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A nightmare began on April 20, 2010 when an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located 40 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers. Two days later the rig sank, and for three months, oil and natural gas leaked from the broken well 5,000 feet below the surface.
It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history and an environmental, economic, and cultural disaster.
Above is a slideshow we did six months post spill. It offers a brief history of the spill, plus a look at some of the animal species it threatened.
Check the blog this week and next for updates about these species. So far, we've covered reddish egret, bluefin tuna, and snowy plovers.