Until the 1980s, fishermen who fished for swordfish off the coast of California used harpoon guns to reel in their prey. As the industry modernized, the guns were exchanged for drift gillnets — gigantic nets the size of the Golden Gate Bridge that hang vertically in the water.

http://www.salon.com/2016/09/03/californias-waters-a-de_partner/

Now the humpback whale – listed as endangered since 1970 – has had such a rebound that populations in certain areas around the world have been lifted from the Endangered Species list, though locally there’s still a need for them to be on a list as threatened.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/humpback-728155-whale-whales.html

Bats show an adorable behavior of cocking their heads to the side, and when Melville Wohlgemuth, Johns Hopkins University researcher, came to know about it, he became very keen to know the purpose behind the inclination. He somewhat had a clue that the movement might be related to hunting.

http://norcal.news/news/22908-head-cocking-help-bats-catching-prey

In grizzly-occupied Yellowstone National Park, bears have killed eight people over 145 years, compared with the six deaths from fallen trees, five deaths due to lightning and six deaths from avalanches.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/06/grizzly-bears-in-california-reintroduction-push-ignites-strong-emotions/

“Citizen scientists are contributing so much more information about biodiversity than the NPS could possibly hope to collect on its own, especially when it comes to under-studied creatures, like insects. There is tremendous power in a citizen armed with a smartphone and a curiosity about nature working together with an online community of naturalists to explore our national parks,” said Simon Kingston, a Data Ranger with the National Park Service.

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/25/citizen-scientists-give-nps-100000-biodiversity-records-for-100th-birthday/

Brown has been studying coyotes for a decade, and for the past year he’s focused exclusively on urban coyotes in Los Angeles as the head of the National Park Service’s Urban Coyote Project. By capturing coyotes, fitting them with radio collars and releasing them again, he’s been able to track their movements. And he has made some surprising observations.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/09/15/64388/what-do-la-s-urban-coyotes-eat-ask-a-scat-hunter/

In a historic rebound, California sea otters, the frolicking ocean ambassadors of Monterey Bay and Big Sur, have reached their highest population level since 1982, when federal and state officials first began keeping track.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/19/california-sea-otter-population-reaches-record-high-number/

Fortunately, mountain lion attacks are pretty rare, averaging about six per year in North America. And fatalities are even rarer with an average of about one per year. California has the most recorded attacks in the U.S., and, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, there have only been 14 in the state since 1986.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-survive-a-mountain-lion-attack-1786558318

The findings of this new study from the University of California, Davis are based on traffic-incident reports, which identified hotspots of concern for both public safety and wildlife conservation.

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/28999/20160921/wildlife-vehicle-collisions-cost-200-million-california.htm

Here, we’ve compiled a list of common marine mammal sightings to give you some knowledge and insight about the creatures we are lucky enough to share our playground with.

http://www.supthemag.com/features/paddlers-guide-to-marine-mammals/