topic: In-situ Conservation

topic: In-situ Conservation

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Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation
- A new study from Indonesia’s Leuser forests challenges the traditional use of charismatic “umbrella species” like tigers and rhinos to represent ecosystem biodiversity.
- Researchers found that focusing on these well-known species neglects other important wildlife and may not accurately represent overall biodiversity.
- Instead, the study proposes a data-driven approach using camera-trap data to identify the most suitable umbrella species based on their association with higher levels of community occupancy and diversity.
- The study identified the sambar deer and Sunda clouded leopard as better umbrella species than tigers and rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to wildlife conservation that includes multiple species, not just the most charismatic ones.

New calf, same threats: Javan rhinos continue to reproduce despite perils
- Recent camera-trap images of a Javan rhino calf, estimated to be 3-5 months old in March, demonstrate that the species continues to reproduce despite being beset by challenges.
- The species is confined to a single habitat, and while its population is officially estimated at more than 70 individuals, a report last year cast doubt on those figures, alleging that 18 of those rhinos had not been spotted on camera for years.
- The peninsula of Ujung Kulon National Park, where all Javan rhinos live, has been closed to all visitors since September 2023 after poaching activity was detected.

Nepal’s release of endangered crocs into historical habitat raises concerns
- Nepal recently released 25 critically endangered gharials into a tributary of the Mahakali River to reintroduce them to historical habitats, but concerns have arisen over transparency and timing of the process.
- Gharials are released into the Chaudhar river, part of the Terai Arc Landscape, to augment dwindling populations, although previous translocations have yielded mixed results.
- Researchers highlight challenges faced by gharials, including migration obstacles due to dams and barrages, and they advocate for better timing of releases to optimize adaptation and survival.
- Issues such as lack of publicized government studies, potential influence of reciprocal gifts in translocation decisions and denial of budget-related motives are raised amid efforts to conserve gharials.

To help beleaguered Javan rhinos, study calls for tree felling, captive breeding
- The sole remaining population of Javan rhinos, around 70 individuals, persists in a single national park in Indonesia.
- A new paper argues that conservationists should clear some areas of the park to increase feeding areas for rhinos, and create a captive-breeding program for the species.
- Recent government reports indicate that 13 of the remaining Javan rhinos display congenital defects, likely due to inbreeding.
- Despite intensive monitoring by camera trap, scientists know relatively little about the species’ reproductive behavior and breeding patterns.

Boost for Sumatran rhino IVF plan as eggs extracted from Bornean specimen
- Conservationists in Indonesia say they’ve successfully extracted eggs from a Sumatran rhino to be used in an IVF program meant to boost the population of the near-extinct species.
- The donor rhino, known as Pahu, is a Bornean specimen of the Sumatran rhino, and her egg would greatly expand the genetic pool of a species believed to number as few as 40.
- Since 2012, three Sumatran rhinos have been born under Indonesia’s captive-breeding program, but all are closely related: a single captive male is the father to two of them and grandfather to the third.
- Conservationists say they hope to eventually fertilize Pahu’s eggs with sperm from captive Sumatran males, with one of the Sumatran females then serving as a surrogate to hopefully bring a baby to term.

South Africa’s penguins heading toward extinction; will no-fishing zones help?
- With just 10,000 breeding pairs left, the endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could be extinct in the wild by 2035 if the current rate of population decline continues.
- To protect the bird’s food supply and slow its population collapse, South Africa is throwing a protective no-fishing cordon around its main breeding colonies for a period of 10 years.
- But the devil is in the details, and conservationists say the cordons are too small to ensure the penguins get enough fish.
- Negotiations over whether to adjust the cordons are continuing in advance of an early 2024 deadline.

Indonesia reports a new Javan rhino calf, but population doubts persist
- Indonesian officials have reported the sighting of a new Javan rhino calf in Ujung Kulon National Park, home to the last surviving population of the critically endangered species.
- While the discovery of the female calf is good news, it comes amid growing doubt about official claims that the species’ population is increasing steadily.
- The Indonesian government puts the Javan rhino’s current population at about 80 animals, with an average of three new calves added per year.
- Its past estimates, however, have counted rhinos that have disappeared (some of which were confirmed dead), throwing into question whether the species’ population trend is really increasing or even declining.

Big potential and immense challenges for great ape conservation in the Congo Basin, experts say
- Great apes are on track to lose 94% of their range to climate change by 2050 if humans do nothing to address the problem, according to research.
- In the great apes stronghold of the Congo Basin, national interests in natural resource exploitation, a lack of security in areas like the Albertine Rift, hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade all greatly impact populations of bonobos and mountain gorillas.
- In this episode of Mongabay Explores, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Kirsty Graham, Terese Hart, and Sally Coxe speak with Mongabay about the threats to bonobos and mountain gorillas, the lessons learned from decades of conservation efforts, the importance of great apes for the protection of Congo Basin rainforest, and ways forward for conservation as well as livelihoods for Indigenous and local communities.

Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
- For hundreds of years, the island nation of Japan has seen various examples of efforts to conserve its coastal ecosystems, vital to its fisheries.
- An 1897 law created protection forests to conserve a variety of ecosystem services. “Fish forests,” one type of protection forest, conserve watershed woodlands and offer benefits to coastal fisheries, including shade, soil erosion reduction, and the provision of nutrients.
- Beginning in the late 1980s, fishers across Japan started planting trees in coastal watersheds that feed into their fishing grounds, helping launch the nation’s environmental movement. Although the fishers felt from experience that healthy forests contribute to healthy seas, science for many years offered little evidence.
- New research using environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis confirms that greater forest cover in Japan’s watersheds contributes to a greater number of vulnerable coastal fish species. Lessons learned via Japan’s protection and fish forests could benefit nations the world over as the environmental crisis deepens.

Flawed count puts ‘glorified’ Javan rhinos on path to extinction, report says
- Javan rhinos, a critically endangered species found only in a single park in Indonesia, may be on a population decline that could see the species go extinct within a decade, a new report warns.
- The report highlights questionable practices in the Indonesian government’s official population count, which has shown a steady increase in rhino numbers since 2011.
- Notably, the official count includes rhinos that haven’t been spotted or recorded on camera traps in years; at least three of these animals are known to have died since 2019.
- The report, by environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, also highlights an increase in reported poaching activity in Ujung Kulon National Park, and a general lack of official transparency that’s common to conservation programs for other iconic species such as Sumatran rhinos and orangutans.

End of the tuna FAD? Indonesia hopes so, but EU isn’t giving up just yet
- Indonesia has welcomed measures to cut back on the use of fish-aggregating devices, which critics blame for Indian Ocean tuna being caught at unsustainable rates.
- A senior Indonesian fisheries official says all countries on the Indian Ocean coast have a shared interest in tackling the overuse of FADs and in improving the conservation and management of the region’s tuna populations.
- In 2022, the Indian Ocean’s bigeye tuna population was declared overfished, while repeated violation of catch limits for skipjack tuna was reported.
- The European Union, whose fleet accounts for a third of the Indian Ocean tuna catch, has reportedly said it will object to the new resolution; in that event, its vessels will simply continue deploying FADs as usual, since the new measure isn’t enforceable.

Will shipping noise nudge Africa’s only penguin toward extinction?
- The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is expected to go extinct in the wild in just over a decade, largely due to a lack of sardines, their main food.
- A colony in South Africa’s busy Algoa Bay is suffering a population crash that researchers say coincides with the introduction of ship-to-ship refueling services that have made the bay one of the noisiest in the world.
- They say theirs is the first study showing a correlation between underwater noise pollution and a seabird collapse.
- Current studies are investigating whether the ship noise is interfering with the penguins’ foraging behavior and their ability to find fish.

Breeding success raises hopes for future of endangered African penguin
- Two African penguin chicks have hatched at a nature reserve in South Africa where conservationists have been working for years to entice the endangered birds to breed.
- The colony was abandoned more than 10 years ago after a caracal killed a number of penguins.
- The recent hatching comes at a time when survival prospects for Africa’s only resident penguin species look grim, due mainly to declining food stocks.
- But encouraging new colonies at sites close to abundant food sources could help to bring the species back from the brink.

Stem cells may make ‘impossible possible’ for near-extinct Sumatran rhino
- Wildlife scientists in Germany are developing a method to produce new living cells from a dead Sumatran rhinoceros in an effort to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered species.
- They have used skin samples of the last male rhino in Malaysia, known as Kertam, who died in May 2019, to grow stem cells and mini-brains as reported in the researchers’ recently published paper.
- Fewer than 80 rhinos remain in the world, and they all currently live in Indonesia in the wild, and some in a sanctuary for captive breeding.
- The captive breeding initiative of the Sumatran rhinos began in the 1980s, but over the years, the attempts have yielded both successes and failures.

Scotland changes course to save its last native wildcats
- The European wildcat has been put into an “intensive care” program of captive breeding and reintroduction in Scotland.
- Found only in a few small pockets in the north, it is the country’s only remaining native felid.
- But even the conservationists in charge of it accept that the program’s success is far from certain to save the “Highland tiger,” a species emblematic of Scotland’s wild landscapes.

Indonesia teams up with Germany on Sumatran rhino breeding efforts
- Indonesia and Germany will team up on advancing the science and technology for captive-breeding of critically endangered species in Indonesia, starting with the Sumatran rhino, to save them from extinction.
- The agreement, signed in May between Indonesia’s Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), will see a newcenter for assisted reproductive technologies and a bio bank established at IPB.
- The initiative between the two research institutes also welcomes government officials, scientists, NGOs and private sector experts from around the world to get involved.
- Indonesia is the last refuge for the Sumatran rhino, whose total population may be as little as 30 individuals.

Work starts on new sanctuary for captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos
- Indonesian conservation authorities have started building a new sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem on the northern tip of Sumatra.
- The facility will be the third in a network of Sumatran Rhino Sanctuaries (SRS), joining the Way Kambas SRS in southern Sumatra and the Kelian SRS in Indonesian Borneo.
- Conservationists plan to capture at least five rhinos from the wild in Leuser and move them to the new SRS as part of a captive-breeding program that’s seen as the best option for staving off the species’ extinction.
- There area currently seven rhinos at the Way Kambas SRS and one at the Kelian facility; in the wild, there are believed to be just 30-80 Sumatran rhinos left, all of them on Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands.

Indonesia investigates alleged abuse of Sumatran tigers at city zoo
- Indonesian conservation authorities have launched an investigation into alleged abuse of Sumatran tigers at a municipal zoo in North Sumatra province.
- The zoo’s tigers appear emaciated, with their bones protruding, raising concerns that they’re being underfed.
- The zoo management has denied the allegation, saying one of its tigers was ill while the others were healthy and properly fed.
- Zoos in Indonesia are notorious for their negligence, mismanagement and corruption, with animals dying of malnutrition or ill treatment, or sold off into the illegal wildlife trade.

Snapshot of hatchlings raises hopes for Siamese crocs in northeast Cambodia
- Researchers have found and photographed eight Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) hatchlings in northeastern Cambodia — the first confirmed evidence that the critically endangered species is breeding in this area.
- The new breeding population significantly expands the known breeding range of the species in Cambodia; until now, most breeding was recorded around the Cardamom Mountains landscape in the southwest.
- With fewer than 1,000 adults remaining in the wild globally, the species is on the brink of extinction; threats include habitat loss, hydropower schemes, poaching, and entanglement in fishing gear.
- Wildlife experts say conservation measures, including community engagement, captive breeding and reintroduction programs, will help to ensure Siamese crocodiles’ long-term survival.

Conservation needs more women, says Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak
- Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak is in the running to become the first woman from the Arab world to head the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ms. Al Mubarak is up against two other candidates in the election, which will take place during IUCN’s World Conservation Congress, which starts this week.
- Having served as the managing director of three prominent institutions — the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), a government agency; the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the philanthropy funded by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi; and Emirates Nature, an NGO affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) — Ms. Al Mubarak would bring distinct experience to the helm 73-year-old conservation organization.
- In these roles Ms. Al Mubarak has been an advocate for improving inclusivity in conservation, providing resources to communities that have often been marginalized in the sector, including Indigenous peoples and women.
- “It is critical that women have an equal voice in decision-making when it comes to the sustainable use of land, water, and other natural resources,” she told Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler during a recent interview. “Women are not just lacking an equal seat at the table at a grassroots level. Like many fields dominated by men such as science, engineering, and government, women are also underrepresented in the conservation world.”

Development of third Sumatran rhino sanctuary advances to save species
- The development of a highly anticipated sanctuary for the Sumatran rhinoceros in Indonesia’s Aceh province is advancing as part of conservation efforts to save the nearly extinct species.
- The planned facility will be the third in a network of Sumatran Rhino Sanctuaries to breed the species in captivity.
- Its location in the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra means it will have access to what is believed to be the largest population of the critically endangered species.
- Indonesia is now the only home in the world for Sumatran rhinos, a species decimated by a series of factors, from poaching to habitat loss and, more recently, insufficient births.

Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick
- Fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos are believed to remain on Earth, and the species faces dire threats due to a low birth rate, habitat loss and fragmentation, and poaching.
- A new study finds that, despite its small size, the population retains significant genetic diversity, and likely has the genomic “toolkit” necessary to survive threats like climate change or disease.
- The findings are good news for conservationists, but also come with a warning: an analysis of a recently extinct subpopulation revealed that a rapid spike in inbreeding preceded their extinction.
- The research highlights dilemmas currently facing conservationists working to breed Sumatran rhinos in captivity: Should subspecies be mixed? And, when no alternatives exist, should captive rhinos be bred with their relatives?

Rarely seen Sumatran rhinos are now even more elusive as threats close in
- The wild Sumatran rhinos of Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia are becoming even more elusive in response to changes to their habitat, according to rhino expert Arief Rubianto.
- Fires and poaching of other species for bushmeat pose a serious threat to the critically endangered rhinos.
- Way Kambas is believed to be one of the last strongholds of the Sumatran rhino, with estimates of 12 to 33 wild rhinos, out of a global population of less than 80.
- Indonesian officials and conservationists are carrying out a census to get a better idea of the species’ true population to help inform conservation strategies.

Signs, but no sightings: The phantom rhinos of Sumatra’s Bukit Barisan Selatan
- Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Sumatra’s Lampung province is believed to be one of the last homes of the nearly extinct Sumatran rhinoceros.
- But the little evidence showing the existence of rhinos at the park has sparked concerns among some experts that the species may have already gone extinct there.
- While some Indonesian experts still believe Bukit Barisan Selatan holds a rhino population, the loss of forest to farms, roads and illegal encroachment inside the park makes that scenario increasingly unlikely.
- Indonesia is the last place on Earth with Sumatran rhinos, whose total population is estimated at fewer than 80 individuals.

Widodo Ramono, the man on a mission to save Sumatran rhinos
- Indonesian biologist Widodo Ramono has dedicated a lifetime to conserving the country’s Sumatran rhinos from extinction.
- A former government official, Widodo now leads a rhino conservation group that oversees a captive-breeding program at a sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos.
- To save the species, found only in Indonesia, Widodo says protecting its habitats from deforestation and poaching is the most important thing.
- Mongabay Indonesia recently spoke with Widodo about the country’s plans for rhinos and the challenges those plans face.

Back from the brink, baby Burmese roofed turtles make their debut
- Once considered extinct, the Burmese roofed turtle was brought back from the brink by an ambitious conservation program.
- The captive population is now approaching 1,000 turtles, and the species appears to be in little danger of biological extinction.
- Scientists have now published descriptions and photos of the hatchlings of this little-known river turtle.

Forest fires set by poachers threaten a refuge of the Sumatran rhino
- Fires set by poachers are a top cause of habitat degradation in Way Kambas National Park on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.
- The park is home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers and elephants, among hundreds of wildlife species.
- The burning on the fringes of the park spurs the growth of fresh grass, which draws the deer and boars that the poachers target.
- Park officials and conservationists are engaged with local communities to dissuade people from poaching, as well as replanting burned areas with hardier vegetation.

Sumatran rhino planned for capture is another female, Indonesian officials say
- Conservation officials in Indonesia have revealed that a wild Sumatran rhino planned for capture for a breeding program is a female, not a male.
- The rhino, named Pari, will join another female already at a breeding center in the Indonesian province on East Kalimantan.
- Female rhinos in captivity have been found to develop reproductive problems and infertility as a result of prolonged absence from a male, and conservationists fear this could happen to the rhino currently in captivity
- The Sumatran rhino is critically endangered, with fewer than 80 believed to be remaining in the wild.

‘Every tool in the box’ to save Sumatran rhinos: Q&A with Nina Fascione of IRF
- In March 2020, Nina Fascione was named the new executive director of the International Rhino Foundation (IRF).
- The IRF works to protect all five rhino species, but none is as imperiled at the Sumatran rhino, which numbers fewer than 80.
- Mongabay spoke with Fascione about her background, her new job, and her organization’s plans to save the Sumatran rhino.

Indonesia identifies rhino to capture for breeding, but will have to wait until next year
- Indonesian officials have identified a wild Sumatran rhino they plan to catch in Borneo for a captive-breeding program, but have not said whether it’s a male or female.
- The planned capture will have to wait until next year at least, with officials citing the COVID-19 pandemic as an obstacle.
- Officials already have a female Sumatran rhino at the Kelian Lestari captive-breeding facility in Borneo, and hope to either find her a mate from the wild or fertilize her eggs with sperm from rhinos held at the Way Kambas facility in Sumatra.
- The Sumatran and Bornean populations are distinct subspecies of the Sumatran rhino, and conservationists agree on the need to interbreed them to boost the genetic diversity of a species that numbers fewer than 80.

COVID-19 halts matchmaking attempt for female Sumatran rhino in Borneo
- Conservationists searching for a wild male Sumatran orangutan to join a lone female as part of a captive-breeding program have had to call off the search for the rest of the year.
- The field work by conservationists in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province has been halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other activities.
- The captive breeding programs is believed by experts to be the most viable means left to save the global population of the nearly extinct species.
- Indonesia is now the last refuge for Sumatran rhinos, with a population of fewer than 80 individuals.

Indonesia resumes release of captive wildlife amid COVID-19
- Indonesia has allowed the release of captive animals back in to the wild to continue, after freezing the activity to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus to wildlife populations.
- Orangutan rescue centers in Indonesia have welcomed the decision as they struggle with crowded facilities and rising operational costs.
- But the centers say they won’t release any orangutans anytime soon, as the great apes are likely vulnerable to the coronavirus.
- Experts have recommended that the apes also undergo COVID-19 testing prior to being released back into the wild.

A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures
- Indonesia has been working on a new sanctuary for the captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
- But measures imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed down the progress of the facility, which had been slated for completion next year.
- Aceh’s Leuser Ecosystem is touted by experts as the most promising habitat for wild rhinos because it’s believed to hold the largest population of the species, at about 12 individuals.
- Indonesia is now the last refuge for the world’s Sumatran rhino population, which numbers between 30 and 80 individuals.

For Indonesia’s captive wildlife, lockdown measures may prove deadly
- Zoos have been shuttered and wildlife rehabilitation centers barred from releasing animals into the wild as a result of measures imposed in Indonesia to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Without revenue from visitor fees, zoos in the country, long notorious for the egregious conditions in which they keep the animals, are looking at the possibility of killing some of their animals to feed the others.
- Wildlife rehab centers, which mostly care for orangutans and other apes, have been ordered to keep taking in rescued animals but not to release them for fear of spreading the virus to wild populations.
- This has raised concerns about overcrowding at rescue centers, many of which are also under financial pressure as donations decline.

Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
- Indonesia’s Aceh province is considering a sharia, or Islamic, bylaw to strengthen punishment for the illegal wildlife trade, in a move that could help protect the critically endangered Sumatran rhino.
- The bylaw, if passed, would prescribe up to 100 lashes of the cane for anyone convicted of hunting, killing or trading in protected species, including rhinos.
- The province’s Leuser Ecosystem is believed to hold up to 50 of the maximum 80 Sumatran rhinos estimated to be left on Earth.
- The Indonesian government also plans to set up its third Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Leuser, part of a network of captive-breeding centers aimed at boosting the species’ population.

Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
- Efforts to breed the critically endangered Sumatran rhino in captivity have faced myriad challenges ranging from mysterious deaths and reproductive health problems to bureaucratic hurdles.
- Now, a sanctuary in Indonesia that has previously witnessed the birth of two healthy calves is facing a new, unexpected obstacle: relationship problems.
- One pair of rhinos, Andalas and Ratu, have successfully produced two calves. But after keepers attempted to mate Andalas with a second female, his previous mate now rejects him.
- Producing as many calves from the captive rhinos is a top priority in efforts to conserve the species, whose wild population is fewer than 80 individuals.

Indonesia to capture 3 wild Sumatran rhinos to add to breeding population
- Indonesia hopes to capture three Sumatran rhinos from the wild next year to stock up a captive-breeding sanctuary, in a bid to boost the population of the critically endangered species.
- The sanctuary, opened in 1996 to provide a heavily protected semi-wild habitat for captive rhinos to breed, is already home to seven rhinos, two of which were conceived and born there.
- Experts are also calling on the government to protect the last remaining wild habitats of the rhinos so that there’s somewhere to release them back into once the situation allows.
- Fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are believed to live in small populations scattered in the dwindling forests of Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo.

Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam
- Last seen in 1990, researchers have found a population of silver-backed chevrotains, a species of mouse-deer, surviving in Vietnam.
- This lost species is threatened by hunting, snaring and habitat destruction, and scientists don’t yet know how many survive.
- Mongabay columnist Jeremy Hance travels to Vietnam to attempt to see the animal himself and learn about its chances for a future.

Indonesia plans IVF for recently captured Sumatran rhino
- In a bid to save the nearly extinct Sumatran rhino, Indonesia will attempt to harvest and fertilize an egg cell from a lone female at a captive-breeding center in Borneo.
- The sperm for the in vitro fertilization attempt will come from a male at a captive-breeding center in Sumatra; combining the Sumatran and Bornean lineages is expected to help boost the gene pool for an animal whose global population may be as low as 40.
- Conservationists anticipate obstacles, however: Pahu, the female, is quite old at about 25, and is possibly too small to be able to carry a regular-sized offspring to term.
- The planned attempt by Indonesia comes after conservationists in Malaysia tried and failed to carry out an IVF treatment there, with both the age of the female rhino and lack of access to quality sperm cited for the failure.

The ambitious plan to recover and rewild the feisty, dwarf cow
- Although critically endangered, the population of tamaraw has stabilized and grown over the last two decades.
- Conservationists along with indigenous people are now planning on using the core population to rebuild and rewild other populations across the island of Mindoro.
- Conservationists say none of this would be possible without the active supoort of Mindoro’s indigenous tribal groups, who are leading efforts to restore the tamaraw.

Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem
- A third captive-breeding sanctuary for the nearly extinct Sumatran rhino is set to be built in Indonesia, according to a top official.
- The facility, scheduled to open in 2021, will be located within the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, home to what’s believed to be one of the largest populations of the critically endangered species.
- Global and local rhino conservation groups have welcomed the plan and pledge to help with financial and technical support for the new facility.
- Indonesia currently has two captive-breeding centers for the rhinos: in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park, which holds seven rhinos, and Borneo’s Kelian forest, which has a single rhino.

Primates lose ground to surging commodity production in their habitats
- “Forest risk” commodities, such as beef, palm oil, and fossil fuels, led to a significant proportion of the 1.8 million square kilometers (695,000 square miles) of forest that was cleared between 2001 and 2017 — an area almost the size of Mexico.
- A previous study found that 60 percent of primates face extinction and 75 percent of species’ numbers are declining.
- The authors say that addressing the loss of primate habitat due to the production of commodities is possible, though it will require a global effort to “green” the international trade in these commodities.

Leopards get a $20m boost from Panthera pact with Saudi prince
- Big-cat conservation group Panthera has signed an agreement with Saudi prince and culture minister Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Farhan Al Saud in which the latter’s royal commission has pledged $20 million to the protection of leopards around the world, including the Arabian leopard, over the next decade.
- The funds will support a survey of the animals in Saudi Arabia and a captive-breeding program.
- The coalition also hopes to reintroduce the Arabian leopard into the governorate of Al-Ula, which Bader heads and which the kingdom’s leaders believe could jump-start the local tourism sector.

Out on a limb: Unlikely collaboration boosts orangutans in Borneo
- Logging and hunting have decimated a population of Bornean orangutans in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park in Indonesia.
- Help has recently come from a pair of unlikely allies: an animal welfare group and a human health care nonprofit.
- Cross-disciplinary collaboration to meet the needs of ecosystems and humans is becoming an important tool for overcoming seemingly intractable obstacles in conservation.

Altered forests threaten sustainability of subsistence hunting
- In a commentary, two conservation scientists say that changes to the forests of Central and South America may mean that subsistence hunting there is no longer sustainable.
- Habitat loss and commercial hunting have put increasing pressure on species, leading to the loss of both biodiversity and a critical source of protein for these communities.
- The authors suggest that allowing the hunting of only certain species, strengthening parks and reserves, and helping communities find alternative livelihoods and sources of food could help address the problem, though they acknowledge the difficult nature of these solutions.

The health of penguin chicks points scientists to changes in the ocean
- A recent closure of commercial fishing around South Africa’s Robben Island gave scientists the chance to understand how fluctuations in prey fish populations affect endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) absent pressure from humans.
- The researchers found that the more fish were available, the better the condition of the penguin chicks that rely on their parents for food.
- This link between prey abundance in the sea and the condition of penguin chicks on land could serve as an indicator of changes in the ecosystem.

Interest in protecting environment up since Pope’s 2015 encyclical
- New research into the usage of environmentally related search terms on Google suggests that interest in the environment has risen since Pope Francis released Laudato Si’ in 2015.
- Laudato Si’, a papal encyclical, argues that it is a moral imperative for humans to look after the environment.
- Researchers and scholars believe that the pope’s support for protecting the environment could ripple well beyond the 16 percent of the world’s population that is Catholic.

’Unprecedented’ loss of biodiversity threatens humanity, report finds
- The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released a summary of far-reaching research on the threats to biodiversity on May 6.
- The findings are dire, indicating that around 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.
- The full 1,500-page report, to be released later this year, raises concerns about the impacts of collapsing biodiversity on human well-being.

Community buy-in stamps out elephant poaching in Zambian park
- No elephants were poached in Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park in 2018, and the surrounding area had a 50 percent decrease in poached carcasses found.
- The North Luangwa Conservation Programme, a partnership between the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the country’s Department of Parks and Wildlife, has been around since the late 1980s and has focused its efforts on community involvement in stopping poachers from going after elephants, rhinos and other wildlife in the park.
- Staff of the program say the participation of the communities living near the park’s borders is critical to protecting the elephants of North Luangwa.
- The broader Luangwa ecosystem is home to more than 63 percent of Zambia’s elephants.

Scientists urge overhaul of the world’s parks to protect biodiversity
- A team of scientists argues that we should evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas based on the outcomes for biodiversity, not simple the area of land or ocean they protect.
- In a paper published April 11 in the journal Science, they outline the weaknesses of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, which set goals of protecting 17 percent of the earth’s surface and 10 percent of its oceans by 2020.
- They propose monitoring the outcomes of protected areas that measure changes in biodiversity in comparison to agreed-upon “reference” levels and then using those figures to determine how well they are performing.

Planning without action will see the Javan rhino go extinct (commentary)
- Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia’s Java island is the last remaining habitat on Earth for the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros.
- The rhino population is holding steady, but its survival is threatened by natural disasters and a genetic bottleneck due to its small population.
- Conservation efforts, particularly finding a second home for these creatures in a lower-risk area, have long been planned, and now is the time to implement all of them to protect the rhinos from extinction.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

To stop extinctions, start with these 169 islands, new study finds
- New research shows that culling invasive, non-native animals on just 169 islands around the world over roughly the next decade could help save almost 10 percent of island-dwelling animals at risk of extinction.
- A team of scientists surveyed nearly 1,300 islands where 1,184 threatened native animals have collided with 184 invasive mammals.
- Their analyses gave them a list of 107 islands where conservationists could start eradication projects by 2020, potentially keeping 80 threatened species from sliding closer to extinction.

Malaysian state chief: Highway construction must not destroy forest
- The chief minister of Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, said that the Pan Borneo Highway project should expand existing roads where possible to minimize environmental impact.
- A coalition of local NGOs and scientific organizations applauded the announcement, saying that it could usher in a new era of collaboration between the government and civil society to look out for Sabah’s people and forests.
- These groups have raised concerns about the impacts on wildlife and communities of the proposed path of the highway, which will cover some 5,300 kilometers (3,300 miles) in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Possible vaquita death accompanies announcement that only 10 are left
- The environmental organization Sea Shepherd said it found a dead vaquita in a gillnet on March 12.
- One day later, scientists from the group CIRVA announced that around 10 — as many as 22 or as few as six — vaquitas survive in the Gulf of California.
- Despite a ban on gillnets used catch totoaba, a fish prized for its swim bladders used in traditional Chinese medicine, vaquita numbers have continued to decline.

New maps show where humans are pushing species closer to extinction
- A new study maps out how disruptive human changes to the environment affect the individual ranges of more than 5,400 mammal, bird and amphibian species around the world.
- Almost a quarter of the species are threatened by human impacts in more than 90 percent of their range, and at least one human impact occurred in an average of 38 percent of the range of a given species.
- The study also identified “cool” spots, where concentrations of species aren’t negatively impacted by humans.
- The researchers say these “refugia” are good targets for conservation efforts.

Proximity to towns stretches giraffe home ranges
- A recent study found that female giraffes that live close to towns have larger home ranges than those living further afield.
- The study’s authors believe that large human settlements reduce giraffes’ access to food and water.
- The team cites the importance of understanding the size of the area that giraffe populations need to survive to address the precipitous decline in the animal’s numbers across Africa in the past 30 years.

Deadly tsunami leaves Javan rhinos untouched, but peril persists
- A tsunami that killed more than 400 people in Indonesia has left the last remaining population of Javan rhinos unscathed.
- The species’ last habitat, Ujung Kulon National Park, was hit by the Dec. 22 tsunami caused by an eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano, but the rhinos were not in harm’s way, officials have confirmed.
- The disaster has once again highlighted the constant peril that the species lives under, and strengthened calls to establish a new habitat elsewhere to ensure the survival of the rhino.

Face-to-face with what may be the last of the world’s smallest rhino, the Bornean rhinoceros (insider)
- Jeremy Hance writes about his experience of meeting Tam, one of the last surviving Bornean rhinos, in Malaysia.
- “Nothing can really prepare a person for coming face-to-face with what may be the last of a species,” he writes.
- This is an insider story. To read, please become a member.

Sending a message about rhino conservation in Nepal
- Since 2011, Nepal has recorded five 365-day periods without any rhinos poached, despite its proximity to the key rhino-horn markets of Vietnam and China.
- Experts say strategic communications have been an important tool in this conservation success.
- The communications strategies used involve not just getting out the word about conservation successes through new and old media, but also seeking ideas and feedback from local communities.

Signoff on rhino sperm transfer between Indonesia, Malaysia expected mid-May: Official
- Indonesia has sent a memorandum of understanding to the Malaysian government regarding the transfer of sperm for use in a captive-breeding attempt, an official confirmed to Mongabay on April 26.
- Hoping the sperm can be used to fertilize Malaysia’s last remaining female Sumatran rhino, conservationists have been awaiting permission for the transfer for years.
- Herry Subagiadi, secretary to the conservation director at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, says he expects Malaysia to sign the agreement in mid-May.
- Sumatran rhinos are critically endangered, with just nine living in captivity in Indonesia and Malaysia, and as few as 30 surviving in the wild.

Kaziranga’s rhino census finds the population is growing, but more slowly than expected
- Kaziranga National Park in India’s Assam state is home to the majority of the world’s greater one-horned rhinos.
- A census completed in March counted 2,413 rhinos, an increase of 12 individuals since 2015.
- Officials believe rhinos were undercounted, likely due to poor visibility. Other observers suggest changes should be made to survey methodology.
- If the numbers are accurate, it could suggest the park has reached its carrying capacity. However, a large number of young rhinos were counted, indicating that the population remains healthy and breeding.

Save the Sumatran rhino ‘because we can’ (commentary)
- Mongabay sent contributing editor Jeremy Hance to Indonesia in 2017 to visit the last remaining Sumatran rhinos in the forests and protected sanctuaries where captive breeding is having some limited success.
- Hance argues today in an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald that we should save the Sumatran rhino, not only because losing biodiversity is bad for the health of humanity’s environment, but also “because we can.”
- To keep these ‘lovably weird’ rhinos from extinction, the Indonesian government must act, he argues, because even if there’s 100 left, that size population is unlikely to be viable in the long term.

Bornean bearded pigs seen adapting to oil palm habitats, study finds
- Bornean bearded pigs appear to thrive in oil palm plantations, but remain heavily dependent on nearby forests as their primary habitat, a recent study indicates.
- The findings are crucial because of the species’ key role as an “ecosystem engineer,” controlling the spread of tree species and turning over the soil with their rooting behavior.
- The researchers have called on the Malaysian government to better protect these forests in a bid to ensure a sustainable population of bearded pigs in mixed forest-oil palm areas.

Javan rhino population holds steady amid ever-present peril
- The latest survey from the Indonesian government shows the population of the Javan rhino, one of the world’s most endangered large mammals, holding steady in its last remaining habitat.
- While the findings indicate a healthy and breeding rhino population, wildlife experts warn of the dangers looming over the animal’s existence, including human encroachment into its habitat and the ever-present threat of a volcanic eruption and tsunami.
- The Javan rhino is one of the last three Asian rhino species — alongside the Sumatran and Indian rhinos — all of which have been pushed to the brink of extinction.

Indonesia to kick off 10-year plan to save critically endangered helmeted hornbill
- The Indonesian government is currently drafting a 10-year master plan to protect the endangered helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), set to be launched in 2018.
- The program will comprise five action plans: research and monitoring; policies and law enforcement; partnerships; raising public awareness; and funding.
- The helmeted hornbill has been driven to the brink of extinction by poaching for its distinctive scarlet casqued beak, which is pound-for-pound three times as valuable as elephant ivory.

In search of the fireface: The precarious, scandalous lives of the slow lorises of Java
- Cute and fuzzy but also vicious and venomous, Javan slow lorises have been driven to the brink of extinction by habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade.
- The Little Fireface Project in West Java is the first long-term research project focusing on the critically endangered primate.
- In addition to making strides toward understanding how to care for and reintroduce lorises to the wild, the project has revealed new details about the species’ complex, and often reality-show-worthy social behavior.

Experience or evidence: How do big conservation NGOs make decisions?
- Scientists have been urging conservation NGOs to make decisions based on scientific evidence.
- However, the big conservation NGOs run into many problems in trying to use the available science. Doing impact evaluations of their own projects is also hard and expensive, sources from the big conservation NGOs say.
- For their work to be effective, the conservation community needs to develop a common understanding of what credible evidence means, how to best use different strands of evidence, and how organizations can evaluate their work and create evidence that others can use, experts across the conservation spectrum seem to agree.
- This story is part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness.”

A tranquilizer shortage is holding back rhino management plans in India
- Conservationists rely on a semi-synthetic opioid called Etorphine HCl to tranquilize rhinos for veterinary care, translocation and other critical interventions.
- Due to export regulations in South Africa, and red tape at home, Indian states face a critical shortage of the drug.
- The lack of Etorphine is already holding up translocation plans in several protected areas, and preventing veterinarians from caring for injured animals.

Video: Thousands of illegally caught African gray parrots being rehabilitated
- The Wildlife Conservation Society has released a video showing seized African gray parrots being treated at a rescue facility built specially for the rehabilitation of these birds.
- The birds were collected from the wild in the Republic of the Congo, and were most likely being smuggled to markets in Europe and the Middle East.
- So far, the WCS team has rehabilitated and released almost 900 parrots back into the wild.

The fate of the Sumatran rhino is in the Indonesian government’s hands
- As the Sumatran rhino edges closer to extinction, aggressive interventions have stalled. Even ongoing efforts like ranger protection have been undercut by lack of government support.
- As of May, conservation groups are united in their calls to ramp up captive-breeding efforts in Indonesia, but the government has not yet responded.
- Frustrated conservationists cite bureaucracy, risk aversion, opaque and arbitrary decisions, and territorial squabbling as barriers to progress — but remain hopeful the government will act in time.

Is anyone going to save the Sumatran rhino?
- As the Sumatran rhino’s population dwindled, conservationists were locked in a debate about whether resources should be directed toward captive breeding or protecting wild populations.
- With captive breeding efforts showing success, and wild populations becoming non-viable, the pendulum has swung in favor of captive breeding.
- Experts agree that action is needed now more than ever, but any steps rely on support from the Indonesian government.

Where, oh where, are the rhinos of Bukit Barisan Selatan?
- Some claim a small but viable population of about a dozen rhinos persists deep within the forests of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park on Sumatra’s southwestern coast.
- Camera traps haven’t captured a single rhino there since 2014, spurring doubts there are any rhinos remaining at all.
- The disputed numbers lead to questions about what should happen to any rhinos that might remain in the park — and to the rangers assigned to protect them.

Worst-case scenario: There could be only 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left
- In 1986, scientists estimated there could be as many as 800 Sumatran rhinos left. That fell to 400 in 1996, then 275 in 2008.
- Today the official estimate is 100 rhinos, but almost all experts believe that figure is overly optimistic.
- Adding up the minimum estimate for each of the four known wild populations yields a total of just 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left on earth, plus another nine in captivity.

When a rhino calls in the forest, this guy hears it: Q&A with a Javan rhino researcher
- Javan rhinos are so cryptic and elusive that they are difficult to study, despite the entire species being confined to a single site.
- Camera traps are giving researchers new insights into the species’ behaviors and environmental needs.
- Steve Wilson, a doctoral student working on a dissertation about Javan rhinos, explains some of these new findings — and how novel research methods might help guide conservation strategies.

Footprints in the forest: The future of the Sumatran rhino
- Fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) remain in the wild, a number many biologists say is too low to ensure the survival of the species.
- Several organizations have begun to build momentum toward a single program that pools resources and know-how in Malaysia and Indonesia, the last places in Southeast Asia where captive and wild rhinos still live.
- Advocates for intensive efforts to breed animals in captivity fear that an emphasis on the protection of the remaining wild animals may divert attention and funding away from such projects.
- They worry that if they don’t act now, the Sumatran rhino may pass a point of no return from which it cannot recover.

Bringing rhinos back to India’s parks
- Launched in 2005, the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 aimed to boost the population of rhinos in Assam State and expand the species’ range within the state from three protected areas to seven.
- Manas National Park was the first to receive translocated rhinos. The animals appeared to adapt well to their new home, but poachers repeatedly struck the park.
- The program then turned to Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary, but the rhinos moved there grew sick and died.
- Conservationists still believe the overarching goal of boosting the state’s rhino population to 3,000 by 2020 is achievable.

African Parks gets $65M for conservation in Rwanda and Malawi
- African Parks will receive $65 million from the Wyss Foundation to bolster conservation efforts in Rwanda, Malawi, and beyond.
- The funds will go toward African Parks’ management of Liwonde National Park, Majete Wildlife Reserve and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in Malawi; Akagera National Park in Rwanda; and five still-to-be-identified protected areas in other countries.
- African Parks privately manages protected areas, effectively taking over operations traditionally managed by governments.

Revisiting Java’s little Africa: Indonesia’s safari potential
- Baluran National Park is a reserve in eastern Java, Indonesia.
- Baluran may be the closest one can get to the equivalent of India’s or eastern and southern Africa’s experience of open savannas teeming with wildlife in Indonesia.
- This post is a commentary — the views expressed are those of the author.

India’s Manas National Park illustrates the human dimension of rhino conservation
- Manas National Park, one of India’s rhino conservation areas, is at the heart of a proposed homeland for the Bodos, an indigenous ethnic group.
- From the 1980s until 2003, the park was engulfed by armed conflict, and its rhino population was wiped out. During this period, the Bodos were frequently portrayed as hostile to conservation efforts.
- A 2003 peace accord paved the way for the establishment of autonomous local governance, and the restoration of rhinos to the park. Former guerrillas now serve as anti-poaching patrols.
- With the Bodos in power, a new group has been cast as ecological villains: Bengali Muslims living in the fringes of the park.

Primates face impending extinction – what’s next?
- Nonhuman primates are on the decline almost everywhere.
- The third most diverse Order of mammals, primates are under the highest level of threat of any larger group of mammals, and among the highest of any group of vertebrates
- 63% of primates are threatened, meaning that they fall into one of the three IUCN categories of threat—Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable.
- This post is a commentary – the views expressed are those of the authors.

Nepal’s extraordinary devotion to preserving its rhinos
- Despite its proximity to China, the epicenter of demand for wildlife products, only one of Nepal’s rhinos has been killed by poachers since 2014.
- Observers credit this success to broad-based support for conservation, including at the highest levels of Nepal’s government and military.
- Other species also benefit from this commitment to conservation, including elephants and tigers.

Reports that wild Sumatran rhinos may survive in Malaysia prompt hope, skepticism
- Sumatran rhinos were declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015. No more than 100 are believed to survive anywhere.
- This week, researchers for WWF Malaysia announced that an August expedition found a footprint in the Sabah’s Danum Valley Conservation Area, which they believe could belong to a rhino.
- Other experts say the evidence is too scant to support such a conclusion.

The Javan rhino: protected and threatened by a volcano
- Around sixty Javan rhinos are known to survive, all in Ujung Kulon National Park in western Java.
- The park lies across a narrow strait from Anak Krakatua – literally the “child of Krakatoa” – the successor to the one of the deadliest volcanos in history.
- The park’s rhino population faces numerous threats, and researchers fear a volcanic eruption could push the species even closer to extinction.

Nepal goes high-tech in its fight against rhino poachers
- Since 2011, Nepal has had four 365-day stretches with no rhino poaching and has seen its rhino population increase by 21 percent.
- Experts say Nepal’s success is largely down to unity of purpose from officials, conservation groups and communities, but technology plays a key role too.
- Anti-poaching patrols have experimented with a wide variety of high-tech tools including GPS collars and drones.

Lakes in community hands spur gains for people and fish
- In an 8-year study covering a 500-kilometer stretch of a tributary to the Amazon, a team of scientists from Brazil and England found that the often-overfished arapaima came back in community-managed lakes.
- Protected lakes had populations more than 30 times those where commercial fishing was allowed.
- The team estimates that each protected lake is worth about $10,000 per community in revenue from arapaima stocks annually.

Hype and secrecy in wildlife conservation
- All organizations love media attention, and wildlife conservation groups are no different.
- Media attention often helps conservation practice, but it can also achieve the opposite.
- In their quest to be short and sensational, media often distort conservation messages. Even worse, unintended side effects from media exposure can increase the threats to species.
- This post is a commentary — the views expressed are those of the author.

Warriors and wildlife: an interview with Paul Thomson of Ewaso Lions
- Thomson: We’ve focused on behaviour change – working on perceptions, attitudes, conflict resolution, and education to appeal to all segments of Samburu society.
- We’re trying to harness the mobile connectivity to communicate across a large landscape about lion sightings and conflict incidents and to coordinate our team to respond to those issues.
- I’d like to see basic phone or internet coverage brought into study areas — all sorts of tools can use that grid to communicate and transfer information more effectively.

Taking technology out in the cold: working to conserve snow leopards

A very alert snow leopard. Photo credit: Bernard Landgraf, Wikimedia Commons. Conservation work is important not just in tropical rainforests, but also in snow-covered peaks and steep slopes, the home of snow leopards and a number of unusual ungulates, including blue sheep and Asiatic ibex. When these and other native prey are scarce, snow leopards […]
Ongoing overkill: loss of big herbivores leading to ’empty landscapes’

Megaherbivore collapse particularly acute in Asia and Africa. Hunting may be the single greatest threat to the world’s endangered megaherbivores. Skinned antelope for sale in Guinea, Africa. Photo by: Terry Sunderland for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Ten thousand years from now, human historians—or alien ones—may view the current wave of biodiversity loss and […]
Officials: Sumatran rhino is extinct in the wild in Sabah

Malaysian officials admit the Bornean rhino may only be represented by three surviving captive animals Tam, here at Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Sabah, may be the world’s last male Bornean rhino and one of the last Sumatran rhinos. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. There are no Sumatran rhinos left in the wild in the Malaysian state […]
Then there were five: rhino death moves species closer to extinction

As if news for rhinos couldn’t get any worse: this weekend, Angalifu, died a the San Diego Zoo. Forty four-year-old Angalifu was a male northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) and his death means only five of this subspecies remains on the planet. Angalifu’s death, which keepers suspect was simply from old age, follows soon […]
Is the world moving backwards on protected areas?

50-80% of protected areas underfunded, poorly managed Yellowstone National Park was the world’s first modern protected area. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS. Protected areas are undoubtedly the world’s most important conservation success story, and recent research shows that protected areas are effective—housing more biodiversity and greater abundances of species inside rather than out. […]
Saving Asia’s other endangered cats (photos)

Flat-headed cat and fishing cat require immediate research and conservation attention. It’s no secret that when it comes to the wild cats of Asia—and, really, cats in general—tigers get all the press. In fact, tigers—down to an estimated 3,200 individuals—arguably dominate conservation across Asia. But as magnificent, grand, and endangered as the tigers are, there […]
With death of rhino, only six northern white rhinos left on the planet

Rhino conservation suffered another tragic setback this weekend with the sudden death of Suni, a male northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Suni’s passing means there are only six northern white rhinos left in the world, and only one breeding male. “Consequently the species now stands at the […]
On babies and motherhood: how giant armadillos are surprising scientists (photos)

Uncovering the reproductive mysteries of the little-known giant armadillo. Arguably the most important moment in any animal’s life— whether it be a whale, a human, or a mosquito— is the act of giving birth, of bringing a new member of the species into the world. It’s no wonder that biologists treat reproduction— from conception to […]
Ever heard of the hirola? New survey shows world’s rarest antelope holding steady

An hirola in Tsavo East National Park. Photo by: James Probert. In 2008 and 2009, severe droughts killed numerous elephants, hippos and rhinos in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park. But the tiny population of the Critically Endangered Hunter’s hartebeest or hirola (Beatragus hunteri) survived without any catastrophic consequences, a recent study has found. “Hirola are […]
The quiet zoo revolution

How the world’s best zoos are working to save biodiversity in an age of extinction. Tiger meets human at the Minnesota Zoo. Physical spaces where people can easily encounter and connect with wild species, zoos and aquariums are unique institutions. Yet in an age of environmental crises, are they doing enough to save species from […]
Vazaha is Malagasy for ‘gringo’: Conservation, national identity, and conflicting interest in Madagascar

Ring-talked lemur: the national animal symbol of Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In the fight for conservation Madagascar is without a doubt on the front lines. Not only are most of its forests already destroyed—with a mere 10% of intact forest remaining at best—but there’s still much to lose in what remains. Madagascar is […]
Scientists release odd-looking, Critically Endangered crocodiles back into the wild (PHOTOS)

Among the largest and most endangered crocodilians in the world, the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is on the verge of extinction today. This harmless fish-eating crocodile has fewer than 200 adult breeding individuals in the wild, their numbers having plummeted rapidly over the past few decades due to destruction of their riverine habitats, entanglement in fishing […]
How locals and conservationists saved the elephants of Mali amidst conflict and poverty

Mali elephant family group which consist of females and their offspring. They are headed by a matriarch who has decades of experience and memories to depend on, including where to find water during droughts. Photo by: Carlton Ward Jr. At a time when Africa’s elephants are facing a relentless poaching crisis—to the tune of over […]
Death of young Sumatran rhino shouldn’t discourage captive breeding efforts say conservationists

Just over two weeks ago, conservationists in the Malaysian state of Sabah managed to finally catch a wild Sumatran rhino female after months of failed attempts; the female, named Iman, was quickly helicoptered to a semi-wild rhino reserve in hopes that she may breed with the resident male, Tam. But following such hopeful events, comes […]
Europe approves vet drug that killed off almost all of Asia’s vultures

Critically Endangered Indian vultures (Gyps indicus) hanging out in their nest at Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. Photo by: Yann/Creative Commons 3.0. When Europeans first arrived in North America, they exterminated three to five billion passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) in the short span of a century through a combination of habitat destruction and hunting. In 1914, the […]
Over 9,000 primates killed for single bushmeat market in West Africa every year

Over the past 25 years, West Africa’s primates have been put at risk due to an escalating bushmeat trade compounded with forest loss from expanding human populations. In fact, many endemic primates in the Upper Guinea forests of Liberia and Ivory Coast have been pushed to the verge of extinction. To better understand what’s happening, […]
Meet Iman: the Sumatran rhino’s newest hope for survival

Iman wallowing in the mud. Photo by: John Payne/BORA. Hopes for one of the world’s most imperiled megafauna rose this month when wildlife conservationists succeeded in catching a female Sumatran rhino named Iman in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The female, which experts believe to be fertile, has since been successfully transferred via helicopter to […]
Panda lemur making a comeback

One of the world’s biggest populations of greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus)—sometimes known as the panda lemur—has doubled in just three years, giving conservationists new hope that the species can be kept from extinction. With the recent arrival of twenty babies, a community conservation project run by the Aspinall Foundation has boosted the local population […]
Conservationists catch wild Sumatran rhino, raising hope for world’s most endangered rhinoceros

Conservationists have succeeded in catching a wild Sumatran rhino in the Malaysia state of Sabah in Borneo, according to local media reports. Officials are currently transferring the rhino, an unnamed female, to a rhino sanctuary in Tabin National Park where experts will attempt to mate her with the resident male, Tam. The Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus […]
Obama announces new strategy to tackle wildlife trafficking, including toughening ivory ban

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced an ambitious new strategy to help tackle the global illegal wildlife trade, including a near-complete ban on commercial ivory. The new strategy will not only push over a dozen federal agencies to make fighting wildlife trafficking a new priority, but will also focus on reducing demand for wildlife parts and […]
On edge of extinction, could drones and technology save the Little Dodo?

Little dodo baby found: conservationists boosted by discovery that species is breeding. Detail of new painting highlighting the Manumea or little dodo. Painting by: © Michael Rothman 2013. Almost nothing is known about the little dodo, a large, archaic, pigeon-like bird found only on the islands of Samoa. Worse still, this truly bizarre bird is […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? Integrating forest conservation, use, and restoration

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Robin Chazdon Rainforest near La Selva, Costa Rica. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Dr. Robin Chazdon has dedicated over 30 years to studying and working in tropical forests. Her research interests include biodiversity conservation, regeneration and restoration of tropical forests, and biodiversity in human-modified tropical landscapes. Currently, Chazdon […]
Over 75 percent of large predators declining

The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline […]
Requiem or recovery?: the Sumatran rhino 200 years after its description

Good news: Refuge for last blue-throated macaws doubles in size in Bolivia

The Barba Azul extension protects more than 20 small isolated forest islands (including those shown above) which are preferred nesting and roosting sites for the Blue-throated Macaw. Photo by B. Hennessey, Asociación Armonía. A reserve that is home to the world’s largest population of the critically endangered blue-throated macaw (Ara glaucogularis) has been more than […]
Conservation Hail Mary works: Mate for near-extinct fish found!

Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis Insolitus). (c) ZSL Researchers are celebrating after an urgent global search turned up a female mate for a fish that is on the brink of extinction. In May, aquarists at ZSL London Zoo launched a worldwide appeal to find a female Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis Insolitus), a fish that was feared to be […]
Asia’s ‘unicorn’ photographed in Vietnam

World’s least-known big, land mammal caught on camera trap in Vietnam. In 1992, scientists made a spectacular discovery: a large, land mammal (200 pounds) that had somehow eluded science even as humans visited the moon and split the atom. Its discoverers, with WWF and Vietnam’s Ministry of Forestry, dubbed the species the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis). […]
Kids’ stories and new stoves protect the golden snub-nosed monkey in China

Puppet shows, posters and children’s activities that draw from local traditions are helping to save an endangered monkey in China. The activities, which encourage villagers—children and adults alike—to protect their forests and adopt fuel-efficient cooking stoves, have worked, according to a report published in Conservation Evidence. Local Chinese researchers, supported by the U.S.-based conservation organization […]
Orphaned gorillas successfully reintroduced where apes had been hunted to extinction

The reintroduction of captive gorillas to areas where they have been hunted to extinction appears to working, suggesting a possible new front in efforts to save great apes, finds a new study published in the journal Oryx. The study, conducted by researchers at the Aspinall Foundation, looked at long-running reintroduction projects in Gabon and the […]
Key European species make ‘refreshing’ comebacks

Beaver, bison and eagles are among the species that have made a successful comeback in Europe in the past 50 years, according to a major survey published by a coalition of conservation groups on Thursday. The report selected 37 species that have showed signs of recovery, studied changes in their numbers and range since 1960, […]
Meeting the mammal that survived the dinosaurs

The female Hispaniolan solenodon caught by Nicolas Corona in the Dominican Republic. She’s awaiting being fitted with a radio collar. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. So, here I am, running in a forest at night over 2,000 miles from home. This forest—dry, stout, and thorny enough to draw blood—lies just a few miles north of a […]
Tapirs, drug-trafficking, and eco-police: practicing conservation amidst chaos in Nicaragua

An interview with Christopher Jordan, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series. Baird’s tapir caught on camera trap in Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast. Photo courtesy of: Christopher Jordan. Nicaragua is a nation still suffering from deep poverty, a free-flowing drug trade, and festering war-wounds after decades of internecine fighting. However, like any country […]
Samburu’s lions: how the big cats could make a comeback in Kenya

Shivani Bhalla will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. In 2009 conservationists estimated that less than 2,000 lions survive in Kenya, a drop of 26 percent in just seven years. In addition, the East Africa country continues to hemorrhage lions: around a hundred a year. Poaching, […]
Attempt to export nearly-extinct pygmy sloths sets off international incident in Panama

After this story was published, Dallas World Aquarium (DWA) complained that its side of the story had not been fairly represented, that elements of our reporting contained inaccuracies and made legal threats against Mongabay. As a result of the new input we have added a series of annotations, correcting several points and adding DWA’s views. […]
Lions rising: community conservation making a difference for Africa’s kings in Mozambique

Colleen Begg will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. Everyone knows that tigers, pandas, and blue whales are threatened with extinction—but lions!? Researchers were shocked to recently discover that lion populations have fallen precipitously: down to around 30,000 animals across the African continent. While 30,000 may […]
Loose laws threaten Australia’s wildlife
- Kookaburras, koalas and kangaroos—Australia is well known for its charismatic animals and vast, seemingly untamable, wild spaces.
- But throughout the country, the national parks and reserves that protect these unique animals and ecosystems have come under increasing threat.
- New rules and relaxed regulations, which bolster immediate economic growth, are putting pressure on Australia’s already-threatened biodiversity.

A year after devastating attack, security returns to the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (photos)

John Lukas will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. On June 24th of last year, MaiMai Simba rebels, led by an elephant poacher known as Morgan, launched a devastating attack on the headquarters of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Epulu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The […]
Scientists outline how to save nearly 70 percent of the world’s plant species

In 2010 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pledged to set aside 17 percent of the world’s land as protected areas in addition to protecting 60 percent of the world’s plant species—through the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)—by 2020. Now a new study in Science finds that the world can achieve both ambitious goals […]
World’s biggest owl depends on large old trees

The Blakiston fish owl (Bubo Blakistoni) is the world’s largest – and one of the rarest – owl species, with an impressive 6 foot (2 meter) wingspan. The giant owl, found exclusively in northeast Asia, shares its habitat with a menagerie of endangered and impressive animals, including Amur tigers, Amur leopards, Asiatic black bears and […]
Illegally captured parrots finally free to fly

In 2010, Bulgarian airport authorities confiscated 108 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from a smuggler. Last month, the 28 parrots who survived the stress of being stuffed into dog kennels, constantly handled by humans, and the absence of their native habitat, completed their three-year journey to freedom. The journey began late one afternoon in 2010, […]
Endangered Chinese monkey population recovering

The number of black snub-nosed monkeys in southwestern China has increased by more than 50 percent since the 1990’s due to conservation efforts, reports Chinese state media. Yunnan Golden Monkey. Photo by Long Yongcheng / The Nature Conservancy A survey launched last month in the high elevation forests of China’s Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous […]
Scientists map plan to save lemurs

Primatologists and researchers have devised a wide-ranging plan to protect Madagascar’s most endangered lemurs from extinction. The plan, produced by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, aims to reverse declining population trends among lemurs, 94 percent of which are considered at risk of extinction due to habitat loss and hunting. Strategies outlined in the report including […]
Little NGO takes on goliath task: conserving the vanishing ecosystems of Paraguay

Landlocked in the navel of South America, the forests, wetlands and savannahs of Paraguay boast rich biodiversity and endemic species, yet the unique landscapes of Paraguay also face increasing threats, primarily from agricultural expansion. Controlled burns and clear cutting have become common practice as wildlands are converted for soy and cattle production. In some areas […]
Journey to the Edge of Eden: the struggle to preserve Southwest Florida

Gary Schmelz, in a Journey to the Edge of Eden, takes us through a wonderful personal account of the conservation history of Southwest Florida. Journey to the Edge of Eden is one part personal memoir similar to the English naturalist Gerald Durrell and one part Florida conservation history. With hilarious stories of unintended naturalist misadventures […]
The iguana man: saving the reptilian kings of the Bahamas

Before the arrival of humans—with their dogs, cats, and wild pigs—the northern Bahamian rock iguana ruled its home range, being pound-for-pound among the biggest land animals on the islands. In these ecosystems, the iguana’s were the mega-grazers, the bison and elk of the Caribbean one might say. But hunting by humans, invasive species, and habitat […]
Balkan lynx conservation unifies neighboring countries

They still call the Balkans “the Powder Keg of Europe.” For good reason too: bloody ethnic and religious conflicts in the past decades have left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. As recently as 2001, the army in Macedonia was fighting with ethnic Albanians, many of them from Kosovo. However, in the past seven […]
Conservationists work to give South Georgia back to the birds

A team on South Georgia has successfully completed the world’s largest rodent eradication in an effort to rid the British territory of millions of rats and mice. Against the backdrop of an approaching Antarctic winter between February and May, three helicopters encountered perilous flying conditions while peppering the southern Atlantic island with 183 tonnes of […]
Scientists: lions need funding not fences

Fences are not the answer to the decline in Africa’s lions, according to a new paper in Ecology Letters. The new research directly counters an earlier controversial study that argued keeping lions fenced-in would be cheaper and more effective in saving the big cats. African lion (Panthera leo) populations across the continent have fallen dramatically: […]
Forgotten species: the arapaima or ‘dinosaur fish’

Everyone knows the tiger, the panda, the blue whale, but what about the other five to thirty million species estimated to inhabit our Earth? Many of these marvelous, stunning, and rare species have received little attention from the media, conservation groups, and the public. This series is an attempt to give these ‘forgotten species‘ some […]
The Egyptian Vulture on the Balkans – a hopeful but perilous conservation story

“They look like humans: have bare skin, wrinkles, hairdos… Maybe that’s why many people don’t like them,” says Dr. Stoyan Nikolov from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds about Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus). Poisoned, electrocuted, shot, these rare and magnificent birds are the fastest disappearing raptors in Europe. The globally endangered species has […]
The neglected giraffe: world’s tallest animal in need of conservation assistance

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed.
Should zoos educate the public about climate change?

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Captive polar bear. Given the rising threat of climate […]
Syrian bald ibis may be down to a single bird

The eastern population of northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) has likely fallen to a single breeding bird, reports conservationists monitoring the dwindling flock. The population had believed to be obliterated starting from 1989 until a small group was discovered in 2002 in Syria. However, it now appears that this last group is vanishing one-by-one despite […]
Conserving the long-neglected freshwater fish of Borneo

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. The Kinabatangan River in the Malaysian state of Sabah, […]
Tibetan monks partner with conservationists to protect the snow leopard

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Snow leopard. Photo by: Steve Winter/National Geographic. Tibetan monks […]
Giant hot pink slug in Australia becomes conservation symbol (photo)

Hot pink slugs that emerge after rainy nights have become a conservation symbol for alpine forests on Australia’s Mount Kaputar, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. The slugs, which measure up to 20 centimeters (8 inches), are only found on Mount Kaputar, a volcano that last erupted 17 million years ago. They spend most of their […]
Saving the Tenkile: an expedition to protect one of the most endangered animals you’ve never heard of

The tenkile, or the Scott’s tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus scottae) could be a cross between a koala bear and a puppy. With it’s fuzzy dark fur, long tail and snout, and tiny ears, it’s difficult to imagine a more adorable animal. It’s also difficult to imagine that the tenkile is one of the most endangered species […]
Loris champion: conserving the world’s most surprising primate family

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Close-up of Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus), listed as […]
Monitor lizards vanishing to international trade in pets and skins

Illegally traded lizards (left to right): black tree monitor (Varanus beccarii), Reisinger’s tree monitor (Varanus reisingeri), emerald monitor (Varanus prasinus), and the blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macraei). Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons. The world’s monitor lizards remind us that the world was once ruled by reptiles: this genus (Varanus) includes the world’s biggest lizards, such […]
Vanishing species makes astounding comeback under combined action of local government and conservationists

The reemergence of the endangered Huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) marks a momentous achievement by local governments and conservationists worldwide. From the brink of extinction—with populations decimated to one percent of what they previously were—the Huemul populations have not only stabilized but are steadily increasing, according to a new study in Oryx. A naturally docile and […]
Saving Gorongosa: E.O. Wilson on protecting a biodiversity hotspot in Mozambique

If you fly over the Great African Rift Valley from its northernmost point in Ethiopia, over the great national parks of Kenya and Tanzania, and follow it south to the very end, you will arrive at Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique. Plateaus on the eastern and western sides of the park flank the lush […]
Kenya getting tough on poachers, set to increase fines and jail time

The Kenyan parliament has approved emergency measures to tackle the on-going poaching crisis: last week Kenyan MPs approved legislation that should lead to higher penalties for paochers. The emergency measure passed just as Kenya Wildlife Service’s (KWS) is pursuing a gang of poachers that slaughtered four rhinos over the weekend. Both rhinos and elephants have […]
Snowy tigers and giant owls: conservation against the odds in Russia’s Far East

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th – July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. An Amur tiger in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, […]
Rhinos moved from South Africa to Botswana for safekeeping

A private safari company has moved six white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) from their home in South Africa to Botswana in a bid to save them from an out-of-control poaching crisis in their native land. Currently, around two rhinos are killed everyday in South Africa for their horns, which are then smuggled to East Asia. This […]
New global network bridges gap for primate conservation educators
- Drawing from her personal experience as a primate educator and the challenges she saw others facing, Amy Clanin envisioned a network that would advance the field of primate conservation education by addressing three needs of educators: connections, resources, and services.
- It was this vision that led her to create the Primate Education Network (PEN).
- PEN is at the forefront of primate conservation education, providing a community and collaboration platform for primate educators.

Scientists capture one of the world’s rarest big cats on film (photos)

Less than a hundred kilometers from the bustling metropolis of Jakarta, scientists have captured incredible photos of one of the world’s most endangered big cats: the Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas). Taken by a research project in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, the photos show the magnificent animal relaxing in dense primary rainforest. Scientists believe that […]
Rhino populations in Sumatra, Borneo should be combined to save Sumatran rhino from extinction

A new study argues for treating endangered Sumatran populations in Borneo and Sumatra as “a single conservation unit”, lending academic support to a controversial proposal to move wild rhinos from Malaysia to Indonesia. The paper, authored by an international team of rhino experts and published in the journal Oryx, says that genetic differences between the […]
Why responsible tourism is the key to saving the mountain gorilla

The sunlight poured through the canopy, casting dappled shade over Makara, a large silverback mountain gorilla, as he cast his eyes around the forest clearing, checking on the members of his harem. A female gorilla reclined on a bank of dense vegetation of the most brilliant green, clutching her three day old infant close to […]
The Hawaiian silversword: another warning on climate change

The Hawaiian silversword (Argyroxyphium sandwicense), a beautiful, spiny plant from the volcanic Hawaiian highlands may not survive the ravages of climate change, according to a new study in Global Change Biology. An unmistakable plant, the silversword has long, sword-shaped leaves covered in silver hair and beautiful flowering stalks that may tower to a height of […]
Endangered primates and cats may be hiding out in swamps and mangrove forests

What happens to animals when their forest is cut down? If they can, they migrate to different forests. But in an age when forests are falling far and fast, many species may have to shift to entirely different environments. A new paper in Folia Primatologica theorizes that some 60 primate species and 20 wild cat […]
Drill baby drill! The fate of African biodiversity and the monkey you’ve never heard of

Equatorial Guinea is not a country that stands very large in the American consciousness. In fact most Americans think you mean Papua New Guinea when you mention it or are simply baffled. When I left for Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, I also knew almost nothing about the island, the nation, or the Bioko drills […]
Malaysia may loan Indonesia rhinos to save species from extinction

Conservationists and officials meeting last month at a rhino crisis summit in Singapore agreed to a radical plan to loan Sumatran rhinos between nations if it means saving the critically endangered species from extinction. The proposal, which could still be thwarted by red tape and political opposition, could lead Malaysia to send some of its […]
Conservation without supervision: Peruvian community group creates and patrols its own protected area

“Rural dwellers are not passive respondents to external conservation agents but are active proponents and executers of their own conservation initiatives.”—Noga Shanee, Projects Director for Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC), in an interview with mongabay.com. When we think of conservation areas, many of us think of iconic National Parks overseen by uniformed government employees or wilderness […]
Working to save the mystery antelope that’s little bigger than a pet cat (photos)

Little is known about the silver dik-dik (Madoqua piacentinii) population that roams the dense coastal bushlands of eastern Africa, but experts are working to learn more about the mysterious species. Weighing little more than a domestic cat, the small antelopes are found in a long, narrow coastal strip spreading across 250 kilometers (155 miles) from […]
The river of plenty: uncovering the secrets of the amazing Mekong

Home to giant catfish and stingrays, feeding over 60 million people, and with the largest abundance of freshwater fish in the world, the Mekong River, and its numerous tributaries, brings food, culture, and life to much of Southeast Asia. Despite this, little is known about the biodiversity and ecosystems of the Mekong, which is second […]
Malaysia may be home to more Asian tapirs than previously thought (photos)

You can’t mistake an Asian tapir for anything else: for one thing, it’s the only tapir on the continent; for another, it’s distinct black-and-white blocky markings distinguishes it from any other tapir (or large mammal) on Earth. But still little is known about the Asian tapir (Tapirus indicus), including the number surviving. However, researchers in […]
How many animals do we need to keep extinction at bay?

How many animal individuals are needed to ensure a species isn’t doomed to extinction even with our best conservation efforts? While no one knows exactly, scientists have created complex models to attempt an answer. They call this important threshold the “minimum viable population” and have spilled plenty of ink trying to decipher estimates, many of […]
Breaking the mold: Divya Karnad takes on fisheries and science journalism in India

Fishing is not a woman’s domain in most countries across the globe. In parts of India there are fishing communities who believe that having a woman onboard a fishing boat brings bad luck. Despite this, Divya Karnad, a scientist who studies marine life in India, has spent several years studying fisheries and their impact on […]
South African reserve poisons rhinos’ horns to deter poaching

A game reserve in South Africa has taken the radical step of poisoning rhino horns so that people risk becoming “seriously ill” if they consume them. Sabi Sand said it had injected a mix of parasiticides and indelible pink dye into more than 100 rhinos’ horns over the past 18 months to combat international poaching […]
Saviors or villains: controversy erupts as New Zealand plans to drop poison over Critically Endangered frog habitat

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) is facing a backlash over plans to aerially drop a controversial poison, known as 1080, over the habitat of two endangered, prehistoric, and truly bizarre frog species, Archey’s and Hochsetter’s frogs, on Mount Moehau. Used in New Zealand to kill populations of invasive mammals, such as rats and the […]
Beautiful striped bat is the “find of a lifetime” (photos)

Scientists have uncovered a rare, brilliantly-striped bat in South Sudan that has yielded new secrets after close study. Working in Bangangai Game Reserve during July of last year, biologist DeeAnn Redeer and conservationist Adrian Garsdie with Fauna & Flora International (FFI) came across an unmissable bat, which has been dubbed by various media outlets as […]
Amur leopard population rises to 50 animals, but at risk from tigers, poachers

In the remote Russian far east, amid pine forests and long winters, a great cat may be beginning to make a recovery. A new survey estimates that the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) population has risen to as many as 50 individuals. While this may not sound like much, it’s a far cry from a […]
WWF: careful planning went into announcement on rhino rediscovery in Indonesian Borneo

This is WWF-Indonesia’s response to an op-ed, Has WWF just condemned the last rhino in Kalimantan?, published on Mongabay.com last week by Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist based in Indonesia. WWF-Indonesia had considered the impact of the publication of finding traces of Sumatran rhinos in Kalimantan. In the two-month period before it was published, WWF-Indonesia […]
Sumatran rhino population plunges, down to 100 animals

Less than 100 Sumatran rhinos survive in the world today, according to a bleak new population estimate by experts. The last survey in 2008 estimated that around 250 Sumatran rhinos survived, but that estimate now appears optimistic and has been slashed by 60 percent. However conservationists are responding with a major new agreement between the […]
Sumatran rhino found in Kalimantan after unseen in region for 20 years

Conservationists working to save the Sumatran rhino—one of the world’s most imperiled mammals—heard good news this week as WWF-Indonesia has found evidence of at least one Sumatran rhino persisting in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan, located on the island of Borneo. Small populations of Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) survive on Sumatra and on Borneo (in […]
Proposed coal plant threatens Critically Endangered Philippine cockatoo

One kilometer off the Philippine island of Palawan lies the Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary; here forest grows unimpeded from a coral island surrounded by mangroves and coral reefs. Although tiny, over a hundred bird species have been recorded on the island along with a major population of large flying foxes, while in the waters below […]
Is it the end for Britain’s hedgehogs?

England’s dropping hog population begins to look dire. European hedgehog. Photo by: Gaudete. As hedgehogs all over the United Kingdom wake up from their winter hibernation, activists will be carefully counting their hogs. Every year, the hedgehog population in Britain’s rural towns declines by an estimated 5 percent. But between 2011 and 2012, a survey […]
Forging zoos into global conservation centers, an interview with Cristian Samper, head of WCS

For the Wildlife Conservation Society’s new CEO, scientific principles and working partnerships are key to conservation. A Man of Science: Dr Cristian Samper, CEO of the WCS. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is one of the world’s leading environmental organizations. Founded in 1895 (originally as the New York Zoological Society), the WCS manages 200 million […]
Invasive plants hurt locals in Mauritius

Black River Gorges National Park, Mauritius. Native species on the island of Mauritius have long had to deal with invasive species. In fact, invasives likely played a major role in the extinction of the Mauritius’ most famous resident, the dodo. While scientists have long cataloged the impact of invasive animals on island wildlife, there has […]
Forgotten lions: shedding light on the fate of lions in unprotected areas

Male lion in Zambia. Photo by: Stuart Pimm. African lions (Panthera leo) living outside of protected areas like national parks or reserves also happen to be studied much less than those residing within protected areas, to the detriment of lion conservation initiatives. In response to this trend, a group of researchers surveyed an understudied, unprotected […]
Scientists successfully reintroduce gaur in Indian park

Gaur bull in Nagarahole National Park, India. Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) is one of the large wild ungulates of Asian jungles. It is the tallest living ox, and one of the four heaviest land mammals (elephant, rhino and wild buffalo are the other three), weighing up to 940 kilograms (2,070 pounds) and standing between 1.6 […]
Innovative idea: wildlife income may help people withstand drought in Africa

Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. Getting local people to become invested in wildlife conservation is not always easy, especially in parts of the world where protected areas are seen as taking away natural resources from local communities. This tension lies around Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, where a growing population of livestock herders competes with […]
The Role of Science for Conservation – book review

The Role of Science for Conservation, edited by Matthias Wolff and Mark Gardner, celebrates Charles Darwin’s Bicentennial and 50 years of research by the Charles Darwin Foundation in The Galápagos, Ecuador. Using The Galápagos as a case study, The Role of Science for Conservation communicates to a wide audience about themes from a broad range […]
Crocodilian competition may hinder conservation efforts in Amazon

Black caiman. Photo by: Eric Maxwell. In the slow-moving freshwater of the Amazon River basin, a dark, scaly crocodilian known as the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) is attempting a comeback from near extinction, but another crocodilian may threaten the recovery process, according to a new study in the journal Herpetologica. The black caiman is the […]
Captive frogs may be spreading diseases to wild cousins across Southeast Asia

Lethal chytrid fungus discovered in Singapore. The bullfrog is believed to be spreading chytrid fungus to wild frogs in Southeast Asia. Photo courtesy of WCS. Scientists have documented a series of links between exotic frogs for trade and diseases in wild frogs in Southeast Asia, including the first documented case of the chytrid fungus—a virulent […]
The end of wild Africa?: lions may need fences to survive

Lions hang out by a fence in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa. Photo by: Luke Hunter. In order for dwindling lion populations to survive in Africa, large-scale fencing projects may be required according to new research in Ecology Letters. Recent estimates have put lion populations down to 15,000-35,000, a massive drop from a population that […]
Extinction warning: racing to save the little dodo from its cousin’s fate

Illustration of the little dodo likely based on stuffed specimens. By: John Gould. Sometime in the late 1600s the world’s last dodo perished on the island of Mauritius. No one knows how it spent its final moments—rather in the grip of some invasive predator or simply fading away from loneliness—but with its passing came an […]
Bolivia leads the way in wetland protection

A family of capybaras (the world’s largest rodent) in Bolivian wetlands. Photo by: Anouchka Unel. Bolivia continues to be a champion for Amazonian conservation. On February 2, 2013, Bolivia celebrated World Wetlands Day with the designation of more than 6.9 million hectares of the Llanos de Moxos to the Ramsar Convention’s Wetlands of International Importance. […]
Leatherback sea turtles suffer 78 percent decline at critical nesting sites in Pacific

Leatherback sea turtle laying eggs on the coast of Suriname. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. The world’s largest sea turtle, the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), is vanishing from its most important nesting sites in the western Pacific, according to a new study in Ecosphere. Scientists found that leatherback turtle nests have dropped by 78 percent in less […]
Asiatic cheetahs: on the road to extinction?

New road projects imperils Critically Endangered cheetah subspecies Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are unique among large cats. They have a highly specialized body, a mild temperament, and are the fastest living animals on land. Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, the Asiatic subspecies, is unique among cheetahs and the only member of five currently living subspecies to occur outside […]
Scientists document baby giant armadillo for first time (photos)

Mother giant armadillo with baby in Baia des Pedras. Photo by: The Pantanal Giant Armadillo Project. Despite weighing as much as full-grown human, almost nothing is known about the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) including its breeding and reproductive behaviors. How does mating occur? How long does pregnancy last? How many babes are typically born? Scientists […]
Jaguars, tapirs, oh my!: Amazon explorer films shocking wildlife bonanza in threatened forest

Watching a new video by Amazon explorer, Paul Rosolie, one feels transported into a hidden world of stalking jaguars, heavyweight tapirs, and daylight-wandering giant armadillos. This is the Amazon as one imagines it as a child: still full of wild things. In just four weeks at a single colpa (or clay lick where mammals and […]
World’s biggest camera trapping program hits 1 million photos of tropical animals (photos)

This jaguar (Panthera onca) from TEAM’s Cocha Cashu site in Manu National Park, Peru stayed in front of the camera for over 90 photographs, and became the 1,000,000 photograph taken by the TEAM Network. Photo courtesy of the TEAM Network. The world’s largest study of wildlife using remote camera traps has captured one million photographs. […]
Chasing down ‘quest species’: new book travels the world in search of rarity in nature

A poster-child for rare species: the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) captured on camera trap in its last stand: Ujung Kulon National Park Java, Indonesia. Photo by: © Mike Griffiths / WWF-Canon. In his new book, The Kingdom of Rarities, Eric Dinerstein chases after rare animals around the world, from the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) in […]
Tigers gobble up 49 percent of India’s wildlife conservation funds, more imperiled species get nothing

Bengal tiger in Rantgambhore National Park. Photo by: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. Nearly half of India’s wildlife budget goes to one species: the tiger, reports a recent article in Live Mint. India has devoted around $63 million to wildlife conservation for 2013-2013, of which Project Tiger receives $31 million. The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is […]
Pity the pangolin: little-known mammal most common victim of the wildlife trade

World Pangolin Day is celebrated this weekend: Saturday, February 16th, 2013 Last year tens-of-thousands of elephants and hundreds of rhinos were butchered to feed the growing appetite of the illegal wildlife trade. This black market, largely centered in East Asia, also devoured tigers, sharks, leopards, turtles, snakes, and hundreds of other animals. Estimated at $19 […]
Catching Borneo’s mysterious wild cats on film

Marbled cat. Photo courtesy of: Jyrki Hokkanen. In my childhood’s biology books from the 50’s, the Australian marsupial tiger Thylacine is classified rare but alive. Today we know that the last thylacine died in a Tasmanian zoo 7th September, 1936, after a century of intensive hunting encouraged by bounties. The local government had finally introduced […]
Over 11,000 elephants killed by poachers in a single park [warning: graphic photo]

A butchered forest elephant head in Minkebe National Park. Photo by: Mike Fay. Surveys in Gabon’s Minkebe National Park have revealed rare and hard data on the scale of the illegal ivory trade over the last eight years: 11,100 forest elephants have been slaughtered for their tusks in this remote protected area since 2004. In […]
14 Bornean elephants found dead, likely poisoned

Three-month-old Bornean elephant calf next to dead mother. Officials suspect this elephant, and so far 13 others, were poisoned. Photo by: Sabah Wildlife Department. Wildlife officials in the Malaysian state of Sabah have found the bodies of 14 Bornean elephants in Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, and suspect that more may be found dead. While tests […]
Claim of human and tiger ‘coexistence’ lacks perspective

The tiger is a globally endangered top predator occupying only 7% of its historic range and only 3000-3500 individuals are believed to be left in wild. Picture © Kalyan Varma. Nepal’s Chitwan National Park was the site of a study, published in September 2012 by Carter and others, which concluded that, tigers coexist with humans […]
Cute koalas have become ‘urban refugees’

The 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WFCC.org) runs from January 30 – February 2, 2013. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with filmmakers and presenters. For more interviews, please see our WCFF feed. Jimmy, an orphan whose mother was rundown by a car, is the star of […]
Living beside a tiger reserve: scientists study compensation for human-wildlife conflict in India

Bengal tiger in Kanha Tiger Reserve. Photo by: Kalyan Varma. During an average year, 87% of households surrounding Kanha Tiger Reserve in Central India report experiencing some kind of conflict with wild animals, according to a new paper in the open-access journal PLOS One. Co-existence with protected, free-roaming wildlife can be a challenge when living […]
Three developing nations move to ban hunting to protect vanishing wildlife

African savannah elephants on the Chobe River in Botswana. From 2014 on, hunting will no longer be allowed in Botswana’s public lands. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Three developing countries have recently toughened hunting regulations believing the changes will better protect vanishing species. Botswana has announced it will ban trophy hunting on public lands beginning in […]
Telling the story of the father of sea turtle conservation

The 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WFCC.org) runs from January 30 – February 2, 2013. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with filmmakers and presenters. For more interviews, please see our WCFF feed. Archer Carr (far left) surveys a turtle killed for its meat. Photo courtesy of […]
Bloodsucking flies help scientists identify rare, hard-to-find mammals

The face of the blue bottle fly (Calliphora vomitoria). New research shows how this carrion-eater carries the mammals of the forest in his stomach. Photo by: J.J. Harrison. Last year scientists released a study that is likely to revolutionize how conservationists track elusive species. Researchers extracted the recently sucked blood of terrestrial leeches in Vietnam’s […]
How a text message could save an elephant or a rhino from a poacher

Soon a text message may save an elephant’s or rhino’s life. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is implementing a new alarm system in some protected areas that will alert rangers of intruders via a text message, reports the Guardian. Elephants and rhinos have been killed in record numbers across Africa as demand for illegal rhino […]
Common toads ravaged by killer disease in Portugal

An adult common midwife toad. Photo by: Gonçalo M. Rosa. The chytrid fungus—responsible for millions of amphibian deaths worldwide—is now believed to be behind a sudden decline in the common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans), according to a new paper in Animal Conservation. Researchers have detected the presence of the deadly fungus in the Serra da […]
An avalanche of decline: snow leopard populations are plummeting

Snow leopard in the Toronto Zoo. Photo by: John Vetterli. The trading of big cat pelts is nothing new, but recent demand for snow leopard pelts and taxidermy mounts has added a new commodity to the illegal trade in wildlife products, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Traditionally, the market for large cat products […]
Vanishing corridors: trying to keep big animals on the move across Tanzania

Perturbed male elephant in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. One of the biggest challenges for big African wildlife like lions, elephants, and buffalo is movement across native habitat that is increasingly being encroached on by humans. Animals find their movement restricted by roads, fences, and property boundaries which fragment the landscape. Without safe, smart, […]
Okapi Conservation Project wins mongabay’s 2012 conservation award

A group that works to protect the rare okapi, a type of forest giraffe found only in the Congo Basin, has has won mongabay.com’s 2012 conservation award. The Okapi Conservation Project [DONATE] has been working to protect the okapi and its habitat in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for 25 years. The group was […]
Forests, farming, and sprawl: the struggle over land in an Amazonian metropolis

An interview with Karimeh Moukaddem, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series. Typical farmhouse outside of Parauapebas. Photo by: Karimeh Moukaddem. The city of Parauapebas, Brazil is booming: built over the remains of the Amazon rainforest, the metropolis has grown 75-fold in less than 25 years, from 2,000 people upwards of 150,000. […]
Lion population falls 68 percent in 50 years

Female lion with wildebeest kill in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. African lions, one of the most iconic species on the planet, are in rapid decline. According to a new study in Biodiversity Conservation, the African lion (Panthera leo leo) population has dropped from around 100,000 animals just fifty years ago to as few […]
Pledge to end wildlife trafficking for Wildlife Conservation Day

A forest elephant, which is considered by some to be a distinct species of elephant in Africa, in Gabon. Both forest elephants and savannah elephants are increasingly killed for their tusks. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) estimates that 30,000 elephants will be killed this year along for the black market trade. Photo by: Rhett A. […]
Photos reveal destruction of Cameroon rainforest for palm oil

Clearing of trees in a concession area of Herakles Farm’s area for a palm oil plantation. Greenpeace says these clearings are illegal since Herakles’ lease has not been given final approval. Herakles Farm did not respond to request for comment. Photo: © Greenpeace/Alex Yallop. Newly released photos by Greenpeace show the dramatic destruction of tropical […]
Wolves, mole rats, and nyala: the struggle to conserve Ethiopia’s highlands

Gaysay Grasslands in Bale Mountains National Park. Photo courtesy of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). There is a place in the world where wolves live almost entirely off mountain rodents, lions dwell in forests, and freshwater rolls downstream to 12 million people, but the place—Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains National Park—remains imperiled by a lack of legal […]
Climate change threatens population of Earth’s largest sea turtle

A female leatherback surveys the ocean at Playa Grande, Costa Rica. While her hatchlings will be affected by rising beach temperatures, she faces threats at sea. Photo by: The Leatherback Trust. A drier, hotter climate in Central America could wipe out the population of leatherback sea turtles from the eastern Pacific Ocean by the year […]
Bats face new perils from climate change

A change in prey abundance due to climate change could impact the lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii). Photo by: Christoph F. Robiller. Global climate change could devastate bat populations around the world, threatening to tear yet another thread from the tapestry of biodiversity should current temperature trends persist, according to a new study. “Bats were […]
Photos: Mozambique creates Africa’s biggest marine protected area

Made up of ten islands off the coast of northern Mozambique, this coastal marine reserve in the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago will cover more than 4020 square miles. Photo by: Caroline Simmonds/WWF-US. Last week, the East African nation of Mozambique announced it was protecting 10,411 square kilometers (4,020 square miles) of coastal marine waters, making […]
Borneo may lose half its orangutans to deforestation, hunting, and plantations

Future hanging in balance? Borneo orang-utan. Photo by Rhett Butler. Borneo will likely lose half of its orangutans if current deforestation and forest conversion trends continue, warns a comprehensive new assessment by an international team of researchers. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, overlays orangutan distribution with land use regulations in Malaysian and […]
Conservationists turn camera traps on tiger poachers

Camera trap catches intruders in Lazovsky Nature Reserve. Photo courtesy of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Remote camera traps, which take photos or video when a sensor is triggered, have been increasingly used to document rare and shy wildlife, but now conservationists are taking the technology one step further: detecting poachers. Already, camera traps […]
Tanzania weighs new soda ash plant in prime flamingo territory

Lesser flamingoes in Kenya. One third of the world’s lesser flamingoes nest in Tanzania’s Lake Natron. Photo by: Steve Garvie. In a choice between flamingoes and a soda ash plant, a new report shows that local residents near Lake Natron, Tanzania prefer flamingoes. This is good news for conservationists as the area is the most […]
Meet Cape Town’s volunteer ‘toad shepherds’

An interview with Hanniki Pieterse Western leopard toad signs that were put up this year. Photo courtesy of: Hanniki Pieterse. August marks the last month of winter in South Africa, and, as temperatures begin to rise, activists in Cape Town prepare for a truly unique conservation event. Every year at this time western leopard toads […]
Development halted in crucial wildlife corridor in Malaysia

Kenyir Wildlife Corridor in northeast Malaysia is teeming with wildlife: elephants, gibbons, tigers, tapirs, and even black panthers (melanistic leopards) have been recorded in the 60 kilometer (37 mile) stretch of forest. In fact, researchers have recorded over 40 mammal species (see species list below), including 15 threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red […]
Over 100,000 farmers squatting in Sumatran park to grow coffee

Motorbikes carrying coffee bags out of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Photo courtesy of Patrice Levang. Sumatra’s Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park—home to the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, and elephants—has become overrun with coffee farmers, loggers, and opportunists according to a new paper in Conservation and Society. An issue facing the park for decades, […]
‘The ivory trade is like drug trafficking’ (warning graphic images)

Confiscated elephant parts from poachers. Photo by: Nuria Ortega. For the past five years, Spanish biologist Luis Arranz has been the director of Garamba National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Arranz and a team of nearly 240 people, 140 guards among them, work to protect a vast area of about 5,000 square […]
Artificial ‘misting system’ allows vanished toad to be released back into the wild

A captive Kihansi spray toad at the WCS Bronx Zoo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In 1996 scientists discovered a new species of dwarf toad: the Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis). Although surviving on only two hectares near the Kihansi Gorge in Tanzania, the toads proved populous: around 17,000 individuals crowded the smallest known habitat […]
Above the ocean: saving the world’s most threatened birds

This post is an expanded version of an article that appeared in August on Yale e360: Easing The Collateral Damage Fisheries Inflict on Seabirds.
Mysteries surrounding the legendary and vanishing oriental bald ibis

The efforts to ensure survival of the rarest bird in the Middle East Lubomir Peske engaged in fitting a satellite tag to a northern bald ibis in Syria in spring 2006. Photo @ G. Serra. In a remote corner of the Ethiopian highlands in January 2011, the bright tropical light combined with the fresh and […]
Illegal hunting threatens iconic animals across Africa’s great savannas, especially predators

Lion with a snare around its neck. Photo by: Frederike Otten. Courtesy of Panthera. Bushmeat hunting has become a grave concern for species in West and Central Africa, but a new report notes that lesser-known illegal hunting in Africa’s iconic savannas is also decimating some animals. Surprisingly, illegal hunting across eastern and southern Africa is […]
Indonesia remains epicenter for illegal wildlife trade in reptiles and amphibians

Illegally traded lizards (left to right): black tree monitor (Varanus beccarii), Reisinger’s tree monitor (Varanus reisingeri), emerald monitor (Varanus prasinus), and the blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macraei). Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons. Demand for exotic pets is driving the illegal harvest and trade of herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) in Indonesian New Guinea, according to a […]
Remarkable comeback: blue iguana downgraded to Endangered after determined conservation efforts

Blue iguana in Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. Photo by: Lhb1239. The wild blue iguana population has increased by at least 15 times in the last ten years, prompting the IUCN Red List to move the species from Critically Endangered to just Endangered. A targeted, ambitious conservation program, headed by the Blue Iguana Recovery Team, […]
A new way to measure the ocean’s health

Beach on Peucang Island overlooks the ocean. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A diverse array of institutions have come together to release a new, revolutionary ocean health assessment called the Ocean Health Index. Researchers formed the index in order to gauge the health of the world’s oceans. The index is the result of a huge […]
Saving the world’s species from oblivion will cost around $80 billion a year, but still a good deal

The mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz) is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. If the world is to conserve its wealth of life—species great and small, beautiful and terrible, beloved and unknown—it will cost from $3.41-4.76 billion annually in targeted conservation funds, according to a new study in Science. […]
Appreciating elephant individuality: a new approach to preventing conflicts with humans

Elephant and human conflict is a common issue in India, exacerbated by habitat loss. Photo courtesy of Nishant Srinivasaiah. To prevent conflicts between humans and elephants in developed areas, a new study shows there is much to learn from analyzing Asian elephant behavior at the individual level as opposed to population studies. Researchers have traditionally […]
Parrots of the Caribbean: extinction looms in the Bahamas

Cuban Amazon in the Grand Cayman islands, a different subspecies than the Bahamas’ Cuban Amazon. Photo by: Lhb1239. I think about extinction a lot. It’s only natural for someone in my line of work. On my way to work I drive past the Colorado National Monument. Even from a distance it’s impressive: piles of dark […]
In midst of rhino poaching epidemic, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy has happy problem: too many black rhinos

An interview with CEO of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Mike Watson. Black rhinoceros in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC). Photo courtesy of LWC. So far this year, South Africa has lost 430 rhinos to poachers, more than one animal a day. The epidemic of rhino poaching, fueled by demand for black-market powdered rhino horn in Vietnam and […]
IUCN to kick-off Green List for ‘fully conserved’ species

Aerial view of African buffalo herd in the Okavango Delta. With a population numbering several hundred thousand will the African buffalo find itself on the Green List? Or will hunting, especially bushmeat hunting of the forest buffalo subspecies, keep it off? These are the questions scientists with the Green List will have to answer. Photo […]
Jaguar conservation gets a boost in North and Central America

First camera trap photo of a jaguar taken by Panthera in a deforested area of Costa Rica’s Barbilla-Destierro SubCorridor. Photo by: Panthera. Jaguar conservation has received a huge boost in the past few months both in Latin America and in the U.S. An historic agreement singed between the world’s leading wild cat conservation organization Panthera […]
Penguins face a slippery future

Adelie penguins hunting for food. Photo by: J. Weller. Click to enlarge. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 13th, 2012. Penguins have spent years fooling us. With their image seemingly every where we turn—entertaining us in animated films, awing us in documentaries, and winking […]
New website highlights the plight of the pangolin

The Chinese pangolin has recently been upgraded to Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to relentless poaching. Photo by: Gary Ades/KFBG. Scaly, insect-devouring, nocturnal, and notoriously shy, pangolins are strange mammals who remain unknown to many. But they are facing a major crisis as they are stolen from the wild in East Asia to […]
Featured video: camera traps find rare, mountain animals in Sumatra
In May of this year, Dutch filmmaker Marten Slothouwer and his team trudged up Sumatra’s northern-most mountains with video camera equipment in hand, hoping to capture rare and cryptic species for the world to see. Already the camera trapping initiative, dubbed Eyes on Leuser, has taken incredible footage in the region’s imperiled lowland rainforest, but […]
Conflict and perseverance: rehabilitating a forgotten park in the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s last herd of zebra run free in Upemba. Photo courtesy of the FZS. Zebra racing across the yellow-green savannah is an iconic image for Africa, but imagine you’re seeing this not in Kenya or South Africa, but in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Welcome to Upemba National Park: […]
Learning to live with elephants in Malaysia

Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks fitting a GPS-collar to study the movements of a wild elephant. Photo courtesy of Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz. Humans and elephants have a lot in common: both are highly intelligent, intensely social, and both are capable of having a massive impact on their local environments. Given their […]
Bushmeat consumption differs between communities in Tanzania

African Buffalo is a target for hunters in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Bushmeat consumption depends on the make-up of individual communities, according to a new study in the open access journal Tropical Conservation Science. By interviewing indigenous groups and refugees living near two protected areas in western Tanzania, researchers found that consumption rates […]
Wax palm can be sustainably harvested

The wax palm can be harvested sustainably with just a few management restrictions, according to a new study in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science (TCS). Found only in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Andes, the leaves of the wax palm (Ceroxylon echinulatum) are used to make Easter handicrafts. But the practice has caused fears […]
Rare birds abound in Brazil’s Acre state

The Brazilian state of Acre has had little attention by bird-lovers and bird scientists, though it lies deep in the Amazonian rainforest. Now a new survey in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science by ornithologist, John J. DeLuca, works to build a better picture of rare birds in this largely-neglected region. The work is […]
Buffer zones key to survival of maned wolf

Maned wolf at Beardsley Zoo. Photo by: Sage Ross. Known for its abnormally long lanky legs, its reddish-orange coat, and its omnivorous diet, the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is one of the more beautiful and bizarre predators of South America. However its stronghold, the Brazilian Cerrado, is vanishing rapidly to industrialized agriculture and urban development. […]
Bird diversity at risk if ‘agroforests’ replaced with farmland

Çağan Şekercioğlu uses radio equipment to track an orange-billed nightingale-thrush in the Costa Rican countryside. A new study by Şekercioğlu indicates that wooded ‘shade’ plantations where coffee and cacao are grown are better for bird diversity than open farmlands, although forests still are the best habitat for tropical birds. Photo by: Mauricio Paniagua Castro. Agroforests […]
Tigers and humans can coexist, says study

Humans and tigers can coexist in the same area with minimal conflict, finds a new study that raises hopes for big cat conservation. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by an international team of scientists, used camera traps to examine tiger density in and around Chitwan National […]
Private reserve safeguards newly discovered frogs in Ecuadorian cloud forest

The Las Gralarias glass frog is the world’s newest glass frog. It was discovered by Carl Hutter on the Reserva las Gralarias, after which the researcher subsequently named the new amphibian. Photo by: Jaime Garcia. Although it covers only 430 hectares (1,063 acres) of the little-known Chocó forest in Ecuador, the private reserve of las […]
Featured video: a Sumatran rhino love story
Efforts to save the Sumatran rhino in Borneo have sped up ever since the capture of Puntung last Christmas. A female rhino, who lost one foot to a snare, Puntung represents the first viable mate for Tam, a male rhino who has been kept in a large rainforest enclosure since his rescue in an oil […]
Chinook salmon return to Olympic National Park after dam demolished

Chinook salmon. Photo by: USGS. In March of this year the Elwha Dam, which had stood for 99 years, was demolished in the U.S. state of Washington. Five months later, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) made their way down the river to long-blocked off habitat and entered Olympic National Park. “As I saw the fish roll, […]
Elephant ancestors and Africa’s Bigfoot: new initiative works to preserve a continent’s wildest tales

Africa’s Wildest Stories is a new initiative in Kenya to capture personal stories about the relationship of people to nature. Elephant Keeper Mishak Nzimbi (above) has been working at the David Sheldrick center since he was a teenager. It’s a job he would never give up for anything. He is an ordinary man living an […]

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