COLOMBO — When forest officer Anura Herath carried out a raid in July 2012, he was ready to seize high-value timber. But instead he discovered strips of blackish bark, stems…
Researchers in Sri Lanka have described an eye-catching new species of tarantula, in a discovery they hope will underscore ongoing efforts to better regulate the global trade of rare and…
In March 2019, custom officials open abandoned luggage in the halls of Manila’s international airport. In June, law enforcement agents stop a car to check four trolley bags that passengers…
In the early 1980s, a common sight along the still unpolluted beaches of southern Sri Lanka was that of fisherfolk sun-drying small, blackish, cylindrical objects. They called them sea slugs,…
Sri Lanka’s southern coastline is dotted with popular resorts and beaches, but this once pristine landscape hasn’t been spared by the global plastic waste crisis, a study finds. The authors…
A four-year study of streams in the cloud forests of Sri Lanka’s picturesque Knuckles Mountain Range has turned up an unexpected discovery: a new frog species found nowhere else on…
Matriarch grandmas, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews: elephants, much like us, have complex social lives. But Asian elephants in southern India could be changing their social lives just to adapt…
When a team of herpetologists led by Mendis Wickramasinghe found a group of webless shrub frogs in a remote montane ecosystem in Sri Lanka in 2010, it was an encounter…
The advent of peace in four countries with long experiences of deadly armed conflict hasn’t been kind to the environment, with a new study showing greater rates of deforestation during…
A general fear of snakes, lack of understanding of reptile behavior, and human encroachment into wilderness areas are putting increasing pressure on a unique snake species found only in Sri…
The 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, should have started on May 23 in Colombo.…
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A crackdown on unregulated explosives in the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka may help in the fight against illegal blast fishing in the…
KURUNEGALA, Sri Lanka — Residents of the farming village of Irudeniyagama in Sri Lanka’s North Western province were taken by surprise last week when they saw a wild elephant calf…
More than seven weeks after a series of deadly Easter Sunday bombings rocked Sri Lanka, an international summit on the wildlife trade originally scheduled to take place in Colombo last…
From the eastern fringe of Sri Lanka’s only rainforest, Sinharaja, scientists have described a new species of day gecko, the latest to join an ever-expanding list of remarkable reptiles found…
Plummeting fish stocks and crisis-level volumes of plastic pollution should spur Sri Lanka to adopt new regulations and mechanisms to prevent further contamination of the seas around it, experts say.…
Some residents of rural Polonnaruwa in north central Sri Lanka had little or no clue why monkeys were regularly raiding their kitchens and rummaging through garbage bins. All they knew was that…
The discovery of a new species of gecko in Sri Lanka has highlighted the island’s rich biodiversity as well as the perilous state of its unique and shrinking habitats. The…
COLOMBO — A month after a series of Easter Sunday bombings rocked Sri Lanka and claimed 258 lives, including those of 46 foreign nationals, a top U.N. conservation summit scheduled…
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — For Nataraja Kumar, 47, a fisherman from Guru Nagar, a sleepy coastal village in Sri Lanka’s north, it’s no longer possible to continue with his traditional…
Take a lifelong love for conservation, pair it with the right support group, and what do you get? An urban butterfly garden. A naturalist and author of several books on…
COLOMBO –From the misty Knuckles Hills that form a part of Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, a new snake species has been added to the island’s already rich catalog of unique…
In Sri Lanka, home to nearly 6,000 elephants, the majestic mammals enjoy iconic status for their immense religious, cultural and social significance. Listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List,…
Hindu legend has it that the deity Rama built a bridge from the southern tip of India to the island of Sri Lanka, for his army of ape men to…
A new study has shed light on how rare lizards found only in Sri Lanka are winding up in Europe as part of the illegal trade in exotic wildlife. The…
Sri Lanka will push for international protection of its endemic lizards threatened by smuggling when it hosts a global biodiversity trade summit next month. When the 18th meeting of the Conference…
A tiny fish described in 2013 from a stream in Sri Lanka was apparently a known species that had been moved there years earlier, according to a study that underscores…
A recent attempt to induce rain amid a prolonged drought in Sri Lanka has fallen short, but that hasn’t stopped the government from embracing the project, to the dismay of…
If there was a world competition for cities with the worst air quality, South Asian cities would win hands down. In 2018, 18 of the top 20 cities with the…
Sri Lanka will in May host the 18th Conference of Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. While the…
