Beware the Toxic Trait of the Eastern Newt
The diminutive swamp dragon of the Piney Woods has a fascinating life cycle. Just don’t eat one.
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 diminutive swamp dragon of the Piney Woods has a fascinating life cycle. Just don’t eat one.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
A viral video of Austin’s Kayleigh Williamson completing the New York City Marathon last weekend inspired athletes from coast to coast.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Found along Texas’s southwestern border, the creature has a mug only a mother could love.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Unfazed by extreme weather, this dangerous beauty blooms only at night.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The explosion of color found at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute is not a mirage.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Found in the state’s riverways, the spiny softshell looks like a cross between a brontosaurus and a pancake.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The small city of Sherman, which lies far from the coast, is a fossil hunter’s paradise.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Wineries, stylish bed-and-breakfasts, and a beautifully restored old train depot make this North Texas town a great weekend getaway.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
I swear I feel refreshed after looking at a house in Oregon or Virginia. And according to my research, other Texans do too.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Recent tragedies in Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon are a reminder to “respect the desert,” says one ranger.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Is there anything better than a good story with a view?
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
If you try to kill it with a shovel, it’ll just split into two.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
I didn’t think I’d get to be a mom. Now that I am, the passage of time confounds me.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
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”?
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
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.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
After a leopard escape, the suspicious death of a vulture, and the theft of two monkeys, Texans are anxiously awaiting an explanation.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Each winter, a wildlife sanctuary near the Panhandle hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of these beautiful birds.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Scientists are unleashing the computerized canines on the Austin campus to study how humans interact with them.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
This serene Hill Country town boasts a treehouse hotel and an idyllic swimming hole.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Tentative plans call for the beloved dining-hall structure to be rebuilt and modernized—with even better views.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Austin artist and doctor Grace Farris’s debut, ‘Mom Milestones,’ inverts the patronizing parenting-book formula.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
More than a thousand years after Indigenous Texans began brewing yaupon, the tea—and its aggressive holly plant—is everywhere.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Conroe native Heather West was snorkeling near the Florida Keys when she fought off a six-foot lemon shark.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Recipes and tips for wild and unconventional foods—from chile pequin to yaupon—that you can find in your own backyard.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The newest species is named after the grad student pub Valhalla, on whose grounds it was found.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
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.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
A West Texas oasis, the world's largest spring-fed pool has been closed for the better part of three years.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Kid-friendly, socially distanced, and just a darn good way to spend a Saturday, the state's berry farms are open for visitors.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Bow down to the greatness of the Vaqueros, who are the best in the nation (again).
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
“If the country can have a chuckle at my expense today, I’ll accept it," he says.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Maurice Chammah’s “Let the Lord Sort Them” is a searing history of the rise and fall of capital punishment.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
He’s visited the Alamo, waited in line at Franklin Barbecue, and cheered on the Astros (virtually).
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Feeling less than merry this December? Here are twelve great sad holiday songs to remind you that you’re not alone.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
Eight tips from expert gardeners.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
‘Ready or Not’ is an affectionate portrait of Marcel McClinton, a teen activist and mass shooting survivor who challenged incumbent councilman Michael Kubosh.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
In dreamy, finely detailed paintings, Jim Koehn revives old watering holes and mom-and-pop spots around the state.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The five-part Showtime docu-series avoids the worst pitfalls of the true-crime genre, favoring character over sensationalism.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to what one expert calls “a perfect storm”: more hungry people, fewer volunteers, and declining donations.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
As Texans flock to the hobby in record numbers, we convened a virtual staff roundtable to share tips.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.
The Austin author says he wrote his new pandemic thriller as a "cry of warning," but he never expected it to be released during an eerily similar crisis.
Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors.