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By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For much of the 20th century, Cuba’s spiders and scorpions rece…
By Shreya Dasgupta
Rising sea levels due to climate change could damage hundreds of thousands of properties and millions of hectares of land along Australia’s coastline by 2100, according to a recent study. This coul…
By Mongabay.com
At least 20 endangered Ganges river dolphins still survive in Bangladesh’s extremely polluted Buriganga River, a 12-month study found, reports contributor Md Jahidul Islam for Mongabay. Skirting th…
By Hans Nicholas Jong
- Indonesia plans to create a new agency to restore and manage peatlands prone to burning, in a repeat of a measure it took in response to the severe fire season of 2015.
- The new agency will replace an older one that shuttered at the end of 2024, raising questions about why its predecessor was allowed to die off and what the new body will do differently.
- The previous agency’s restoration efforts helped reduce fire hotspots, but damaged infrastructure and continued land conversion have limited lasting ecological recovery.
- Experts and environmental groups say the new agency must prioritize fire prevention and landscape-scale restoration, with clear authority, funding, and accountability.
By Gerald Flynn
- Large volumes of critical minerals are being imported from Myanmar into Thailand and then mostly resold to China.
- At least six Thai rivers have been found to be contaminated with heavy metals linked to mining operations in Myanmar.
- Data suggests companies in Myanmar, Thailand and China are profiting from an industry that has created a public health crisis, impacting food and water security for hundreds of thousands across eastern Myanmar and northern Thailand.
- Civil society and Thai political groups are calling for an end to imports of minerals mined in Myanmar in response to the ongoing river pollution crisis.
By Rhett Ayers Butler
With illegal logging and agricultural expansion closing in on their lands, four Indigenous Wounaan and Emberá-Wounaan villages in Panama’s Darién forest started a biodiversity monitoring project …
By Associated Press
Researchers have found that wolves brought to Isle Royale in 2018 are likely to survive but face challenges from inbreeding and isolation. The island had only two inbred wolves in 2016, so officials …
By Ruth Kamnitzer
- In August, conservation organizations released another 650 southern mountain yellow-legged frogs into the San Gabriel Mountains, another step forward in reintroduction efforts for this highly endangered species in Southern California in the U.S.
- Once abundant across its range, the species has seen dramatic declines from invasive fish species, climate change impacts, and the deadly chytrid fungus that is wiping out amphibians worldwide.
- The August releases involved the Aquarium of the Pacific, Los Angeles Zoo and the U.S. Geological Society. Other institutions and agencies also released captive-bred frogs and tadpoles in 2026, at other sites.
- With researchers actively exploring ways to manage or mitigate the impact of chytrid fungus, a major obstacle to recovery for this species, reintroductions remain a key tool to keep frogs on the landscape, experts say.
By Keith Anthony Fabro
- A new study systematically mapped likely Philippine eagle nesting habitat on Mindanao, the Philippines’ second-largest island and the species’ main stronghold.
- Approved mining concessions overlap with 41% of highly suitable nesting habitat and 65% of its core areas, the researchers found, while only 35% of highly suitable habitat identified across the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor lies within protected areas.
- Indigenous ancestral domains separately overlap with 65% of core high-quality nesting habitat, highlighting their importance to the species’ conservation.
- The study authors say their findings can help identify priority spots for conservation interventions.
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
- Sri Lanka will host the first ever dedicated global conference on snakes from Oct. 1-4 in Kandy, central Sri Lanka.
- There will be several scientific sessions including plenaries, symposia, workshops and special events attended by more than 500 researchers and conservationists from 25 countries.
- Sri Lanka is home to some 112 snake species and is a biodiversity hotspot, with more than 56% of the country’s snake species found nowhere else on Earth.
By Alex Megerle
- The global wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar industry that mixes legal business and illegal transactions. It’s a major driver of biodiversity loss, and even legal trade is often unsustainable.
- Canada is a significant player but struggles to enforce a key law that bans the import of wildlife taken illegally in other countries.
- This gap allows various protected species to be brought into Canada illegally, sold and sometimes bred.
By Constance Malleret
- The 2024 inauguration of the Chinese-built Chancay Port in Peru has reinforced calls to build road infrastructure through the Amazon, connecting Brazil to the Pacific coast, with authorities in Acre, on Brazil’s border with Peru, wanting their state to be part of a strategic corridor to the Pacific.
- Acre already has a road connection to Peru through the BR-317 highway, but local politicians running for election this year defend the extension of the BR-364 from Cruzeiro do Sul in Acre to Pucallpa in Peru’s Ucayali department, saying it will ease connectivity for local communities and encourage economic development.
- A new report from NGO Amazon Conservation argues that this will increase areas at risk of forest loss and could drive additional deforestation of up to 68,500 hectares (169,270 acres) per year, while threatening Acre’s multimillion-dollar revenue from the sale of carbon credits, according to the report.
- Uncertainty around whether the extension of the BR-364 will go ahead is already driving land speculation between the town of Mâncio Lima and the Serra do Divisor National Park and encouraging criminal groups that are already established along the border, local environmentalists say.
By Izzy Sasada
12 critically endangered Nubian Giraffes were recently relocated from their home at Murchison Falls National Park to a reserve over 100km away. One of the reasons? Murchison Falls is now being opened…
By Sean Mowbray
- A potentially historic El Niño event is building in the Pacific Ocean and already impacting the globe. Based on most recent models, this year’s event could be the largest ever recorded.
- Recent studies suggest that climate change is increasing the intensity of El Niños. A paper analyzing coral samples from the Galapagos Islands found that intensity has increased 36.5% in the last four decades.
- Modeling suggests that climate change will continue to intensify El Niños into the future and change their frequency. Though this is still debated, with some models showing more limited influence.
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. On April 9, a farmer named Rupalal heard noises in a well at his …
By Naina Rao
Central Tokyo has experienced 35 consecutive days of rainfall, setting the longest continuous rainy streak since records began in 1886, reported local media citing Japan’s weather agency. Rains beg…
By Cecil Dzwowa
- In the first half 2026, the local council of one district in southeastern Zimbabwe recorded 317 cases of human-wildlife conflict, including attacks on livestock by predators.
- Edson Mabika says he used to lose four or five animals this way every year — until he took an ex-ranger’s advice and painted black and white eyes on the backsides of his livestock.
- Since then, he told Mongabay, he’s lost just one goat and a lamb.
By Bobby Bascomb
By Mike DiGirolamo
For the first time in 150 years, kiwi once again live in the hills surrounding Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. More than 250 manu (“birds” in the Māori language) were successfully translocated…
By Kingsley Charles
- New research reveals that pastoralist communities are turning to wild plants to cope with food shortages in northern Uganda.
- As in Uganda, experts reckon that edible wild plants can be a boon to countries like Nigeria, where roughly 15% of the population faces serious hunger.
- The study’s findings raise a broader question: Will communities with less richer botanical diversity be less capable of coping with food crises?
By Elodie Toto
A case has been brought to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) over the Kenyan government’s plan to build a 2,000-5,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bondo, near the eastern shore of Victori…
By Associated Press
PUERTO SAN CARLOS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Polo has made landfall in Baja California, Mexico, with powerful winds and flash flooding. The Category 2 hurricane struck early Tuesday near Las Barranca…
By David Brown
Giraffes living in the South Sudan’s war-torn savannas are genetically healthy and connected to nearby giraffe populations by gene flow, despite decades of conflict, recent research suggests. These…
By María Paula Rubiano A.
- Using satellite data and water samples taken by ships over the last 40 years, researchers employed machine learning to untangle the history of marine heat waves hitting simultaneously with acidification events.
- They found that these compound events happen more frequently than would be expected by chance, attributing them to ocean physics that allow marine heat waves to become unusually acidic in some regions.
- The resulting database captured some “double-hit” heat-acidity events that have been largely ignored in the scientific literature, such as a massive 2016 event in the Southern Pacific Ocean that lasted eight months.
- Experts say more research is urgently needed to better understand how these compound events affect marine life and fisheries.
By Naina Rao
The World Health Organization has officially recognized Bhutan for eliminating dog-transmitted human rabies as a public health problem — in time for World Rabies Day on Sept. 28. According to the…
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In 2022, poachers had taken 14 white rhinos from private farms in…
By Gerald Flynn
- Over the course of 2025, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam lost a combined 746,168 hectares of tree cover (1.8 million acres), including more than 154,000 hectares (380,000 acres) of primary forest, according to Mongabay’s analysis of data published by the University of Maryland and Global Nature Watch.
- However, the rate of deforestation in each country dropped when compared to 2024, continuing a decline that data show started in 2023.
- Experts say fewer wildfires, stricter enforcement and lower market rates for commodities could explain the drop.
- Mongabay’s analysis also found almost 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of forest loss occurred within protected areas, where deforestation risks should be lower.
By David Brown
Plastic pollution could disrupt the bioluminescent light produced by deep-sea organisms, researchers warn in a letter in the journal Cambridge Prisms: Plastics. When deep-sea organisms ingest plastic…
By Elodie Toto
Lulingu, a Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), was reintroduced to Virunga National Park, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2024. In May 2026, Lulingu gave birth to a new baby, b…
By Naina Rao
A giant octopus devouring a jellyfish. An ultra-fast gossamer worm. These are just a couple of the 31 new species scientists discovered on a recent expedition off the coast of Brazil. They explored t…
By Malaka Rodrigo
- In Sri Lanka, the traditional snake charming culture is fast fading as changing livelihoods, modern entertainment and attitudes toward wildlife reshape the island’s nomadic community, the Ahikuntika tribe.
- During the act of snake charming, cobras do not respond to the music itself, but to the movement of the charmer and instrument, which they perceive as a potential threat, herpetologists say.
- Breaking a cobra’s venom fangs, which the snake charmers do, does not necessarily prevent it from developing replacement fangs, while deliberate fang removal can cause injury and raise animal-welfare concerns, conservationists say.
- Researchers recommend using the existing traditional knowledge of snakes to be redirected toward conservation action, as harmful practices associated with wildlife performances are disappearing.
By Edward Carver
- Yellow-eyed penguins, found only in Aotearoa New Zealand, are at risk of extinction.
- The “mainland” population is down to 117 breeding pairs, having declined more than 80% since the 2008-2009 breeding season; the only other population, which lives on New Zealand’s subantarctic islands, is believed to be larger but isn’t well surveyed.
- Set-net fishing, a type of gillnet fishing, has been one of several factors in the population decline.
- Following pressure from conservationists but over the objections of fishers, New Zealand’s government recently banned set-net fishing around the Otago Peninsula and established an annual fishing-related mortality limit of four yellow-eyed penguins.
By Associated Press
BANGKOK (AP) — Rain eased in Thailand ’s capital on Sunday, but flooding persisted in several low-lying areas, with thousands forced to move into temporary shelters. At least eight people were re…
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A mountain lion in front of the Hollywood sign sounds almost too …
By Abhishyant Kidangoor
- Biodiversity banking is the collection and preservation of genetic samples of plants and animals.
- At the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the biodiversity bank includes a plant gene bank, a tissue and DNA bank, along with their popular Frozen Zoo where genetic samples are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen.
- Preserving genetic samples is crucial for species recovery in the future as well to preserve genetic diversity and for research purposes, Katie Heineman, conservation program leader for biodiversity banking, tells Mongabay.
- The alliance is now helping build capacity for sample collection by collaborating with governments and partner organizations in Kenya, Vietnam, Peru, and Hawai‘i.
By Hans Nicholas Jong
- Indonesia’s long-debated Agrarian Reform Regulation Law was approved on Sept. 22.
- The legislation establishes a framework for resolving agrarian land disputes, restoring land rights and redistributing land, but details of how the law will operate remain unclear.
- A coalition of civil society groups have raised concerns about the final draft of the bill, saying it could limit land redistribution and make it difficult to resolve conflicts involving state-controlled land.
- The test of the new legislation will be whether it changes conditions for farmers, Indigenous communities, fisherfolk and other groups affected by land conflicts, says the coalition.
By Cooper Williams
- Kangaroo populations are surging across Australia, driven partly by large-scale deforestation and few natural predators.
- This year, a controversial government cull program in the Australian Capital Territory logged one of its highest numbers of kills.
- Scientists and conservationists say there’s no easy way to control the species’ growing numbers.
- Other possible solutions include reforestation efforts and reintroducing native predators like dingoes.
By Naina Rao
The Philippines remains the deadliest country in Asia for land and environmental defenders, according to a new report by the non-profit Global Witness. In its report, Global Witness says it could ver…
By Robin Hicks
- Singapore’s prime minister recently announced plans to merge several islands into a new “western island” to support “a new generation of industries.”
- The mega-project could bury up to 60% of Singapore’s remaining reefs, many of which are “mother” reefs and of regional ecological significance, conservationists say.
- The reefs are traditional fishing grounds for the Indigenous Orang Laut, who say the project would restrict their access to an area of cultural significance.
- The project raises awkward questions about the volume and source of sand needed to construct the island.
By Rafael Spuldar
- Tropical forests hold up to $714 billion in potential drug value, with the Amazon accounting for $215 billion of the total, according to a new analysis.
- Ongoing deforestation threatens to permanently erase undiscovered plant species and lifesaving medicinal compounds before scientists can study them.
- While pricing nature highlights its economic value to counter clearing, experts warn it risks repeating past extraction and resource grabs unless paired with strict benefit-sharing and local scientific leadership.
By Rizky Maulana YanuarSam Lee
Fireflies are disappearing from the Indonesian island of Bali… but local Wayan Wardika is trying to bring them back. Fireflies in Southeast Asia are vanishing due to habitat loss, light pollution, …
By Rizky Maulana YanuarSam Lee
BALI — Indonesia. Wayan Wardika used to see “clouds of fireflies” as a child growing up among the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. But 40 years later, he realized that the fireflies in his villa…
By Shanna Hanbury
Scientists have described a species of tiger cat that was previously unknown to science. From Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests, it is the first discovery of a living novel cat species in more than 10…
By Spoorthy Raman
- In a letter, 27 leading global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations have urged Vantara, a private zoo in India funded by Reliance Industries’ nonprofit, to permanently end all wild animal imports into its facilities.
- The letter comes after Vantara announced a self-imposed one-year moratorium, which runs through June 2027, on all animal imports to its facilities as it improves its “due diligence” by appointing a governing council and stricter oversight.
- The announcement came amid allegations of illegal wildlife trade linked to Vantara — and a CITES Secretariat investigation into its 60,000 live animal imports over the past two years.
- The coalition of NGOs call for Vantara to address compliance concerns of animals already under its care, be transparent about future acquisitions and prioritize conservation of wildlife in their native habitats.
By Ilona Szabó de CarvalhoRobert Muggah
- The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature, yet the criminal economy has been putting a price on it for much longer.
- Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are extremely lucrative and have become a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action, a new op-ed argues, and its drivers must be addressed from where extraction begins all the way to corporate offices.
- “The world is still working out how much a standing forest is worth. Criminal markets settled on a price for a felled one long ago,” the authors write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By Bernard Chiguvare
- In South Africa’s Malala Drift, near Musina in Limpopo province, farmers say rainfall has become increasingly unreliable, forcing some to abandon their crops.
- New research also documents increased rainfall variability in recent years, along with rising temperatures, drought, crop failures, livestock deaths and food insecurity.
- Some farmers say that when the river level falls, they hire an excavation company to dig into the riverbed.
By Associated Press
PRAGUE (AP) — Five cheetah cubs had to survive a weather scare and the illness of their mother after their birth at the Prague Zoo. But they are doing well now, the zoo said on Friday. The zoo said…
By Ryan Truscott
- Researchers at gene banks scattered across Southern Africa have spent decades collecting and duplicating specimens of valuable wild fruit trees.
- Among the species cloned by researchers from the Landscape Alliance is the wild loquat — an evergreen tree that produces large quantities of highly sought-after berries that provide income and nourishment for millions of people.
- Alice Muchugi and her colleagues are skilled practitioners of “air layering,” which ingeniously spurs a branch to produce roots, hugely reducing the time needed to establish a new, mature, fruit-bearing tree.
- Planting and preserving prolific indigenous fruit trees protects both the biodiversity of miombo woodlands and an important alternative food source for communities who live in them.
By Keith Anthony Fabro
- The largest global coral reef assessment finds that average hard coral cover has declined 9.5% relative to a three-decade reference period spanning 1980-2009.
- A fourth global bleaching event in 2023-2025 drove a record 8.9% one-year loss, though its full effects are not captured in this analysis, which ends in 2024.
- Reefs can recover after bleaching events, but increasingly frequent marine heat waves are shortening their recovery window.
- Scientists say local management can strengthen reef resilience, but rapid greenhouse gas emission cuts remain essential to prevent further widespread losses.
By Sadiqur Rahman
- Amid recurring landslides, a growing number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are being forced to adapt to increasingly limited camp space.
- The refugee management authorities warn that expansions of Rohingya camps will accelerate further destruction of forests and biodiversity.
- A study recommends protection of the vulnerable hill slopes, but authorities cite fund shortages as a major obstacle.
By Shreya Dasgupta
Plastic waste has been found in the most remote places — including, now, a deep-sea canyon off the coast of Argentina, according to a recent study. “The very first item spotted was a plastic bag …
By David Brown
In an editorial in Science, U.S.-based energy policy experts Paasha Mahdavi and Michael Ross argue that governments creating consumer fossil fuel subsidies in response to rising energy prices is the …
By Naina Rao
Food conglomerate Mondelēz International, the owner of chocolate brands Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone and Oreo, has allegedly engaged in an extensive lobbying campaign to weaken and delay enforcement of…
By Muhammad Talal
- Pakistan has established the Punjnad Indus River Dolphin Sanctuary in Punjab, which connects with an existing reserve in Sindh to form a continuous 400-kilometer protected river corridor.
- A 2025 abundance study reveals the endangered Indus River dolphin metapopulation has rebounded to an estimated 1,987 individuals, marking a 19.4% increase between 2011 and 2017.
- Despite this encouraging recovery, nearly 99% of the population is confined to a 690-kilometer stretch of the river and remains highly vulnerable to fatal gillnet entanglements and habitat fragmentation from irrigation barrages.
- Wildlife officials and conservationists stress that long-term survival for the endemic bhulan, as it is locally known, will require cross-provincial coordination, ecological modifications to barrage operations and community-led sustainable fishing practices.
By Rhett Ayers Butler
- The recent description of the tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo) from Bolivia comes amid a broader reassessment of wild cat taxonomy, with genetic research suggesting that several additional species may be waiting to be recognized
- Brazilian biologist Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira says the number of recognized tiger-cat species could increase from three to six or even seven, while new research is also raising questions about the taxonomy of margays and other small cats.
- These distinctions can have direct conservation consequences: Oliveira estimates that no more than about 200 munoai pampas cats remain and argues that recognizing the population as a distinct species could help unlock targeted protection and funding.
- In September 2026, Panthera board chair Jon Ayers interviewed Oliveira about the changing taxonomy of small cats, emerging genetic research, threatened populations, and plans for a global monitoring program for small wild cats.
By Victoria Schneider
Zambia is investigating wildlife deaths and human exposure linked to an anthrax outbreak in the northern province of Muchinga, where several hippos have died since the outbreak was reported on Aug. 3…
By Maxwell Radwin
A public hearing this week by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will assess claims that the Peruvian state violated the rights of the Indigenous Mashco Piro, Yora, and Amahuaca peoples, who li…
By Associated Press
BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home. Many gorilla families a…
By Carla Ruas
- The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to reach $10 billion in sponsor capital by the end of 2026, a step toward a larger $25 billion fundraising goal.
- If the target is not reached, the initiative could lose a $3 billion pledge made by Norway.
- Reports state that some countries are waiting for the results of the Brazilian presidential elections in October before pledging funds.
By Mongabay.com
Gorillas are among humans’ closest relatives, with a common ancestor dating back around 8 to 10 million years. Both species of gorilla alive today are on the edge of extinction: The eastern gorilla…