild has gone up 40% since 2015 — largely because of improvements in monitoring them, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Aijaz Rahi/AP hide caption
People walk along the East River in Brooklyn, New York, as temperatures reached into the 90s on Wednesday. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
Pakistani breeder Hasan Narejo displays the ears of his baby goat Simba, in Karachi on July 6. The kid's ears have gone viral, attracting praise — and trolls. Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Falcolner Ricky Ortiz poses with Pac-Man, a Harris's hawk, at the El Cerrito del Norte BART station in El Cerrito, Calif. Raquel Maria Dillon/NPR hide caption
The key to this California train station's pigeon problem? A hawk named Pac-Man
Environmental research students Valérie Bolduc and Jaynina Deku review test photos from motion-activated cameras they have installed around a water culvert to monitor wildlife. Emma Jacobs hide caption
Sand tiger sharks can grow to up to 10 feet in length, but juveniles average 3 to 5 feet. These sharks have a menacing appearance, but aren't known for unprovoked attacks on humans. Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Sam Van Wassenbergh and his team filmed this black woodpecker at Alpenzoo Innbruck, Austria, for their study. Sam Van Wassenbergh / Universiteit Antwerpen hide caption
An elephant is hoisted into a transport vehicle at the Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi on Sunday. Thoko Chikondi/AP hide caption
These canines are some of the nearly 500 beagles that Homeward Trails Animal Rescue collected earlier this year from an Envigo research facility in Virginia. Now Homeward Trails is taking in additional beagles from Envigo, which bred the dogs for pharmaceutical research, after a federal judge ordered thousands of remaining dogs to be released. Homeward Trails Animal Rescue hide caption