Conservationists have long recognized the significance of engaging locals in safeguarding the ecosystems they live off, but assessing those relationships can be hard because of time and resource constraints. Now,…
Celine van Bijsterveldt and her team had traveled to Central Java’s mangrove forests to investigate efforts to restore them. But when the researchers saw plastic trash strewn throughout the swamps,…
In late July, a high-speed chase stirred the waters northeast of Indonesia’s Natuna Islands, as patrol officers pursued a Vietnamese vessel suspected of illegal fishing. Having fled when authorities approached…
In 2008, a chimpanzee named Dorothy died suddenly due to heart failure at Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue in Cameroon. This year, another chimp battling cardiovascular disease, Tojo, died at Twycross Zoo…
Throughout the waters surrounding Indonesia, a porous tubular creature sits fixed onto coral reefs, its plain appearance hiding a potentially lifesaving secret. Researchers recently found that this sponge produces a…
Camera traps monitor a handful of the world’s remaining Sumatran rhinos in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park. Wildlife managers tend to a female rhino at a breeding center in Kalimantan,…
The coral reefs of the lesser Sunda-Banda seascape in southeastern Indonesia host some of the planet’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, which remain relatively untouched even as overfishing ravages sea life…
From the Lacey Act to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), many laws aim to protect wildlife, but the clandestine nature of wildlife crime makes it hard to identify violations. Wildlife…
“We can do this,” declared the big round pins on the chests of attendees at the first annual Innovation Summit on Overcoming the Invasive Species Challenge. Cohosted by the National…
Swimming 4 meters per second, a feeding blue whale swings open its jaws and, in four seconds, swallows 140 percent of its mass—a volume of water and krill the size…
An innovative monitoring system analyzes satellite imagery to pinpoint illegal logging in the habitat of the Amur tiger and leopard.
Not many people do what Dr. Bistra Dilkina does for a living. She’s one of many computer scientists at Georgia Tech, but she’s no ordinary tech whiz. For the past…
Piezoelectricity has nothing do with pie. In fact, it’s a pioneering avenue of research into producing energy from physical movement, which could revolutionize the way we track fish. By harnessing…
Remember that endangered anteater-esque ball of scales from Favreau’s recent film, The Jungle Book? That’s the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Over one million pangolins have likely been poached…
What has a body like a shark’s, a saw protruding from its head and critically endangered status according to the IUCN? The largetooth sawfish is a species of ray that…
How could we harness DNA barcode technology in a handheld device that frontline officials could use to combat timber and wildlife trafficking?
What’s coding got to do with conservation? The first ever Zoohackathon will convene this October 7-9 across six zoos in the US, Europe, Asia and Pacific. Organized by the US…
The grayish-white form of the ghost of the mountain slinks through the snowcapped slopes of Central Asia. Its remote, harsh habitat, cryptic coat and elusive nature have impeded investigation and…
Preoccupied with snipping a saliva-soaked plant part with a scalpel and placing it in a little tube of viral transport media, veterinary epidemiologist Tierra Smiley Evans thought she was alone,…
What do lipstick, detergent and instant noodles have in common? They all contain palm oil. Half of every packaged product stocking supermarket shelves can be traced back to a ruthless…
In the eighth grade, at an age most boys spend their time outside school watching sports and playing videogames, Kalev Leetaru was delving into large-scale web mining and founding his first web company. With…
Beer may have a bad rep among carb-fearing ab-chiseling fitness fans, but it could now be better for the environment than it was before. Well, at least the new kind…
A new set of eyes is keeping watch over tiger reserves across India. They're electronic, but they seem to have hawk-like observational faculties. And they may be related to how…
Jostling through the narrow turns of a market on the outskirts of Bangkok, you might concernedly notice vendors displaying delicate ivory carvings, dried tiger penises and bottles of bear bile…
Through your big black helmet, you witness the massive bodies of redwoods rise before you from the emerald undergrowth like an ancient congregation. A cool breeze breathes by, rustling the…
Across North America, wildlife agencies use robotic decoys to ensnare illegal hunters.
Many timber woods of conservation concern are hard to distinguish anatomically from species resembling them, especially when the wood sample lacks leaves or other botanical features. For instance, big-leaf mahogany…
Cross River gorillas benefit from reduced threat and strengthened law enforcement thanks in part to mobile data collection, management and analysis with CyberTracker monitoring.
Approximately 120,000 fishing vessels sail the oceans at any given moment, many fishing illicitly. Globally, one in five marine fish caught ends up on a $23.5 billion black market. Unrecorded…
From Laos to Belize, forest personnel use the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) to more efficiently anticipate and combat wildlife crime.