For the first time in nearly 30 years, active-duty military personnel could patrol Big Bend National Park. Talks between park leaders and the Department of Defense’s Northern Command are stirring concerns with locals and some onlookers.

A new fuzzy plant species called the "Wooly Devil" has been discovered amongst the arid landscapes of Big Bend National Park in Texas.

A new plant species discovered at Big Bend National Park last year has a name. It's affectionately known as the "wooly devil."

Meet the wooly devil, a newly discovered plant that was found in Big Bend National Park in Texas in 2024. But it's not just a new species of plant. It's an entirely new genus of daisy not previously documented.

Spanning 801,165 acres and featuring a mix of riparian ecosystems, desert bajadas, and sky island woodlands, Big Bend National Park is a biodiversity treasure. Other cool finds here recently include the fossil of a new duck-billed dinosaur species ( Malefica deckerti) and the rediscovery of an oak ( Quercus tardifolia) once thought extinct.

The small plant, officially named “Ovicula biradiata" and more affectionately called “wooly devil,” was first spotted in March 2024, sprinkled among

The Wooly Devil, or Ovicula biradiata​, was first spotted by botany volunteer Deb Manley and a park ranger in Big Bend National Park in Texas in March 2024.

The plant, formally known as Ovicula biradiata, is especially notable for being the simultaneous discovery of a new species and genus. It was found with help from the community science app iNaturalist.