A puzzling disease lurks among western pond turtles, one of only two native freshwater turtle species that live in the state of Washington in the U.S. The disease produces deep…
As oceans become more acidic, fish struggle to smell their food and predators, a new study has found. Much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans.…
The tsunami that struck Southeast and South Asia in late 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people and destroyed villages, towns and cities across 14 countries. But some affected areas escaped the…
With each bout of persistent and intense rainfall in Ladakh, a cold desert region in India’s northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, the locals begin to worry. It brings back…
The government of Colombia has committed to ending deforestation in its cocoa supply chain by 2020. The National Cocoa Federation and one of the country’s largest chocolate producers, Casa Luker,…
Scientists have just described a new species of shark from the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean. The new species was formally named Squalus clarkae,…
With India’s general elections looming large next year, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed sweeping overhauls of environmental laws that govern the country’s forests, fragile coasts, wildlife,…
For the first time ever, biologists have sequenced the genomes of two tiny ferns, Azolla filiculoides and Salvinia cucullata, and they’ve revealed some interesting secrets. Despite being one of the most…
A team of biologists researching sea snakes in the mining town of Weipa in Australia’s remote Cape York Peninsula have accidentally discovered a venomous snake that’s new to science. The black-and-white…
UTTARAKHAND, India — H.P. Upreti, an ex-serviceman, vividly recalls the day, five years ago, when one of the worst natural disasters struck his hometown of Srinagar in India’s Uttarakhand state.…
A majority of krill fishing companies have announced their commitment to voluntarily stop harvesting the tiny crustaceans from vast areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, including around important breeding penguin colonies. The…
Consumer interest in farmed bear bile seems to be declining in Vietnam, according to a new study. But this isn’t necessarily good news, researchers say, because it raises concerns for…
Malaysian authorities have seized wildlife parts worth 500,000 ringgit ($124,000) and arrested six Vietnamese nationals during a raid in Kuala Lipis, a town located near Taman Negara, the country’s oldest national…
In March this year, Sudan, the last known male northern white rhino, died at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy at the age of 45. He left behind a daughter, Najin, and granddaughter, Fatu,…
Over the past few weeks, residents of New Delhi, India’s capital, have come out in protest at the proposed felling of thousands of trees for a development project. The project…
A marine sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas is teeming with baby manta rays, scientists say in a new study published in Marine Biology. Giant oceanic manta rays…
Armadillos are a popular bushmeat in the Brazilian Amazon, but handling and eating these scaly mammals could put humans at risk of leprosy, a new study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical…
Plastic water bottles and snack-food packaging have made their way to the deepest parts of the world’s oceans, drifting to depths of nearly 11,000 meters (36,100 feet), according to a…
KERALA, India — Sixty-five-year-old Maria sits at the doorstep of her demolished house. The only thing that remains is a wall attached to the door. Every morning, she comes “home”…
The people responsible for managing Madagascar’s protected areas tend to rely more on experience and “advice from others” than on scientific research to make on-the-ground decisions, a new study has…
Amid all the gloomy news about coral reefs from around the world, a glimmer of hope has emerged: scientists have identified coral reef “oases” that are flourishing despite threats. From…
Meet Chippy, Snooky and Tumpy — all “goblins” or “brownies” from Enid Blyton’s children’s books, and now the names of new species of tiny spiders that scientists have found lurking…
Tropical rainforests are home to the vast majority of the world’s frog species today. Yet frog fossils from these moist environments have been incredibly rare, largely because the small animals…
Large mammals are spending more time hunting and foraging under the cover of darkness to avoid humans, a new study has found. Researchers compiled data from 76 studies, and analyzed…
In the Mara River in Kenya, fish die in the thousands every now and then. And the hippopotamus is to blame, a new study has found. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) spend…
Eight years ago, researchers described a new species of monkey based on a single dead specimen — an individual that had been hunted from a remote, mountainous forest in Myanmar’s…
India’s Kaziranga National Park, which harbors the world’s largest population of greater one-horned rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros unicornis), is at a “high risk” of “permanently” losing its habitat connectivity with the larger…
The world’s largest amphibian has become vanishingly rare in the wild, a new study has found. The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) can reach lengths of more than 1.8 meters (6…
Natural forests across India are slowly disappearing, a set of new studies shows, contradicting recent government claims about increasing forest cover. The three studies, published over the past seven months,…
Lead bullet fragments in animal carcasses left behind by game hunters could be poisoning vultures in Botswana, according to a new study that echoes similar findings from elsewhere around the…
