Any illegal fishing going on around here? Ask an albatross
There are plenty of ways to hide in the open ocean if you want to fish unnoticed. Many fishing boats do just that. They turn off their public tracking systems…
Articles by Shreya Dasgupta
Shreya is a science and environmental writer based in India. A former wildlife researcher, she writes about animals, conservation, biology, people and places. Her work has appeared in BBC Earth, New Scientist, Ensia, The Scientist, The Guardian and others. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and cat.
The long goodbye: Study declares ancient Chinese paddlefish extinct
In 2003, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences captured, tagged and released a female Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) that had accidentally been caught in the Yangtze River. In…
Photos: Top 15 new species of 2019
The discovery of a new-to-science species is always an awe-inspiring bit of news, filling us with hope. This year, researchers introduced us to several such species. Some were the result…
Largest coral reef survey in French Polynesia offers hope
Over the course of seven months in 2012 and 2013, more than 70 scientists collaborated to study and map the coral reefs around the islands of French Polynesia in the…
Bringing back extinct plants to life: Q&A with ‘plant messiah’ Carlos Magdalena
Carlos Magdalena lives and breathes plants. He’s obsessed with them. But he also understands why many people aren’t. “Plants are not as obvious as animals,” he tells Mongabay. “You see…
Amazonian tree with human-sized leaves finally gets ID’d as new species
At the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, a framed exhibit of a massive dried leaf has been a local attraction for decades. But the complete identity…
Illegal logging persists in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary: Report
Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia continues to be illegally cleared, according to a new report by the Cambodian Youth Network (CYN). Located in the central plains of Cambodia, Prey…
Mussel species that invaded Southeast Asian waters now appears in India
While out on routine coastal surveys this past summer, a group of researchers noticed something odd. There were huge clusters of small, black mussels clinging on to wood stumps, plastic…
India’s Ganga River dolphins are being shouted down by noisy boats
India’s Ganga is a noisy river. There’s the churning of sediment, the hums, grunts and growls of fishes and turtles. There are the cacophonous stretches of cities and industries breathing…
Facebook and Instagram posts help locate pygmy seahorses in Taiwan
Pygmy seahorses are fascinating animals. These tiny, colorful seahorses measure less than an inch (2.7 centimeters) and match their body colors and textures to those of the vibrant corals they…
Can camera traps diagnose the severity of a mystery giraffe skin disease?
Giraffes have many problems to deal with. There’s habitat loss and poaching. Then there’s a mysterious skin disease that’s been recorded in 13 giraffe populations in seven African countries. The…
New maps show where giraffes live — mostly outside protected areas
You know a giraffe when you see one. But where in Africa can you see one? Unlike lions and rhinos, the world’s tallest animal is grossly understudied, with very little…
DRC’s Okapi Wildlife Reserve gets new management partner in WCS
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), created to protect the secretive okapi (Okapia johnstoni), will now be run under a new management partnership agreement between…
Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
We’ve all had duds. We’ve worked on projects far longer than we would have liked to and failed. We’ve agonized over missteps. We’ve learned from roadblocks — sometimes we’ve not.…
Panthera: At least 500 jaguars lost their lives or habitat in Amazon fires
The fires ravaging the Amazon forest in Brazil and Bolivia this year have burned key habitats of at least 500 adult, resident jaguars as of Sept. 17, rendering them dead…
‘Radically changing’ a rare Mauritian plant’s story: Q&A with ecologist Prishnee Bissessur
The plant Roussea simplex, usually referred to by its scientific name, is one of a kind. It grows only in the mountains of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius; it’s…
Nail paint helps researchers estimate numbers of rare Cuban bat species
One of the world’s rarest bats, the Cuban greater funnel-eared bat, is known from just a single remote cave in the island’s west. The bat was in fact thought to…
New monkey species found in Amazon forest area that’s fast disappearing
From an area of southern Amazonia, where forests are rapidly being cut for gold mining, agriculture, cattle pastures, and construction of dams, researchers have described a species of marmoset that’s…
‘Holy grail’: Nest of extremely rare bird captured on video in Russia
In June this year, researchers surveying a remote part of the Russian Far East finally managed to find what they had been looking for: a Nordmann’s greenshank sitting on a…
Humans have been transforming Earth for thousands of years, study says
Look around, and you’ll see examples of how we’ve modified our planet’s land surface: roads, buildings, farms, plantations. But is the widespread human impact on Earth a modern occurrence? No,…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Iran upholds heavy sentences for conservationists convicted of spying
- Two deaths trigger alarm at Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
- Fighting to save an endangered ape, Indonesian activists fear for their lives
Indonesias forest guardians
- 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
Amazon infrastructure
- Barrage of mining requests targets Brazil’s isolated indigenous peoples
- Database offers new details on the dams that hold mining waste
- Xavante tribe digs in as Brazil reneges on vow not to build a road in their reserve
Asian rhinos
- Indonesia-WWF split puts rhino breeding project in Borneo in limbo
- Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
- Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
