The Texas Coral Snake Just Wants to Be Left Alone
The most colorful of our venomous reptiles deserves to be revered.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors. Before joining Texas Monthly, Rose was managing editor of the Texas Observer. She also served as senior editor of the Alcalde, the University of Texas’s alumni magazine. Outside work, you can often find her hiking and camping in Texas state parks.
The most colorful of our venomous reptiles deserves to be revered.
By Rose Cahalan
Two factors—a holiday with packed beaches and an approaching hurricane—likely combined to make yesterday’s attacks in South Padre more likely, say two scientists.
By Rose Cahalan
The ungulate is essentially the last of the megafauna that once roamed here.
By Rose Cahalan
"We cannot put back what God put there in the first place, but we can help make them feel whole again."
As told to Rose Cahalan
The state’s first paddling trail, near Port Aransas, offers a rare chance to commune with birds and dolphins in the shadow of a historic tower.
By Rose Cahalan
This playful but shy swimmer is returning to some parts of the state for the first time in years.
By Rose Cahalan
Meet the Gulf's beautiful invader.
By Rose Cahalan
A Big Spring wind turbine technician says the views three hundred feet above West Texas are magnificent—just watch out for the flying ants.
As told to Rose Cahalan
Hint: Leave those leaves alone!
By Rose Cahalan
A Port Aransas festival celebrates North America’s tallest bird.
By Rose Cahalan
The phantom feline of South Texas is ready for its comeback.
By Rose Cahalan
This too-long, venomous creature can be found all over the state. Check your beds!
By Rose Cahalan
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . five feral hogs?
By Rose Cahalan
This tropical beauty is expanding its range beyond the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
By Rose Cahalan
The diminutive swamp dragon of the Piney Woods has a fascinating life cycle. Just don’t eat one.
By Rose Cahalan
A viral video of Austin’s Kayleigh Williamson completing the New York City Marathon last weekend inspired athletes from coast to coast.
By Rose Cahalan
Found along Texas’s southwestern border, the creature has a mug only a mother could love.
By Rose Cahalan
Unfazed by extreme weather, this dangerous beauty blooms only at night.
By Rose Cahalan
The explosion of color found at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute is not a mirage.
By Rose Cahalan
Found in the state’s riverways, the spiny softshell looks like a cross between a brontosaurus and a pancake.
By Rose Cahalan
The small city of Sherman, which lies far from the coast, is a fossil hunter’s paradise.
By Rose Cahalan
Wineries, stylish bed-and-breakfasts, and a beautifully restored old train depot make this North Texas town a great weekend getaway.
By Rose Cahalan
I swear I feel refreshed after looking at a house in Oregon or Virginia. And according to my research, other Texans do too.
By Rose Cahalan
Recent tragedies in Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon are a reminder to “respect the desert,” says one ranger.
By Rose Cahalan
Is there anything better than a good story with a view?
By Rose Cahalan
If you try to kill it with a shovel, it’ll just split into two.
By Rose Cahalan
I didn’t think I’d get to be a mom. Now that I am, the passage of time confounds me.
By Rose Cahalan
As we celebrate one hundred years of our state parks, they are more popular than ever. But our booming population is overwhelming the state’s scarce public lands. What will the next century hold for Texas’s “best idea”?
By Rose Cahalan
Twelve states require that insurers pay for egg and sperm freezing before cancer treatment. Attempts to add Texas to the list have failed twice, but now lawmakers are trying again.
By Rose Cahalan
After a leopard escape, the suspicious death of a vulture, and the theft of two monkeys, Texans are anxiously awaiting an explanation.
By Rose Cahalan
Each winter, a wildlife sanctuary near the Panhandle hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of these beautiful birds.
By Rose Cahalan
Scientists are unleashing the computerized canines on the Austin campus to study how humans interact with them.
By Rose Cahalan
This serene Hill Country town boasts a treehouse hotel and an idyllic swimming hole.
By Rose Cahalan
Tentative plans call for the beloved dining-hall structure to be rebuilt and modernized—with even better views.
By Rose Cahalan
Austin artist and doctor Grace Farris’s debut, ‘Mom Milestones,’ inverts the patronizing parenting-book formula.
By Rose Cahalan
More than a thousand years after Indigenous Texans began brewing yaupon, the tea—and its aggressive holly plant—is everywhere.
By Rose Cahalan
Conroe native Heather West was snorkeling near the Florida Keys when she fought off a six-foot lemon shark.
By Rose Cahalan
Recipes and tips for wild and unconventional foods—from chile pequin to yaupon—that you can find in your own backyard.
By Rose Cahalan
The newest species is named after the grad student pub Valhalla, on whose grounds it was found.
By Rose Cahalan
As an impressive quantity of hot, steaming blood poured over my bare hands, I wondered how I, a vegetarian for most of my life, had ended up here.
By Rose Cahalan
A West Texas oasis, the world's largest spring-fed pool has been closed for the better part of three years.
By Rose Cahalan
Kid-friendly, socially distanced, and just a darn good way to spend a Saturday, the state's berry farms are open for visitors.
By Rose Cahalan
Bow down to the greatness of the Vaqueros, who are the best in the nation (again).
By Rose Cahalan
“If the country can have a chuckle at my expense today, I’ll accept it," he says.
By Rose Cahalan
Maurice Chammah’s “Let the Lord Sort Them” is a searing history of the rise and fall of capital punishment.
By Rose Cahalan
He’s visited the Alamo, waited in line at Franklin Barbecue, and cheered on the Astros (virtually).
By Rose Cahalan
Feeling less than merry this December? Here are twelve great sad holiday songs to remind you that you’re not alone.
By Rose Cahalan
Eight tips from expert gardeners.
By Rose Cahalan
‘Ready or Not’ is an affectionate portrait of Marcel McClinton, a teen activist and mass shooting survivor who challenged incumbent councilman Michael Kubosh.
By Rose Cahalan
In dreamy, finely detailed paintings, Jim Koehn revives old watering holes and mom-and-pop spots around the state.
By Rose Cahalan