Mongabay and Earth Genome detected 67 clandestine airstrips used for drug transport in the Peruvian regions of Ucayali, Huánuco and Pasco. The analysis used artificial intelligence to visually search through satellite information and cross-reference the results with official sources and field reports. Most of these illegal airstrips are located in and around Indigenous communities, reserves […]
Wild baboons don’t recognize their own mirror reflections
Shreya Dasgupta12 Feb 2025
Humans like to study themselves in a mirror. But wild baboons, when presented with a mirror, don’t seem to recognize they’re staring at their own selves, a new study has found.
For decades, researchers have tried to understand if other animals are self-aware. They’ve used what’s called the mirror test as a way to measure it.
The idea is simple: place a mark on the face of an animal such that it’s only visible in a mirror. If the animal tries to touch the mark on its body, scientists conclude this suggests some self-awareness: the capacity to identify and award attention to yourself.
Some bonobos, orangutans and chimpanzees have passed the test in captivity, as have individual captive elephants, dolphins and birds.
In the new study, researchers conducted the mirror test on fully wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in Tsaobis Nature Park, Namibia. “Ours is the first study to do a large sample in the wild,” study co-author Alecia Carter, an evolutionary anthropologist at University College London, told Mongabay by phone.
The researchers placed two mirrors near watering holes the troops frequented, giving them some months to get used to the reflective surfaces.
Then, whenever a baboon sat in front of a mirror, the researchers pointed a laser pointer to parts of its face that it could only see with the mirror. As a control, the team also pointed the laser at the baboons’ arms or legs, when the animals were away from the mirror, to check if they reacted when they could see the mark on their bodies directly.
As it turned out, the baboons closely investigated the laser mark on their limbs, but not when looking at a mirror. This wasn’t surprising; most macaques, a group of monkeys closely related to baboons, don’t pass the mirror test without extensive training in captivity, Carter said.
“Even though we found what we expected, which was nothing, I think it’s still good to have come up with this very thorough methodology for doing the test in the wild,” Carter added.
The researchers, however, observed that the baboons did seem to recognize there were “baboons” in the mirror. Sometimes they gestured at their own reflections for a brief period, or turned around if they saw the reflection of a dominant individual. What this means, however, is hard to say.
Lindsay Murray, a psychologist at the University of Chester, U.K., who wasn’t involved in the research, told Mongabay the study “provides a useful foundation method to use with other primates in the wild” and that “the controls are well-considered.”
Murray added that the descriptions of the baboons’ reactions in front of the mirror are also encouraging for further research, although the observations are anecdotal.
Video and banner image: Researchers conducted the mirror test, a proxy for self-awareness, on fully wild troops of chacma baboons in Namibia. Footage courtesy of E. Ahmad et al. (2025).
Japan sees record snowfall as Australia braces for cyclone Zelia
Kristine Sabillo11 Feb 2025
Japan: Record-breaking snowfall wreaked havoc in northern Japan last week, leaving at least three people dead and 54 injured as of Feb. 10, according to Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Among the worst hit regions were Hokkaido, the country’s northernmost island, and the Japan Sea coast.
The thick snow halted transportation in many areas as bullet train services were suspended and motorists were left unable to see the roads. In Hokkaido, flights were also cancelled alongside trains while hundreds of schools closed down, the Guardian reported.
Some cities experienced record-breaking snowfall, including Obihiro city in Hokkaido that received a record 129cm (4ft) of snow in just 12 hours.
Fukushima, a city located north of Tokyo, also saw multiple avalanches, which cut off around 160 people who were stranded in two hot spring resorts.
The Weather Channel attributed the heavy snowfall to a combination of factors including a low pressure system intensifying quickly over the Sea of Japan, and strong cold winds blowing from Siberia over this body of water.
Australia: Following heavy flooding in its northeastern states since Feb. 1, a tropical low named 18U is developing off the northern coast of western Australia, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology reported. “This system has a high chance of intensifying to tropical cyclone strength over the coming days,” it said.
The agency on Feb. 11 said U18 is expected to develop into a tropical cyclone by Wednesday, when it will be called Zelia.
The path of the cyclone is still uncertain, but the agency predicts it may move towards east Pilbara or west Kimberley.
Residents of both areas have already been warned of heavy rain and strong winds as the cyclone is forecasted to reach category three strength by Friday.
In a caravan park in Port Hedland, the second largest town in Pilbara, residents have been asked to pack and leave for their safety. Resident Graham Jones told ABC they will leave on Feb. 11 and head further south if the winds intensify.
Anchored vessels at Port Hedland, which is also the country’s largest iron ore exporting port, are also being asked to leave while around 3,500 sandbags have been distributed around town, ABC cited the Department of Fire and Emergency Services saying.
With rainfall expected to add the already high levels of the Pilbara rivers, authorities have already issued flood advisory alerts.
Singing lemurs found to be dropping beats just like King Julien
Mongabay.com11 Feb 2025
The indri, a critically endangered lemur only found in Madagascar’s rainforest, might hold clues about the human knack for musicality, a Mongabay video explains.
Indris (Indri indri) are one of the largest living lemurs, and among the few primates that sing. Researchers studied 15 years’ worth of recorded indri songs, and found that these songs have rhythm, just like human music.
In fact, lemur songs seem to have at least two main rhythm patterns similar to many human songs. The first is the 1:1 pattern, such as in the dance club song “I like to move it,” which was used in the animated film Madagascar to introduce a ring-tailed lemur character named King Julien. The second is the 1:2 pattern, such as in the song “We will rock you” by the rock band Queen.
Indris don’t just sing solo, but also in duets and in choirs, the researchers reported in a study published last year.
Chiara De Gregorio, one of the study’s authors, explains in the video that indris sing for different reasons. They produce so-called advertisement songs when their family wakes up in the morning. They also sing “cohesion songs” to find each other as they move around the forest. Lastly, they have “territorial songs,” which they sing when they encounter another family group, resulting in a “vocal battle.”
The Mongabay video explains that the study may contribute to a Darwinian theory called “musical protolanguage hypothesis,” which suggests that music and language may have originated from a prelinguistic communication system. However, it’s unclear if the indri rhythmic songs came before human music or if the two evolved independently.
For now, De Gregorio says, “These findings are a good reminder of how we are animals ourselves, and we live in a world that is very important to preserve.”
Fewer than 10,000 indris are left in the wild, and their population continues to decline due to habitat destruction and hunting.
Banner image of an indri by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
Study finds population crash for critically endangered European eel in Spain’s Ebro Delta
Shanna Hanbury10 Feb 2025
The critically endangered European eel population is facing collapse in Spain’s Ebro Delta, where populations have plummeted by more than 80% in recent years, according to a new study.
The study’s authors warn this decline may be as severe, or worse, than the crash of the late 1970s and early 1980s when overfishing pushed the species, Anguilla anguilla, closer to extinction.
“Today, I went to the field and saw two individuals. So, you think, ‘OK, the levels are dangerous, but the species is still there,’” study co-author Miguel Clavero, a biologist at Spain’s National Research Council, told Mongabay by phone. “But we have lost the sense that, in the past, there would have been 30 or 40 eels.”
The study pulled decades of data from traditional fisheries and monitoring programs in the Ebro Delta, a key Mediterranean wetland. Researchers found a 90% population decline in lagoons and 80% in marshes over the past 14 years.
Once abundant across Europe, these eels play a critical role in freshwater ecosystems. In many Iberian rivers, they’re the only predatory fish, helping regulate prey populations. They also serve as a key food source for otters and many bird species.
Overfishing remains a primary driver of the species’ ongoing collapse. Despite years of conservation warnings, eels continue to be commercially exploited as their scarcity has driven prices up, creating a profit incentive to harvest more.
“What is really needed, urgently needed, is to stop the commercial exploitation of the eel,” Clavero said, adding that current populations are below previous worst-case scenarios.
Invasive species may also be accelerating the decline. The Atlantic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), first detected in the Ebro Delta in 2012, is a voracious predator suspected of preying on young eels. The wels catfish (Silurus glanis), another invasive species, has also been linked to eel losses.
Unlike many fish species, European eels belong to a single population. They all spawn in the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean. The larvae then hitch a ride on the Gulf Stream back to Europe, where they live in fresh and brackish water for most of their lives before returning to the ocean to reproduce and die.
“Because they all reproduce in the same area and there’s no genetic structuring, eels can end up either in Norway or Morocco and have the same parents,” Caroline Durif, a senior researcher at Norway’s Institute of Marine Research and expert on the European eel, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay by phone.
According to Durif, numbers of young eels migrating to Norway dropped from tens of thousands to as few as 200 per year. “The more time series we have from everywhere in the distribution area, the better. Levels are so low now that it’s hard to see that it’s still decreasing,” she added.
Bannerimage: The European eel population has declined by up to 90% in Spain’s Ebro Delta. Image courtesy of Miguel Clavero.
‘Helicopter tourism’ in the Himalayas affecting Sherpas, wildlife
Mongabay.com10 Feb 2025
A surge in “helicopter tourism” at Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Mount Everest, is adversely affecting the local community and wildlife, reports Mongabay contributor Shashwat Pant.
Helicopters have previously only been used for medical emergencies or high-profile visitors at Sagarmatha. But with choppers now regularly transporting tourists to Sagarmatha’s base camp, their noise plagues the local Sherpas, a Tibetan ethnic group who reside in the world’s tallest mountains, on a daily basis.
Pasang Nuru Sherpa tells Mongabay that loud helicopter sounds start at 6 a.m. and continue all day long until sunset. In 2024 alone, there were 5,600 recorded helicopter rides, according to the Sagarmatha National Park information officer Bibek Baiju. During the peak months, almost a hundred flights were recorded between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. on some days.
Climate scientist Sudeep Thakuri warns this helicopter tourism might disrupt the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas.
“While there is no research on the ecological damage caused by helicopters in the region, the number of helicopters flying in the region obviously has an impact as they emit a lot of CO2 and disturb the wildlife in the region,” Thakuri says.
Pant reports that residents have told him that frequent flights are driving away wildlife such as snow leopards (Panthera uncia), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) and musk deer (Moschus leucogaster) from their natural habitats. Thakuri says the very narrow Khumbu Valley amplifies the noise. “This does have an impact on both the wildlife in the area and the livestock,” he tells Pant.
Researcher Bikram Shrestha, who has studied snow leopard behavior, says that while the big cat is nocturnal, its prime prey, the Himalayan tahr, has been shown to run away due to helicopter noise.
“This could have an impact on their reproductive success and, in turn, the availability of food for snow leopards, the apex predators of the mountains,” Shrestha says.
Traditional herders in the region tell Mongabay that their domestic yaks (Bos grunniens), which the local communities rely on to transport goods and provide milk, get more agitated around helicopter noise.
While it usually takes at least 14 days to reach just the base camp of Sagarmantha, deep-pocketed tourists can now just pay $1,500 to $2,000 to take a chopper ride for a few hours, Pant writes.
It’s not just the noise. With increased helicopter tourism, porters earn much less and fewer tourists visit the iconic trekking routes featuring monasteries and Sherpa women-managed lodges and gift shops. Moreover, the income from “helicopter tourism” doesn’t fully trickle down to the locals.
Pant reports that youth groups are now protesting helicopter tourism and calling for stricter regulations. Some municipal officials are also advocating for policies to limit and reroute flights, and to have tourism profits shared fairly with the local communities.
Rhino poachers imprisoned in back-to-back South Africa sentencing
Spoorthy Raman10 Feb 2025
A South African court in January sentenced four poachers to several years in prison for two separate crimes committed in Kruger National Park (KNP).
The Skukuza Regional Court, which in the past has boasted a near-100% conviction rate and under whose jurisdiction KNP falls, held two South African citizens, Sam Khosa and Solly Selahle, and a Mozambican named Oddis Maluleke, guilty of poaching a rhino and taking its horns in February 2019.
Khosa and Maluleke were handed a 22-year prison term and convicted on nine counts, including illegal rhino hunting, trespassing into KNP and possessing dangerous firearms. Selahle received a four-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit a crime.
A field ranger who worked for South African National Parks (SANParks), which manages the country’s network of national parks, was also arrested for the crime, but he has since passed.
“We are encouraged by the sentences handed down to these poachers,” said Maj. Gen. Zeph Mkhwanazi, the acting provincial commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga province, where part of KNP lies. “We hope that the sentences will serve as a deterrence to others who might consider emulating the actions of the accused persons.”
Close on its heels, on Jan. 31, the Skukuza court handed a 12-year prison sentence to a Mozambican national, Simon Fenias Mbombi, for six counts of illegal activities in 2016, including trespassing into KNP, conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of firearms.
“We are very happy with the sentences — they are appropriate and bring encouragement to our anti-poaching units,” SANParks spokesperson Isaac Phaahla told Mongabay by email.
In the past, there have been several attempts to derail or delay convictions of arrested poachers, including attempts to close the Skukuza court in late 2019.
Phaahla attributed the recent back-to-back convictions to the National Prosecuting Authority, the country’s agency responsible for state prosecutions, prioritizing long-standing cases. Earlier in January, another South African court sentenced a Congolese national to 18 years’ imprisonment for money laundering linked to the illegal rhino trade.
Rhino poaching in South Africa, driven by the demand for rhino horns, has decimated black and white rhinos in the country, prompting rhino translocations to boost populations and dehorning of rhinos to keep them alive.
Official data show more than 16,000 rhinos were killed by the end of 2023. While current numbers of rhino deaths have decreased from their peak in the 2010s, poaching has continued, with a surge in recent years.
The rhino poaching network, which includes transnational criminals, also sometimes involves SANParks rangers and officers, who facilitate this crime. In recent years, SANParks has introduced integrity testing to tackle the participation of its staff in poaching, Phaahla said.
“We have programs to assist our rangers with financial management, health, mental and other forms of empowerment,” he said. “But in the end, it is an individual choice to be a criminal.”
Banner image of a critically endangered black rhino by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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