Section
Animals
California wildlife stories: mountain lions, condors, dolphins, sea otters, elephant seals, migratory birds, and the extraordinary diversity of animal life across the Golden State.
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The Wetland Newport Beach Saved for the Birds
The Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, better known as the Back Bay, remains one of Southern California’s most important refuges for birds traveling the Pacific Flyway.
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Inside a Collection of 117,000 Shells and the World’s Deadliest Snail
Hidden at Occidental College, the Cosman Collection holds nearly 117,000 shells, possible undiscovered species, preserved DNA, and some of nature’s deadliest venom.
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Pain, Strain and Gain on the Rae Lakes Loop
Five days, 45 miles, 7,000 feet of climbing elevation, and a welcome escape from the noise of everyday life.
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California Has a Huge Whale Graveyard off the Coast. And That’s Not a Terrible Thing.
Whale falls offer scientists a treasure trove of information about life in the deep ocean. Microbiologist Jeffery Marlow talks about the importance of microbes.
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A Planet Built by Microbes
Deep-sea scientist Jeffrey Marlow discusses the astonishing diversity of microbial life, whale falls, hydrothermal vents, deep-sea mining, and the tiny organisms that help make Earth habitable.
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Hidden Near Los Angeles Is One of the World's Most Important Centers for Endangered Apes
The Gibbon Conservation Center in Santa Clarita is home to about 40 endangered apes and has become a globally important center for conservation, research, and education.
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Sea Turtles Are Thriving in a Concrete River in Los Angeles
A threatened population of green sea turtles is thriving in the concrete channels of the San Gabriel River in Long Beach.
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It’s Going to Be a Sharky Summer. Here’s Why That’s Okay.
Shark populations are rebounding along California’s coast, and the risks may be far lower than people think, says Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach.
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Why Southern California is the Stingray Capital of the World
According to research led by Dr. Chris Lowe at California State University, Long Beach Shark Lab, Southern California’s nearshore waters may host one of the densest concentrations of stingrays anywhere in the world.
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The Man Who Saved the Owens Pupfish
Less than 2.5 inches in length, the Owens pupfish is a silvery-blue fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. Endemic to California’s Owens Valley, 200 miles north of Los Angeles, the fish has lived on the planet since the Pleistocene, becoming a new species when its habitat was divided by changing climatic conditions, 60,000 years ago.
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Curiosity Is the Point
The more you look around in California, the more you realize there is almost always something fascinating to notice and something worth learning a little more about.
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California’s Daily Tidal Wave of Life
Every day, trillions of marine animals migrate up and down through the ocean in the largest daily movement of biomass on Earth. California’s exceptionally productive waters, and research hubs like MBARI near Moss Landing, make the state one of the best places in the world to observe and study this vast, invisible pulse of life.
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When Muybridge Made Motion Visible in Palo Alto
Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Animal Locomotion’ was the first scientific study to use photography. Now, more than 130 years later, Muybridge’s work is seen as both an innovation in photography and the science of movement.
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California’s Two-Spot Octopus is the Alien Mind Off Shore
I have a deep passion for octopuses. I have made several short documentaries about them and even traveled twice to Indonesia with one of…
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Upwelling, the Ocean’s Engine Beneath California’s Waters
Few marine processes are as impactful on the abundance of sea life off the coast of California as upwelling. It may not be a term you’ve heard before, but the natural oceanic process of upwelling is one of the most important engines driving climate, biological diversity, and the ocean’s food web.
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Transforming California’s Oil Platforms into Marine Sanctuaries
Beneath the surface of California’s offshore oil platforms lies one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. As the state debates whether to remove or reef these massive structures, scientists, divers, and environmental advocates like Blue Latitudes’ Amber Sparks are fighting to keep the life they support alive.
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Laurel Sumac, the Resilient Beauty of Southern California's Chaparral
Laurel sumac is one of Southern California's most resilient native shrubs — a chaparral cornerstone that shelters wildlife, survives fire, and thrives where other plants struggle.
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San Clemente Island is Where War Games and Wildlife Coexist
San Clemente Island is a remote, Navy-controlled island off Southern California where live-fire military training zones share rugged terrain with rare birds, endemic foxes, and ancient Tongva sites.
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Ten Essential Books About California’s Nature, Science, and Sense of Place
I’m an avid reader, and over the past decade I’ve dedicated a large section of my bookshelf to books about California—its wild side, its nature, and its scientific wonders.
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The Myth of the 100-foot Whale
So, according to the best records we have, the largest blue whale ever properly measured was 98 feet long. Granted, 98 feet is close to 100 feet, but it’s not 100 feet, and it’s certainly not over 100 feet, as so many otherwise reputable references state.
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Corals Revealed as Never Before Through a Groundbreaking New Microscope in California
A groundbreaking underwater microscope developed at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is giving scientists their first up-close look at coral stress before bleaching begins.
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A Tiny California Seaweed Could Make a Big Dent in Livestock Methane
Because methane is so potent, trapping more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, the livestock industry’s footprint has become a central focus for climate scientists searching for solutions.
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California’s Precarious Future and the Promise—and Limits—of Desalination
As drought becomes California's new normal, desalination offers a tantalizing solution — but the technology comes with serious costs and limits that could reshape the state's water future.
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Bring Human Exploration Back to California’s Deep Ocean
California's deep ocean remains one of the least explored places on Earth. Here's why it's time to send humans back down into the sea. And what we stand to discover.
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How California Has Revived Its Groundfish Fisheries
How Smart Policy and Collaboration Brought Groundfish Back From the Brink
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The Salton Sea Was California’s Strangest Catastrophe
In California’s southeastern desert, the Salton Sea stretches across a wide, shimmering basin, a lake where there shouldn’t be one. At about 340…
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The Channel Islands Are California’s Own Galápagos
Pygmy mammoths, island foxes and jays found nowhere else: California’s Channel Islands are a natural laboratory for evolution, and a conservation success story, just 12 miles off Ventura.
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The Scourge of Ghost Lobster Traps and the Battle to Save Marine Life in California
Lobster is delicious. Let’s just get that out of the way. Yes, I’m sure there are some who either don’t…
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The Fight for California’s Coastline and the Future of the Coastal Commission
For over 50 years, the California Coastal Commission has protected public access and natural beauty, but growing challenges—wildfires, housing shortages, and political pressure—are testing its authority like never before.
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Berkeley’s Cosmic Breakthrough and the Alvarez Discovery That Rewrote Earth’s History
The Alvarez’ work led to one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century: the discovery that a massive meteorite impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and much of life on Earth.
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Camp Pendleton’s Wild Landscape as a Natural Refuge
Covering approximately 200 square miles in north San Diego County, the base has served as a critical training ground for the U.S. Marine Corps since 1942. However, its restricted access and limited development have inadvertently preserved some of Southern California’s last remaining wild coastal terrain.
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A Deep Dive into Monterey Canyon, California’s Great Abyss
Monterey Canyon, often called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is one of the largest and most fascinating submarine canyons in the world. Stretching over 95 miles from the coast of Monterey, California, and plunging to depths exceeding 3,600 meters (11,800 feet), this underwater marvel rivals its terrestrial counterpart in size and grandeur.
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Giant Sea Bass Are Making a Comeback at Catalina
Giant sea bass can reach 560 pounds and live 75 years. Fished nearly to extinction, they’re slowly returning to Southern California, especially Catalina. Here’s how, and why scientists say it’s too early to celebrate.
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California’s Dark-Eyed Juncos Are Quietly Evolving in Plain Sight
One of the most compelling examples of urban ecology at work is the story of the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), a small songbird traditionally found in mountainous forests, now thriving in urban environments like San Diego and Los Angeles.
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All the Fish We Did Not See: How a WWII Sonar Glitch Off San Diego Revealed the Ocean’s False Bottom
In 1942, Navy sonar off San Diego found a mysterious ‘false bottom’ hundreds of feet down. It turned out to be alive: the deep scattering layer, part of the largest animal migration on Earth.
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The USS Independence, a WWII Carrier That Survived Two Atomic Bombs, Lies Off San Francisco
The USS Independence fought across the Pacific, survived two atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll and was sunk off San Francisco in 1951. Found in 2015, it’s now a deep-sea reef.
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Ivanpah, the Glowing Solar Towers Off I-15, Was a Bold Bet That Didn’t Pay Off
Those three blinding towers near the Nevada line are the Ivanpah solar plant, once the future of solar power. Here’s how it works, why it struggled and what it means for California’s clean energy push.
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Western Fence Lizard: California’s Blue Belly Is Evolving in Cities
Meet California’s western fence lizard, the blue-bellied reptile found on fences, rocks, and trails across the state. Here’s the science behind this ubiquitous backyard lizard.
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The Magic, Wonder, and Science of Ocean Bioluminescence in Southern California
The phenomenon that causes the blue glow has been known for centuries, but that in no way detracts from its wonder and beauty. The phenomenon is called bioluminescence, and it is one of nature’s most magical and interesting phenomena.
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Santarosae, the Lost Ice Age Island Off California, Had Pygmy Mammoths and Some of America’s First People
During the Ice Age, four of the Channel Islands were one big island called Santarosae, home to pygmy mammoths and some of the earliest people in the Americas. Rising seas drowned most of it.
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California’s Elephant Seals Came Back From the Brink, With an Asterisk
Northern elephant seals were hunted down to a few dozen animals. Now hundreds of thousands haul out on California beaches. Here’s how they live, dive and fight, and where to see them.
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New Research Sheds Light on the Saber-Toothed Cats of California, Fierce Predators of the Pleistocene
Among the region’s Pleistocene Epoch megafauna, the Saber-toothed cats are some of the most iconic prehistoric predators to have roamed California.
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Squid Pro Quo: The California Market Squid Feeds the Ocean and the State’s Biggest Fishery
The California market squid lives fast, dies young and supports the state’s largest fishery by volume. Here’s how they live, how they’re caught and why climate change is pushing them toward Alaska.
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Why bringing back California’s kelp is so important
Sea urchins have devastated kelp forests in California. Support California Curated by buying us a coffee? Two centuries ago, the waters off the California coast were home to a vibrant ecosystem of…
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California Sea Lions, the Barking Comeback Kids of the Coast
California sea lions were once hunted for oil and hides. Now there are about 300,000 of them barking from buoys and docks. How they live, what eats them and why some years they starve.
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Caltech Fly Labs and a Century of Genetic Discovery
And much of the work to understand the fruit fly has taken place and is taking place now, right here in California at the Cal Tech fly labs.
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JPL and the Voyager Golden Record, Humanity’s Mixtape for the Stars
In 1977, JPL sent two gold-plated records into space aboard the Voyager probes, loaded with music, whale songs, greetings in 55 languages and a kiss. Here’s what’s on them and how they were made.
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Bear Divide, Near Los Angeles, Is One of the Best Bird-Watching Spots in America
Every spring, tens of thousands of migrating birds funnel through Bear Divide, a low pass in the San Gabriel Mountains 45 minutes from downtown LA. Occidental’s Moore Lab is counting them.
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The Blythe Intaglios Are California’s Own Nazca Lines
Giant human and animal figures, the largest 171 feet long, are scraped into the desert near Blythe. Nobody knows exactly how old they are or why they were made. California’s little-known geoglyphs.
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The Island Fox Nearly Vanished From the Channel Islands. Then It Made a Record Comeback.
The house cat–sized island fox lives only on California’s Channel Islands. In the late 1990s it nearly disappeared. Here’s how it came back faster than almost any endangered mammal in U.S. history.
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The Joshua Tree Isn’t Really a Tree, and Its Future Isn’t Certain
The Mojave’s signature plant is a giant yucca that depends on a single moth to reproduce. Here’s how Joshua trees got their name, why they’re so hard to age and why fire and heat threaten them.
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The California Gull, Utah’s State Bird, Has a Surprisingly Big Story
The California gull looks like an average gull, but it’s Utah’s state bird, the hero of a pioneer “miracle” and a symbol of the fight to save Mono Lake.
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The Barreleye Fish Has a See-Through Head, and It Lives Off Monterey
With a transparent head and glowing tube-shaped eyes that swivel, the barreleye fish looks like science fiction. MBARI scientists filmed it in Monterey Canyon and solved the mystery of how it sees.
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Navigating the Unseen Current: How the California Current System Shapes Our Ocean, Climate, and Future
The California Current, originating from the colder regions up near British Columbia, sweeps its way down toward Baja California, extending laterally several hundred miles offshore into deep oceanic waters off the continental shelf.
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Davidson Seamount and the Unseen Mountains and Hidden Treasures Off California’s Coast
Perhaps the most astonishing discovery at Davidson Seamount occurred in 2018, when scientists discovered the “Octopus Garden,” the largest known aggregation of octopuses in the world. The garden is about two miles deep and was discovered by researchers on the research vessel (RV) Nautilus.
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The San Gabriel Mountains Are Still Growing. Here's Their Story
The mountains hovering above Los Angeles are geologically young, tectonically restless, and still getting taller.
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The Garibaldi Is California’s Bright Orange, Bad-Tempered State Fish
California’s state marine fish is impossible to miss, fiercely territorial and oddly curious about divers. Here’s why garibaldi are orange, how the males build nests and where to see one.
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Why Are Dinosaur Fossils So Scarce in California?
Hadrosaur on ancient California landscape. Hadrosaurs like this AI generated one are among the very few dinosaurs whose fossils have ever been found in California. Support California Curated with a…
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The 1975 Asilomar Conference, Where Scientists Decided to Police Genetic Engineering
In 1975, scientists met at Asilomar on the Monterey Peninsula to decide whether genetic engineering was too dangerous. Their answer, self-imposed safety rules, shaped biotech for decades and still echoes in the CRISPR debate.
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The Desert Tortoise: A Resilient Survivor of the Mojave
a close-up of a desert tortoise The Mojave Desert, a harsh yet strikingly beautiful landscape that extends across four western U.S. states, is home to an equally fascinating and resilient creature:…
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California’s Common, but Lovely, Birds: the House Finch
One of the most common birds in California, probably familiar to anyone whether a backyard enthusiast or committed ornithologist is the house finch. The house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) is a small passerine (perching) bird that is native to western North America, including California. This bird is widely known for its vibrant red plumage and melodic song, making it a beloved sight and sound in backyards across the state.
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Ten Little-Known Facts About California
Giant Sequoia California is known for its sunny beaches, bustling cities, and iconic landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood sign. However, the state is also home to a wealth of…
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California is a dolphin paradise
More than a dozen dolphin species swim California's waters, making the state one of the best places on Earth to spot wild dolphins. Here's what draws them to our coast.
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White shark sightings are up in California, but don’t panic
White shark sightings are increasing along California's coast — but scientists say the risk is far lower than headlines suggest. Here's what the data actually shows.
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Saving the California Condor
The birth of the 1000th condor chick as part of an extensive breeding and reintroduction program gives hope to many other species in peril.