
Articles by Elizabeth Devitt
Elizabeth swapped her stethoscope for a spiral notebook after more than two decades
of practicing veterinary medicine on creatures great and small, from cows and
cockatoos to pampered pets and stranded sea lions. Although she loves the veterinary
profession, she wanted to use her medical background as a foundation for writing
stories with global impact—a goal beyond the reach of her general clinical work.
As a veterinarian, Elizabeth watched the borders erode between animal environments
and human habitats. When diseases jumped those blurry boundaries, she itched to
create solutions that also crossed those species lines. So, she sharpened her writing
skills in the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program.
Now, she’s delighted to be a contributing writer for Mongabay, where she can focus on
our environment – the territory that man and animals must successfully share in order
to survive.
When Elizabeth isn’t being crowded by her cats at her computer keyboard, she’s
training for her next marathon, swimming in the ocean, or learning tango.


Field Notes: Reinvigorating wild parrot populations with captive birds

Field Notes: Finding Jacobo; an Andean cat captivates conservationists

The Spirit of the Steppes: Saving Central Asia’s saiga

Field Notes: Predicting how the pet trade spreads infectious disease

Protecting Marine Protected Areas

Fish for all? The fish-free fishmeal challenge

Restoring seagrass under siege

The lionfish invasion: A call to arms?

Field Notes: Boosting biodiversity by studying human values, gender

Field Notes: Mapping condor conservation strategies

Field Notes: Can we alter endangered species to be more adaptable?

Field Notes: Wooing wolverines with high-tech lures

Field Notes: Expedition to Cuba seeks out new and endemic species

Field Notes: Saving America’s last wild meat-eating Venus flytraps

Field Notes: Scientist seeks long-term stress trends in Africa’s hyenas

Disease prevention a boost to human health and great ape conservation

Madagascar scientists unsure how best to guard frogs from fungus

The Muriqui: Brazil’s critically endangered “hippie monkey” hangs tough
The 90 Percent Diet: reducing our environmental impact by eating less meat
Monkeys reset camera trap, capture first-ever images of flat-headed cats in park
Feather forensics: scientist uses genes to track macaws, aid bird conservation
Connecting forests, saving species: conservation group plans extensive wildlife corridor in Panama
Amphibian pandemic may have hit Madagascar, hundreds of species at risk of infection
Those eyes look human: could anthropomorphism be used for conservation?
Alien trees use logging roads to invade Borneo forests
The fungus among us: scientists discover a big player in the global carbon cycle
Saving sharks one sandwich at a time: conservationists target ‘shark bake’
Spectacular new beetle discovered in French Guiana
Endangered muriqui monkeys in Brazil full of surprises
Special series
Forest trackers
- ‘A disgrace’: Luxury housing plans threaten Cambodia’s Bokor National Park
- Smallholder agriculture cuts into key Sumatran tiger habitat
- Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
- Colombian and Ecuadorian Indigenous communities live in fear as drug traffickers invade

Oceans
- When Chinook salmon is off the menu, other prey will do for endangered orcas
- How technology can help us achieve at least 30% ocean protection (commentary)
- Corals are struggling, but they’re too abundant to go extinct, study says
- When seas turn rough, gleaning keeps the fish on the table for some communities

Amazon conservation
- Facebook enabling Amazon land grabbing, deforestation, finds Investigation
- Amazon ‘Tribes on the Edge’: Q&A with documentary filmmaker Céline Cousteau
- We’re killing those tropical trees we’re counting on to absorb carbon dioxide
- As Amazon forest-to-savanna tipping point looms, solutions remain elusive

Endangered environmentalists
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer

Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
