KATHMANDU — Hari Prasad Sharma recalls being astonished when he visited the Chure region in Nepal’s southern Madhesh province to study sloth bears. Sharma, an associate professor of zoology at…
KATHMANDU — Whenever someone talks to Dev Narayan Mandal about biodiversity and conservation in his native Madhesh province in Nepal, he remembers an incident that took place a few years…
KATHMANDU — As Hindus around the world celebrate the festival of lights, also known as Diwali or Deepavali, the Nepali variation of the event sees the faithful venerate their dogs…
KATHMANDU — On Sept. 28, Nepal’s Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ordered the government to clear all human-made structures within 65 meters (213 feet) from the banks of Fewa…
The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of the most elusive cat species found in Nepal, with a conservation status categorized as vulnerable. The cat, called dhwase chituwa in Nepali…
KATHMANDU — “Predator-proof” livestock and animal husbandry practices can potentially lead to a win-win situation for livestock, humans and leopards living in the same landscape, a new study looking at…
KATHMANDU – In the golden hours of twilight, as a tiger tries to hide its long shadows, a herd of spotted deer graze in tranquil oblivion. Every rustle in the…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s constitutional bench has issued a stay on the implementation of laws making it compulsory for community forest user groups across the country to pay taxes to the…
CHITWAN, Nepal — When Hemanta Malla Thakuri, former deputy inspector-general of the Nepal Police, started training the country’s frontline wildlife crime investigators last year, he realized they operated similarly to…
KATHMANDU – Nepali conservationists have expressed outrage over the Ministry of Forest and Environment’s recent proposal to scrap existing guidelines through the backdoor to make it easier for developers to…
KATHMANDU — Whenever a potentially undescribed new bird species is reported in Nepal, ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral takes the next flight to the location to assess the claim. The scientific…
KATHMANDU — As Nepal commits to gifting two more greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) to China, conservationists have called on authorities to exercise caution while selecting individual animals for the…
KATHMANDU — On the slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal, a primeval scene plays out routinely, far from human eyes: a snow leopard lies in wait for its prey, its…
KATHMANDU — On the afternoon of Sept. 10, wildlife photographer Milan Tamang was passing by a stretch of the Rapti River in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park when he noticed something…
KATHMANDU — People living around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in eastern Nepal are preparing to welcome two very special guests on World Tourism Day, Sept. 27. Pushpa and Anjali are…
KATHMANDU — Until recently, Nepali movies tended to have lead characters who were extraordinary people who stood out from regular folks and were largely detached from their day-to-day lives. But…
KATHMANDU – In December 2022, Hiru Lal Dangaura, Vikram Tiwari and Subam Chaudhary were conducting a routine check on a vulture colony in the western plains of Nepal, when they…
KATHMANDU — Nepali researchers have yet again photographed a snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and common leopard (P. pardus) in the same location in the lap of Mount Gaurishankar in the…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s owls are perhaps the least-studied birds in the country, often overlooked by researchers more focused on the rarer vultures and cranes. Yet owls also face the same…
KATHMANDU — On a bright morning in the hills of Nepal, among the green needles and brown cones of a chir pine tree (Pinus roxburghii) a pair of white-rumped vultures…
KATHMANDU — Fishing cats are among the most elusive and understudied small cats in the world. They’re also among the most threatened, faced with habitat loss, conflict with humans, and…
KATHMANDU — Long ago, in the ancient kingdom of Kapilavastu, young prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would later become the Buddha, and his cousin Devadatta were honing their archery skills when…
KATHMANDU — After nearly tripling its population of tigers in just 12 years, Nepal’s conservation authorities have decided to now focus on improving human-tiger coexistence and shoring up the big…
KATHMANDU — Somlal Majhi, a resident of Patihani near Chitwan National Park in Nepal, has an unusual job. He is a herder of rhinos. Majhi watches over two female greater…
KATHMANDU — On a hot and humid day in Bardibas, a town in the lowlands of Nepal, the sun beats down on the dusty roads where vans, cars and motorcycles…
KATHMANDU, Nepal — In June 2021, officials at Nepal’s Chitwan National Park said that an animal had been missing for five months. The missing animal was no ordinary one; it…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s environment minister has suggested allowing wealthy foreigners to kill tigers for “sport,” sparking outrage from wildlife experts, conservationists and local community representatives. Birendra Mahato raised the issue…
KATHMANDU — New rules make it easier for Nepalis affected by human-wildlife conflict to receive compensation, in a move the government says is necessary but still insufficient to address the…
Nepal’s diverse landscapes, from the lowland Terai Arc to the high Himalayas, are home to more than 200 mammal species. Beyond the iconic creatures like tigers and rhinos are the…
KATHMANDU — A male gharial (Gavialis gungeticus), one of the world's most endangered crocodilians, was found dead on June 26 in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. The animal had a fishing…
Abhaya Raj Joshi is a staff writer for Mongabay based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Find him on Twitter via 
