All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Two new scientific reports remind us how little we know about the planet Earth and how much work we have to do to protect it.

First the good news: The Wildlife Conservation Society reported the number of Western lowland gorillas listed as an endangered species is thriving in the remote northern forests of the Republic of Congo.

For more from my Notebook, click on the little monitor.

Tracy Smith is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.

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The first time I went to Yellowstone was in the mid-90's, for a story on how the federal government was bringing wolves back to the park. I found out then that you don't have to be Little Red Riding Hood to have a strong opinion about wolves. Maybe it's because the wolf is the classic fairy tale villain. He didn't just dress up like grandmama, he also threatened to do unsolicited gut renovations to the homes of the three little pigs. A lot of the ranchers around Yellowstone, who've lost their livestock to wolves, see them that way: as sneaky, vicious killers.

But despite that rep, the wolf is also one of the most common animals honored in art. At the park, I met people who said they were actually spiritually moved by seeing wolves.

I saw wolves when I visited this last time, for a story on how they're poised to come off the endangered species list. With a high-powered scope (all the better to see you with, my dear), I watched a pack of them stalk some bison. I have to admit my elation came more from wanting to get shots of them for our story than from any sort of spiritual awakening.

They did draw a crowd, though. And perhaps more importantly, biologists say that, as predators, wolves have straightened out the park's ecology. So, as even the ranchers told me, wolves are likely here to stay. Now that they're losing federal protections, the trick for states is figuring out how to keep the wolf population strong...but away from the ranchers' door.

Let's hope there can still be a fairy tale ending.

Sandra Hughes is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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It has been 18 days since the mother humpback and her calf were discovered heading up the Sacramento River the wrong way. Under the terms of the Endangered Species Act, state officials are given the power and the finances to pay for rescue efforts when an animal on the list is in trouble. The mother and calf were. They were stuck in the Port of Sacramento 90 miles upstream in fresh water! They had wounds and the mother, they believed, might still be nursing her calf. Without salt water the mother couldn't feed. It could turn into a serious situation. They believed these two had wandered off their migration course from Mexico. Usually Humpbacks give birth in the warm waters between Hawaii and Mexico during the winter and then head up to Alaska for feeding time over the summer with their young in tow.

So rescue workers from California Fish and Game decided to try and lure the whales back down stream and into the open ocean. First they started with those weird underwater whale noises. These were whale feeding noises. When that didn’t work they realized maybe they were using the wrong kind of whale feeding sounds.


Attempt number two to get them down the river was herding. They used a flotilla of boats to try and ease them down stream. This sort of worked but then the whales dove back under the flotilla.