<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=elephants&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/elephants/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 02:01:37 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.5</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Elephants</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/elephants/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>‘How did you come to be here?’ Study digs into origins of Zambian wildlife crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2026 21:22:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Megerle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17070507/Elephants_Zambia_Fawaz_Tairou-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329983</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Global, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Mammals, Organized Crime, Pangolins, Poaching, Rhinos, Trade, trafficking, Ungulates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would enable me to build a house and take my children to school,” the man said. The story of this inmate — who was eventually arrested and incarcerated for an elephant-related offense — drives home an important truth. Wildlife crime is a multifaceted industry fueled by various participants with a slew of motives, ranging from local people who may occasionally capture and sell an animal to middlemen who handle logistics to heavily armed poaching gangs and the kingpins that rule over large international syndicates. The lower-level links in the chain are simpler to catch and prosecute, but are easily replaceable, so their arrest does little to stop poaching. The NGO Wildlife Crime Prevention (WCP) Zambia, in partnership with Copperbelt University, recently interviewed more than 300 inmates imprisoned for wildlife offenses in the country to learn how and why people on the lower rungs of the industry took their first steps into wildlife crime. “We wanted to understand better the drivers of the more grassroots-levels offenders and why they get involved — and how we might avoid them being involved again,” said one of the study&#8217;s authors, who needed to remain anonymous so not to endanger their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329983</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tanzania’s first official wildlife corridor links savanna elephants to rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tanzanias-first-official-wildlife-corridor-links-savanna-elephants-to-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tanzanias-first-official-wildlife-corridor-links-savanna-elephants-to-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 19:42:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/04193627/Corridor_01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328811</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, flagship species, Forests, Hope and optimism, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Megafauna, Rainforests, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[African savanna elephants in southern Tanzania have an unusual habit: They climb mountains. Up to 1,000 of the pachyderms spend part of their time in the Udzungwa Mountains, clambering up and down steep slopes that are clad in lush, closed-canopy rainforest. “They go everywhere,” said Trevor Jones, director of strategy and development at the Southern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[African savanna elephants in southern Tanzania have an unusual habit: They climb mountains. Up to 1,000 of the pachyderms spend part of their time in the Udzungwa Mountains, clambering up and down steep slopes that are clad in lush, closed-canopy rainforest. “They go everywhere,” said Trevor Jones, director of strategy and development at the Southern Tanzania Elephant Program (STEP), a conservation group. “They can negotiate really quite surprisingly steep gradients that you wouldn’t expect, even to the point [of] occasionally, in the rainy season, sliding down on their bums when a particular slope is too steep.” But some also migrate from the mountains to more typical savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) habitat that lies to the east, across the Kilombero Valley, in Nyerere National Park. A satellite image of the corridor traversing the Kilombero Valley, from the Magombera Forest Reserve in the east to the Udzungwa Mountains in the west. Darker green dots inside the corridor are signs of maturing forest trees planted since 2023. Image courtesy Reforest Africa/Google Earth Researchers like Jones have been trying to understand why these herds have historically used such different parts of the landscape. “It’s a very adaptive population that’s using that mosaic of habitats and resources, from montane forest to lowland forest, and then miombo woodland and open bush in Nyerere,” Jones told Mongabay. “I’m sure some of [the habitats] are crucial for different time periods or different circumstances; in drought, for example, they might have to move to the [mountains] where there would&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tanzanias-first-official-wildlife-corridor-links-savanna-elephants-to-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tanzanias-first-official-wildlife-corridor-links-savanna-elephants-to-rainforest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328811</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Only 1,325-1,648 wild elephants left in Indonesia, government says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 17:41:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dyna Rochmyaningsih]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25160441/AP958512122711-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327276</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Ungulates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new 10-year plan for elephant conservation released by the Indonesian government places the country’s wild elephant population at an estimated 1,325-1,648 individuals. The previous figure, published in 2007, was 2,400-2,800 individuals, meaning the new estimate represents a decline of 41-45%. The launch of the 2026-2036 strategy and action plan comes after a long wait. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new 10-year plan for elephant conservation released by the Indonesian government places the country’s wild elephant population at an estimated 1,325-1,648 individuals. The previous figure, published in 2007, was 2,400-2,800 individuals, meaning the new estimate represents a decline of 41-45%. The launch of the 2026-2036 strategy and action plan comes after a long wait. After the 2007-2017 elephant plan expired, the government was supposed to release a new one. While a draft 2019-2029 plan was completed in 2017, then-President Joko Widodo’s administration never finalized the plan or shared it with the public. The draft 2019-2029 plan, seen by Mongabay, placed Indonesia’s elephant population at just 928-1,379 individuals, Mongabay reported in 2022. The plans are drafted by the Indonesian Elephant Conservation Forum (FKGI), a multi-stakeholder group composed of conservationists from NGOs and government agencies, and submitted to the forestry ministry for approval. FKGI deputy head Wishnu Sukmantoro suggested the discrepancy between the new plan and the previous unreleased one was due to the incorporation of new data. “The higher figure [in 2026] doesn’t mean the elephant population has increased” since 2017, Wishnu told Mongabay. The updated number better represents the situation on the ground, he said. “It is a combination of scientific analysis and agreements among elephant conservationists.” Nearly all of Indonesia’s elephants are Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), a critically endangered subspecies of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which is itself endangered. Fewer than 52,000 Asian elephants are left, most of them in India, according to WWF. Indonesia’s new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Culture, welfare and politics clash over Sri Lanka’s long-delayed animal welfare law</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/culture-welfare-and-politics-clash-over-sri-lankas-long-delayed-animal-welfare-law/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/culture-welfare-and-politics-clash-over-sri-lankas-long-delayed-animal-welfare-law/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 10:39:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24092756/01-Esala_Perahera-c-Daniel-Liabeuf-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327043</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Culture, Elephants, Environment, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KANDY, Sri Lanka – The famous Kandy Esala Perahera procession is one of Sri Lanka’s most vibrant religious-cultural celebrations, which transforms the hill capital into a spectacle of color, music, dance and caparisoned elephants to honor the tooth relic of the Buddha. But as the country prepared for this year’s Esala Perahera, which started on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KANDY, Sri Lanka – The famous Kandy Esala Perahera procession is one of Sri Lanka’s most vibrant religious-cultural celebrations, which transforms the hill capital into a spectacle of color, music, dance and caparisoned elephants to honor the tooth relic of the Buddha. But as the country prepared for this year’s Esala Perahera, which started on Aug. 18, politicians, Buddhist monks, veterinarians, lawyers and animal welfare advocates are busy debating the future of the country’s captive elephants. At the center of the controversy is Sri Lanka’s long-awaited Animal Welfare Bill, a draft law that has spent nearly two decades in legal limbo before finally getting the green light from the government in July. Opponents to the bill argue that if it becomes law, it could effectively prohibit the chaining of elephants, making their use in religious processions difficult and threatening the continuation of centuries-old Buddhist ceremonial traditions. Animal welfare groups counter that the bill has been misunderstood: It does not explicitly ban chains but seeks to prevent cruelty to animals and improve standards of care. Opposition to the bill “The animal welfare bill has a lot of ambiguities, and we fear that it could negatively restrict the use of elephants in major cultural events,” said Ashoka Dangolla, a veterinarian at the University of Peradeniya who has been involved in caring for the elephants of the Kandy Perahera for more than two decades. As elephants are wild animals, owners often justify chaining as necessary to restrain the elephants. Image by Dominik Stahl&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/culture-welfare-and-politics-clash-over-sri-lankas-long-delayed-animal-welfare-law/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/culture-welfare-and-politics-clash-over-sri-lankas-long-delayed-animal-welfare-law/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327043</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How women farmers are helping elephants and forests in a Sumatran national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 14:22:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[SuryadiYenni Kwok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/14132827/Ernita-farmer-and-member-of-womens-group-Perbani-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326257</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Elephants, Environment, Gender, Human-wildlife Conflict, National Parks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUBUK KEMBANG BUNGA, Indonesia — Tesso Nilo National Park, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, often makes headlines due to human-wildlife conflict — a byproduct of illegal encroachment and deforestation by oil palm plantations. However, there is a ray of hope, thanks to female farmers who live in a buffer zone of the national [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUBUK KEMBANG BUNGA, Indonesia — Tesso Nilo National Park, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, often makes headlines due to human-wildlife conflict — a byproduct of illegal encroachment and deforestation by oil palm plantations. However, there is a ray of hope, thanks to female farmers who live in a buffer zone of the national park. In the village of Lubuk Kembang Bunga, in the buffer zone next to the park, women are leading an initiative to plant fruit trees that both serve a conservation purpose and provide extra income. To prevent elephants from destroying their fruit plantations, the villagers plant citrus trees, which repel the pachyderms. Elsewhere, they also plant fruits beloved by these large animals, such as jackfruit, its cousin cempedak, and stink beans, known in Indonesian as petai. Ernita, a 33-year-old farmer, said she can now breathe easy after planting citrus trees on the perimeter of her oil palm farm. “Before we had the citrus trees, elephants always ate our oil palm fruits,” she told Mongabay Indonesia. “We had to replant the trees four or five times … Praise be to God, since we planted the citrus trees, the elephants haven’t eaten our oil palm fruits.” Ernita’s farm lies just outside Tesso Nilo, so she can grow various crops, including oil palm. But other parts of Lubuk Kembang Bunga village fall within the park’s borders, where, technically at least, oil palm cultivation isn’t permitted. Ernita, a farmer and member of Perbani, grows citrus trees on the perimeter&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326257</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On ivory, follow the trafficking networks and not the headlines (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2026 22:47:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mary Rice]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/25133056/image1-e1786130110289-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325640</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Global, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Charismatic Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Mammals, Organized Crime, Poaching, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early March 2026, acting on intelligence shared by my organization, the Environmental Investigation Agency UK, Zambian authorities seized a consignment of more than 500 kg (over 1,100 pounds) of ivory and arrested a suspect with long-standing links to regional ivory trafficking operations. One of the suspects involved in the case was convicted in 2019 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early March 2026, acting on intelligence shared by my organization, the Environmental Investigation Agency UK, Zambian authorities seized a consignment of more than 500 kg (over 1,100 pounds) of ivory and arrested a suspect with long-standing links to regional ivory trafficking operations. One of the suspects involved in the case was convicted in 2019 for possession of more than 200 kg (almost 441 lbs) of ivory and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020. He was released after a matter of months and has continued trading ivory ever since. So, Zambia, which has been exploited by criminal networks operating with relative impunity since at least 2002, is under the spotlight once again. Of particular concern is the involvement of Congolese criminal groups, which continue to operate across Zambia and the wider region, sourcing and moving wildlife products including elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales and big cats along complex transnational routes toward Asia, with Vietnam often serving as a key transit hub to other destinations. Exploiting the lack of political will, weak enforcement, corrupt officials and marginalized communities to facilitate their trade, these networks have been orchestrating poaching expeditions into neighboring countries, using Zambian intermediaries to supply their illicit trade chains. This recent interception in Zambia — alongside two other large-scale seizures made in Tanzania and Botswana in April and May respectively — brings the minimum total of ivory seized globally since 2023 to approximately 29 tons, nearly 64,000 pounds. That’s the equivalent of at least 4,000&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325640</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thermal drones deployed in Kenya’s Amboseli Park to tackle human-elephant conflict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/thermal-drones-deployed-in-kenyas-amboseli-park-to-tackle-human-elephant-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/thermal-drones-deployed-in-kenyas-amboseli-park-to-tackle-human-elephant-conflict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2026 12:47:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/07112735/DJI_20251205225756_0002_T-00_00_30.66-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325538</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Elephants, Environmental Law, Governance, Human-wildlife Conflict, Law, National Parks, Parks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dominic Mutua, a smallholder farmer from Inkoisuk village some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Amboseli National Park, has often clashed with two elephants that enter his farm and destroy crops. “We had to stay up guarding most nights and chasing them away,” Mutua told Mongabay in a telephone interview. The 2025 census conducted by the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dominic Mutua, a smallholder farmer from Inkoisuk village some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Amboseli National Park, has often clashed with two elephants that enter his farm and destroy crops. “We had to stay up guarding most nights and chasing them away,” Mutua told Mongabay in a telephone interview. The 2025 census conducted by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) recorded a population of 42,072 elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Kenya, 1,903 of which were counted in the Amboseli park and its surrounding areas. The absence of a perimeter fence means elephants can move freely beyond the national park’s boundaries. To address human-wildlife conflict in this remote rural region of southern Kenya, drones equipped with thermal-imaging technology enable conservation teams to monitor animal movement, detect wildlife at night and warn communities early before encounters escalate. Amy Baird, Deputy Director of the Big Life Foundation, says that aside from data collection, the drones can also safely deter elephants from entering farms and settlements by guiding them away from these areas. The US-based nonprofit works with communities to protect elephants and conserve habitats in the larger Amboseli ecosystem. An Amboseli elephant. Image courtesy of Big Life Foundation. Approximately 200,000 people live within the park and in the broader Amboseli region, which encompasses about 8,093 square kilometers (3,125 square miles) of rangelands, wetlands and wildlife corridors, according to the park’s management. As the park itself covers only 392 sq km (151 sq mi), its survival depends heavily on the health of the surrounding community lands.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/thermal-drones-deployed-in-kenyas-amboseli-park-to-tackle-human-elephant-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/thermal-drones-deployed-in-kenyas-amboseli-park-to-tackle-human-elephant-conflict/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325538</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vinod Rishi helped give India’s elephants room to roam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 00:22:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/04002522/Vinod_Rishi_bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325259</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Elephants, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A tiger once put its head beside a passenger in Vinod Rishi’s jeep. Its face, he wrote years later, wore a “quizzical expression.” Then it moved away, leaving the men unharmed. Rishi called it “a King with a big heart.” Decades after the encounter, he could still recall the position of the tiger’s head and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A tiger once put its head beside a passenger in Vinod Rishi’s jeep. Its face, he wrote years later, wore a “quizzical expression.” Then it moved away, leaving the men unharmed. Rishi called it “a King with a big heart.” Decades after the encounter, he could still recall the position of the tiger’s head and the look on its face. Rishi, who died in Dehradun on July 29, held some of the highest positions in Indian wildlife administration. He was the first director of Project Elephant, additional director general of forests for wildlife, and director of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy. During 38 years in the Indian Forest Service, he worked in the Sundarbans and Buxa tiger reserves, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, and the national parks of Singalila and Neora Valley. Born in Jalandhar, Punjab, he trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and graduated in 1968. He joined the forest service the following year. His engineering background clearly influenced the way he approached conservation. He paid close attention to methods, evidence, and whether a plan would work in the field.  His early career in West Bengal brought him into contact with tigers, rhinos, elephants, and the administrative problems surrounding each of them. At Darjeeling Zoo, he studied animal biology at close range. The experience later contributed to work on captive breeding for snow leopards and the conservation of red pandas in Singalila. In the Sundarbans, he worked on conflict between people and tigers. When newspapers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge ivory bust raises questions about follow-up investigations in Tanzania</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:06:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08180430/Elephant_Tanzania_sama093FlickrBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320774</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory and intent to trade it. Tanzania is a signatory to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, which requires parties to conduct forensic analysis of ivory seizures of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) or more to determine where it came from. This is intended to support investigations that go beyond the typically low-level traffickers who are caught in possession. Tanzanian police did not respond to questions from Mongabay about the origins of the seized ivory or who Ra allegedly planned to sell it to. During an administrative hearing on May 28, prosecutor Florida Wancelaus told the court only that investigations are ongoing. Chris Morris, founder of wildlife crime monitoring group Saving Elephants through Education and Justice (SEEJ), based in neighboring Kenya, estimated that 504 tusks would weigh roughly 2,500 kg (about 5,500 lbs). In an email to Mongabay, he said law enforcement in the region does not always meet the CITES requirement to conduct DNA analysis on confiscated ivory. “It remains to be seen if Tanzania will comply with this directive,” Morris wrote. Morris, a former war crimes investigator, said Tanzanian authorities have often withheld information that would help sister agencies in the region and beyond trace&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320774</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Electric fences help farmers and elephants coexist in Zambian borderlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/electric-fences-help-farmers-and-elephants-coexist-in-zambian-borderlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/electric-fences-help-farmers-and-elephants-coexist-in-zambian-borderlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2026 10:46:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19164707/Elephants.Loxodonta.africana_LiwondeNPMalawi_StGeorgesFlickrBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319713</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Mammals, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia — “It’s not possible [to coexist with elephants], because they are animals and we are human beings — they should have their own home,” says Esnart Banda, a Zambian farmer whose maize and tobacco fields lie 5 meters, just 16 feet, from the boundary of Malawi’s Kasungu National Park. Just two thin strands [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia — “It’s not possible [to coexist with elephants], because they are animals and we are human beings — they should have their own home,” says Esnart Banda, a Zambian farmer whose maize and tobacco fields lie 5 meters, just 16 feet, from the boundary of Malawi’s Kasungu National Park. Just two thin strands of orange, plastic-coated wire now stand between Banda’s crops and Kasungu’s elephants. The wires, known as polywire fencing and supplied by conservation group IFAW and Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), are strung taut between straight, evenly cut fence poles that Banda and her helpers erected. To the uninitiated, they hardly seem capable of stopping a herd of elephants. But Banda herself attests to their effectiveness. “It’s strong, it helps us,” she tells Mongabay. “If somebody touches it, they fall.” Farmer Harry Msimuko stands in front of wires that carry a powerful electric charge, protecting his own crops and those of 19 other households from elephants from nearby Kasungu National Park. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. On a neighboring farm, within sight of the bare granite faces of Malawi’s Miwonde Hills, Harry Msimuko shows off the “power house” in his living room: two solar-powered batteries with wiring snaking up the wall. When he flicks a switch at night, pulses of electricity run along 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) of fencing enclosing not only his crops but those of 19 neighbors. The only recent conflict, he says, has been with hyenas crossing from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/electric-fences-help-farmers-and-elephants-coexist-in-zambian-borderlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/electric-fences-help-farmers-and-elephants-coexist-in-zambian-borderlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319713</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trump called trophy hunting a “horror show,” but permitted 300-plus elephant trophy imports in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/trump-called-trophy-hunting-a-horror-show-but-permitted-300-plus-elephant-trophy-imports-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/trump-called-trophy-hunting-a-horror-show-but-permitted-300-plus-elephant-trophy-imports-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 15:33:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15171641/ele-mom-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319539</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Hunting, International Trade, Mammals, Trophy Hunting, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The U.S. issued more than 300 elephant trophy import permits during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to records obtained by U.S.-based NGO the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). It’s the most ever issued on Trump’s watch in a year, and indicates that as many as 300 elephants were killed. Trophies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The U.S. issued more than 300 elephant trophy import permits during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to records obtained by U.S.-based NGO the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). It’s the most ever issued on Trump’s watch in a year, and indicates that as many as 300 elephants were killed. Trophies are usually the taxidermied heads or feet, which hunters display in their homes as décor. Tanya Sanerib, the center’s international legal director who analyzed the data, called the permit numbers “alarming.” It’s a 154% increase in the total number of elephant trophy import permits issued during all of Trump&#8217;s first term. Because elephants are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), importers need a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to bring elephant trophies into the country. In 2018, the agency issued 114 permits. That dropped to just four in 2019 and none in 2020 and 2021. Receiving a permit does not necessarily mean an elephant was killed that year. Some hunters apply for permits before going on a hunting trip; others apply after an animal is killed. Each permit is valid for a year. African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are an endangered species. In the 1800s, about 26 million roamed the continent. But poaching for the international trade in ivory crashed their numbers: Since 1965, 60% of them were slaughtered for their tusks. Only about 415,000 remain today. While the ivory trade has declined, this wide-ranging pachyderm’s habitat&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/trump-called-trophy-hunting-a-horror-show-but-permitted-300-plus-elephant-trophy-imports-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/trump-called-trophy-hunting-a-horror-show-but-permitted-300-plus-elephant-trophy-imports-in-2025/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319539</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elephants return to Mount Elgon side of Uganda after four decades</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 10:03:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Jumbe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/18062559/Mount-Elgon-Uganda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319622</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to monitoring with tracking collars by the Mount Elgon Foundation (MEF), last year at least 60 elephants crossed from Kenya into the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon, a vast volcanic mountain that straddles the border, returning to a part of their natural range where they’ve not been seen for over 40 years. MEF funds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[According to monitoring with tracking collars by the Mount Elgon Foundation (MEF), last year at least 60 elephants crossed from Kenya into the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon, a vast volcanic mountain that straddles the border, returning to a part of their natural range where they’ve not been seen for over 40 years. MEF funds community projects aimed at reducing forest degradation and raising awareness of environmental issues, as well as a team of 18 community scouts on the Kenyan side of the mountain, part of the East African Wild Life Society’s Mount Elgon Elephant Project. MEF’s chair, Chris Powles, told Mongabay that back in 2022, scouts tracked four elephants crossing the Suam river, which marks the border between the two countries. Drone footage of elephants on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon. Image courtesy of UWA. In an email interview, Powles said a number of factors could explain the elephants’ return, though it’s impossible to say for certain what’s prompted them to reestablish themselves. “[These] include the growth of the elephant population on the Kenya side, the increasing human pressure on the Kenya side, the relative safety for them on the Uganda side as it is all national park (unlike in Kenya),” he wrote. “And, maybe, the elephants alive from the time when others of them were killed in Uganda have now died naturally and so their memory of what happened in Uganda may have passed.” In the late 1970s and 80s, elephants in Uganda and other parts of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319622</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Radio and satellite alerts help Zambian farmers live with dangerous wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 18:54:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15184240/Elephants_IFAW_fence-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319556</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia – In a yellow, single-story building in the eastern Zambian town of Lundazi, a radio presenter fields numerous calls from anxious villagers on nearby farms. Sitting across from presenter Joseph Mwale in the air-conditioned studio are two officials from Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). One of them, Senior Ranger Mathews [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia – In a yellow, single-story building in the eastern Zambian town of Lundazi, a radio presenter fields numerous calls from anxious villagers on nearby farms. Sitting across from presenter Joseph Mwale in the air-conditioned studio are two officials from Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). One of them, Senior Ranger Mathews Mumbi, tells listeners: “Avoid going out at night to avoid the ngozi (accidental harm).” Many of the villagers tuning in to the Thursday evening program live in a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) straddling eastern Zambia and neighboring Malawi: dangerous encounters with wild animals is a way of life here. The twice-weekly radio show on Chikaya FM, a community radio station, is sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which works with the DNPW to promote human-wildlife coexistence across three Zambian farming districts – Lundazi, Lumezi and Chipangali — home to around half a million people. In theory, the TFCA links Kasungu with Zambia’s Lukusuzi and Luambe National Parks, but to reach the Zambian parks, elephants and other wild animals must cross farmland and roads and navigate past schools and homesteads. Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife&#8217;s Mwizaso Chipeta (left) and Mathews Mumbi field questions from callers about human-wildlife conflict from callers during a radio show on Chikaya FM, while IFAW’s community engagement manager Alstone Mwanza (right) listens in. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. During a break in the radio show, the station runs an advert with the sound of an elephant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319556</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As elephants return in eastern Zambia, communities adapt to coexistence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-elephants-return-in-eastern-zambia-communities-adapt-to-coexistence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-elephants-return-in-eastern-zambia-communities-adapt-to-coexistence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 15:39:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13140225/Elephants_farmers_granary-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319328</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia — The very first time 23-year-old Edward Kumwenda saw elephants, it was after midnight, and they were breaking into his house. That night, two years ago, Kumwenda was sleeping alone in a small brick-and-thatch cottage at his father’s homestead in eastern Zambia’s Chipangali district, when he heard animals approaching. At first, he thought [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia — The very first time 23-year-old Edward Kumwenda saw elephants, it was after midnight, and they were breaking into his house. That night, two years ago, Kumwenda was sleeping alone in a small brick-and-thatch cottage at his father’s homestead in eastern Zambia’s Chipangali district, when he heard animals approaching. At first, he thought the sound of breaking twigs and rustling grass was caused by cattle, or worse, cattle thieves targeting his family’s livestock. But then the intruders began tugging at the thatch roof. The room shook, part of the brick wall collapsed, and a large trunk pushed through the hole, curling around one of the bags containing some of that year’s maize harvest and lifting it out. “They got the first bag, second bag, third bag, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,” he recalls, sitting on a stool in his family’s bare, swept yard, as the cassia trees drop yellow flowers and relatives gather to hear the story yet again. “That is enough [maize to last] for the whole year, for me,” he says. Kumwenda thought of escaping through an open window, but kept his nerve, staying silent until his sister and brother — alerted by the noise of the herd breaking in — lit a log fire in the yard and drove the animals away. Edward Kumwenda indicates where elephants broke into the house where he was sleeping two years ago and helped themselves to his family’s maize stores. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. An elephant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-elephants-return-in-eastern-zambia-communities-adapt-to-coexistence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-elephants-return-in-eastern-zambia-communities-adapt-to-coexistence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319328</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rise in elephant killings reveals conservation gaps in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 05:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07051318/old-man-elephant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On April 25, 2026, a male elephant suffering from illness died in the hilly district of Rangamati in southeastern Bangladesh. Residents from the remote village where it died hacked away at its legs and trunk, which highlight serious failures by the country’s Forest Department as well as a lack of public awareness and sensitivity towards [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On April 25, 2026, a male elephant suffering from illness died in the hilly district of Rangamati in southeastern Bangladesh. Residents from the remote village where it died hacked away at its legs and trunk, which highlight serious failures by the country’s Forest Department as well as a lack of public awareness and sensitivity towards wildlife protection. The 60-year-old elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) had been injured several months earlier in a conflict with humans and later died while receiving treatment, said A.S.M. Jahir Uddin Akon, a conservator of forests in Bangladesh. Prior to this incident, in March, a 3-month-old baby elephant was found killed by humans in a protected forest in the neighboring Bandarban district. Before that, on Jan. 19, a captive elephant was killed following collision with a train in Sylhet district in northeastern Bangladesh. The mutilated elephant in Langadu sub-district, Rangamati. Image by Samir Mallik. According to the latest data from the forest department, between 2017 and 2025, at least 148 elephants — including resident, non-resident and captive ones — were killed in the country. ‘Resident’ here means those who live in the country’s forests, and ‘non-resident’ refers to those who frequently come in from the neighboring countries, India and Myanmar. The deaths of the three elephants this year have brought the total number to 151. Regarding the rising fatal incidents of elephants despite several conservation initiatives, Akon, who leads the Elephant Conservation Project at the Forest Department, told Mongabay, “We are working to resolve the crisis in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Push for solar park in Sri Lanka’s elephant terrain raises concern</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/push-for-solar-park-in-sri-lankas-elephant-terrain-raises-concern/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/push-for-solar-park-in-sri-lankas-elephant-terrain-raises-concern/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 09:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/21082917/1AHER1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317847</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Elephants, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Protected Areas, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — As a new wave of large-scale solar energy projects take shape along the fringes of Sri Lanka’s Managed Elephant Range, or MER, in the southern district of Hambantota, activists, farmers and wildlife conservationists are opposing the move. Those opposing the solar push — in a district that has significant ‘elephant [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — As a new wave of large-scale solar energy projects take shape along the fringes of Sri Lanka’s Managed Elephant Range, or MER, in the southern district of Hambantota, activists, farmers and wildlife conservationists are opposing the move. Those opposing the solar push — in a district that has significant ‘elephant terrain’ — warn that clearing forests in one of the most critical elephant landscapes on the island would escalate the existing human-elephant conflict (HEC) rather than reduce it. Sri Lanka holds one of the worst records for human-elephant conflict, an issue that continues to worsen as the island’s conservation efforts are no match for the escalating conflict. Every year, around 100 people and 400 elephants are killed in the country due to HEC. The Sri Lankan government has granted approval to set up multiple privately-owned solar power plants, forming a solar energy park bordering the Hambantota MER, with as much as 405 hectares (1,000 acres) of elephant habitat slated for clearance, according to Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR),  a network of farmer organizations and community-based organizations. “Ground investigations by MONLAR confirm that forest clearing has already begun, with heavy machinery being used to clear the scrub forests and to burn them,” Chamikara tells Mongabay. “This will inevitably escalate human-elephant conflict in an area already among the worst affected by HEC.” Local communities echo these fears. “We are already struggling with elephants, and we simply cannot bear any further intensification&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/push-for-solar-park-in-sri-lankas-elephant-terrain-raises-concern/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/push-for-solar-park-in-sri-lankas-elephant-terrain-raises-concern/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317847</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2026 14:46:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaRhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/19152433/ivonne-kienast-2026-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316782</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Education, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Primates, Rainforests, Research, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildtech, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating over long distances through low-frequency calls that travel beyond human hearing. Much of their social life unfolds out of sight. Dzanga Bai is one of the few places where that pattern breaks. Here, elephants emerge from the forest to feed on minerals in the soil. They linger. Families converge, separate, and return. Individuals can be recognized over years. Behaviors that are otherwise inferred—through tracks, fragments of sound, or brief encounters—can be followed more directly. Dzanga Bai in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler For decades, the clearing has drawn researchers trying to understand a species that resists easy study. Long-term work here, including that of researchers such as Andrea Turkalo, has shaped much of what is known about forest elephants. Ivonne Kienast is part of that effort. She leads the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project, part of the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Her work combines long-term behavioral observation with passive acoustic monitoring. The objective is to understand how forest elephants live and to detect early signs of change. In practice, this means continuous field presence, physically demanding work, and coordination across a network of relationships that extend well beyond&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316782</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Living with wildlife, bearing the cost</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 00:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14170616/south_africa_kruger_260525-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317125</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Land Rights, National Parks, Parks, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a correction to how it is described. The phrase “human-wildlife conflict” appears frequently in reports and strategies, often as a category that can be measured and managed. For those living closest to wildlife, the experience it refers to is less abstract and less contained. “Have you ever seen how an elephant kills a person?” the same speaker asked. What followed was a detailed account of a fatal encounter during a routine trip to collect firewood: the animal catching up to a woman as she ran, throwing her, and then crushing her body. The description is difficult to read. It is also part of what is being described when conflict is reduced to a term. Elsewhere, the cost is expressed in more tangible terms, as recounted by Kendi Borona in a commentary published on Mongabay last September. A farmer in East Africa described taking out a loan to shift from pastoralism to agriculture after repeated livestock losses. He leased land, planted tomatoes, and paid someone to guard the fields through the night. When the crop was ready, heavy rain prevented the vehicle from reaching the farm. During that delay, elephants entered and consumed the harvest. The loss&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317125</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The little-known story of emerging ecotourism in the Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 10:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02002409/08-car_2626872x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Economics, Ecotourism, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Marketing, National Parks, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — For many outside the country, the Central African Republic remains defined by a set of familiar images: conflict, instability, weak infrastructure and a state that struggles to extend its authority much beyond Bangui, the country’s capital. These realities are not imaginary. They continue to shape daily life across much of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — For many outside the country, the Central African Republic remains defined by a set of familiar images: conflict, instability, weak infrastructure and a state that struggles to extend its authority much beyond Bangui, the country’s capital. These realities are not imaginary. They continue to shape daily life across much of the country. Roads are in poor condition, health services are fragile and insecurity persists in certain areas. For years, these conditions have overshadowed nearly every other story. But they do not tell the whole story. Hundreds of kilometers southwest of Bangui, near the borders with Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, a more low-key experiment is taking shape in the forests of Dzanga-Sangha. It is an attempt to build a local economy centered on wildlife, conservation and tourism in a country rarely associated with these three elements. In Bayanga, a small town serving as the gateway to Dzanga-Sangha National Park, visitors come for Dzanga Bai, one of the most famous forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) gathering places in tropical Africa, where dozens — and sometimes well over a hundred — elephants can gather in a single area. They also come for the western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) accustomed to human presence, the dense forest of the Congo Basin, and a conservation landscape that remains, in many ways, raw and un-finished. Dzanga Bai, one of the best-known forest elephant clearings in tropical Africa, where dozens and sometimes well over a hundred elephants can gather in a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 16:14:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/06160058/car_2626790x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317009</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Forests, Mammals, Megafauna, National Parks, Parks, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different. Often [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different. Often called the “village of elephants,” this mineral-rich clearing in Dzanga-Sangha National Park in southwestern Central African Republic draws large numbers of forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) out of the dense forest. Here, in the Congo Basin, they gather in the open, dozens at a time, sometimes hundreds, feeding, interacting and returning again and again to a place where elephants can be seen in the open. “The Dzanga Bai is the only known clearing where you get hundreds of forest elephants,” said Ivonne Kienast, a behavioral biologist with the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University, U.S., who has been working in Dzanga-Sangha since 2021. “You have other clearings where, if you&#8217;re lucky, the maximum number of elephants you can see will be 40 or 50. But here, the minimum is 40 or 50.” Researchers observing forest elephants in this clearing say the primary attraction is mineral-rich soil. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. At peak instances, the numbers climb higher still. “Two hundred and eleven was the count last year in December,” Kienast said. “And that&#8217;s just at one [instance].” The forest elephants emerge from the forest edge, stepping cautiously into the open. Some wade knee-deep into pools,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317009</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Asia now hub of growing illegal wildlife trade across 100+ countries, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/asia-now-hub-of-growing-illegal-wildlife-trade-across-100-countries-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/asia-now-hub-of-growing-illegal-wildlife-trade-across-100-countries-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2026 17:28:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30124127/Chinese-Pangolin-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316529</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, Pangolins, Poaching, Rhinos, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife trade is decimating the planet’s biodiversity, driving declines in more than 31,500 wild species and spreading infectious zoonotic diseases that jump between wildlife, livestock and humans. In addition to massive legal, regulated trade, there’s widespread illicit trafficking in both live animals and high-demand, profitable animal products, a commerce worth at least $20 billion per [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife trade is decimating the planet’s biodiversity, driving declines in more than 31,500 wild species and spreading infectious zoonotic diseases that jump between wildlife, livestock and humans. In addition to massive legal, regulated trade, there’s widespread illicit trafficking in both live animals and high-demand, profitable animal products, a commerce worth at least $20 billion per year. Dubbed “one of the world’s largest criminal activities,” wildlife ranks among the most lucrative smuggled goods, a list that includes guns, drugs and humans — but with way lower risks. Yet, there’s patchy data on how this trade has grown over the years; what species are trafficked; and where the hotspots are. What we do know comes from law enforcement seizures, which are often just the tip of the iceberg. “Much of what we know about [illegal wildlife trade] is based on static estimates, isolated case studies or regional snapshots, rather than long-term, system-level analyses,” said researcher Tow Jia Hao at the National University of Singapore. “[It] is a difficult picture to piece together and tackle, especially with much of the pieces still being hidden.” To fill the knowledge gaps, Hao and his colleagues analyzed data on illegal wildlife trade from the last two decades (2000 – 2019), and compared it with legal trade data. They gathered seizure data from TRAFFIC’s Wildlife Trade Portal and collected information on permitted wildlife trade from the CITES legal trade database, which records all legitimate commerce in species listed under a global wildlife treaty, CITES. They mapped out&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/asia-now-hub-of-growing-illegal-wildlife-trade-across-100-countries-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/asia-now-hub-of-growing-illegal-wildlife-trade-across-100-countries-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316529</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2026 06:38:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19055008/Sumatran_Elephant_swimming_with_mahout-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315931</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Lampung, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Carbon Market, Conservation, Ecotourism, Elephants, Endangered Species, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, National Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tourism, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental experts and activists have slammed plans for carbon and tourism projects in an Indonesian park that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and elephants. The government has framed the proposed rezoning of half of the core area of Way Kambas National Park for carbon trading and luxury tourism as a way to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental experts and activists have slammed plans for carbon and tourism projects in an Indonesian park that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and elephants. The government has framed the proposed rezoning of half of the core area of Way Kambas National Park for carbon trading and luxury tourism as a way to raise money for ecosystem restoration. But critics contend it could actually harm wildlife in one of Sumatra’s most important remaining habitats. “If the reason for reducing the core zone is to increase the utilization zone for business, that’s not appropriate,” Indonesian ecologist Wishnu Sukmantoro, a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay. He added that such a move could undermine Indonesia’s credibility in international conservation forums. Announced last year, the proposed rezoning would more than halve the park’s strictly protected core area from 59,935 to 27,661 hectares (148,103 to 68,352 acres), while expanding its utilization zone nearly tenfold from 3,934 to 32,091 hectares (9,721 to 79,299 acres), according to a Ministry of Forestry document seen by Mongabay. The core zone, now a largely continuous block, would be split into three separate sections. Maps of the proposed rezoning of the Way Kambas National Park. The changes would affect areas including Wako, Way Kanan and Sekapuk, which conservationists say still support key wildlife and functional habitat, even as some parts of the park have been degraded by decades of illegal logging. The Wako–Way Kanan landscape also forms&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315931</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s rural women at increasing risk of human-wildlife conflict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Mar 2026 15:16:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tulsi Rauniyar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/18143556/woman-with-goat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Elephants, Environment, Gender, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Solutions, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BARDIYA, Nepal — On the morning of Feb. 6, the road leading to the Bardiya District Administration Office in western Nepal was filled with people moving as one. Dust rose from their footsteps. Voices layered over each other, murmurs turned into chants and anger hardened into demands that echoed off the building&#8217;s walls. Dozens pushed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BARDIYA, Nepal — On the morning of Feb. 6, the road leading to the Bardiya District Administration Office in western Nepal was filled with people moving as one. Dust rose from their footsteps. Voices layered over each other, murmurs turned into chants and anger hardened into demands that echoed off the building&#8217;s walls. Dozens pushed through the main gate, some carrying hastily painted banners, others empty-handed but resolute. Their three demands: fair compensation for families, death to leopards that attacked villagers and protection for people who should have been there all along. As Nepal celebrates major conservation gains, rural women in forest-edge communities like Bardiya are increasingly exposed to human–wildlife conflict because migration-driven labor shifts and daily subsistence work push them into the same forest corridors where wildlife movement and deadly encounters are most likely. The previous day, in the span of a few hours, a man and a woman had been killed by leopards, one while cutting grass in the community forest, the other while working in her own field. Women in the buffer zone in Bardiya head home after collecting grass. Image by Tulsi Rauniyar for Mongabay. A winter of fatal encounters The protest marked the breaking point of a winter shaped by repeated wildlife attacks — a pattern many residents trace to December 2025, in Madhuwan, a settlement along the outer edge of Bardiya National Park, home to 125 of Nepal’s 355 tigers. Weeks before the protest reached Bardiya’s administrative offices, mornings in Madhuwan began much the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Electrocution, conflict, poaching mark grim start to year for Sumatran elephants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/electrocution-conflict-poaching-mark-grim-start-to-year-for-sumatran-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/electrocution-conflict-poaching-mark-grim-start-to-year-for-sumatran-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2026 10:17:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/09093305/Arus-Listrik-yang-dipasang-warga-di-Kebun-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Poaching, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — A Sumatran elephant found dead in Indonesia’s Central Aceh district in late February was the latest case of electrocution to kill one of Indonesia’s remaining critically endangered elephants, officials in the semiautonomous region of Aceh province say. In a separate incident a day later, a farmer died after encountering an elephant [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — A Sumatran elephant found dead in Indonesia’s Central Aceh district in late February was the latest case of electrocution to kill one of Indonesia’s remaining critically endangered elephants, officials in the semiautonomous region of Aceh province say. In a separate incident a day later, a farmer died after encountering an elephant herd near his family’s corn field. According to a senior conservation official in Aceh, Cyclone Senyar, which killed more than 1,000 people in late November, may have disrupted elephant movement patterns and increased the risk of such encounters. In a further incident, police in Sumatra’s Riau province on Mar. 3 announced they would charge 15 people after uncovering an alleged poaching ring linked to the shooting of an elephant on Feb. 2. The elephant was found on a palm oil concession operated by PT Riau Andalan Pulp &amp; Paper, a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd, known as the APRIL Group. “We suspected that the animal was looking for food,” said Anwar, a resident of Karang Ampar village in Ketol subdistrict after the body of the elephant was found there. The body of the female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), aged around 20 years old, was discovered on the outskirts of Karang Ampar on Feb. 20. “Its trunk was entangled in a wire that had been put up around the land,” Anwar said, referring to an electrified fence. He added that encounters with elephants had increased in frequency. In much of Sumatra, farming&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/electrocution-conflict-poaching-mark-grim-start-to-year-for-sumatran-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/electrocution-conflict-poaching-mark-grim-start-to-year-for-sumatran-elephants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia says intervention in notorious Sumatran national park part of new ‘model’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-says-intervention-in-notorious-sumatran-national-park-part-of-new-model/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-says-intervention-in-notorious-sumatran-national-park-part-of-new-model/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2026 09:44:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suryadi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/17090357/sumatran-elephant-and-mahout-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314327</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Elephants, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Forestry, Forests, Governance, National Parks, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PELALAWAN, Indonesia — A radical new policy to relocate people living in a notoriously deforested national park on Sumatra has moved hundreds of families to date, with Indonesian officials presenting the controversial program as a blueprint for other protected areas across Asia’s largest remaining tropical forests. “This activity will serve as a model for other [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PELALAWAN, Indonesia — A radical new policy to relocate people living in a notoriously deforested national park on Sumatra has moved hundreds of families to date, with Indonesian officials presenting the controversial program as a blueprint for other protected areas across Asia’s largest remaining tropical forests. “This activity will serve as a model for other locations in restoring national parks,” Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said in a statement. Tesso Nilo is one of the few remaining habitats of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) and Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). The forest is also home to thousands of plant species. The lowland national park in Sumatra’s Riau province has suffered extensive deforestation, however, despite being granted the highest level of state protection two decades ago. Tesso Nilo was designated a national park in 2004 on a former logging timber concession. Following a subsequent expansion in 2009, Tesso Nilo National Park now spans 81,793 hectares (202,115 acres) — an area larger than New York City. Data from Global Forest Watch, a satellite platform managed by the World Resources Institute, showed Tesso Nilo National Park lost 78% of its old-growth forest between the expansion in 2009 and end-2023. Fieldworkers in Riau say the extraordinary level of destruction in Tesso Nilo reflects complex challenges to the rule of law on the ground, from community encroachment and migration to corruption and organized criminality, which successive local and national governments have failed to control. In an attempt to halt the crisis,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-says-intervention-in-notorious-sumatran-national-park-part-of-new-model/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-says-intervention-in-notorious-sumatran-national-park-part-of-new-model/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314327</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poaching down but threats remain for forest elephants, recent population assessment finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/poaching-down-but-threats-remain-for-forest-elephants-recent-population-assessment-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/poaching-down-but-threats-remain-for-forest-elephants-recent-population-assessment-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jan 2026 15:06:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/05115844/ForestElephant.Loxodonta.cyclotis_NgounieGabon_marcusgmeineriNaturalistBYNC4.0-BANNER-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312624</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Elephants, Endangered Species, Forests, Ivory, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 145,000 African forest elephants roam the rainforests of Africa, according to a recent population assessment. Published in December by the African Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, the survey relies on improved DNA-based techniques to provide the first estimate for these critically endangered pachyderms since they were recognized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 145,000 African forest elephants roam the rainforests of Africa, according to a recent population assessment. Published in December by the African Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, the survey relies on improved DNA-based techniques to provide the first estimate for these critically endangered pachyderms since they were recognized as a distinct species in 2021. African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are found primarily in the dense rainforests of Central Africa, with significant but dwindling numbers remaining in West Africa, and small populations in East and Southern Africa. Hybrids with their close cousins, savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), also occur infrequently where both forest and savanna elephants are found. Counting these shy and elusive giants is a challenge for researchers as they blend into their surroundings or vanish into the dense understory of their forest habitat. A forest elephant with calf in Gabon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Some 153 population surveys, carried out between 2016 and 2024 across roughly three-quarters of L. cyclotis’s known range, counted 135,690 forest elephants. The IUCN’s assessment included 22 elephant populations, mostly in Central Africa, that had not previously been surveyed. The researchers estimate there are as many as 11,000 more elephants in the remaining parts of the species’ range, pushing the total to just over 145,000 individuals. “This report is the first one that shows forest elephant numbers,” report author Fiona Maisels, a conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), told Mongabay by email. “In previous iterations, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/poaching-down-but-threats-remain-for-forest-elephants-recent-population-assessment-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/poaching-down-but-threats-remain-for-forest-elephants-recent-population-assessment-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312624</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What Craig’s long life reveals about elephant conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-craigs-long-life-reveals-about-elephant-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-craigs-long-life-reveals-about-elephant-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2026 23:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/03234557/CGM_Amboseli-00696-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312580</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The death of a well-known wild animal is an odd kind of news. It is intimate, because so many people feel they have met the creature through photographs and video. It is also impersonal, because the animal has no public life beyond what humans project onto it. For elephants, that tension is sharpened by history. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The death of a well-known wild animal is an odd kind of news. It is intimate, because so many people feel they have met the creature through photographs and video. It is also impersonal, because the animal has no public life beyond what humans project onto it. For elephants, that tension is sharpened by history. Their bodies have been turned into luxury goods, their habitats into development sites, and their survival into a test of whether conservation can work at scale. That is why today’s news from Kenya traveled quickly. Craig, the Amboseli bull famous for tusks that nearly brushed the ground, died at the age of 54. Conservation groups and wildlife authorities said he died of natural causes after showing signs of distress overnight, with rangers staying close by. His final hours seemed to reflect age, not violence: intermittent collapsing, short attempts to stand and move, and evidence that he was no longer chewing properly as his last molars wore down. For an elephant, teeth often write the closing chapter. Craig was not obscure. He was, by most accounts, one of the most photographed elephants in Africa, and perhaps the best-known “super tusker” alive—one of the rare bulls whose tusks weigh more than 45 kilograms each. He was also known for temperament: calm around vehicles, patient in the presence of cameras, and unusually tolerant of the attention that followed him. That quality, as much as the ivory he carried, helped make him a symbol of what protection can look&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-craigs-long-life-reveals-about-elephant-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-craigs-long-life-reveals-about-elephant-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Southern African farmers &#038; elephants can both adapt to coexist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-southern-african-farmers-elephants-can-both-adapt-to-coexist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-southern-african-farmers-elephants-can-both-adapt-to-coexist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2025 06:41:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/19064047/EC_11-BANNER-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311650</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Fences, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Research, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Elephants are considered a sacred totem by many in northwestern Zimbabwe, but they also frequently raid villagers’ crops near harvest time, says Agripa Ngorima, who has studied attitudes toward conservation in Simangani. During his fieldwork, he presented residents with two scenarios: one in which elephants provided benefits — such as meat, skins for ornaments or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Elephants are considered a sacred totem by many in northwestern Zimbabwe, but they also frequently raid villagers’ crops near harvest time, says Agripa Ngorima, who has studied attitudes toward conservation in Simangani. During his fieldwork, he presented residents with two scenarios: one in which elephants provided benefits — such as meat, skins for ornaments or safari-industry jobs — and another in which people only incurred costs, including crop losses, fence damage or injury. Their responses diverged sharply: 88% said they would support elephant culls or translocations if they received no benefits, compared with just 20% if elephants supported their livelihoods, and 92% were unwilling to engage in conservation due to lack of financial gain from elephants. “Any cultural willingness to coexist with elephants is conditional and will be withdrawn if livelihoods are threatened,” Ngorima says. Elephants roam freely from Hwange National Park into bordering communal farming lands. IFAW’s EarthRanger project has tracked the movement of collared elephants, with some ranging more than 200 kms from the protected area and traversing communal land along the way. Image courtesy of Tyson Mayr / IFAW. Learning to live with elephants Since his fieldwork in Simangani in 2018, the government and NGOs have introduced outreach programs, teaching villagers about elephant behavior and promoting the cultivation of red-hot chile peppers — plants the animals can’t abide. Yet the most effective deterrent, physical fencing around fields, remains out of reach for most, leaving the majority of households unprotected. “This implementation gap means the current costs of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-southern-african-farmers-elephants-can-both-adapt-to-coexist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-southern-african-farmers-elephants-can-both-adapt-to-coexist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tsunami veteran rescue elephants mobilized for Indonesia cyclone disaster relief</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tsunami-veteran-rescue-elephants-mobilized-for-indonesia-cyclone-disaster-relief/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tsunami-veteran-rescue-elephants-mobilized-for-indonesia-cyclone-disaster-relief/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2025 04:56:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/18164055/Gajah-bantu-banjir4-2400x890-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311660</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Intelligence, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Flooding, Orangutans, Rainforests, Storms, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia — A group of specialist Sumatran elephants have joined recovery operations in Aceh following the catastrophic landfall of Cyclone Senyar in late November — two decades after the veteran responders supported rescuers after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. “They’re guided by mahouts who know very well the characteristics of the elephants,” said [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia — A group of specialist Sumatran elephants have joined recovery operations in Aceh following the catastrophic landfall of Cyclone Senyar in late November — two decades after the veteran responders supported rescuers after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. “They’re guided by mahouts who know very well the characteristics of the elephants,” said Ujang Wisnu Barata, head of the Aceh conservation agency, the BKSDA. Rescuers in Indonesia’s westernmost region seconded the experienced squad of four to clear heavy debris in the coastal district of Pidie Jaya in semiautonomous Aceh, as recovery operations continued for a third week across much of the north and west of Sumatra Island. Many affected villages remain cut off due to extensive debris and landslides. Cyclone Senyar arrived over northern Sumatra in the early hours of Nov. 26 with 3-hour precipitation accumulation exceeding 130 millimeters (5 inches), meteorology data showed, which is more rain in three hours than the U.K. usually receives through its wettest month of the year. The number of people killed here in Pidie Jaya district stood at 29 on Dec. 18, with the total death toll rising to 1,059 people across three provinces (Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra) amid the worst disaster to hit Indonesia in years. Male elephants Abu, Ajis and Midok, working together with Noni, a female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), received the assignment in Pidie Jaya district from their base at the Saree Elephant Training Center, which is located in nearby Aceh Besar district. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tsunami-veteran-rescue-elephants-mobilized-for-indonesia-cyclone-disaster-relief/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tsunami-veteran-rescue-elephants-mobilized-for-indonesia-cyclone-disaster-relief/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311660</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hope for tigers grows as Thailand safeguards a key link in their habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2025 16:14:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15160553/SWT001F_KSR_LTM54_a_2025-07-07_19-00_b-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311364</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Mammals, Poaching, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KANCHANABURI, Thailand — Following the path of the tiger isn’t easy. Yet the three rangers, clad in camouflage, move lithely through the steep bamboo thicket, tracking the muddy hoofprints of a sambar deer. Out of the snagging vines, they emerge on a forested ridgeline overlooking a landscape that swells and shrinks in watercolor hues of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KANCHANABURI, Thailand — Following the path of the tiger isn’t easy. Yet the three rangers, clad in camouflage, move lithely through the steep bamboo thicket, tracking the muddy hoofprints of a sambar deer. Out of the snagging vines, they emerge on a forested ridgeline overlooking a landscape that swells and shrinks in watercolor hues of indigo. A breeze rustles the stone oak trees as the sound of grasshoppers pierces the silence. It’s easy to imagine the tiger slinking confidently across this terrain, the master of its Thai kingdom. Another 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) down the ridge, the rangers stop in a small clearing. Members of Panthera, a wildcat conservation NGO, pull out a toolkit to check two camera traps. It was here, in early 2024, that a camera picked up a female Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) moving through this protected corridor known as Si Sawat. She had never been detected in any other protected area. Maybe, they say, the tiger will have returned in the past three months. But the camera’s memory card reveals only smaller species: a leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and an Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), as well as a porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) and a pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina). Still, the team is in good spirits. Hopefully, they say, the tiger has taken up residency to the south, in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary. After all, this swath of forest is too small to support a large tiger population — maybe four, at best. Yet as a corridor,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311364</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Corridors, not culls, offer solution to Southern Africa’s growing elephant population</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/corridors-not-culls-offer-solution-to-southern-africas-growing-elephant-population/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/corridors-not-culls-offer-solution-to-southern-africas-growing-elephant-population/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 11:01:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10150424/ElephantsCrossing_ZambeziRiverZambia_JasperDoestWWF-SIZE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311061</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Fences, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Research, Tracking, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since being collared in Zambia two years ago, a young bull elephant known to researchers as Z16 has walked nearly 12,000 kilometers, or 7,500 miles — three times the distance between New York and Los Angeles. In that time, Z16 has traversed four countries and visited six national parks. In Southern Africa overall, populations of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since being collared in Zambia two years ago, a young bull elephant known to researchers as Z16 has walked nearly 12,000 kilometers, or 7,500 miles — three times the distance between New York and Los Angeles. In that time, Z16 has traversed four countries and visited six national parks. In Southern Africa overall, populations of elephants are stable, or even growing, but space for them is not. This pressure has increased human-elephant conflict and fueled calls from some for elephant culls. Z16’s epic trek underscores a quieter, more hopeful solution to the region’s so-called “elephant problem”: keeping the routes that connect fragmented ranges open through the creation and protection of wildlife corridors. Situated in the northwestern corner of the Sobbe Wildlife Conservancy, in Namibia’s long, narrow Zambezi region, the Sobbe Corridor provides a link for elephants moving between Botswana, Zambia and Angola. When environmental anthropologist Emilie Köhler began her fieldwork in Sobbe in January 2023, she saw the crooked boughs of trees inside the corridor shaped by countless generations of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) rubbing their backs as they passed through. “They come into [Namibia’s] Mudumu National Park, then they use the Sobbe Corridor to move into the Zambezi State Forest [also inside Namibia] and then go into Zambia and Angola,” she says. “It connects different protected areas, but also links movements between different countries, which makes it extremely important.” Elephants embark on a daily journey to the Zambezi River from safe havens away from human settlements. Image ©&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/corridors-not-culls-offer-solution-to-southern-africas-growing-elephant-population/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/corridors-not-culls-offer-solution-to-southern-africas-growing-elephant-population/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311061</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife and communities bear the cost as Simandou rail corridor advances across Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 09:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Younoussa Naby Sylla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08153634/Forest_elephant_group_1_6841415460-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310758</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Infrastructure, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOMBIA, Guinea — As day breaks over the green hills around the town of Bombia, the raucous cries of chimpanzees echo through the forests of the Kankouyah mountain range. Recently, the sounds of the wild have been mingled with the distant growling of bulldozers. The air, once laden with the aromatic scent of damp leaves [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOMBIA, Guinea — As day breaks over the green hills around the town of Bombia, the raucous cries of chimpanzees echo through the forests of the Kankouyah mountain range. Recently, the sounds of the wild have been mingled with the distant growling of bulldozers. The air, once laden with the aromatic scent of damp leaves and wood, is now thick with dust and diesel fumes. A few kilometers south of the village, a ribbon of red earth cuts through the vegetation: the railway corridor for the Simandou project. This mining megaproject is intended to connect the iron ore deposits of Simandou to the deepwater port currently under construction at Moribaya in on the Atlantic coast of Guinea. This is an economic lifeline for the country, but an open wound for biodiversity. The railway corridor, which runs more than 650 kilometers (400 miles), crosses several vulnerable areas, home to some of the last remaining populations of forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Guinea. According to experts from the Guinean Office of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves (OGPNRF), these elephants’ ancestral migratory routes pass through wetlands now fragmented by the railway corridor. A railway embankment along the Simandou railway corridor. Image by Younoussa Naby Sylla for Mongabay. “Guinea is home to more than 5,000 chimpanzees in the Moyen-Bafing region alone,” Mamadi Tounkara, head of the OGPNRF’S legal and litigation department, tells Mongabay. “But the passage of earthmoving equipment, the noise of explosives, and the fragmentation of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310758</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>