Around 40,000 African elephants are illegally killed for their tusks every year. But catching ivory poachers, and successfully convicting them, has remained incredibly hard. In 2016, for instance, Kenyan businessman…
In a video that went viral in 2015, researchers spent nearly 10 minutes pulling out a 10-centimeter (4-inch) plastic straw from the nostril of a male olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)…
Facebook is once again in the spotlight, this time for the rampant illegal wildlife trade being facilitated through its groups in Thailand. In a rapid assessment in 2016, carried out…
Not all monkeys have a sweet tooth. Some, like the Asian colobine monkeys, whose members live on a diet comprised mainly of leaves, cannot taste natural sugars and show no…
In December 2016, China and Hong Kong, two of the world’s major ivory markets, announced their commitment to shut down all domestic ivory trade. China implemented a full ban at…
How much of the Earth should we protect to save species from going extinct? Some conservationists have suggested an ambitious number: half of the planet. Prominent biologist Edward O. Wilson,…
In Morocco’s live animal markets, a wide variety of wildlife is available for sale. There’s the threatened spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca), going for around $1, and the endangered Barbary macaque (Macaca…
Few plants capture the imagination quite like orchids. When orchid fever gripped England in the early 1800s, wealthy aristocrats sent out orchid hunters to forests around the world in search…
Mangroves are carbon warriors. These salt-tolerant forests of trees and shrubs are known to lock away far greater amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide than any other terrestrial forests, forming some…
In 2016, a group of researchers set out to explore Serra da Neve Inselberg, an isolated mountain and Angola’s second-highest peak, in search of frogs and toads. Now, they have described…
The highly venomous forest cobra, the largest of Africa’s true cobras, is not one, but five separate species, according to a new study. At first glance, forest cobras, which can…
Under the forest floor lies a complex, hidden world of fungi. These tiny creatures form intimate connections with tree roots, sharing resources with each other and influencing the soil around…
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…
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 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…
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,…
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…
