topic: Photos

topic: Photos

Social media activity version | Lean version

Ridiculously rare photo catches Asian caracal swimming a river in India
- A tourist took a surprising photo of a caracal, a medium-sized cat, fording a river in India.
- What makes the photo doubly unusual is that India’s caracals aren’t known for swimming — and the cat was supposed to be extinct in the region.
- Once an important species culturally in India, caracals are now endangered, according to the IUCN Red List.
- The cat is also imperiled because it often occurs outside protected areas, inhabiting less-valued grasslands.

[Photos] New book is a stunning glimpse of Asia’s wildlife and landscapes
- A new photo book by authors and photographers Bjorn Olesen and Fanny Lai aims to raise awareness of Asia’s impressive biodiversity and protected areas, and inspire mindful ecotourism that supports effective conservation efforts.
- Many of the species intimately featured in the book encapsulate the major challenges facing the region from such threats as climate change, deforestation, development pressure, and the illegal wildlife trade, to name but a few.
- But most of all, the book is a celebration of the region’s biodiversity and conservation successes, featuring the stories of rare and imperiled species brought back from the edge of extinction through protected area management and combined efforts from governments, NGOs and communities.
- Mongabay interviewed Olesen to find out what he’s learned during his photography-inspired travels around the region and share some compelling images printed in the book.

Photos: Fiji’s first Indigenous-owned carbon credit project
- Fiji’s first verified forest carbon credit project is based in the Drawa rainforest on the country’s largest island, and has been earning income for its Indigenous landowners for five years now, in exchange for keeping their forests standing amid pressure from logging companies to fell its ancient trees.
- To make sure the project offers a compelling alternative to quick cash from logging permits, alternative livelihood opportunities are important ways to provide day-to-day income for individuals, alongside the cash from carbon credits that’s disbursed to mataqali (clans) on a quarterly basis and often used for collective projects.
- A number of local young men have been trained as rangers to monitor the protected areas, while other villagers, mostly women, are benefiting from their roles in a growing rainforest honey business — though scaling up the business to a more lucrative level remains a challenge.

Researchers compile largest-ever photo database of Amazon wildlife
- Researchers have compiled more than 154,000 records of camera trap images form the Amazon Rainforest, recording 317 species of birds, mammals and reptiles.
- This is the first study to compile and standardize camera trap images from across the Amazon at this scale, and covers Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
- The authors say this camera trap data set opens up opportunities for new studies on forest fragmentation, habitat loss, climate change, and the human-caused loss of animals “in one of the most important and threatened tropical environments in the world.”

Carnivore sightings highlight richness of Nepal’s Trans-Himalayan region
- Scientists recently recorded images of the steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii), Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the country’s Trans-Himalayan region.
- This was the first time these species had been spotted outside the country’s protected areas, and the first confirmation that they occurred in the little-explored Trans-Himalayan region.
- The findings were released in a press statement from Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Department of Forests and Soil Conservation; researchers say academic publications are forthcoming.

‘Giving up’: Amazon is losing its resilience under human pressure, study shows
- The Amazon Rainforest is losing its ability to bounce back from repeated disturbances, according to a new study.
- Researchers found that three-quarters of the Amazon has lost some resilience, or ability to regain biomass after disturbance. This loss of resilience is especially high in regions close to human activity and with less rainfall.
- As the forest is slashed, burned and degraded, it’s left with less vegetation, which means less evapotranspiration, leading to less rain. And less rain leads to further droughts, fires, tree death and forest degradation — a feedback loop of destruction and loss of resilience.
- The lead author describes the findings as “depressing” but also says that “having an early warning of this gives us a chance to do something about it … Rather than focusing on the trajectory the Amazon is on, we can instead try and change it.”

‘The images are confronting’: Q&A with animal photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur
- Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene, published in December 2020, is a photojournalism book that documents the lives and deaths of animals in a human-dominated world.
- The “hidden” animals of the title are those that we humans use for food, fashion, research and cultural purposes.
- The book showcases the work of more than 40 photographers, including co-editor Jo-Anne McArthur, working in the burgeoning field of animal photojournalism.
- Mongabay interviewed McArthur about the creation of the book, the importance of engaging with images of animal suffering, the intersection between animal advocacy and environmentalism, and the growth of animal photojournalism.

Countering Bolsonaro’s UN speech, Greenpeace releases Amazon deforestation photos
- Hours after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro painted a rosy picture of his administration’s environmental record during a United Nations speech, Greenpeace and other environmental groups released a set of photos showing continued deforestation and fires in Earth’s largest rainforest.
- Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro cited a 32 percent reduction in deforestation in the month of August relative to a year ago, the country’s near decade-old Forest Code, and lands set aside as Indigenous territories — which he’s fought to undermine and dismantle — as evidence of Brazil’s contributions toward mitigating climate change.
- But activists pushed back on Bolsonaro’s statement, noting rising deforestation in the Amazon and his administration’s rollback of environmental laws and law enforcement, while publishing dramatic images captured in two Amazon states between September 14 and 17.
- Brazil does have some of the strongest forest protection laws on the books among major tropical forest nations, but enforcement has been lax, especially under Bolsonaro, when the deforestation rate in the Amazon has climbed to the highest level since 2008. Bolsonaro’s reference to one month of deforestation data doesn’t reflect the trend of rising deforestation that he’s presided over since taking office in January 2019.

Soy and cattle team up to drive deforestation in South America: Study
- Between 2000 and 2019, the production of soybean in South America has doubled, covering an area larger than the state of California.
- Soybean farms are typically planted in old cattle pastures, and as soy encroaches, pasture is forced into new frontiers, driving deforestation and fires.
- Although soy was found to be largely an indirect driver of deforestation, policies addressing deforestation have to consider multiple commodities at once, such as the relationship between beef and soy.
- Increased commitments by companies to source from “zero-deforestation” supply chains are a promising strategy, but in order to work, the market needs to be more transparent.

Nature drone photos: 2020 highlights (Insider)
- Mongabay implemented a moratorium on reporting-related travel in mid-March due to the pandemic.
- Accordingly, the opportunities to take photos this year were limited, mostly to a pre-pandemic trip to the Amazon and pictures captured locally in California.
- This set includes 35 of Mongabay Founder Rhett A. Butler’s drone photos from the year.
- This post is insider content, which is available to paying subscribers. All insider content is temporarily available to everyone.

Greenpeace photos illuminate illegal Amazon fires
- The aerial images — captured by photographer Christian Braga over the states of Rondonia, Amazonas, and Mato Grosso from August 16-18, 2020 — show fires burning through recently deforested areas, agricultural areas, degraded forests, and on the edges of dense tropical forests.
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a 120-day ban on fires July 15th, 2020, but satellite data shows the decree is being widely ignored.
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has sharply increased since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.

Where there’s cattle ranching and soybean farming, there’s fire, study finds
- Most of the fires in the Amazon rainforest last year were associated with industrial agriculture, according to a study cross-referencing NASA satellite data with corporate supply chains.
- Researchers transposed the satellite imagery of fire alerts with the locations of the largest meatpacking plants and soybean silos in the region.
- Of the 981,000 fire alerts that occurred in Brazil between July and October last year, half were in meatpackers JBS and Marfrig’s “potential buy zones” and in the areas surrounding Bunge and Cargill’s soybean silos.
- The study doesn’t aim to make a direct link between the companies and the fires, but rather to show the proximity of the fires within the regions in which they work.

Amazon fires rage despite official ban, Greenpeace photos reveal
- Landholders in the Brazilian Amazon are continuing to burn forests despite an official government ban on burning in the region, photographs released today by Greenpeace Brazil reveal.
- The photos, captured during flyovers conducted between July 7th and 10th in the state of Mato Grosso, documented fires in recently cleared areas and adjacent forests.
- Greenpeace’s photos come a week after Brazil’s national space research institute INPE released data showing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased for the past 15 consecutive months, putting the 12-month rate 96% higher than when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.
- Independent assessments of the situation in the Amazon by Imazon, a Brazilian NGO, and the Amazon Conservation Association’s MAAP Initiative, an international NGO, are consistent with INPE’s data, showing a strong increase in forest loss this year.

Camera snaps first ever glimpse of a troop of the world’s rarest gorilla
- A camera in Nigeria’s Mbe Mountains captured the first known images of a large group of Cross River gorillas, including adults, juveniles and babies, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
- It’s estimated that there are about 300 Cross River gorillas left in the world, with about a third of the population living in three contiguous sites in Nigeria, and 30 to 35 individuals based in the Mbe Mountains.
- Due to conservation efforts, no Cross River gorillas have been reported poached since 2012, according to WCS.

Audio: How to be an ethical wildlife photographer, and why it’s necessary
- On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we discuss how to take photographs of wild animals without harassing, exploiting, or harming them — in other words, today we’re taking a look at ethical wildlife photography.
- We welcome to the program environmental journalist Annie Roth and internationally renowned, award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas.
- Ethical wildlife photography is “kind of a win-win,” Eszterhas says, “because, number one, we’re treating the animals with kindness and respect and we’re not affecting their lives in a very negative way. And number two, we’re getting very unique gifts out of it, we’re getting these incredible images that we wouldn’t be able to get without it.”

Study investigates impact of road deaths on giant anteater population in Cerrado
- For three years, the Bandeiras e Rodovias (Anteaters and Highways) project by the Institute for the Conservation of Wild Animals (ICAS) has investigated the impact of highway collisions on the health and population of the largest insectivorous mammal in the world: the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla).
- Between January 2017 and December 2019, researchers tracked 44 anteaters by GPS, interviewed truck drivers, and monitored 92,364 kilometers (57,392 miles) of highways. During this period they recorded the deaths of 725 giant anteaters, a slow-moving nocturnal species with non-reflective eyes and poor hearing.
- The study is especially relevant because it was conducted in the Cerrado, Brazil’s grain-growing heartland that’s served by a large truck fleet and marked by significant loss of habitat for corn and soybean plantations. The findings indicate that the impact of the highways has cut the growth rate of the anteater population in half, which could speed up its demise.
- The researchers warn that the possible extinction of the giant anteater could have wide-reaching ramifications, including on agriculture, since the species plays an important role in controlling insects and pests, thereby saving farmers from having to spend on pest control products that, among other things, contaminate the soil.

Our top nature drone photos of 2019 (Insider)
- Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler chooses some of his favorite drone images captured in 2019.
- While I’ve written about use of drones in conservation since 2012, 2019 was the first year that I actually had drone myself I made a lot of use of it during trips to Bolivia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Madagascar as well as at home in the United States,
- This post is insider content, which is available to paying subscribers.

Greenpeace releases dramatic photos of Amazon fires
- Today Greenpeace Brazil released dramatic photos of fires currently burning through rainforests and agricultural land in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Some of the fires appear to be burning forests with well-developed canopy structure, suggesting that carbon-dense and biodiverse forests are being directly impacted by the fires.
- Greenpeace says its own spatial analysis indicates that 15,749 of the 23,006 hotspots it recorded in the Amazon in the first 20 days of the month were in areas that were forest in 2017.
- Those conclusions provide further evidence that the fires were set intentionally for forest-clearing purposes.

Camera trap study finds a threatened high-elevation mammal community in Peru
- A new camera trap study, the results of which were published in the journal Oryx last week, seeks to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the Cerros del Sira’s mammalian inhabitants.
- An international team of scientists from Peru and the UK led by Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, a biologist at Peru’s National University of Cusco, deployed 45 camera traps from 2015 to 2016 in the Sira Communal Reserve, part of the Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yánesha Biosphere Reserve.
- Aside from revealing the distribution of and threats to the Cerros del Sira’s mammal community, the results of the camera trap survey led to a number of other insights.

Photos: What are vipers?
- This photo post comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Under this partnership, we publish occasional original contributions from Wild View that highlights an animal species or group.
- In this post, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Herpetology Collection Manager Kevin Torregrosa writes about vipers.
- Photos by WCS Staff Photographer Julie Larsen Maher.

‘Plastic Soup:’ Photos and Q&A with author of new book documenting plastic pollution and solutions
- Earth’s oceans are drowning in plastic. Humans created 311 million metric tons of the stuff in 2014, and it is expected that we’ll be making four times as much by 2050 — yet only about 5 percent of plastic is currently recycled. It’s been estimated that 8 million metric tons of the plastic that goes to waste is dumped into our oceans every year — which is equivalent to a full garbage truck of plastic being dumped into the oceans every minute.
- In a series of stunning photos and informative graphics, new book Plastic Soup: An Atlas of Ocean Pollution documents the plastic pollution crisis engulfing Earth’s seas, the impacts of that pollution on wildlife and people, and initiatives that have been created to tackle the problem.
- The book, set to be published tomorrow by Island Press, was written by Michiel Roscam Abbing, a political scientist who reports on the latest scientific research around plastics for the Plastic Soup Foundation. Mongabay spoke with Abbing via email to get a sneak peek at what’s in the book, including a handful of its most compelling images and graphics.

Photos: Here are the winners of the 2018 British Ecological Society photo contest
- Chris Oosthuizen of South Africa’s University of Pretoria won the top prize in the British Ecological Society’s “Capturing Ecology” photo competition this year with an image of a single colorful adult king penguin amidst a crowd of brown-colored chicks on Marion Island, part of the Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean.
- Oosthuizen is hopeful that the prize-winning photo might help draw attention to the challenges king penguins face due to the impacts of human activities. “Although the global population of king penguins is large, populations inhabiting islands around the Antarctic face an uncertain future,” he said.
- In total, some 16 images were recognized this year by the British Ecological Society. “Capturing flora and fauna from across the planet, subjects range from African wild dog research to an artistic take on Galapagos iguanas to images exploring the relationships between people and nature,” the group said in a statement.

Camera trap photos confirm discovery of lowland bongo in Uganda for first time
- Endemic to the tropical forests of Central and West Africa, the lowland bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus) is known for its red-brown coat with white-yellow stripes and long, lightly spiraled horns. Adult male bongos can stand as tall as 1.3 meters (or over 4 feet) at the shoulders and weigh as much as 800 pounds.
- Scientists with the UK-based Chester Zoo say that the mostly nocturnal ungulate was captured by motion-sensor camera traps in the lowland rainforests of Semuliki National Park in southwest Uganda, where the East African country borders the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
- The western or lowland bongo, one of two recognized subspecies of bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus), is listed as Near-Threatened on the IUCN Red List. The subspecies faces ongoing population declines due to habitat loss, hunting for meat, and trophy hunting, threats that continue to increase as human settlements and commercial forestry expand ever-farther into their range.

Bat Week: the super powers of bats (photos)
- This photo post comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Under this partnership, we publish occasional original contributions from Wild View that highlights an animal species or group.
- In this post, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Sarah H. Olson and Julie Larsen Maher write about bats on the occasion of Bat Week, which runs from October 24-31.

How to help penguins (photos)
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species or group.
- This month, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s David Oehler, Megan Maher, and Julie Larsen Maher write about penguins.
- All photos by Julie Larsen Maher, head photographer for WCS.

PHOTOS: The great Sandhill crane migration makes its annual stopover on the Platte River
- The annual migration undertaken by sandhill cranes in North America is considered one of the world’s great natural spectacles, on par with Africa’s wildebeest migration and the “march of the penguins” in Antarctica.
- Nowhere is the sandhill crane migration more visible in all its majesty than on the Platte River in the U.S. state of Nebraska — you truly have to see it to believe it.
- You can hear many of the sounds of the sandhill crane migration on a recent episode of the Mongabay Newscast. It’s one thing to hear the migration, however, and quite another to see it.

Belo Monte legacy: harm from Amazon dam didn’t end with construction (photo story)
- The controversial Belo Monte dam, operational in 2016 and the world’s third biggest, was forced on the people of Altamira, Pará state, and is now believed to have been built largely as payback to Brazil’s construction industry by the nation’s then ruling Workers’ Party for campaign contributions received.
- The dam was opposed by an alliance of indigenous and traditional communities, and international environmentalists, all to no avail. Today, the media coverage that once turned the world’s eyes toward Belo Monte, has gone away. But that hasn’t ended the suffering and harm resulting from the project.
- Tens of thousands of indigenous and traditional people were forced from their homes, and had to give up their fishing livelihoods. Meanwhile, the city of Altamira endured boom and bust, as workers flooded in, then abandoned it. The Belo Sun goldmine, if ever built, also continues to be a potential threat.
- In this story, Mongabay contributor Maximo Anderson and photographer Aaron Vincent Elkaim document the ongoing harm being done by the giant dam. Belo Monte, today, stands as a warning regarding the urgent need to properly assess and plan for mega-infrastructure projects in Amazonia.

Baby photos of 10 of the world’s rarest turtles from the zoo trying to save them
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species or group.
- This month, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Don Boyer, Avishai Shuter, and Julie Larsen Maher write about endangered turtles and tortoises WCS is trying to save.
- All photos by Julie Larsen Maher, head photographer for WCS.

Camera traps reveal surprises in Peru
- Scientists set 72 camera traps and audio recorders to compare biodiversity across certified forested areas and forests that are not certified for sustainable use.
- The first few images reveal the presence of jaguars, pumas, jaguarundis, tapirs, red deer, tufted capuchins and even bush dogs, which are elusive and difficult to find.

The tenacity of tigers: how the biggest cat varies across its range (photos)
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species.
- This month Jonathan C. Slaght writes about tigers.
- All photos by Julie Larsen Maher, WCS’s staff photographer.

Photos: night owls
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species.
- This month, David A. Oehler writes about owls.

Biodiversity of Indian Sunderbans recorded in one compendium for first time
- Zoological Survey of India has, for the first time, published a detailed record of the animal and protozoa species of the Sunderban of West Bengal.
- Sunderbans forests, locally known as Badabon, are one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in India. This UNESCO World Heritage site is known for its mangroves, coastal forests that serve as a biological buffer between the land and sea.
- This unique ecosystem is famous for the royal Bengal tiger, Gangetic dolphin, and estuarine crocodile.

Photos: South America’s adorable Andean bear
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species.
- This month, Scott Silver writes about the only bear species from South America – the Andean bear.
- Sometimes called the spectacled bear due to its cream-colored facial markings that can look like eyeglasses, these bears are found in parts of southern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and northern Argentina.

Photos: Bald eagle bird bath
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species.
- This month, Julie Larsen Maher and Megan Maher write about the bald eagle.

First ever photos of wild lion nursing leopard cub
- Five-year-old lioness named Nosikitok is currently collared and monitored by KopeLion, a conservation NGO in Tanzania.
- The circumstances that brought the lioness and the leopard cub together still remain a mystery.
- She is believed to have recently given birth to her second litter of cubs and scientists think that the lioness’s maternal instincts may have driven her towards caring for the little leopard.

Photos: India’s rarest crocodile, the gharial
- Indian gharials are fish-eating crocodiles.
- These reptiles are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List.
- WCS recently imported eight young gharials from the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Center for Herpetology under a conservation partnership.
- These gharials are on display at the Bronx Zoo.

For Leap Day, 35 pictures of frogs
- Leap Day only happens every four years but when the next one comes around, the planet may have lost a few more frog species: amphibians are the most endangered group of animals on the planet.
- This post includes a set of 35 frog pictures to remind us what we’re losing.
- This post is a commentary — the views are the author’s own.

77 inspiring rainforest pictures
- Mongabay was born out of my love for rainforests so for this Valentine’s day,
- I’m doing something a little different: posting a bunch of my favorite rainforest photos from the past twenty years.
- There are no wildlife photos in this set — the focus is solely on rainforests.

Researchers find many, many moths in Bolivian national park (Photos)
- The Identidad Madidi expedition is surveying Bolivia’s poorly known Madidi National Park.
- The research team has already found many species that are new to the park – including a frog completely new to science.
- The scientists estimate 10,000 moth species may live in Madidi.

Happy World Giraffe Day (Photos)

Giraffe. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Families across the United States are today celebrating Father’s Day. But this Sunday is extra special because it is also World Giraffe Day. World Giraffe Day was started in 2014 by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to raise awareness about the animal with the longest neck. June 21st was selected […]
Can we save the Sumatran rhino? Indonesia holds out hope

Can a sanctuary in Indonesia keep the world’s most imperiled rhino from extinction? “One percent of the world’s population,” veterinarian Zulfi Arsan says as he nods towards Bina, a 714-kilogram (1,574-pound), 30-year-old female Sumatran rhinoceros leisurely crunching branches whole. A gentle and easygoing rhino, pink-hued Bina doesn’t seem to mind the two-legged hominids snapping pictures […]
Five tons of frozen pangolin: Indonesian authorities make massive bust

Frozen, dead Sunda pangolins confiscated by the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division in Medan, Sumatra. Photo by: Paul Hilton for WCS. Five tons of frozen pangolin, 77 kilograms (169 pounds) of pangolin scales, and 96 live pangolins: that’s the grisly haul of the latest pangolin bust in Indonesia. Officials confiscated the illegal wildlife goods […]
Photo essay: the flying fox show

Sunda flying fox silhouettes against the sunset. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Rain or clear, wind or still, full moon or no. Every night thousands of flying foxes rise from a small mangrove island among the lesser Sunda islands of Indonesia. Around sunset the Sunda flying fox (Acerodon mackloti) begin to stir in their roots—their stomachs […]
50 nature pictures for Earth Day

Here at Mongabay we’ve developed a bit of a policy of not making a big deal for Earth Day. We believe that people should respect the planet on a daily basis. Nonetheless, below are a few pictures I’ve taken since Earth Day 2014 that remind me of why I started Mongabay nearly 16 years ago. […]
Photo Essay: Geopolitical pawns, the fishermen of Lý Sơn, Vietnam

A fisherman in a small teacup-like boat, which is tethered to a larger vessel, off the coast of Lý Sơn Island. Tensions with China have forced these Vietnamese fishermen to work closer to shore, which has dramatically depleted coastal fisheries. OTHER SPECIAL REPORTING BY ERIK VANCE & DOMINIC BRACCO II Could inland aquaculture help save […]
Deer ‘kissing’ fawn among finalists in camera trap photo contest

A yearly buck and fawn meet in Apopka, Florida. PHOTO CREDIT: Ronald Derrig. A camera trap photo of a young buck touching noses with a fawn is among the finalists in a picture contest organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The image was snapped in a camera trap set up in Apopka, Florida. Other finalists […]
Photos: expedition to Amazon’s white sands may have found new primate

The white sands of the Tapiche-Blanco region in Peru. Photo by: Nigel Pitman. Most people think of the Amazon rainforest as one massive, homogenous ecosystem—a giant castle of green. However, within the Amazon rainforest lie a myriad of distinct ecosystems, sporting unique characteristics and harboring endemic species. One of the rarer ecosystems in the Amazon […]
Photo essay: filming in the remote Amazon
- You wake up at 4:30 AM, a little before the first rays of tropical sun begin to dance behind the treetops.
- You put on your wet clothes from the previous day, pack your bag, and pick up your tripod.
- The jungle is shrouded in a thick mist from the previous nights rain.
- As you walk, you recognize many of the strange calls that echo between the trees.

Photos: Amur leopard population hits at least 65

Camera trap of Amur leopard. The Amur leopard evolved its thick coat to keep warm in the cold, long winters. Photo by: WWF. Most of the world’s big predators are in decline, but there are some happy stories out there. This week, WWF announced that the Amur leopard population has grown to a total of […]
Super-rare carnivore photographed in Yosemite after missing for nearly a century

Sierra Nevada fox caught on camera trap in Yosemite National Park. Photo by: National Park Service. For years, biologists believed the Sierra Nevada fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) was down to a single population of around 20 animals in California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park. But then in 2010, biologists found a small population near Sonora Pass. […]
Adorbs: scientists capture first photos of African golden cat kittens

Elusive, little-known cats are ‘just unbelievably sneaky’ The African golden cat is arguably the continent’s least known feline, inhabiting dense tropical forests, almost never seen, and, of course, long-upstaged by Africa’s famous felines: lions, cheetahs, and leopards. But a few intrepid scientists are beginning to uncover the long-unknown lives of these wild cats, which are […]
Sundarbans still reeling from effects of December oil spill

Emergency research finds devastating impacts of oil spill in the world’s largest mangrove forest A crocodile wades into oil-tainted waters in the Sundarbans. Photo by: Arati Kumar-Rao. Last month, an estimated 350,000 liters of fuel oil spilled into the Sundarbans delta on the Bay of Bengal. An oil tanker that had collided with a cargo […]
Ocean’s 15: meet the species that have vanished forever from our seas
- In the last 500 years, the oceans have suffered far fewer extinctions than on land&.
- According to a recent study in Science, 15 animals are known to have vanished forever from the oceans while terrestrial ecosystems have seen 514 extinctions.
- The researchers, however, warn that the number of marine extinctions could rise rapidly as the oceans are industrialized.

Mother and cub: researchers photograph rare cat with cub in Sumatra

A mother Asian golden cat holding her cub, who was caught on camera trap in the Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra. Photo by: Sumatran Tiger Research Team. Researchers working in Kerinci Seblat National Park have captured a remarkable image of a mother Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) carrying her young in her mouth. The […]
Top 10 camera trap photos of animals

Camera traps are revolutionizing the world of conservation, helping researchers document elusive wildlife, record rarely-observed animal behavior, catch poachers, and identify high conservation value areas. The non-invasive tool also offers incredible marketing value, showcasing the sometimes little-seen targets of conservation efforts. In recognition of the conservation value of camera trapping and to ring in the […]
Favorite nature and wildlife photos from 2014

During the course of my reporting for Mongabay in 2014, I had the opportunity to travel to several countries and take some pictures in the field. Below are some of my favorite images from the year. Most of these photos are from Sumatra (Indonesia), Sabah (Malaysia), and Queensland (Australia), although there are a few from […]
Rhino, cheetah win the world’s top camera trap photo contest

Overall winner of the photography categories and Animal Portraits winner: Black rhino, Zambia. Photo by: Will Burrard-Lucas. Two big—and endangered—mammals took 2014’s top prizes in the world’s biggest camera trap photo contest: a black rhino and a Asiatic cheetah. The gorgeous shot of a black rhino at night in Zambia photo won the overall photo […]
Chameleon crisis: extinction threatens 36% of world’s chameleons

World’s chameleons facing potential extinction crisis The lesser chameleon (Furcifer minor) is listed as Endangered. This species is only found in Madagascar. Photo by: Christopher V. Anderson. Chameleons are an unmistakable family of wonderfully bizarre reptiles. They sport long, shooting tongues; oddly-shaped horns or crests; and a prehensile tail like a monkey’s. But, of course, […]
The Search for Lost Frogs: one of conservation’s most exciting expeditions comes to life in new book

An interview with Robin Moore, author of the new book, In Search of Lost Frogs: The Quest to Find the World’s Rarest Amphibians The Cuchumatan golden toad (Incilius aurarius) from the Cuchumatanes mountains of Guatemala, found during a search for lost salamanders. This species was only discovered as recently as 2012. It is so new […]
Photos: slumbering lions win top photo prize

This photo of slumbering lions has won Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols the much-coveted Wildlife Photographer of the Year Title. Photo by: Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014. The king of beasts took this year’s top prize in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is co-owned by the Natural History Museum […]
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 […]
Photos: Czech Republic publicly burns confiscated rhino horns

Armed customs guards stand behind a rhino horn waiting to be burnt. Photo courtesy of CITES Secretariat. Late last month, armed guards escorted officials marching 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of rhino horns to a pyre for burning. The event, at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, was the first public burning of rhino […]
Meet the newest enemy to India’s wildlife

Cars versus leopards: big cats and other animals face decline due to rising traffic. A big cat crosses the Mysore-Mananthavadi Highway as commercial vehicles look on. Photo credit: Vikram Nanjappa. Adapted from a 2010 report on wildlife mortality reduction measures in the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. WARNING: Graphic photos below. On the front page of the […]
Pictures of endangered animals for Threatened Species Day

Morelet’s tree frog or the Black-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis moreletii) from Central America is Critically Endangered. September 7 is Threatened Species Day, a designation established by the Australian government to commemorate the death of the last remaining thylacine, better known as the Tasmanian tiger, at the Hobart Zoo in 1936. While the day is intended […]
25 primate pictures for World Primate Day

Coquerel’s Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) September 1 is World Primate Day, a designation intended to raise awareness about apes, monkeys, and prosimians like lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers. Many non-human primates are threatened by habitat loss, the pet trade, and hunting. There are more than 440 species of primate worldwide, the majority of which live in the […]
20 orangutan pictures for World Orangutan Day

Bornean orangutan in Indonesia. August 19 is World Orangutan Day, a designation intended to raise awareness about the great red ape, which is threatened by habitat loss, the pet trade, and hunting. Once distributed across much of southeast Asia, today orangutans are only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Both species of orangutan […]
Unreal Thailand: stunning wildlife photographed in flooded Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary

Malayan tapir caught on camera trap in Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary. The Malayan tapir is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Photo by: Bruce Kekule. If someone told you there was a place where 200 million year old coral reefs had erupted from beneath the sea and were now draped in the […]
Over a million pangolins slaughtered in the last decade

All pangolins now threatened with extinction, and two considered Critically Endangered The tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis) has been upgraded from Near Threatened to Vulnerable by an IUCN Red List update. Photo by: the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG). One of the world’s most bizarre animal groups is now at risk of complete eradication, according to […]
Short-eared dog? Uncovering the secrets of one of the Amazon’s most mysterious mammals

Meet Oso: how a ‘pet’ short-eared dog helped scientists shed light on this cryptic carnivore Fifteen years ago, scientists knew next to nothing about one of the Amazon’s most mysterious residents: the short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis). Although the species was first described in 1883 and is considered the sole representative of the Atelocynus genus, biologists […]
Please, don’t hate us: celebrating World Snake Day!

Newly hatched reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus). These are one of the largest snakes in the world with the longest measuring 28 feet. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS. Okay, so some snakes are so venomous they can kill you in 30 minutes (the inland taipan). And, yes, the fact that they don’t have legs is a […]
Coastal wildlife paradise declared biosphere reserve in Argentina (PHOTOS)

Southern elephant seals battle for mating rights. Photo by: G. Harris/WCS. Conservationists are celebrating the announcement that UNESCO has dubbed Argentina’s Península Valdés a biosphere reserve under the Man and Biosphere Program (MBA). A hatchet-shaped peninsula that juts out into the Southern Atlantic Ocean, the world’s newest biosphere reserve is home to a hugely-diverse collection […]
Stuff of fairy tales: stepping into Europe’s last old-growth forest

On bison, wolves, and woodpeckers: the wonder of Europe’s only lowland virgin forest. Bialowieza Forest at dawn. Old-growth forest is characterized by ancient trees, tall canopies, little undergrowth, and a huge amount of dead wood. Photo by: Lukasz Mazurek/Wild Poland There is almost nothing left of Europe’s famed forests, those that provided for human communities […]
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 […]
Bears, cats, and mystery mammals: camera traps in ‘paper park’ prove it’s worth protecting

Camera traps catch endangered species in remote park in Cambodia A rare Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) dashes past a camera trap in Virachey National Park. This species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Photo by: Habitat ID. Can a single photograph change the fate of a park? A new conservation group, […]
Animals bark, screech, and howl for action on global warming (PHOTOS)

The destruction of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia for palm oil, paper, and timber has put the world’s orangutans at risk of extinction, it also compounds global warming and mass extinction. Photo by: Singapore Zoo. On May 22nd, zoos and aquariums around the world creatively called for action on global warming. Dubbed “Show the Wild […]
NASA photographs the amazing ‘guitar forest’

After his wife died of an aneurysm at the age of 25, Pedro Martin Ureta set about to plant her a legacy: a forest in the shape of a guitar (see below). His wife, Graciela Yraizoz—who gave him four children—suggested the idea shortly before her sudden death in 1977. While pilots have long marveled at […]
Earth Day Picture Gallery: Celebrating Indonesia

Orangutan in Central Kalimantan. This Earth Day, we’ve decided to highlight the spectacular natural wonders of Indonesia, which is arguably the most biodiverse country on Earth. Indonesia is rich with wildlife thanks to its geography: some 17,000 islands spanning 1.9 million square kilometers (741,000 square miles) of tropical seas. Accordingly, the country is home to […]
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 […]
Ten years after Lost Africa: a retrospective on indigenous issues

Photograph © Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. Ten years ago, Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson photographed and wrote Lost Africa: The Eyes of Origin, a tribute to the expansive imagination of Africa’s vast landscape, incredible people, and astonishing animals. As Marie and Cyril tell us below in this interview, now is the time to listen, […]
Kala: the face of tigers in peril

In 1864, Walter Campbell was an officer in the British Army, stationed in India when he penned these words in his journal: “Never attack a tiger on foot—if you can help it. There are cases in which you must do so. Then face him like a Briton, and kill him if you can; for if […]
A Turtle’s Tale: researchers discover baby turtles’ kindergarten (photos)

Young loggerhead sea turtle with satellite tag released in the Gulf Stream off the coast of southeast Florida. Photo by: Jim Abernethy. Kate Mansfield, at her lab in the University of Central Florida, is holding a baby loggerhead turtle, smaller than her palm, painting manicure acrylic on its shell. When the base coat dries […]
Photos: mass turtle hatching produces over 200,000 babies

Biologists recently documented one of nature’s least-known, big events. On the banks of the Purus River in the Brazilian Amazon, researchers witnessed the mass-hatching of an estimated 210,000 giant South American river turtles (Podocnemis expansa). The giant South American river turtle, or Arrau, is the world’s largest side-necked turtle and can grow up to 80 […]
Predator appreciation: how saving lions, tigers, and polar bears could rescue ourselves

Lioness feeding. Photo by: Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. In the new book, In Predatory Light: Lions and Tigers and Polar Bears, authors Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Sy Montgomery, and John Houston, and photographers Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson share with us an impassioned and detailed appeal to appreciate three of the world’s biggest predators: lions, […]
Feral crèches: parenting in wild India

The Wildlife Conservation Society-India has been camera trapping wild animals for over 20 years in the Western Ghats. The results reveal the most intimate, fascinating and sometimes comical insights into animal behavior and ecology. These mammals generally become secretive and protective during parenting, and therefore we seldom get to see little ones in the wild. […]
Snow leopards and other mammals caught on camera trap in Uzbekistan (photos)

Scientists knew that snow leopards (Panthera uncia) still survived in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, but late last year they captured the first ever photos. Camera traps in the Gissar Nature Reserve took photos of the big cats, along with bear, lynx, ibex, wild boar, and other mammals. The camera trap program was led […]
Are there economic alternatives to palm oil?
- Replacing rainforests and peatlands with oil palm plantations is ecologically devastating at the local scale.
- For many communities, the decision to embrace converting community forest lands to a plantation boils down to economics.
- However one project I visited in Malaysian Borneo is demonstrating that community-managed ecotourism can yield healthy returns without destroying native forests.

Our favorite nature pictures from 2013

Page 1 of 2 Green basilisk in Costa Rica With 2013 drawing to a close, here are 100 nature pictures taken during my various Mongabay reporting trips in 2013, including Indonesia, the Pacific Northwest, Costa Rica, Namibia, and South Africa. Overall I added more than 15,000 new images — spanning rainforests, deserts and oceans — […]
Our top nature images for 2013 – page 2

Page 2 of 2. Return to page 1 With 2013 drawing to a close, here are 100 nature pictures taken during my various Mongabay reporting trips in 2013. Note: due to the large number of images, it may take a minute for the page to load completely. Page 1 Page 1
Big data shows tropical mammals on the decline

Harnessing big data for conservation. The world’s largest remote camera trap initiative—monitoring 275 species in 17 protected areas—is getting some big data assistance from Hewlett-Packard (HP). To date, the monitoring program known as the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network has taken over 1.5 million photos of animals in 14 tropical countries, but conservationists […]
Sky islands: exploring East Africa’s last frontier
- The montane rainforests of East Africa are little-known to the global public.
- The Amazon and Congo loom much larger in our minds, while the savannas of East Africa remain the iconic ecosystems for the region.
- However these ancient, biodiverse forests – sitting on the tops of mountains rising from the African savanna – are home to some remarkable species, many found only in a single forest.
- A team of international scientists – Michele Menegon, Fabio Pupin, and Simon Loader – have made it their mission to document the little-known reptiles and amphibians in these so-called sky islands, many of which are highly imperiled.

Animal Earth: exploring the hidden biodiversity of our planet

A sea angel, Clione limacine. In this image the grasping tentacles and chitinous hooks are retracted. Photo by: Alexander Semenov. Most of the species on Earth we never see. In fact, we have no idea what they look like, much less how spectacular they are. In general, people can identify relatively few of their backyard […]
Little dude takes the prize: rare dormouse wins BBC camera trap contest (photos)

This photo of Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse has won the 2013 BBC Wildlife Camera-Trap Photo of the Year award. Photo by: Halim Yalçın Diker/Yer Yediuyuru Yok Olmasın, Turkey. The image of a rare dormouse has won the fourth annual BBC Wildlife Camera-Trap Photo of the Year award. Photographed in Turkey, the Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse (Myomimus roachi) […]
New project works to raise the profile of the world’s littlest bear

The world’s least-known bear also happens to be the smallest: sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), so called for the yellowish horseshoe mark on its chest, are found across Southeast Asia. But despite their telltale markings, super-long tongues, and endearing cuteness, sun bears remain little-studied and little-known compared to many of the region’s other large mammals. Now, […]
Camera traps reveal Amur leopards are breeding in China (photos)

Good news today about one of the world’s rarest mammals: camera traps in China’s Wangqing Nature Reserve have captured the first proof of breeding Amur leopards in the country, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The photos show a mother Amur leopard with two cubs. A recent survey by WWF-Russia estimated the total wild […]
Could camera trap videos galvanize the world to protect Yasuni from oil drilling?

Even ten years ago it would have been impossible to imagine: clear-as-day footage of a jaguar plodding through the impenetrable Amazon, or a bicolored-spined porcupine balancing on a branch, or a troop of spider monkeys feeding at a clay lick, or a band of little coatis racing one-by-one from the dense foliage. These are things […]
Central Park Zoo debuts baby snow leopard twins (photos)

Twin snow leopard cubs. Photo by Julie Larsen Maher © Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Central Park Zoo is debuting a pair of snow leopard cubs that were born this past summer. The 30-pound cubs — a male and a female — were the first snow leopards born at the Central Park Zoo. […]
Photo essay: notes from India’s Kabini River

The Nilgiris, also known as the “Blue mountains,” in southern India are an extraordinary mountain range that form one of the most diverse biospheres in the country, the Nilgiri Biosphere. And the Nagarhole National Park, declared a tiger reserve in 1999 is part of this biosphere. The Kabini River flows through the National park […]
Armored giant turns out to be vital ecosystem engineer

Massive, but little-known, the giant armadillo caught on cameratrap. Photo by: Kevin Schafer/The Pantanal Giant Armadillo Project. The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) is not called a giant for nothing: it weighs as much as a large dog and grows longer than the world’s biggest tortoise. However, despite its gigantism, many people in its range—from the […]
Scientists discover cocoa frog and 60 other new species in remote Suriname (photos)

In one of the most untouched and remote rainforests in the world, scientists have discovered some sixty new species, including a chocolate-colored frog and a super-mini dung beetle. The species were uncovered in Southeastern Suriname during a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP); run by Conservation International (CI), RAPS involve sending teams of specialists into little-known ecosystems […]
Camera-traps reveal surprising mammals at remote site in Honduras (photos)

A camera trap survey along the Sikre River in Honduras has discovered that the region is home to a menagerie of rare mammals, including giant anteaters. The survey, published in mongabay.com’s open access journal, Tropical Conservation Science, recorded five cat species in 70 square kilometers. The Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve (RPBR), through which the Sikre […]
Terror from above: eagle tackles deer in stunning camera trap photos

During a routine Amur tiger survey with remote camera traps in December 2011, a few photos gave biologists a shock when they revealed the stunning sight of a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) launching itself on the back of a 7-month old sika deer (Cervus nippon) and bringing down prey that outweighed it by at least […]
Photo essay: India’s Western Ghats is a haven for endemic amphibians

The Western Ghats are a globally recognized repository of biological diversity for our planet. We know very little about most species found here, particularly the ecologically sensitive and spectacularly beautiful 179 amphibians. Astonishingly, 87% of all Western Ghats frogs are endemic and found nowhere else on the planet. Our collaborative research project with Drs Paul […]
Butchering nature’s titans: without the elephant ‘we lose an essential pillar in the ability to wonder’

The world’s largest land animal looms small in the distance. Photo by: Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. Africa’s elephant poaching crisis doesn’t just threaten a species, but imperils one of humanity’s most important links to the natural world and even our collective sanity, according to acclaimed photographers and film-makers, Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. Authors […]
Meet the BABY olinguito

Since its announcement on Thursday, the olinguito—the world’s newest mammal—has taken the world by storm. Hundreds of articles have been written about the new species, while its cuddly appearance has already been made the subject of cartoons. Now, conservationists have released the first photos of a baby olinguito. The new photos come from La Mesenia […]
The hidden Caribbean: sustainable tourism arrives in the Dominican Republic

The crystal-clear waters of Cayo Arena in the Dominican Republic. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Finding true ecotourism companies isn’t easy. While the tourism industry worldwide has latched onto the term ‘ecotourism,’ in many cases it’s more propaganda than reality. Especially in heavily-touristed areas—like the Caribbean Islands—it’s difficult to find efforts that are actually low impact, […]
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 […]
Why bioluminescent fungi glow in the dark

Aristotle (384–322 BC) reported a mysterious light, distinct from fire, emanating from decaying wood. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) mentioned feasting on a glowing, sweet fungus found on trees in France and, in the late fifteenth century, a Dutch consul gave accounts of Indonesian peoples using fungal fruits to illuminate forest pathways. Bioluminescent fungi have […]
Chewbacca bat, beetle with explosive farts among oddities spotted on Mozambique expedition

The “Chewbacca” bat, a cave-dwelling frog, bombardier beetles that unleash explosive farts as a defense mechanism, and a diminutive elephant shrew were among hundreds of species documented during a one-month survey of a park that was ravaged during Mozambique’s 17-year civil war. The findings suggest that biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park in Central Mozambique is […]
Two new arachnids discovered in Brazilian caves (photos)

Scientists have discovered two new species of short-tailed whipscorpions (in the order Schizomida) in limestone caves in Brazil, according to a new paper published in PLoS ONE. The new species—dubbed Rowlandius ubajara and Rowlandius potiguara—add new knowledge to a group of arachnids that is little known in South America outside of the Amazon. “Schizomids occur […]
Scientists discover two mini-spiders in China (photos)

Scientists have uncovered two miniature spiders living on mountains in China’s southern region, one of which is among the smallest spiders recorded worldwide, according to a new paper in ZooKeys. Both spiders belong to the Mysmenidae family, which is made up of mini-spiders with eight eyes. “Although the family Mysmenidae is distributed worldwide, it is […]
Water and biodiversity pictures for the UN International Day for Biological Diversity

Today is the United Nations’ International Day for Biological Diversity, an initiative that aims to raise understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. This year marks the 12th International Day for Biological Diversity. The theme is “Water and Biodiversity”. “Water is central to the well being of people and the planet,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said […]
For Mother’s Day, pictures of mama animals with babies

One of the highlights of traveling to exotic places is seeing mother animals with their babies, so here is a collection of some pictures I’ve taken over the years. They range from amphibians in Panama to orangutans in Borneo. I hope you enjoy. And happy Mother’s Day! Sumatran orangutan with its baby in Indonesia’s […]
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 […]
All the world’s rarest birds in one book: photo contest enlivens new guide

The World’s Rarest Birds is an extraordinary bird book. 590 different bird species are classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered, with many species only existing in captivity. A new book, The World’s Rarest Birds, catalogs all of these species. Each species is shown with remarkable color-photography and illustrations. Threats to species habitat are described, population […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Letting nature do the talking this Earth Day (pictures)

Instead of writing a special article for this Earth Day, we are instead letting nature’s beauty do the talking. The photos below were taken by the Mongabay.com team — Rhett Butler, Jeremy Hance, and Tiffany Roufs — in the twelve months since Earth Day 2012. Countries in this set include the United States (California and […]
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 […]
Into the unknown mountains of Cambodia: rare birds, rice wine, and talk of tigers

Howie Nielsen on a trek earlier this year into a remote portion of Virachey National Park. Photo by: Greg McCann. Ringed with forested mountains forming the borders with Laos and Vietnam, the northeast corner of Cambodia has been an intriguing blank spot among my extensive travels through the country. Nestled up against this frontier is […]
What happened to the elephants of Bouba Ndjida? [warning: graphic photos]

‘And also, they were alive when the poachers started to cut off their faces’—Celine Sissler-Bienvenu. Poached elephant on its knees with another lying dead behind it. Last year poachers killed an estimated 650 elephants in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park. Photo courtesy of IFAW. A new report released by the Wildlife Conservation Society says that […]
Starry frog rediscovered after thought extinct for 160 years (photos)

The starry shrub frog has been rediscovered after believed extinct for nearly 160 years. Photo by: L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe. In 1853 Edward Frederick Kelaart, a physician and naturalist, collected a strange frog on the island of Sri Lanka then a British colony known as Ceylon. The specimen was a large shrub frog (about 2 inches […]
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 […]
Warlords, sorcery, and wildlife: an environmental artist ventures into the Congo

Roger Peet (in blue shirt) posing with Forest Rangers. Photo courtesy of Roger Peet. Last year, Roger Peet, an American artist, traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to visit one of the world’s most remote and wild forests. Peet spent three months in a region that is largely unknown to the outside world, […]
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 […]
Madagascar and Malaysian Borneo nature pictures go online

Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) in Ankarafantsika, Madagascar Yesterday I posted over 10,000 new photos I took during late 2012 in Madagascar and Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The pictures are available in the picture section of mongabay.com: travel.mongabay.com. I spent most of October visiting the island of Madagascar, including the tropical forests of the eastern part of […]
For Valentine’s Day: Heart-shaped lichen in Madagascar

Heart-shaped lichen in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler I photographed this heart-shaped lichen in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park in 2009. I don’t know the species. Any ideas?
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. […]
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 […]
Snake pictures celebrating the Year of the Snake

Sunday, February 10, marks start of Chinese New Year. 2013 is the “Year of the Snake” — specifically the water snake. The last Year of the Snake ran from January 23, 2001 to February 11, 2002. The last Year of the Water Snake took place from February 14, 1953 to February 2, 1954. The Year […]
Animal picture of the day: the world’s biggest cat

An eighteenth-month-old Amur tiger, named Botzman, was recently moved from a zoo in Moscow to Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Siberian tiger, is the world’s biggest cat. An adult male weighs on average about 390 pounds (176 […]
Beyond the resorts: traveling the real and wild Dominican Republic (photos)

Rainforest-covered karst mountains with pristine mangroves beneath characterizes one of the most stunning protected areas in the Caribbean: Los Haitises National Park. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. For its stunning variety of ecosystems, the Dominican Republic is like a continent squished into half an island. Lowland rainforests, cloud forests, pine forests, dry forests, mangroves, savannah, coastal […]
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 […]
Cute animal picture of the day: white-cheeked gibbon baby

Northern white-cheeked gibbon infant born at the Bronx Zoo. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. A northern white-cheeked gibbon pair (Nomascus leucogenys) at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo have given birth to a brand new infant. This is the mother gibbon’s 11th infant. Northern white-cheeked gibbons, which have recently been split from their southern […]
Photos: the top new species discoveries in 2012

Thousands of species were described for the first time by scientists in 2012. Some of these were ‘cryptic species’ that were identified after genetic analysis distinguished them from closely related species, while others were totally novel. Either way, here are some of the “new species” highlights from 2012. Immediately below is a gallery of the […]
Pictures: Christmas-colored animals

There are a surprising number of Christmas-colored animals. Below is a small set of red-and-green creatures photographed by Rhett A. Butler during his reporting travels. Happy holidays from all of us at mongabay.com and best wishes for 2013! Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) in Madagascar. Red-eyed tree frog close-up Red-eyed treefrog Red-eyed treefrog Gold dust day […]
Happy Holidays from Mongabay

Red-eyed tree frog. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Happy holidays and best wishes for 2013 from all of us at Mongabay.com
Best of 2012 – Colorful tiger beetle in Java

Colorful tiger beetle in Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. A colorful beetle in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java in Indonesia. I haven’t […]
Best of 2012 – Voracious insect-killing machine in Borneo

Treefrog in the Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. While most people think of frogs as harmless, to their prey they are highly-effective killing machines. This […]
Best of 2012 – Borneo rainforest

Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Lowland rainforest in Sabah, on the island of Borneo. Most of Borneo’s old-growth lowland rainforests have been destroyed since 1980. […]
Best of 2012 – Where rainforest meets the sea in Madagascar

Tampolo Marine Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Tampolo Marine Park is located on Madagascar’s famed Masoala Peninsula. Once a logging concession, the forest is now recovering […]
Best of 2012 – Conversion of lowland rainforest in Borneo for palm oil production

Conversion of lowland rainforest in Borneo for palm oil production. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Aerial picture of forest clearing for an oil palm plantation in Malaysian […]
Best of 2012 – Draco lizard hanging on a twig

Draco lizard at night in Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Draco lizard at night in Sabah, Malaysia.
Best of 2012 – Yellow land planarian

Yellow land planaria on Peucang Island, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Yellow jungle planaria on Peucang Island, Indonesia
Best of 2012 – White sand beach in Indonesia

Beach on Peucang Island, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. White sand beach on Peucang Island, off the western tip of Java, Indonesia.
Best of 2012 – Forest in Arizona

Forest in the West Fork of Oak Creek, Coconino National Forest, Arizona. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Forest in Coconino National Forest, Arizona.
Best of 2012 – Can you find the camouflaged frog?

Stream frog on Nosy Mangabe. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a well-camouflaged frog on Nosy Mangabe, an island in the Bay on Antongil, Madagascar. Do […]
Best of 2012 – Baobab in Madagascar

Diego Suarez Baobab (Adansonia suarezensis) in Ankarana Special Reserve. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a baobab tree in Ankarana Special Reserve.
Best of 2012 – Mating frogs in the Borneo rainforest

Mating frogs in the Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. These frogs were in amplexus on the forest floor near the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysian […]
Best of 2012 – Limestone cave in Bonito, Brazil

Abismo de Anhumas cavern. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is Abismo de Anhumas cavern near Bonito, Brazil.
Best of 2012 – Backlit forest dragon in Borneo

Backlit forest dragon in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a forest dragon taken on a night hike at MESCOT on the Kinabatangan River.
Best of 2012 – Canopy of a Banyan tree in Hawaii

Canopy of a Banyan tree in Hawaii. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the view up the main trunk of a Banyan tree on the Big […]
Best of 2012 – a cryptic gecko in Madagascar

Uroplatus gecko in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the cryptic Mossy Leaf-Tail Gecko (Uroplatus sikorae) near Perinet, Madagascar.
Best of 2012 – Jungle river in Borneo

Kinabatangan River in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the world-famous Kinabatangan River near its mouth. The Kinabatangan is renowned for its high density […]
Best of 2012 – Glowing red-orange fungi in Madagascar

Glowing red-orange fungi in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is some type of fungi on the Masoala Peninsula in Madagascar. More pictures of fungi.
Best of 2012 – California redwood forest

Redwood forest in Muir Woods National Monument, Marin County, CA. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument in Marin […]
Best of 2012 – Male crowned lemur in Madagascar

Crowned lemur in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a male crowned lemur in Madagascar’s Ankarana Special Reserve.
Best of 2012 – Snorkeling in the ‘natural aquarium’, a freshwater river in Brazil

The natural aquarium in Bonito, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the ‘natural aquarium’ in Bonito, Brazil. Bonito is famous for its clear water rivers, […]
Best of 2012 – Forest dragon in Borneo

Forest dragon in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is an agamid lizard in Danum Valley, an area of rich rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. I […]
Best of 2012 – Rainforest of Madagascar’s Masoala Peninsula

Rainforest of Madagascar’s Masoala Peninsula. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Home to rainforests, coral reefs, and rich marine life in the Bay of Antongil, Madagascar’s Masoala Peninsula […]
Best of 2012 – Giant day gecko in Madagascar

Giant day gecko in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Giant Madagascar day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis) in Ankarana Special Reserve in northern Madagascar. The […]
Best of 2012 – Emerging cicada in Java

Emerging cicada in Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a cicada emerging from its nymph skin on Peucang Island, off the western tip of Java, […]
Cute animal picture of the day: cheetahs in the snow

Cheetah cub not certain about snow. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Cheetah cubs at the Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo attempt to make sense of snow. Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), currently found in many African countries as well as Iran, are generally warm weather animals. Cheetahs are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, […]
Best of 2012 – Evidence of logging vs. conservation as seen above a river in Borneo

Where two rivers join in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This image shows the stark contrast between two rivers: one muddy where logging occurs upstream; the […]
Best of 2012 – Female black lemur in Madagascar

Female black lemur on Nosy Komba, an island off northern Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Female black lemur on Nosy Komba, an island […]
Best of 2012 – Sunset off the tip of Java

Sunset off the tip of Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a view from Peucang Island, off the western tip of Java, Indonesia. More photos […]
New Guinea singing dog photographed in the wild for the first time

Cropped close-up of New Guinea singing dog. This is arguably the first time the dingo-like canine has been photographed in the wild. Photo by: Tom Hewitt. A rarely seen canine has been photographed in the wild, likely for the first time. Tom Hewitt, director of Adventure Alternative Borneo, photographed the New Guinea singing dog during […]
Best of 2012 – Borneo frog

Tree frog in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a tree frog I photographed in Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Does anyone recognize the […]
Best of 2012 – Cinnamon Roller in Madagascar

Cinnamon Roller (Eurystomus glaucurus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Cinnamon Roller in Ankarafantsika National Park. These birds are very common in the camp ground […]
Best of 2012 – Nile River sunset in Aswan

Sunset over the Nile River in Egypt. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is the view from Aswan, Egypt in early January. More photos from Egypt
Best of 2012 – Turquoise water of a collapsed cave in Brazil

Turquoise blue water of Bonito’s Lagoa Misteriosa, a collapsed limestone cave. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I’ll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is Lagoa Misteriosa, a collapsed limestone cave near Bonito, Brazil. […]
Photos: Chinese leopard wins camera trap contest

A young male leopard (Panthera pardus) in China’s Shuishui River Reserve is this year’s contest winner. Photo by: Zhou Zhefeng/BBC Wildlife Magazine. The third annual BBC Wildlife Magazine Camera Trap Photo of the Year contest has produced some stunning and surprising images, including a snow leopard sticking its tongue out, a rare giant pangolin, and […]
Legislation leaves future of world’s largest temperate rainforest up in the air

Stream and forest in the Tongass National Forest, the world largest temperate rainforest located in Southeast Alaska. Photo by: Matthew Dolkas. Although unlikely to pass anytime in the near term, recurring legislation that would hand over 80,000 acres of the Tongass Rainforest to a Native-owned logging corporation has put local communities on guard in Southeast […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cute animal picture of the day: baby giraffe

A-month-old reticualted male giraffe born at Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo’s. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata), one of nine subspecies, are found in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The world’s tallest land animal, giraffes can stand as high as 5–6 meters (16–20 feet). Giraffes are listed as Least […]
Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Borneo

Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Glowing fungi are found in tropical forests around the world. They are common enough that their bioluminescence has a term: foxfire. This particular mushroom, found along the Kinabatangan in the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, is likely a species of Mycena, more than 30 types […]
Crowned lemur in Madagascar

Crowned lemur at a camp site in Ankarana National Park, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
The minuscule leaf chameleon in Madagascar

Leaf chameleon (Brookesia species) in the hand of a forest guide on Nosy Mangabe, Madagascar.. Photo by Rhett A. Butler This is a full grown chameleon. Brookesia are among the smallest lizards on the planet.
The Fossa, Madagascar’s largest carnivore

A captive fossa near Andasibe, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler The fossa is Madagascar’s largest carnivore. While it looks like a cross between a puma and a dog, the fossa is actually related to the mongoose. It is one of the few animals in Madagascar that hunts lemurs. You can learn more about the […]
Picture of the day: cheetah cubs wrestle Halloween pumpkins

Zookeepers at the Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo gave pumpkins to six five-month old cheetah cubs and watched them run wild. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. The fastest land animal in the world, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) can exceed 110 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour) in short bursts. This speed allows them […]
Gorgeous Parson’s chameleon

Parson’s chameleon near Analamazoatra Reserve.
Ankarana Sportive Lemur in Madagascar

Ankarana Sportive Lemur (Lepilemur ankaranensis) in Ankarana, Madagascar. I just returned from 3+ weeks in Madagascar where I was looking into the illegal rosewood trade and other stories. I’ll be posting a picture a day for the couple of weeks as a preview to the set that will eventually be online.
Photo: high-altitude bird rediscovered after 80 years

The world’s first photo of a Sillem’s mountain finch. This is a male taken at 5,000 meters above sea level. Photo by: Yann Muzika. In 1929 the U.S. Stock Market collapsed, the Geneva Convention set standards for prisoners of war, the first Academy Awards was celebrated, and Jérôme Alexander Sillem collected two bird specimens on […]
After seven year search, scientists film cryptic predator in Minas Gerais

Still from camera trap video. Bush dog on left side. Photo courtesy of WWF Brasil. South America’s rare and little-known bush dog (Speothos venaticus) looks like a miniature dachshund who went bad: leaner, meaner, and not one to cuddle on your lap, the bush dog is found in 11 South American countries, but scientists believe […]
Picture of the day: a bizarre baby bird with oral ‘fingerprints’

A crested coua chick at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Central Park Zoo showing off its unique oral markings. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. The crested coua (Coua cristata) is native to island of Madagascar. Unlike much of Madagascar’s wildlife, the crested coua is not considered threatened with extinction, but is listed as Least Concern by […]
Cute animal picture of the day: baby pygmy hippo

Eight week old pygmy hippo calf, Georgina, born at Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. A new pygmy hippo calf has been born at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Named Georgina, the calf is the second for parents Flora and Tapon. Found in the rainforests […]
Photos: emperor penguins take first place in renowned wildlife photo contest

This was the image Paul had been so hoping to get: a sunlit mass of emperor penguins charging upwards, leaving in their wake a crisscross of bubble trails. The location was near the emperor colony at the edge of the frozen area of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. It was into the only likely exit hole […]
Jaguar skull

The skull of America’s biggest cat in Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List. The species is suffering from habitat loss and persecution. To see see more photos from Guyana: Guyana.
Picture of the day: the maned lioness

A maned lioness in Botswanna’s Okavango Delta. Photo by: Deon de Villers. The title is not a typo. Sometimes lioness grow manes as rich and large as males, and there appears to be larger proportion of such ‘maned lionesses’ in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Luke Hunter, head of the cat NGO Panthera, told National Geographic News […]
Cute animal picture of the day: baby walruses on the mend

Mitik, an orphaned male, will soon make his way from Alaska to New York City. Mitik is still having health problems. Photo courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Two walrus male calves were discovered over the summer near Barrow, Alaska, dehydrated and ill, after their separate mothers perished. The calves have been receiving care at […]
A common sight: the grey squirrel

For those living in North America, this animal is one of the most commonly sighted: the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). It is also an invasive species in Britain, Ireland, Italy, and South Africa. Animal photographed in northern Minnestoa. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. More Minnesota photos.
Cute animal picture of the day: red panda kits

Twin red panda girls were recently born at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. They have been named Ying and Yang. Photo by: ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Although called red pandas, these Asian animals are neither pandas nor bears, and despite a resemblance to raccoons they are not closely related to them either. Red […]
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 […]
Cute animal picture of the day: new gorilla baby and mom

his the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (DWCT) first gorilla baby in nine years. Keepers have yet to establish if its a male or female. Photo courtesy of DWCT. Click to enlarge. A baby western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) was born recently at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (DWCT) to mother, Hlala Kahilli and first-time […]
Tarantula laying eggs

An unidentified species of tarantula laying eggs at night in Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. More Ecuador photos.
Cute animal picture of the day: caracal kitten in Yemen

Close-up of a caracal kitten in Yemen taken by camera trap. Photo by: the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard. The first ever research project on the caracal (Caracal caracal) in Yemen has taken an astounding photo of a mother caracal and her kitten in the Hawf Protected Area. Conducted by largely local […]
Looking skyward in a bamboo grove

Bamboo forest in Haleakala National Park Maui, Hawaii. More Maui photos.
Sunrise on the Hana coast of Maui

Sunrise on the Hana coast of Maui. More Maui photos.
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 […]
Cute animal picture of the day: tiger triplets

The Siberian tiger triplets were born to parents, Katharina and Sasha. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS. Last month, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo saw the arrival of three Siberian tiger cubs (Panthera tigris altaica). Also known as Amur tigers, they are the world’s largest cats with adult males weighing up to 318 kilograms […]
Rainforest canopy tree in Sumatra, Indonesia

Compass tree in the Indonesian rainforest on Sumatra. The canopy is the richest region of the diverse rainforest, and ranges in thickness from 10-40 feet (3-12 m). Countless species usually thought of as ground dwellers have adapted to life in the canopy—including worms, crabs, frogs, kangaroos, anteaters, and porcupines—where they feed on the abundance of […]
Baby sea turtle headed out to sea

Baby Olive ridley sea turtle headed out to sea in Costa Rica. Between natural predators and hazards, baby sea turtles face steep odds — only one in 5,000-10,000 survive to adulthood. These odds are made worse by threats from humans: coastal development, fishing nets, garbage, pollution, and domesticated animals, to name a few.
Industrial plantations in the tropics

Industrial rubber plantation near Villavicencio, Colombia. Several social and environmental groups are commemorating “International Day against Monoculture Tree Plantations” today, September 21, due to concerns about deforestation, pollution, and displacement of local communities. Plantations, including timber plantations and oil palm estates, expanded from 184 million hectares in 1990 to 279 million hectares by 2010, according […]
The Borugo, a rodent of unusual size from South America

Borugo in Colombia. The Borugo or Mountain Paca is a large seed-eating rodent found in the montane forests of South America. It is commonly hunted for its meat. More photos from Colombia.
Green iguana on pink flowers

Young green iguana in Eastern Colombia. When visiting Casanare in Eastern Colombia I noticed this young iguana in a flowering shrub. I couldn’t believe my luck — the color contrast was stunning. And surprisingly, the iguana showed little fear, allowing me to approach for this closeup shot using a macro lens. In case you don’t […]
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: […]
Cute picture of the day: armadillo carrying baby

A six-banded armadillo mother moves her baby in her mouth. Photo courtesy of Embiara Lodge. Click to enlarge. A rare image of a female six-banded armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus) moving her image was captured by the Embiara Lodge in Brazil’s Pantanal. “First, it looked as if she was carrying a round fruit in her mouth (as […]
Tree-climbing lion of Uganda

Tree-climbing lion of Uganda. The lions of Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda spend an unusual amount of time in trees. It’s unclear why they exhibit this behavior, but the park is now famous for its “tree-climbing lions”. More pictures from Uganda.
Blue Monkey on Mt Kenya

The blue monkey — also known as Sykes’ Monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis) — on Mt Kenya. The Kenyan government recently announced plans to build an electric fence around Mt. Kenya to discourage animals from venturing into farms and populated areas around Africa’s second largest peat. Once completed the fence will be 400 km (250 miles) long […]
Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef, yet despite its size, scientists warn it is particularly vulnerable to human activities, including agricultural pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that are acidifying the ocean and raising temperatures.
Red Panda Day

Today is International Red Panda Day, which aims help to raise awareness about red pandas. Dozens of zoos around the world are participating in this year’s event. This Red Panda Day the Red Panda Network is working to mobilize support for the Red Panda Network Community Conservation Resource Center in Nepal. “The goal of the […]
African elephant in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park

African elephant. An African elephant in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. This elephant was blocking the road so we waited about 20 minutes until it went on its way. More pictures from Uganda.
The Magnificent Red-eyed Tree Frog

Red-eyed tree frog. The red-eyed tree frog is one of my favorite animals. Contrary to popular belief, it is not toxic or dangerous. The red-eyed tree frog lives in Central America and the Pacific coast of Colombia. It is bred widely in captivity for the pet trade and is not endangered. This frog’s red eyes […]
Resurrection of the nature photoblog

Forest on Sapi island off the coast of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. I’ve taken lots of photos in two years since I discontinued this section of mongabay — in fact I’ve posted more than 20,000 pictures during that time. Starting today, I’m re-launching the inspire photoblog to highlight places, people, and wildlife I’ve photographed during my […]
Pictures: Bolivian park may have the world’s highest biodiversity

A female blue crowned manakin (Lepidothrix coronata) is one of over a thousand known bird species in Madidi National Park. Photo by: Mileniusz Spanowicz/WCS. With over 90 species of bat, 50 species of snake, 300 fish, 12,000 plants, and 11 percent of the world’s bird species, Madidi National Park in Bolivia may be the world’s […]
NASA image shows why San Francisco is foggy

Image of San Francisco taken on August 16th. Image by NASA. Click to enlarge. The short answer to why San Francisco, California is foggy? The Pacific Ocean’s marine layer. A new image by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite shows the marine layer—cool, heavy air produced by a colder ocean surface meeting warmer air—encroaching on the metropolis. […]
Photos: camera traps capture wildlife bonanza in Borneo forest corridor

The Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), a prospective subspecies of the Asian elephant, is the world’s smallest. Photo by: Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC). Camera traps placed in a corridor connecting two forest fragments have revealed (in stunning visuals) the importance of such linkages for Borneo’s imperiled mammals and […]
Picture of the day: baby Grevy’s zebra

Three-week old Grevy’s zebra at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Photo by: ZSL. Not only is the Grevy’s zebra (Equus grevyi) the biggest of the three zebra species, it is also the world’s largest wild horse species. Once roaming throughout the horn of Africa, today the species is confined to a few […]
Teetering on the edge: the world’s 100 most endangered species (photos)
- From the Baishan fir (five left in the world) to the Sumatran rhino (around 250), a new report highlights the world’s top 100 most endangered species, according to the the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
- The list spans the taxonomic gamut, from fungi (Cryptomyces maximus) to amphibians (the Table Mountain ghost frog) to flowers (the Cayman Islands ghost orchid) and much more (see full list at the end of the article).

Unidentified poodle moth takes Internet by storm

The now famous poodle moth, species unknown. Photo by: Arthur Anker. A white moth from Venezuela that bears a striking resemblance to a poodle has become an Internet sensation, after cryptozoologist Karl Shuker posted about the bizarre-looking species on his blog. Photographed in 2009 in Venezulea’s Canaima National Park in the Gran Sabana region by […]
Picture of the day: Yao Ming with baby elephant orphaned by ivory trade

Yao Ming walks with Kinango, an infant elephant whose mother was killed by poachers at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. Photo by: Kristian Schmidt/WildAid. Former NBA Basketball player and Olympian, Yao Ming is taking his first trip through Africa in order to see the on-the-ground impacts of the black-market ivory and rhino trades […]
Animal picture of the day: Critically Endangered macaws

Two blue-throated macaws perch on a branch in the historic aviary at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. Found in only one location in northern Bolivia, the blue-throated macaw (Ara glaucogularis) is thought to number little more than 100 individuals in the wild. However the species is protected from utter […]
Pictures of the day: NASA captures stunning images of U.S. wildfires at night

Three large wildfires in Idaho. Image courtesy of NASA. Click to enlarge. NASA is now able to capture satellite images of wildfires—at night. Using the The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (S-NPP), which has instruments that are particularly sensitive to light, NASA was able to take images of fires burning nocturnally across the American West […]
Cute animal pictures of the day: gorilla toddler saved from illegal pet trade

Named Afangui this gorilla toddler now resides in a gorilla sanctuary in Cameroon. Photo courtesy of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). A two-year-old western lowland gorilla female was recently confiscated from a beach restaurant, popular with expats, in Equatorial Guinea. “The oil boom in Equatorial Guinea has resulted in an influx of expatriate workers […]
Animal pictures of the day: booming captive breeding for Mauritius skinks

Orange-tailed skink hatchlings meet their match in a matchstick. Photo courtesy of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT). Three female orange-tailed skinks skinks have produced 16 skink babies in just four months, according to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), which is captive breeding the Critically Endangered species. The breeding efforts are all the more […]
King of the jungle: lions discovered in rainforests

Female lion peers through the thick foliage of a montane rainforest in Ethiopia. Photo by: Bruno D’Amicis/NABU. Calling the African lion (Panthera leo) the ‘king of the jungle’ is usually a misnomer, as the species is almost always found in savannah or dry forests, but recent photos by the Germany-based Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union […]
Cute animal pictures of the day: Humboldt penguin chick meets water

Keeper, Vicky Fryson, helps a Humboldt penguin chick, Pickle, test the water for the first time. Photo by: Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) London Zoo. Humboldt penguins was found along the western edge of South America in Chile and Argentina. They face a barrage of threats including overfishing, drowning as bycatch, El Nino conditions that […]
Cute animal pictures of the day: smooth-coated otter cubs

Two male smooth-coated otter cubs were recently born at the Colchester Zoo. Photo by: Colchester Zoo. Smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) are found from India to Sumatra. They are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List due to destruction of wetlands for hydropower, agriculture, and other development. Widespread pollution and a decline in prey pose […]
Pictures of the day: pangolins saved in Thailand from poachers

A rescued Sunda pangolin. Photo by: FREELAND Foundation. Earlier this summer, 110 Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) were rescued by Thai customs officials from poachers in a pickup truck. While the driver of the vehicle escaped, a passenger was arrested, but released after paying a fine of $75,000, reports the NGO FREELAND Foundation. Pangolins are eaten […]
Cute animal pictures of the day: lynx triplets

Eurasian lynx triplets were recently born at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Photo by: ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. With a massive range, spanning from scattered populations in Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is a highly successful mid-sized predator. Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, the […]
Cute animal picture of the day: spur-winged lapwing chick

Spur-winged lapwing chick. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. A baby spur-winged lapwing (Vanellus spinosus) hatched recently at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. Spur-winged lapwings are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but some populations breed in the Mediterranean. It is named ‘spur-winged’ for a spur hidden in its wing, which is uses to fight off predators […]
Cute animal picture of the day: African penguin chick

This African penguin chick is the first one to be born at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) New York Aquarium in 15 years. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. Found along the coast of southern Africa, the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List largely due to overfishing, which is […]
Cute animal picture of the day: sitatunga calf

A baby sitatunga born recently at Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. The sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) is a swamp-dwelling antelope that makes its home in Central and Southern Africa, including the Congo Rainforest. They have waterproof coats and often take to the water to help avoid predators. The […]
Cute animal picture of the day: baby Yemen chameleons

Baby Yemen chameleon. Photo courtesy of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Ten Yemen chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) were recently born at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo. A popular pet species, the chameleons, also known as veiled chameleons, still thrive in the mountainous wilds of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It is listed as Least Concern by […]
Saving ‘Avatar Grove’: the battle to preserve old-growth forests in British Columbia
- A picture is worth a thousand words: this common adage comes instantly to mind when viewing T.J. Watt’s unforgettable photos of lost trees.
- For years, Watt has been photographing the beauty of Vancouver Island’s ancient temperate rainforests, and documenting their loss to clearcut logging.
- The photographer and environmental activist recently helped co-found the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a group devoted to saving the island’s and British Columbia’s (BC) last old-growth while working with the logging industry to adopt sustainable practices.
- This February the organization succeeded in saving Avatar Grove—which was only discovered in 2009—from being clearcut.

Animal picture of the day: leopard with giant prey

BPL-223 with the carcass of gaur calf, an animal that may be twice the size of the leopard. Photo by: Vinay S. Kumar. Click to enlarge. It’s true: a leopard cannot change its spots—even after eight years! Using a computer program that looks at leopard spot patterns, researchers were able to identify the above leopard, […]
Pictures of the day: sea turtle and whale shark release in China

Green sea turtle released back into its natural habitat after being raised for 10 months. Photo by: Sea Turtles 911. Earlier this month, Sea Turtles 911, a conservation organization in China, released two green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and a juvenile whale shark (Rhincodon typus) back into the wild. “These two animals share the ocean, […]
Animal picture of the day: flamingos take flight in the Bahamas

Flamingos head across the lakebed toward the corral. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. Click to enlarge. Scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups have banded nearly 200 American flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber) in the Inagua National Park in the Bahamas in order to monitor the long-term population. American flamingoes, also known as Caribbean […]
Cute animal picture of the day: baby bamboo lemur

A newborn greater bamboo lemur baby at the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. Photo by: Dave Rolfe. Greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus) are one of over a hundred lemur species found only on the island of Madagascar. Listed as Critically Endangered, there are only around 150 individuals known in the wild, making them one of […]
‘Beautiful’ new snake discovered in Cambodia (photo)

New species: the Cambodian kukri. Photo by: Photo: Neang Thy/FFI. Scientists have discovered a new snake species in the biodiverse rainforests of the Cardamom Mountains, reports Fauna & Flora International (FFI). The new reddish-hued serpent has been named after its country of origin by native herpetologist Neang Thy: the Cambodian kukri (Oligodon kampucheaensis). “Cambodian science […]
Cute animal picture of the day: spotted hyena cub

Spotted hyena cub (sex not yet determined) born at Colchester Zoo. Photo courtesy of Colchester Zoo. Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are found across sub-Saharan Africa. Adept hunters, hyenas can also survive by scavenging and opportunism. They form the largest packs of any carnivore, which are run by matriarchs. Although, they resemble dogs, the hyena is […]
Animal picture of the day: the greater roadrunner

Male greater roadrunner at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. Charging at speeds up to 26 miles an hour (42 kilometers), the greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) chases down prey like lizards and snakes. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, and is found across the Southwestern […]
Cute animal picture of the day: stranded sea lion finds new home

This young California sea lion was saved after stranding herself one too many times. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. A young female California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), who had stranded herself three times, has found a new home at the Bronx Zoo. After her most recent escapade of showing up at a beachside bar in […]
Pictures of the day: LEGO animals storm Bronx Zoo

LEGO tiger. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. LEGO animals are debuting next to the real things at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo this summer. LEGO artists have created a menagerie of animals including lemurs, a tiger, hornbills, rhinos, gorillas, flamingoes, a giraffe, and a zebra. The exhibition runs until September 3rd. “The safari brings […]
Animal picture of the day: Sunda clouded leopard in Borneo

A Sunda clouded leopard caught on camera trap. The Sunda clouded leopard was only recently declared a distinct species from its mainland Asian relative. See close-up below. Photo by: Sabah Wildlife Department. The Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) is the largest wild cat in Borneo and is classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red list […]
Animal picture of the day: rare image of Asiatic cheetah and cubs

A rare image of a mother Iranian cheetah and its three cubs. Photo by: Javad Shokouhi/Yazd DOE-CACP. The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), also known as the Iranian cheetah, is one the world’s rarest cat subspecies with somewhere between 70-110 individuals left. No surprisingly it is considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. “This […]
In pictures: Rainforests to palm oil

Borneo rainforest. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. In late May I had the opportunity to fly from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo to Imbak Canyon and back. These are some of my photos. Note that higher quality versions of these photos (and 2,500 more) will be posted on mongabay.com in coming weeks. UPDATE 7/3/12: To […]
Cute animal picture of the day: dromedary camel baby

A male dromedary camel calf was born at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo. Photo by: Julis Larsen Maher/WCS. The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) is the world’s largest camel. It’s easily recognizable by its single hump. Today the species is almost entirely domesticated and is found throughout Africa and the Middle East. The one […]

Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia