Eavesdrop on forest sounds to effectively monitor biodiversity, researchers say
There’s a lot to listen for in a tropical forest. There’s the sound of life: the howls, the hoots, the croaks. There’s the sound of loss: the buzz of chainsaws,…
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.
In India, indigenous youths are filming their own forests and communities
Read the other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India: From a new bird to a new community reserve:…
Photos: Top 10 new species of 2018
Once again this year, researchers described several new species of animals and plants after months, or even several years, of trials and tribulations. Some were tiny, like the Japan pig,…
Two Indian tribes help reconstruct a forest’s history, in war and in peace
Read the other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India: From a new bird to a new community reserve:…
Bird business: The man who taught his tribe to profit from conservation
Read the other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India: From a new bird to a new community reserve:…
From a new bird to a new community reserve: India’s tribe sets example
Read the other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India: Bird business: The man who taught his tribe to…
The Bangladeshi tribe that’s guarding turtles, co-authoring research papers
In the beginning, Shahriar Caesar Rahman’s trips to the remote forests of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh would invariably end in frustration. Rahman was searching for reptiles, and based…
Map pinpoints ‘last chance’ locations of endangered species
A new map plots out the last known refuges of hundreds of highly threatened species around the world. The assessment updates work done by the Alliance for Zero Extinction, or…
Two iconic birds make a striking comeback, but much work remains
The pink pigeon, found only on the island of Mauritius, was once nearly declared extinct. Another bird, the northern bald ibis, underwent catastrophic declines across much of its habitat in…
Google searches reveal public interest in conservation is rising
OK, Google: Has the general public lost interest in biodiversity conservation? Has people’s interest in environmental issues been overshadowed by climate change alone? The answer to both questions, according to…
Republic of Congo names new national park, home to gorillas, elephants
The Republic of Congo has officially created its fifth national park, lending protection to great apes, forest elephants and other threatened wildlife. The new Ogooué-Leketi National Park spans 3,500 square…
Invisible plant-enemy interactions drive diversity in forest fragments
Very few tropical forests around the world enjoy uninterrupted contiguity. Most are divided into uneven, small fragments, cut off from each other, their boundaries marked by roads or farms. But as…
Savanna fires, a boon to grazers, cast rhinos into a ‘food desert’
When it comes to protecting the critically endangered black rhinoceros, the focus tends to be on preventing the animals from being poached. But insidious threats like fire could be affecting…
17 new brilliantly colored species of sea slugs described
From lavender to orange, pink to yellow polka dots — researchers have just described 17 stunning new species of sea slugs that live among coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region.…
Illegal cheetah trade continues through Instagram, 4sale, YouTube
Cheetahs continue to be illegally traded through social media platforms, according to a new analysis published by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a non-profit research and lobby organization based in Namibia.…
China’s primates could disappear by end of this century, study warns
Most primates in China could be wiped out by the end of this century, a new study warns. China is the second-most primate-rich country in Asia, with 25 known species of…
Wildlife detectives link smuggled African elephant ivory to 3 major cartels
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…
How much plastic is too much plastic for sea turtles?
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)…
Illegal wildlife trade on Facebook in Thailand open ‘for all to see’
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…
These Asian monkeys can’t taste the sweetness of natural sugars
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…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Environmental defenders in Peru’s Madre de Dios face double jeopardy
- Arson attack in Indonesia leaves activist shaken
- For embattled environmental defenders, a reprieve of sorts in 2018
Indonesias forest guardians
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
- On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
- In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
Amazon infrastructure
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
- Amazon fish kill at Sinop spotlights risk from 80+ Tapajós basin dams
Asian rhinos
- Search for a new home for Javan rhinos put on hold
- Keeping stray rhinos safe is a challenge on fringes of Nepal park
- Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem
