Honey Island Swamp, Sliddel, Mississippi. Anne O’Connor

The swamps in Mississippi delta are a marvel of waterways, flora and fauna. Thanks to the ubiquitous swamp tours offered to tourists, visitors can motor through the bayous with dense growth that shelter everything from alligators and birds to snakes and raccoons. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sea levels are rising from the effects of warmer water, part of climate change, while the coast is sinking as sediment builds. The cypress trees, like this raccoon inhabits, are harvested for their wood but help stabilize the ground they grow in.

Perhaps this guy is how Louisiana’s refugees from Canada, the Cajuns, came to be called Coonasses.