endangered species

The federal government promised Kansas City $59 million in security funding for the World Cup, but a partial shutdown put that money in limbo — with just months before the games kicked off. Plus: Mosses are the underdogs of the plant world. Now a group of scientists is coming together to protect them.

The lesser prairie chicken, known for its flamboyant courtship dances and bulging neck pouches, has lost a majority of its population in the grasslands and brush of southwestern Kansas. But Republican lawmakers have long fought against its habitat protections.

The lesser prairie chicken was once a common sight in the southern Great Plains, but its numbers are dwindling. Even so, it lost federal protections earlier this year for a second time. Now states and landowners are overseeing conservation efforts

Animals that disappeared from some rivers because of pollution, dams and overharvesting are getting a new lease on life that could have ripple effects for other wildlife and for humans.

The decision by a Texas federal court removed the lesser prairie chicken of any endangered or threatened species protections, which were established through a Biden-era ruling. The Trump administration had tried to reverse the designation, on behalf of livestock and oil producers.

The turtle was found off the coast of Virginia after ingesting a fishhook and won't be released to the wild because of arthritis in her front flippers.

Cotton-top tamarins are a critically endangered species. Wyoming toads were once listed as extinct. Recent births of both animals at the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium are a show of some progress in their wildlife conservation efforts.

The lesser prairie chicken is threatened in its northern range, which includes Kansas and Oklahoma, and endangered in its southern range. Kansas Republicans have introduced legislation over the years that would reverse protections for the species.

A nesting pair of the protected birds have made their home in the Kansas City suburb. Blue Springs and the state conservation department have set up Missouri's only live feed for viewers to follow their journey to bird parenthood.

Hosted by the Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps, several upcoming Eagle Days events celebrate how man-made lakes helped reverse the decline of the bald eagle. The birds come through the Kansas City region every winter.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would seek protections for the regal fritillary, a large non-migratory butterfly with orange and black markings. It's suffering from habitat loss in Missouri and Kansas because of development, pesticides and climate change.

Restoring oxbow wetlands is gaining momentum in the Midwest. While it started largely to support a federally endangered fish, conservation experts say these floodplain habitats offer a host of benefits, including cleaner water downstream.