Braelei Hardt

National Wildlife Federation teams up with LG Electronics (LG) for an ongoing campaign to highlight vulnerable and endangered species. This February, LG’s Time Square display spotlights the monarch butterfly. The video brings to life our partnership with NBC’s The Americas, an epic 10-part nature documentary narrated by Tom Hanks, which showcases the majestic wildlife and wild places throughout North and South America, including at-risk and endangered species like the monarch butterfly.

Imagine stepping outside on a crisp winter morning and spotting a black bear rummaging through your trash can. Snow blankets the ground, and the air is chilly—conditions we associate with bears being fast asleep in their dens. But increasingly, that’s not the case. Across North America, black bears are staying awake longer into winter or skipping hibernation altogether. So what’s going on?

Please enjoy this short story from the perspective of an eastern red bat settling in for winter. The autumn air was crisp and full of promise. As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink, a small figure flitted silently through the trees. This was no bird, but a bat—a solitary eastern red bat, her fur a warm reddish-brown that blended perfectly with the falling leaves around her.