A shy, ferret-sized predator called the coastal marten has been quietly hanging on in the forests of southern Oregon and northern California.

Once thought extinct, researchers are trying to find out more about this tiny carnivore to aid its conservation.

Around three o’clock in the morning on Monday, a 36-year-old man from Connecticut injured his ankle on Mount Tremper, in the Catskills town of Shandaken. Over the phone, the injured hiker told a New ...