Growing population and traditional mindset fueling demand for wild turtles, driving some species towards extinction For thousands of years turtles have been used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat a…
New satellite data from NASA suggests that deforestation is sharply increasing in Bolivia and Mekong countries during the second quarter of 2014. NASA's Quarterly Indicator of Cover Change (QUICC), a…
An interview with Brian Machovina, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series. Brian Machovina and one of his drones, which he flew over banana plantations to study…
The only way to save the long-suffering elephants of Africa is to close every ivory market on the planet and destroy all ivory stockpiles, according to a bold new essay…
Fire hotspot data for the past seven days from the World Resources Institute's Global Fire Watch. Singapore's parliament has approved a controversial measure that could penalize companies — both foreign…
Reasons for Galapagos sardine decline not known, scientists suspect overfishing or natural cycle The iconic blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) of the Galapagos Islands has suffered a population decline of 50…
The decidedly odd-looking bumphead parrotfish is listed as Vulnerable. Photo by: Kurt Gross. Bumphead parrotfish are noisy feeders. They break off large branches of corals using their powerful beaks, grind…
The Environment Ministry of Sintang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia declared that the water in many rivers and lakes is unsuitable for consumption due to high levels of pollution. "Much of…
Roads in the Brazilian Amazon. Courtesy of Google Earth. 94.9 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon occurs on land less than 5 kilometers from a road or navigable river,…
Elephant in Namibia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed into law a ban on elephant ivory sales, reports NorthJersey.com. The measure, passed earlier by…
New species discovered in threatened swamps Scientists have identified a new species of frog on the Malay Peninsula. The newly named Hylarana centropeninsularis was discovered in a swamp and genetic…
Last fall tens of thousands of Bangladeshis participated in a five day march that took them from the country's capital to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. They marched…
Biomass burning takes many forms: wildfires, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing forests and other vegetation, and even industrialized burning for energy production. Yet this burning—mostly manmade but also natural—takes a massive toll…
Is the great ape trade responsible for the current outbreak of Ebola? The vicious Ebola virus outbreak that has already killed more than 800 people this year, in addition to…
Belitung Island has lost 10 percent of its remaining forests in 13 years, few protections in place despite biological importance Belitung, a picturesque island off the east coast of Sumatra,…
Green basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons) in Costa Rica. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. As of this year, scientists have named and described over 10,000 reptiles, marking a new milestone in cataloging…
Researchers working with local communities in effort to stymie environmental damage Namdapha National Park, the third largest in India at 200,000 hectares, is located in the northeastern state of Arunachal…
The current economic, political, and environmental landscape of the Amazon is complicated at best. Protected areas have swelled in recent decades, indigenous rights have been improved in some places, while…
"You come across that crest, and … you're going from forest that has already been exploited to this kind of no-man's land… It just felt like you were going into…
