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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=reintroductions&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/reintroductions/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2026 23:31:26 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Reintroductions</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/reintroductions/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>13 peccaries sail home to heal a Costa Rican forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 18:30:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27141909/The-first-ever-release-of-white-lipped-peccary-into-Piedras-Blancas-National-Park.-Photo-by-Ian-Rock-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327587</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Endangered Species, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s after midnight, and veterinarian Dennise Ortiz Angulo is in the middle of Golfo Dulce, surrounded by shooting stars, bioluminescent water, and 13 boar-like beasts. &#8220;That moment, it felt like the movie Life of Pi,&#8221; Ortiz told Mongabay. After years of preparation, hours of fast-paced decision-making, and a tedious truck drive, Ortiz, 13 white-lipped peccaries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s after midnight, and veterinarian Dennise Ortiz Angulo is in the middle of Golfo Dulce, surrounded by shooting stars, bioluminescent water, and 13 boar-like beasts. &#8220;That moment, it felt like the movie Life of Pi,&#8221; Ortiz told Mongabay. After years of preparation, hours of fast-paced decision-making, and a tedious truck drive, Ortiz, 13 white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari), and a few other humans were midway through a voyage from Costa Rica&#8217;s Osa Peninsula to Piedras Blancas National Park. The peccaries had finally settled, and Ortiz had a moment to catch her breath and take in the scene: stars, glowing water, and a boat full of gently breathing threatened mammals. This group had been carefully captured on the Osa Peninsula, where the species still ranges in strong numbers. White-lipped peccaries also used to be found in Piedras Blancas until hunters wiped them out roughly 18 years ago. The plan: reintroduce the peccary to a forest across the water, an ecosystem the animals themselves had helped build. After crossing the Golfo Dulce on boat, white-lipped peccaries are unloaded at the shores of Piedras Blancas National Park. Photo courtesy of Ian Rock. Peccaries are a force. You often smell them before you see them, a musky, garlicky scent that clings to the forest after the herd has passed. They travel in tight, noisy groups that, in Costa Rica, can number 70 to 100 animals, and elsewhere in their range, up to 300. On the night the herd reached Piedras Blancas, the animals began to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327587</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservation shouldn’t gamble with nonnative species introductions (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conservation-shouldnt-gamble-with-nonnative-species-introductions-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conservation-shouldnt-gamble-with-nonnative-species-introductions-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 19:56:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles FoleyKenneth Coe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/29154256/Sable-Antelope-at-Shimba-Hills-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324805</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Antelope, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Reintroductions, Ungulates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Introducing animals outside their natural ranges is a practice fraught with risk, one that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the recognized global authority on the natural world — explicitly discourages. The IUCN&#8217;s guidelines for responsible wildlife translocation classify the importation of nonnative wildlife as a “critical risk” to be carried out [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Introducing animals outside their natural ranges is a practice fraught with risk, one that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the recognized global authority on the natural world — explicitly discourages. The IUCN&#8217;s guidelines for responsible wildlife translocation classify the importation of nonnative wildlife as a “critical risk” to be carried out only under a very narrow set of exceptional circumstances. There are very good reasons for these precautions. The natural world is awash with examples of species that were released outside their natural ranges becoming invasive, with devastating consequences. Even if species released outside their natural ranges don’t become invasive, they may still drastically disrupt the ecological dynamics of a community. For decades, translocations of animals within their former ranges have been used as a helpful tool in conservation. Reintroduction of species for conservation purposes such as bolstering an existing population, reestablishing a population that has gone extinct in the wild, and maintaining genetic diversity all rely on translocations. Such movement of animals may also help enhance tourism by offering greater numbers or a more diverse array of local species. Moving animals outside their natural range (an introduction rather than a reintroduction), however, is a fundamentally different and a potentially problematic proposition. The outcomes of these “conservation introduction” cases are often binary: the animals struggle mightily, if not die off, or the animals manage to acclimate to the unfamiliar surroundings and proceed to compete for resources with the native species, potentially inflicting harm in the process. And while&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conservation-shouldnt-gamble-with-nonnative-species-introductions-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conservation-shouldnt-gamble-with-nonnative-species-introductions-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324805</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Beasts of the East’ chronicles the unheralded restoration successes of America’s eastern wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beasts-of-the-east-chronicles-the-unheralded-restoration-successes-of-americas-eastern-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beasts-of-the-east-chronicles-the-unheralded-restoration-successes-of-americas-eastern-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2026 14:26:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/15191023/Kentucky-Elk-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Books, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Landscape Restoration, Media, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thinking of America&#8217;s iconic wild creatures and places usually brings images of Yellowstone or Denali National Park to mind, or the many wilderness areas scattered across multiple states, but the collective imagination generally passes over the East Coast, with its long history of human settlement and large urban population centers. However, a new book by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thinking of America&#8217;s iconic wild creatures and places usually brings images of Yellowstone or Denali National Park to mind, or the many wilderness areas scattered across multiple states, but the collective imagination generally passes over the East Coast, with its long history of human settlement and large urban population centers. However, a new book by Andrew Moore, “Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness” contains a collection of inspiring narratives which argues that this is a mistake. Through a combination of science, effort, imagination and policy, the East has seen a great resurgence of wildlife and wildlands through reintroductions, ecological restoration, and rewilding that adds up to one of this year’s most eye-opening reads. In an interview with Mongabay, Moore discussed themes in his book chronicling this underreported story, and his responses have been edited lightly. Chris Lucash releases a red wolf in northeastern North Carolina in 2004. Image courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Mongabay: What did wildlife populations in the U.S. East look like pre-European settlement, and afterward for a while before resource extraction and agriculture became rampant across the landscape, that might surprise readers to know? Andrew Moore: Picture first the landscape: bigger, wetter, wilder in all ways, and frequently on fire. And then fill this natural area with massive animals, including whooping cranes and sandhill cranes, black bears, deer, plus overwhelming flocks of Carolina parakeets and passenger pigeons. Imagine sprawling meadows and tallgrass prairies filled with bison and elk —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beasts-of-the-east-chronicles-the-unheralded-restoration-successes-of-americas-eastern-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beasts-of-the-east-chronicles-the-unheralded-restoration-successes-of-americas-eastern-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Like wolves, non-native lake trout have radically altered Yellowstone ecosystems (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/like-wolves-non-native-lake-trout-have-radically-altered-yellowstone-ecosystems-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/like-wolves-non-native-lake-trout-have-radically-altered-yellowstone-ecosystems-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 16:49:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lyle Lewis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08142259/yellowstne_native-cutthroat-trout_jay-fleming_nps-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Invasive Species, National Parks, Reintroductions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Yellowstone National Park is often told as a story of recovery. Wolves returned and then elk changed their behavior. Willows and aspens then rebounded and rivers, it is said, changed course. The reintroduction of wolves in 1995 is one of the most familiar ecological narratives in the world. But the Yellowstone ecosystem was not waiting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Yellowstone National Park is often told as a story of recovery. Wolves returned and then elk changed their behavior. Willows and aspens then rebounded and rivers, it is said, changed course. The reintroduction of wolves in 1995 is one of the most familiar ecological narratives in the world. But the Yellowstone ecosystem was not waiting in a stable state for wolves to return, it had already been reorganizing for centuries. Beavers declined following widespread trapping, altering vegetation and hydrology. Grizzly bears were heavily persecuted across the region, reducing another major connector between aquatic and terrestrial systems. Bison were reduced to near extinction in the late 19th century and later rebuilt under protection. Large predators were removed in the early 20th century, and elk populations expanded in their absence. Each of these changes altered how nutrients moved and how water, plants, and animals interacted. Wolf reintroduction did not occur in isolation; it entered a system already in motion. At almost the same time, something else was happening. It did not involve a visible predator and did not occur in valleys or along rivers. It did not lend itself to photography or documentary. It happened beneath the surface of Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake. Image courtesy of Neal Herbert / National Park Service. For many people, the idea of a non-native predator reshaping an ecosystem is not abstract. The Burmese python in the Florida Everglades provides a clear example, with an introduced predator reducing prey populations and altering how energy moves through the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/like-wolves-non-native-lake-trout-have-radically-altered-yellowstone-ecosystems-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/like-wolves-non-native-lake-trout-have-radically-altered-yellowstone-ecosystems-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322890</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh tests a return to the wild for extinct peafowl populations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bangladesh-tests-a-return-to-the-wild-for-extinct-peafowl-populations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bangladesh-tests-a-return-to-the-wild-for-extinct-peafowl-populations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 06:45:15 +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/20/2026/06/26063453/a-peacock-showing-off-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321813</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Extinction, Reintroductions, Rewilding, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservation authorities in Bangladesh say they’re still on track to fully release peafowl back into the wild, under a program that began with a “soft” release of the birds last year. But experts warn against rushing the release, noting that because the species has long been extinct in the wild in Bangladesh, habituating captive-raised birds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservation authorities in Bangladesh say they’re still on track to fully release peafowl back into the wild, under a program that began with a “soft” release of the birds last year. But experts warn against rushing the release, noting that because the species has long been extinct in the wild in Bangladesh, habituating captive-raised birds to life in the forest won’t be easy. The Bangladesh Forest Department, with the support of nongovernmental organization Creative Conservation Alliance, in May 2025 moved 20 captive-raised common Indian peafowls (Pavo cristatus) into a forest enclosure within Madhupur National Park, which falls under the jurisdiction of the forest department’s Tangail division. Since then, the five males and 15 females have produced a dozen eggs, with one wild-born chick successfully hatching, according to Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, an officer with the Tangail Forest Division. “Now the chick is 6 months old. This year, we are expecting more from the group,” he said. “Our plan is to release only the chicks in the wild as they are growing up in a natural condition and making themselves adaptive for the wild.” Hossain said the 20 birds initially moved into the enclosure will not be part of that full release into the wild since they grew up in captivity. Instead, they will serve as parent stock. The peafowl chick being considered for release in the wild. Image by Md Mosharraf Hossain. The peafowl&#8217;s history in Bangladesh According to a 2024 study, peafowls are a common wild bird across South&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bangladesh-tests-a-return-to-the-wild-for-extinct-peafowl-populations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bangladesh-tests-a-return-to-the-wild-for-extinct-peafowl-populations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321813</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bengal tigers in Cambodia? Reintroduction plan raises questions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2026 07:15:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallArathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01111604/Tigers-Cambodia_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sat Born, 56, recalls freezing at the forest’s entrance when he first saw it. “Its head was this big,” he says, wide-eyed, spreading his hands to show the animal’s size. Recollecting that eventful morning in 2001, Born, who now farms bananas and durians, retraces his steps from his home in Trapeang Chheu Trav village in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sat Born, 56, recalls freezing at the forest’s entrance when he first saw it. “Its head was this big,” he says, wide-eyed, spreading his hands to show the animal’s size. Recollecting that eventful morning in 2001, Born, who now farms bananas and durians, retraces his steps from his home in Trapeang Chheu Trav village in the rainforests of the Cardamom Mountains in southwestern Cambodia. As he walks up a hill rising above the forest canopy, he points to a spot on the road. “It’s over here. When I saw the tiger, it was 9 a.m.,” he says. “I was really shocked … I couldn’t tell if the tiger was coming towards me.” In 2007, just six years after this fleeting encounter, Cambodia’s last confirmed tiger sighting was logged by a camera trap. In the 1990s, the country was estimated to host hundreds of wild Indochinese tigers, but decades of poaching pressure took a heavy toll. In 2016, tigers (Panthera tigris) were formally declared extinct in Cambodia. That may be set to change with the imminent translocation of a small population of Bengal tigers from India. Although many reintroductions are success stories, this one raises some serious concerns. Why would Cambodia bring in a nonnative tiger? Have the people living in these areas been adequately consulted? Will these translocated tigers be able to adapt to this new habitat? Is there enough prey to sustain them, and if not, how will the government address predation when hungry cats feed on livestock? With&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The European wildcat hovers between recovery and local extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2026 13:12:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07014556/Image_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318902</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Czech Republic, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Turkey]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Funding, Genetics, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Mammals, Parasites, Population, Reintroductions, Saving Species From Extinction, Small Cats, Solutions, Species recovery, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A quiet comeback story is unfolding for the European wildcat in the Czech Republic’s Lusatian Mountains. Conservationists tracking this elusive species there have spotted a male and female, named Jonáš and Tonka, the first to be found in the region in nearly a century. This small cat species lives in forests across Europe. It’s doing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A quiet comeback story is unfolding for the European wildcat in the Czech Republic’s Lusatian Mountains. Conservationists tracking this elusive species there have spotted a male and female, named Jonáš and Tonka, the first to be found in the region in nearly a century. This small cat species lives in forests across Europe. It’s doing relatively well in some places and is imperiled in others, like the Czech Republic, where it’s critically endangered. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris), which is around the size of a large housecat, was wiped out because of disappearing habitat — and persecution. They were considered vermin and killed because they preyed on poultry and they were hunted for sport. More recently, they’re sometimes hybridizing, breeding with domestic cats. Numbers are spotty across parts of their range, so overall population numbers and trends, whether they’re rebounding or declining, is currently unknown. That’s a challenge shared by many of the world’s 30-plus small wildcat species that are often overlooked by research and funding. But they are hanging on in the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, Tonka gave birth to at least three kittens, offering hope that a slow wildcat recovery may be underway. Conservationists set up “hair traps,” wooden posts smeared with a lure that attracts the wildcats, then analyzed DNA from fur they left behind when they rubbed on them to mark their territory, as cats do. Genetically confirmed records of wildcat births are “exceedingly rare” in the country, said Kristýna Chroboková, field coordinator with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318902</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How saving birds protects the planet: Interview with author Scott Weidensaul</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-saving-birds-protects-the-planet-interview-with-author-scott-weidensaul/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-saving-birds-protects-the-planet-interview-with-author-scott-weidensaul/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 14:55:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/06210935/1280px-American_oystercatcher_-_Cape_May_NJ-e1775509837438-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317044</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Books, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Best-selling author Scott Weidensaul&#8217;s new book is a celebration of species recovery efforts led by scientists, conservationists, and Indigenous communities around the world, beginning with the successful rebound of the American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), a large and charismatic shorebird which had been declining for decades, until people made a plan and the birds responded. But [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Best-selling author Scott Weidensaul&#8217;s new book is a celebration of species recovery efforts led by scientists, conservationists, and Indigenous communities around the world, beginning with the successful rebound of the American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), a large and charismatic shorebird which had been declining for decades, until people made a plan and the birds responded. But it&#8217;s not just a book about oystercatchers, rather, the author centers multiple efforts to revive species in “The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet,” across a range of geographies and in his signature style. In it, he travels the U.S. East Coast and Europe, bringing readers stories of hope from Massachusetts to Ukraine. Mongabay caught up with Weidensaul just weeks before the book&#8217;s release on April 21, 2026. His responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Mongabay: Your new book is about much more than birds, as you say in the intro, &#8220;a world that works for birds will work for all.&#8221; Can you explain? Scott Weidensaul: Birds are at once among the most diverse group of vertebrates on the planet, and arguably the most widely distributed; except for the most remote parts of the central Antarctic plateau, you can’t find a square mile of land or ocean that is not at least seasonally inhabited by birds. Add to that their immense migrations, and you realize that birds are plugged into every ecosystem on Earth. &nbsp; Snow geese are another species that has responded strongly to conservation programs. Image courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-saving-birds-protects-the-planet-interview-with-author-scott-weidensaul/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-saving-birds-protects-the-planet-interview-with-author-scott-weidensaul/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317044</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mitchell Byrd, ornithologist who helped bring bald eagles back from the brink in the Chesapeake area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mitchell-byrd-ornithologist-who-helped-bring-bald-eagles-back-from-the-brink-in-the-chesapeake-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mitchell-byrd-ornithologist-who-helped-bring-bald-eagles-back-from-the-brink-in-the-chesapeake-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 00:58:37 +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/20/2026/04/03160558/Mitchell-Byrd-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Obituary, Raptors, Reintroductions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the long arc of conservation, recovery is often slow enough to be mistaken for stasis. Populations dwindle, habitats shrink, and the work of reversal depends less on moments of triumph than on decades of patient observation, persuasion, and persistence. Progress is recorded not in headlines but in ledgers: nests counted, territories mapped, landowners convinced, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the long arc of conservation, recovery is often slow enough to be mistaken for stasis. Populations dwindle, habitats shrink, and the work of reversal depends less on moments of triumph than on decades of patient observation, persuasion, and persistence. Progress is recorded not in headlines but in ledgers: nests counted, territories mapped, landowners convinced, protections negotiated. For much of the late 20th century along the rivers and marshes of the Chesapeake Bay, that work took place in small planes flying low over rivers and marshes or on foot through stretches of shoreline that were steadily giving way to development. By the time bald eagles began to return in visible numbers, their recovery was already the product of many such accumulated efforts. The ban on DDT and the framework of the Endangered Species Act created the conditions for resurgence. But translating those conditions into viable populations required sustained attention to where birds lived, nested, and fed—and to the human pressures that continued to erode those places. Mitchell A. Byrd was among those who devoted a career to that task. Over more than half a century, much of it at the College of William &amp; Mary, he became closely associated with efforts to monitor and restore bird populations in Virginia and the wider Chesapeake region. He was widely credited with helping to bring the bald eagle back from the edge of disappearance in the state, though he was inclined to deflect such claims, attributing recovery to broader forces while emphasizing the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mitchell-byrd-ornithologist-who-helped-bring-bald-eagles-back-from-the-brink-in-the-chesapeake-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mitchell-byrd-ornithologist-who-helped-bring-bald-eagles-back-from-the-brink-in-the-chesapeake-area/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Birutė Galdikas, primatologist who spent a lifetime studying &#038; defending orangutans, has died at 79</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2026 03:21:14 +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/20/2026/03/26032516/birute-galdikas-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Obituary, Orangutans, Primates, Reintroductions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1970s, orangutans occupied an ambiguous place in science. They were known to exist, of course, but remained poorly understood, rarely observed, and difficult to study in the wild. Their forest habitat in Borneo and Sumatra was still vast, though already beginning to change. Logging roads were extending into areas that had long [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1970s, orangutans occupied an ambiguous place in science. They were known to exist, of course, but remained poorly understood, rarely observed, and difficult to study in the wild. Their forest habitat in Borneo and Sumatra was still vast, though already beginning to change. Logging roads were extending into areas that had long resisted access. The outlines of a larger problem were visible, even if its scale was not yet clear. At the same time, a small group of researchers was beginning to reshape how great apes were studied. Fieldwork, rather than captivity, became the preferred approach. Long-term observation replaced short expeditions. The premise was simple but demanding: to understand animals that were hard to find, one had to remain in place long enough for them to become familiar with human presence. Into this setting came a young graduate student with an interest in human evolution and a determination to study orangutans in their natural habitat, despite doubts that such work was feasible. With limited funding and little infrastructure, she established a research station in a remote peat swamp in Indonesian Borneo in 1971. Over time, that station would become one of the longest-running field sites for any wild mammal. Galdikas in the field. Photo courtesy of Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). Birutė Galdikas spent the next five decades working from that base. Her early years were marked less by discovery than by persistence. Finding orangutans could take weeks. Observing them required learning to move through dense forest and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can Singapore rewild its lost reptiles?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/can-singapore-rewild-its-lost-reptiles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/can-singapore-rewild-its-lost-reptiles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2026 02:06:34 +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/20/2026/03/04171924/Gimlett-s-reed-snake-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315032</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Green, Herps, Lizards, Reintroductions, Reptiles, Restoration, Rewilding, Snakes, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the older quarters of Singapore, fragments of forest persist like memories that refuse to fade. Within them live creatures that few residents ever see, and some that no longer exist there at all. The disappearance of species on an island is not always dramatic. Often it happens quietly, in decades of thinning habitat and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the older quarters of Singapore, fragments of forest persist like memories that refuse to fade. Within them live creatures that few residents ever see, and some that no longer exist there at all. The disappearance of species on an island is not always dramatic. Often it happens quietly, in decades of thinning habitat and interrupted life cycles, until absence becomes normal. A snake not recorded since 1904 leaves no trace in the soil, only a line in an archive. Selangor mud snake (Raclitia indica), which was rediscovered in Singapore in 2020 after an absence of 106 years. Photo credit: the Law Brothers Singapore’s ecological history is one of compression. Since the 19th century, most primary forest has been cleared for plantations, industry, and housing. Today only a sliver of original forest remains, surrounded by a landscape remade for human needs. Such transformation has exacted a toll on wildlife, especially terrestrial vertebrates. Estimates suggest that roughly a third of species across several groups have disappeared locally over two centuries. Snakes and lizards, however, tell a more complicated story. A recent analysis of Singapore’s squamates, the group that includes snakes and lizards, reconstructs a timeline of loss using historical records and statistical modeling. The pattern resembles two pulses of erosion. The first, in the early 1900s, coincides with the near-total conversion of primary forest. A second, smaller wave arrives late in the 20th century, as remaining secondary forests give way to rapid urbanization. Primary-forest specialists suffered most. Species able to tolerate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/can-singapore-rewild-its-lost-reptiles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/can-singapore-rewild-its-lost-reptiles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315032</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Justin Claude Rakotoarisoa, a guardian of Madagascar’s amphibians, has died, aged 45</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/justin-claude-rakotoarisoa-a-guardian-of-madagascars-amphibians-has-died-aged-45/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/justin-claude-rakotoarisoa-a-guardian-of-madagascars-amphibians-has-died-aged-45/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2026 00:04:40 +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/20/2026/03/01181835/Justin-Claude-Rakotoarisoa-Project-Leader-de-lAssociation-Mitsinjo-et-membre-fondateur-de-celle-ci-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315023</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Frogs, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Herps, In-situ Conservation, Obituary, Reintroductions, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Madagascar, frogs are not background noise. They are a measure of how much forest still functions. The island holds an outsized share of the world’s amphibian diversity, and almost all of its frog species occur nowhere else. That concentration is both a wonder and a warning. When habitat thins, wetlands silt up, or disease [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Madagascar, frogs are not background noise. They are a measure of how much forest still functions. The island holds an outsized share of the world’s amphibian diversity, and almost all of its frog species occur nowhere else. That concentration is both a wonder and a warning. When habitat thins, wetlands silt up, or disease arrives, there is often no second refuge on another continent. Conservationists worry about many pressures at once: deforestation, fragmented marshes, wildlife trafficking, and the global spread of chytrid fungus, which has driven amphibian declines on several continents and has been detected in Madagascar. In such a setting, saving a frog can look like a technical exercise. It is also an organizational one. Keeping a species alive may require breeding rooms, quarantine protocols, and a steady supply of insects, plus patient negotiations with local communities and, at times, with the companies reshaping landscapes. Green Bright-eyed Frog (Boophis viridis) near in Andasibe, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Justin Claude Rakotoarisoa was born in a village near Andasibe, an area inhabited by the indri lemur, whose haunting, whale-like song carries through the forest. As a young man he trained as a guide, part of a generation that saw ecotourism as a way to earn a living without dismantling the forest that drew visitors. Mitsinjo, the community organization he joined in the late 1990s, began as a local effort to manage a forest station and channel tourist income into conservation and development. It became more than that. As&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/justin-claude-rakotoarisoa-a-guardian-of-madagascars-amphibians-has-died-aged-45/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315023</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2026 15:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/26101245/Nishat-one-of-the-two-Bengal-slow-lorises-Nycticebus-bengalensis-to-survive-being-released.-Image-courtesy-of-Marcel-Stawinoga-scaled-e1772101486176-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314846</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pet Trade, Primates, Rainforests, Reintroductions, Research, Rewilding, Slow Loris, Social Media, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife releases are usually joyous events. Uplifting scenes of animals cautiously nosing the air as they take their first tentative steps into freedom warm our hearts. However, new research suggests the wild can be a “death trap,” especially if the released individuals lack the essential skills to find food and integrate with wild populations, or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife releases are usually joyous events. Uplifting scenes of animals cautiously nosing the air as they take their first tentative steps into freedom warm our hearts. However, new research suggests the wild can be a “death trap,” especially if the released individuals lack the essential skills to find food and integrate with wild populations, or are set free into unsuitable habitat. The new study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, follows the fate of nine Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) released into a forest reserve in Bangladesh. The researchers found only two of the nine survived beyond six months. Several died within days or weeks. Slow lorises, with their wide eyes and plump bodies, are one of the world’s most trafficked primates. Despite their venomous bite that can prove fatal to people and their nocturnal habits, they’re highly sought after in the pet trade and for use as tourist photo props — a demand fueled by ill-informed social media videos displaying them in domestic settings or captivity. All nine slow loris species, which range across South and Southeast Asia, are also threatened by deforestation and poachers who kill them for use in traditional medicines. A 2010 study found lorises were the most in-demand animal in traditional medicine stores in Cambodia. Tragically, these pressures act in synergy. Habitat loss pushes lorises closer to forest edges and humans, who at best mistakenly think them lost and take them into captivity with a view to relocating them to a habitat that’s more “wild.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314846</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Helicopter translocation brings isolated banteng to safer grounds in Cambodia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/helicopter-translocation-brings-isolated-banteng-to-safer-grounds-in-cambodia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/helicopter-translocation-brings-isolated-banteng-to-safer-grounds-in-cambodia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2026 13:34:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/17131157/Banteng-release-Jeremy-Holden-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314360</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rewilding, Ungulates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, a team of conservationists translocated 16 critically endangered banteng into Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in northeast Cambodia in a bid to boost numbers that had dwindled to critical levels. The group of wild cattle was captured and transported from a nearby unprotected forest facing imminent conversion to farmland. The operation was the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, a team of conservationists translocated 16 critically endangered banteng into Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in northeast Cambodia in a bid to boost numbers that had dwindled to critical levels. The group of wild cattle was captured and transported from a nearby unprotected forest facing imminent conversion to farmland. The operation was the second phase of largescale efforts to save the herd, led by Cambodia-based social enterprise Rising Phoenix in partnership with local wildlife authorities. “With proper law enforcement, no poaching and suitable habitat in Siem Pang, I think there is a very positive future for them,” said Romain Legrand, biodiversity research and monitoring manager with Rising Phoenix. “The population is going to grow quickly, I’m sure.” Together with the first translocation carried out in May 2025, the recent operation brings the total rehomed banteng (Bos javanicus) population in the reserve to 32 individuals, including breeding-age adults and calves, according to Legrand. Banteng are strikingly patterned bovids, their bright white legs and snowy rumps contrasting sharply against their russet coats. The species used to range across Southeast Asia, with Cambodia’s once-extensive dry dipterocarp forests home to a significant portion of the global population. However, decades of deforestation and hunting for their meat, horns and hides have decimated their numbers — the latest IUCN Red List assessment puts their global population at no more than 8,000 individuals. In Cambodia, the species hangs on as sporadic groups eking out an existence in a handful of isolated forest patches. While tigers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/helicopter-translocation-brings-isolated-banteng-to-safer-grounds-in-cambodia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/helicopter-translocation-brings-isolated-banteng-to-safer-grounds-in-cambodia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314360</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Choosing coexistence over conflict: How some California ranchers are adapting to wolves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/choosing-coexistence-over-conflict-how-some-california-ranchers-are-adapting-to-wolves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/choosing-coexistence-over-conflict-how-some-california-ranchers-are-adapting-to-wolves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 10:37:06 +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/20/2025/12/09032556/5039508124_3c17714711_o-e1765375705294-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308191</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Canids, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Hunting, Law, Mammals, National Parks, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Research, Restoration, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the fourth part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read Part 1,  Part 2 and Part 3. A lone gray wolf (Canis lupus) named OR-7 — then a 2 ½-year-old male — created history when he crossed over the state line from Oregon into California in 2011, becoming the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the fourth part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read Part 1,  Part 2 and Part 3. A lone gray wolf (Canis lupus) named OR-7 — then a 2 ½-year-old male — created history when he crossed over the state line from Oregon into California in 2011, becoming the first wolf to set foot in the state after nearly a century. His arrival, followed by his descendants who then established new packs, became a thumping conservation success for an endangered species in present-day California. Meandering the vast wilderness that straddles the border between the two states, OR-7 visited a few ranches in northern California on his 4,830-kilometer (3,000-mile) journey, including Mark Coats’ place in Siskiyou County. Coats, who was recuperating from an injury at the time, vividly remembers that visit. He’s raised cattle for more than five decades now. “My neighbor came over and said, ‘Mark, there&#8217;s a wolf on your ranch. Don&#8217;t shoot it. They’ll put you in jail,’” Coats said. That night, he found OR-7’s footprints on his property. Various predators had killed his cattle over the years: coyotes (C. latrans), black bears (Ursus americanus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor). But wolves were new. After the last gray wolves were shot down in the 1920s, generations of California’s ranchers raised their cattle without having to worry about — or prepare for — this predator in their landscape. OR-7’s visit panicked Coats and his fellow ranchers. “I was already losing five calves a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/choosing-coexistence-over-conflict-how-some-california-ranchers-are-adapting-to-wolves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/choosing-coexistence-over-conflict-how-some-california-ranchers-are-adapting-to-wolves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308191</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>First state-authorized killings mark escalation in California’s management of wolves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/first-state-authorized-killings-mark-escalation-in-californias-management-of-wolves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/first-state-authorized-killings-mark-escalation-in-californias-management-of-wolves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2025 08:24:38 +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/20/2025/11/24102253/RSGray_wolf_Minnesota_dalliedee_CC_BY-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310024</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Canids, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Hunting, Law, Mammals, National Parks, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Research, Restoration, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the third part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first, second and fourth parts. In late October, wildlife authorities in the U.S. state of California announced they captured and euthanized three adult gray wolves and shot a juvenile dead, all from the Beyem Seyo pack in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the third part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first, second and fourth parts. In late October, wildlife authorities in the U.S. state of California announced they captured and euthanized three adult gray wolves and shot a juvenile dead, all from the Beyem Seyo pack in the Sierra Valley. Wardens killed them, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said, because the wolves (Canis lupus) had become “habituated to preying on cattle” rather than hunting elk, deer and other wild prey. The wolves killed were a breeding pair, an adult female, and a juvenile male “mistaken” for the adult male. Officers also found the remains of two other juveniles from the same pack that were severely decomposed. The cause of death remains unknown, and authorities are investigating. This pack took down at least 88 head of cattle between January and October 2025 according to a new CDFW report — about half of the 175 livestock deaths statewide and one of the highest rates in any western U.S. state where wolves live. The killings follow months of using nonlethal deterrents to keep wolves away, including drones, all-terrain vehicles, flapping strips of bright-colored “fladry” strung along fences, and round-the-clock human presence. CDFW deployed a strike team in June, where officers spent more than 18,000 staff hours using these methods, also called hazing, but the wolves continued killing cattle. “The Beyem Seyo pack became so reliant on cattle at an unprecedented level, and we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/first-state-authorized-killings-mark-escalation-in-californias-management-of-wolves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/first-state-authorized-killings-mark-escalation-in-californias-management-of-wolves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310024</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Botanists decode secret life of rare plants to ensure reintroduction success</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 16:42:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Katarina Zimmer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/25114255/11-MAGNOLIAFRUIT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310116</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Easter Island, Global, Mauritius, Philippines, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forestry, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Plants, Reintroductions, Research, Restoration, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was 2006 and Ismail Ebrahim, a botanist with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), was worried. While surveying one of the last remaining patches of renosterveld shrubland in South Africa’s Paarl region, near Cape Town, he and his team of citizen scientists found a small, yellow-flowered daisy species: Marasmodes undulata. It had long [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was 2006 and Ismail Ebrahim, a botanist with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), was worried. While surveying one of the last remaining patches of renosterveld shrubland in South Africa’s Paarl region, near Cape Town, he and his team of citizen scientists found a small, yellow-flowered daisy species: Marasmodes undulata. It had long been thought extinct, with the last 200-strong population observed at the same location near the town of Paarl in the 1980s. Now, Ebrahim’s team had discovered an even smaller population, numbering just 27 individuals. The citizen scientists had to act quickly to stave off species oblivion. Competing vegetation was choking out the small daisies, so Ebrahim’s team took the calculated risk of setting fire to the site to level the playing field and stimulate seedling growth for the fire-adapted daisy. But no M. undulata reappeared at first, and those popping up in subsequent years disappeared. “Every time we went back to the site, we found less plants,” Ebrahim recalls. Why put so much focus on conserving a diminutive shrubland flower? Among the diverse inhabitants of the renosterveld, few species are more easily overlooked than M. undulata, which botanist Donovan Kirkwood, the curator of the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden affectionately called the “ugly duckling daisy” before his untimely death in August. But just like other renosterveld plants, M. undulata belongs there, forming part of an ecosystem that becomes more sensitive to collapse with every species that is lost. Like a Jenga tower block, the little daisy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310116</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>France’s largest rewilding project takes root in the Dauphiné Alps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/frances-largest-rewilding-project-takes-root-in-the-dauphine-alps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/frances-largest-rewilding-project-takes-root-in-the-dauphine-alps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 15:52:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/17135442/%C2%A9%EF%B8%8FLucaMelcarne-Alpine-ibex-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309576</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and France]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the foothills of the western Alps in southeastern France, horned alpine ibex roam the limestone cliffs of a smaller mountain range known as the Dauphiné Alps, a region once home to thriving populations of wild horses, bison, roe deer, gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, and four species of vultures. In June of this year, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the foothills of the western Alps in southeastern France, horned alpine ibex roam the limestone cliffs of a smaller mountain range known as the Dauphiné Alps, a region once home to thriving populations of wild horses, bison, roe deer, gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, and four species of vultures. In June of this year, the nonprofit Rewilding Europe announced the landscape as its 11th restoration site, making it France’s largest rewilding project. The term “rewilding” emerged in the 1990s, but it’s only in the past decade that the approach has grown in popularity worldwide. Generally, rewilding is a restoration method that prioritizes conserving or reintroducing historically present species, including those wiped out locally, to boost overall biodiversity. For Rewilding Europe, this approach allows nature to flourish in a way that will make ecosystems more resilient to climate change. It also means creating economic opportunities for the people who live in these ecosystems. “A fixed approach to nature doesn’t really work anymore,” Fabien Quétier, head of landscapes for Rewilding Europe, told Mongabay. He said rewilding is about restoring core ecosystem functions by encouraging the establishment of herbivores to maintain the forests, scavengers to mitigate disease from carcasses, and aquatic mammals like otters and beavers to maintain rivers. The project is currently focusing on ungulates such as wild horses and cattle, historical predators such as wolves and lynx, and vultures. One of the reasons Rewilding Europe selected the French Alps for rewilding is that the region already had a head start. In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/frances-largest-rewilding-project-takes-root-in-the-dauphine-alps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/frances-largest-rewilding-project-takes-root-in-the-dauphine-alps/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309576</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uphill battle to save California’s endangered mountain yellow-legged frog</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/uphill-battle-to-save-californias-endangered-mountain-yellow-legged-frog/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/uphill-battle-to-save-californias-endangered-mountain-yellow-legged-frog/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2025 16:32:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10094533/Image_6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307350</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fires, Frogs, Fungi, Habitat Degradation, Lakes, Pollution, Reintroductions, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, 350 endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs hopped into their new home in Bluff Lake in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains. It’s the latest step in a long-running battle fought by authorities, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and conservationists to stave [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, 350 endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs hopped into their new home in Bluff Lake in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains. It’s the latest step in a long-running battle fought by authorities, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and conservationists to stave off extinction of this highly threatened species. The mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa), despite its name, can display a wide array of color variations, often a mix of brown and yellow, but also gray, red, or greenish-brown. There are two distinct populations of this medium-sized frog: one in Southern California and another up north in the Sierra Nevada. An endangered mountain yellow-legged frog leaps into its new home after being released into the lake. This release, a collaboration between Birch Aquarium, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, UCLA and Big Bear Alpine Zoo, is part of a long-running reintroduction program that began in 2010. Image courtesy of Birch Aquarium at Scripps/Alex Feltes. Biologists say this frog was once so common you couldn’t walk through its range without tripping on one. That’s far from the case today in Southern California. The last comprehensive surveys carried out in 2023 counted fewer than 200 adults in the wild. Though exact numbers are unclear, conservationists say the northern population is much more robust. The southern reintroductions began in 2010 in the San Jacinto Mountains. This year’s release is part of what Sean Bruce, assistant curator of fishes and invertebrates at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/uphill-battle-to-save-californias-endangered-mountain-yellow-legged-frog/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/uphill-battle-to-save-californias-endangered-mountain-yellow-legged-frog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307350</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Post-Blob, California’s kelp crisis isn’t going away</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/post-blob-californias-kelp-crisis-isnt-going-away/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/post-blob-californias-kelp-crisis-isnt-going-away/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 14:44:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Helvarg]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/18153613/kelp-in-california-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305387</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, Pacific Ocean, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Invertebrates, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Plants, Reintroductions, Research, Restoration, Temperatures, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[FORT BRAGG, U.S. — In 2024, I was scuba diving in Northern California’s Casper Cove where the Watermen’s Alliance, a group of ex-abalone sports divers, has been culling purple urchins since 2020. It had been six years since abalone season shut down, following the region’s kelp forest collapse. About 4 meters (13 feet) down, I [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[FORT BRAGG, U.S. — In 2024, I was scuba diving in Northern California’s Casper Cove where the Watermen’s Alliance, a group of ex-abalone sports divers, has been culling purple urchins since 2020. It had been six years since abalone season shut down, following the region’s kelp forest collapse. About 4 meters (13 feet) down, I spotted a few surviving red abalones, their thick-muscled feet showing from under their single shells as they clung to the bottom of boulders. Purple urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) clustered near them. I also spotted a single white anemone (Diadumene leucolena) and a spiny, bulbous-eyed Cabezon fish (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus) amid scattered stalks of remnant kelp. A short distance away, it was all bare rock and purple pin-cushion-like urchins. It’s different than watching videos of urchin barrens: Aside from being wet and cold and breathing underwater, I was taken by the scale: it’s so expansive, even with only 2 m (6 ft) of visibility in the murky water. As far as you go along the northern rim of the cove, there are purple urchins, thousands and tens of thousands, where a kelp forest once thrived. I spread my arms to measure what I guesstimated was a square meter and counted some 120 urchins. To bring kelp back, that number would have to drop to 2 per square meter. That’s when kelp spores can take hold again. This requires a lot of urchin-smashing, which these divers were carrying out with rock hammers. To clear one acre (less than half&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/post-blob-californias-kelp-crisis-isnt-going-away/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305387</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can we undo extinction? A growing effort to restore lost sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/can-we-undo-extinction-a-global-effort-to-restore-lost-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/can-we-undo-extinction-a-global-effort-to-restore-lost-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 07:39:26 +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/20/2025/08/12085107/alex-kydd-shark-01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303906</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquariums, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Fish, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Predators, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Sharks, Solutions, Species recovery, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the shallows of Raja Ampat, Indonesia, a bold conservation experiment is underway—one that blends marine biology, local stewardship, and international collaboration in an effort to bring a species back from the brink. It’s called ReShark, and it represents the world’s first attempt to rewild an endangered shark. Working alongside the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the shallows of Raja Ampat, Indonesia, a bold conservation experiment is underway—one that blends marine biology, local stewardship, and international collaboration in an effort to bring a species back from the brink. It’s called ReShark, and it represents the world’s first attempt to rewild an endangered shark. Working alongside the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, Conservation International, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and 105 partner institutions across 20 countries, the Re:wild-led initiative aims to restore populations of the Indo-Pacific leopard shark—also known as the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum)—to reefs where the species has all but disappeared. “This is something that’s been done for decades on land—think California condors or wolves in Yellowstone,” said Mark Erdmann, Executive Director of ReShark and Shark Conservation Director at Re:wild, former Vice President of Asia-Pacific marine programs at Conservation International, and one of the architects of the project. “But in the ocean, and especially with sharks, this is a first.” An adult leopard shark at the North Stradbroke Island summer aggregation site in Australia. Photo by MV Erdmann Indonesia Program Manager Nesha Ichida, Erdmann and the RARCC Shark Nannies release a pup at Kri Island as students from Child Aid Papua look on. Photo by Luca Vaime/Indo-Pacific Films. Erin Meyer, co-chair of the StAR Steering Committee and a founding member of ReShark, said the idea initially seemed far-fetched to some: breeding sharks in captivity, transporting their eggs overseas, rearing them in custom-built nurseries, and eventually releasing them into the wild. “Thanks to the passion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/can-we-undo-extinction-a-global-effort-to-restore-lost-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/can-we-undo-extinction-a-global-effort-to-restore-lost-sharks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303906</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wolves’ continued spread in California brings joy, controversy &#038; conflicts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/wolves-continued-spread-in-california-brings-joy-controversy-conflicts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/wolves-continued-spread-in-california-brings-joy-controversy-conflicts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2025 05:11:47 +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/20/2025/08/08134424/Grey-wolves-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303960</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Canids, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Hunting, Law, Mammals, National Parks, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Research, Restoration, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the second, third and fourth parts. With its enchanting eyes, powerful jaws, acute senses and haunting howls, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) — the largest member of the dog family — is a wilderness icon. Once the most widespread mammal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the second, third and fourth parts. With its enchanting eyes, powerful jaws, acute senses and haunting howls, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) — the largest member of the dog family — is a wilderness icon. Once the most widespread mammal on the planet, gray wolves roamed across large swaths of North America, Europe and Asia. However, as human settlements grew, these livestock-killing canids became “vermin” and were hunted to near-extinction in many parts of their range. By the mid-20th century, wolves were extirpated from the contiguous U.S. Their remarkable comeback since the 1980s, thanks in part to their reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park, has sparked joy, controversy and conflicts. The latest saga is playing out in California, where there’s a lot of potential for conflict: It’s the most populous U.S. state with nearly 40 million people. Some 7 million cattle graze on 57 million acres of rangeland, half of which are privately owned. California’s wolves, which naturally dispersed south from Oregon, are now further expanding their territories, with more  frequent encounters — and conflict — with humans. “Almost every pack does overlap to some degree with an agricultural area with livestock,” said Axel Hunnicutt, a biologist who coordinates the wolf program for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Almost every group has killed livestock. “That’s one thing that unites all of the packs in California, unfortunately,” he added. Gray wolves are the largest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/wolves-continued-spread-in-california-brings-joy-controversy-conflicts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/wolves-continued-spread-in-california-brings-joy-controversy-conflicts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303960</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2025 12:42:07 +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/20/2025/07/11183735/Mark-recovery-swim-thresher-17-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302225</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carnivores, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Green, Hope and optimism, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, shark finning, Sharks, Species Discovery, Technology, Tourism, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting off the encroachment of extractive industries. His career, by his own account, has spanned more than 220 species discoveries, a handful of close encounters with crocodiles, and the creation of a new model for shark rewilding. Erdmann’s journey began in a remote island village off the coast of South Sulawesi in 1991, where he arrived as a Ph.D. student studying coral reef ecology. His neighbors, he quickly realized, were bomb fishers and shark finners. The shift from science to action was swift. “It was clear that more than science was needed; active protection was critical,” he recalls. That realization became a life’s work. As Vice President of Asia-Pacific Marine Programs at Conservation International and now Executive Director of ReShark and Shark Conservation Director at Re:wild, Erdmann has been at the forefront of efforts to transform marine protection from a top-down regulatory exercise to a bottom-up, community-owned endeavor. Few places showcase this as clearly as Raja Ampat, the archipelago off West Papua that has become the crown jewel of Indonesian marine conservation. Wayag lagoon release site in Indonesia&#8217;s Raja Ampat. Photo by Mark Erdmann. When Erdmann first visited Raja Ampat in 2001, the coral reefs were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Signs of hope for rescued gorillas rewilded in DRC, but security concerns linger</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/signs-of-hope-for-rescued-gorillas-rewilded-in-drc-but-security-concerns-linger/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/signs-of-hope-for-rescued-gorillas-rewilded-in-drc-but-security-concerns-linger/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2025 16:18:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/25130705/Ndjingala-at-GRACE-sanctuary-before-transfer-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301329</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Genetics, Gorillas, Indigenous Peoples, Law, National Parks, Parks, Poaching, Primates, Reintroductions, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala: these are the names of four Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) that conservationists reintroduced to the wild in October 2024. After years in a sanctuary, the critically endangered gorillas were released via a rewilding facility in Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. All four of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala: these are the names of four Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) that conservationists reintroduced to the wild in October 2024. After years in a sanctuary, the critically endangered gorillas were released via a rewilding facility in Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. All four of the gorillas were brought to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE) in the DRC as infants between 2010 and 2016, after their families were killed by poachers. At 16 hectares (40 acres), the sanctuary gave them the space to forage, socialize and play in a setting close to their natural habitat, under the watchful eyes of adoptive gorilla mothers. GRACE, which specializes in the rescue and rehabilitation of Grauer’s gorillas, a subspecies of the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), said this was the largest reintroduction of eastern gorillas ever carried out in Africa. “I think everybody was just amazed at the natural gorilla behavior the four females showed,” Katie Fawcett, executive and science director at GRACE, tells Mongabay. “Slowly, they moved further and further away from the release site and started exploring, taking on a new diet.” The release back into the wild is the result of more than five years of rewilding work, led by GRACE, Virunga National Park, and local communities, with support from the NGOs Gorilla Doctors and Re:wild. Dr. Eddy Kambale Syaluha, head veterinarian with Gorilla Doctors, in a helicopter with one of the four eastern lowland gorillas in October 2024&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/signs-of-hope-for-rescued-gorillas-rewilded-in-drc-but-security-concerns-linger/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/signs-of-hope-for-rescued-gorillas-rewilded-in-drc-but-security-concerns-linger/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301329</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A rare jaguar rewilding story highlights obstacles to the big cat’s conservation in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/a-rare-jaguar-rewilding-story-highlights-obstacles-to-the-big-cats-conservation-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/a-rare-jaguar-rewilding-story-highlights-obstacles-to-the-big-cats-conservation-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 14:36:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12141948/11190597315_a17066b75c_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Pantanal, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Conservation, Jaguars, Mammals, Reintroductions, Rewilding, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the space of six months, Xamã the jaguar had crisscrossed more than 14,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest, or about 35,000 acres — an area a tenth the size of Rio de Janeiro. During that time, he avoided open areas and farms. Xamã may look like any of the thousands of other jaguars (Panthera [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the space of six months, Xamã the jaguar had crisscrossed more than 14,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest, or about 35,000 acres — an area a tenth the size of Rio de Janeiro. During that time, he avoided open areas and farms. Xamã may look like any of the thousands of other jaguars (Panthera onca) found in the Amazon, but there’s something special about him. Aside from the GPS tracking collar around his neck, Xamã is a survivor, with a back story that reveals much about the threats that the largest cat in the Americas faces today. Xamã was about 2 months old when he was found in a rural part of Sinop municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. This region is part of the “arc of deforestation” carving through the Amazon, and is frequently hit with wildfires. It’s thought his mother may have been lost in the wildfire, or else separated from her cub while fleeing the flames. When he was found, Xamã weighed just over 10 kilograms (22 pounds). He was malnourished and dehydrated, and taken to the veterinary hospital at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). The primary care workers there realized that, although he was debilitated, he was in good health. And despite all that he had gone through, he maintained his natural instincts as a wild animal — meaning it might be possible to return him to his natural habitat. Xamã after his rescue in Mato Grosso in 2022. Image courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/a-rare-jaguar-rewilding-story-highlights-obstacles-to-the-big-cats-conservation-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/a-rare-jaguar-rewilding-story-highlights-obstacles-to-the-big-cats-conservation-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How one woman’s wolf ‘moon shot’ changed Yellowstone forever: Interview with director Tom Winston</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-one-womans-wolf-moon-shot-changed-yellowstone-forever-interview-with-director-tom-winston/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-one-womans-wolf-moon-shot-changed-yellowstone-forever-interview-with-director-tom-winston/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2025 17:41:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/10113709/Yellowstone-wolf--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295539</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Film, Forests, Interviews, Mammals, National Parks, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Restoration, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March 1995, a few wolves cautiously exited their pens into the melting snow of Yellowstone National Park, returning there 70 years after guns, traps and poison had wiped them out. The dramatic return of these top carnivores was watched around the world, the culmination of twists and turns rivaling any Hollywood blockbuster. Now, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March 1995, a few wolves cautiously exited their pens into the melting snow of Yellowstone National Park, returning there 70 years after guns, traps and poison had wiped them out. The dramatic return of these top carnivores was watched around the world, the culmination of twists and turns rivaling any Hollywood blockbuster. Now, a new documentary film, Mollie’s Pack, tells the story in a new and emotional way. Mollie’s Pack pairs the story of the controversial reintroduction of the wolves with the life of Mollie Beattie, then head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Beattie was not only instrumental in bringing the Canadian wolves into Yellowstone National Park, but was also there to carry in the wolves on their arrival, specifically number five, an alpha female whose line would form the backbone of Yellowstone’s wolf population. Eighteen months after successfully bringing wolves back to Yellowstone, Beattie died from a brain tumor. She was 49 years old. These two stories — of Beattie’s life and death, and of the resurrection of wolves in one of the best-known ecosystems on the planet — form the film Mollie’s Pack. The film will be screened at the 2025 DC Environmental Film Festival, where Mongabay is a media partner. Mollie Beattie at the Yellowstone Arch in 1995. Image is a still from the film Mollie&#8217;s Pack. Mongabay’s Jeremy Hance interviewed the film’s director, Tom Winston, from the production company Grizzly Creek Films, about its serendipitous coming together and the legacy of Mollie Beattie&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-one-womans-wolf-moon-shot-changed-yellowstone-forever-interview-with-director-tom-winston/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-one-womans-wolf-moon-shot-changed-yellowstone-forever-interview-with-director-tom-winston/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295539</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Getting rewilding right with the reintroduction of small wildcats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 17:05:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/18095213/11-An-ocelot-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294574</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Global, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Cats, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Mammals, Predators, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Small Cats, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the briefest moment earlier this year, the Eurasian lynx — extinct in the U.K. for thousands of years — returned to the wild in Scotland. But this release wasn’t scientifically planned. Rather, it was an illegal act that drew condemnation from authorities and conservationists alike. Though the four lynx were swiftly captured; one died [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the briefest moment earlier this year, the Eurasian lynx — extinct in the U.K. for thousands of years — returned to the wild in Scotland. But this release wasn’t scientifically planned. Rather, it was an illegal act that drew condemnation from authorities and conservationists alike. Though the four lynx were swiftly captured; one died shortly after. Following the illegal release, Scottish First Minister John Swinney ruled out a legal reintroduction of lynx (Lynx lynx), or other large carnivores, under his government. “Acting illegally and without consultation is extremely damaging to the cause of conservation and well-planned releases,” says Helen Senn, head of conservation and science programs at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. “I think [the illegal release] will really undermine the trust of stakeholders like farmers and landowners [involved] in the process that conservationists go through … to get releases approved.” Senn is part of a legal rewilding project that aims to restore the Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris), also affectionately dubbed the “Highland tiger” by the Scottish people, even though it’s not much bigger than a house cat. This project is supported and funded by the Scottish government so will be unaffected by Swinney’s recent statement barring large carnivore reintroductions. The Scottish wildcat — a subpopulation of the European wildcat that arrived on what is today the island of Britain at the end of the last ice age 9,000 years ago, and which has remained isolated from mainland populations — was declared “functionally extinct” in 2018 largely due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294574</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, free-flight lessons help teach macaws to survive in the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-sao-paulo-free-flight-lessons-help-teach-macaws-to-survive-in-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-sao-paulo-free-flight-lessons-help-teach-macaws-to-survive-in-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Feb 2025 15:06:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/07150023/credito-chris-biro-copia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Reintroductions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;I remember my grandfather telling me about the macaws in this region. So, it&#8217;s impossible not to smile seeing them back. We know where they sleep and feed, so every time we want to find them, we know where they are,&#8221; says biologist Humberto Mendes, a professor at the Federal University of Alfenas in Brazil’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;I remember my grandfather telling me about the macaws in this region. So, it&#8217;s impossible not to smile seeing them back. We know where they sleep and feed, so every time we want to find them, we know where they are,&#8221; says biologist Humberto Mendes, a professor at the Federal University of Alfenas in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Alongside Donald Brightsmith, a professor at Texas A&amp;M University (USA) and one of the world&#8217;s leading experts on Psittaciformes (parrots), and Chris Biro, considered an international reference in free-flight training for pet birds, the Brazilian led a project to reintroduce blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) in São Simão, in northwestern São Paulo state, Brazil, an area where the blue-and-yellow plumaged species used to exist in the past but became locally extinct more than 50 years ago. What is so pioneering about this release is the technique used: free flight with psittacines, never before employed in conservation programs. And, more than that, the excellent result obtained: a 100% success rate. &#8220;This result is absolutely wonderful! And I&#8217;m not exaggerating. I say that even though I&#8217;m a grumpy old scientist,&#8221; Brightsmith jokes as he celebrates the project’s success. Just over two years after the initial release of the six blue-and-yellow macaws in 2022, all of them are still alive and showing great adaptation. And in that time, they have also been put through their paces, literally. They survived a fire that hit the region in the second half of 2024, when much of Brazil suffered from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-sao-paulo-free-flight-lessons-help-teach-macaws-to-survive-in-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-sao-paulo-free-flight-lessons-help-teach-macaws-to-survive-in-the-wild/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Namibian conservancies fight to block mining threat to rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2024 10:50:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</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/20/2024/12/02103607/SRT-Rhino5-Marcus-Westberg-Photography-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291007</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Mining, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When a copper mine started operating in Namibia’s //Huab Conservancy in 2021, blasting of rock and heavy machinery disturbed the area’s critically endangered southern black rhinos, and they moved out of the area. When mining activity was temporarily stopped in early 2022 due to investment problems, the rhinos returned. Two other conservancies referred to this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When a copper mine started operating in Namibia’s //Huab Conservancy in 2021, blasting of rock and heavy machinery disturbed the area’s critically endangered southern black rhinos, and they moved out of the area. When mining activity was temporarily stopped in early 2022 due to investment problems, the rhinos returned. Two other conservancies referred to this as they filed an urgent interdict to try to block a new open-pit tin mine in the northwestern Kunene region. The Uibasen Twyfelfontein Conservancy and the Doro !Nawas Conservancy, alongside tourism operator Ultimate Safaris, say they’re concerned that if the mine goes ahead, what happened in //Huab — confirmed in a mapping report commissioned by the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism from Save the Rhino Trust Namibia — will happen again in their jointly managed conservation area. The mining-related displacement of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in //Huab resulted in Ultimate Safaris shutting down its camp and the conservancy losing its sole source of income. The first signs of disturbance by the proposed new mine have already become apparent, said Uibasen conservancy manager Laurensia //Naobes. “There used to be a quiet riverbed where the mining is happening, with different wildlife like antelopes, ostriches, springboks. They moved out because of the human disturbance,” she told Mongabay by phone. She said they’re seeing the black rhinos becoming stressed and starting to move away. “The rhino population in the western Kunene region is not huge, but is considered a key-1 population by IUCN, which means it’s over&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291007</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rhino poop draws all the deer (and boars and more) to the yard, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/rhino-poop-draws-all-the-deer-and-boars-and-more-to-the-yard-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/rhino-poop-draws-all-the-deer-and-boars-and-more-to-the-yard-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2024 16:28:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/26161538/IMG_20240315_081824-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285171</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Grasslands, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Megafauna, Microorganisms, One-horned Rhinos, Reintroductions, Rewilding, and Rhinos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Amid the tall, rustling elephant grass on the banks of a nearly stagnant Rapti River, half a dozen spotted deer approach mounds of rhino excrement. Unbeknown to them, a camera trap nearby is recording, and it catches them as, with delicate sniffs and tentative nibbles, they begin to eat this most unexpected of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Amid the tall, rustling elephant grass on the banks of a nearly stagnant Rapti River, half a dozen spotted deer approach mounds of rhino excrement. Unbeknown to them, a camera trap nearby is recording, and it catches them as, with delicate sniffs and tentative nibbles, they begin to eat this most unexpected of snacks. It’s not just spotted deer (Axis axis); the cast of animals drawn to these unlikely buffets is diverse. Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), wild boars (Sus scrofa), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and peafowl (Pavo cristatus) were also found roaming around the droppings left by greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis), according to a recently published study assessing the efficacy of reintroduction of species to habitats from which they&#8217;ve been extirpated. “We found that while some animals ate bits and pieces of the dung, others consumed herbs, seedlings or mushrooms that had grown on the dung,” study lead author Balram Awasthi, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Mongabay. “Similarly, there were others that ate insects found on or near the dung or relieved themselves close to the dung or even sniffed it.” A one-honed rhino photographed at its latrine site. Image courtesy of Balram Awasthi. Rhinos, once abundant on the floodplains of the Ganga and the Indus but now restricted to patches in India and Nepal, are known to defecate in the same area time and again over a period of time. Researchers have also observed multiple rhinos choosing to poop in the same spot. This&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/rhino-poop-draws-all-the-deer-and-boars-and-more-to-the-yard-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/rhino-poop-draws-all-the-deer-and-boars-and-more-to-the-yard-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285171</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rewilding efforts throw a lifeline to Brazil’s most trafficked endangered bird</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/rewilding-efforts-throw-a-lifeline-to-brazils-most-trafficked-endangered-bird/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/rewilding-efforts-throw-a-lifeline-to-brazils-most-trafficked-endangered-bird/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2024 14:00:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Hall]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/29180956/FKU_69821-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282686</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Illegal Trade, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Savannas, Solutions, Species, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the door of the wire enclosure is unlatched, a small coal-black bird hops forward. For a moment, it perches at the threshold and cocks its head quizzically at its newfound liberty, then flits into the undergrowth of the surrounding savanna. Within just a few minutes, its mate, a chestnut-brown female, follows suit. These two [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the door of the wire enclosure is unlatched, a small coal-black bird hops forward. For a moment, it perches at the threshold and cocks its head quizzically at its newfound liberty, then flits into the undergrowth of the surrounding savanna. Within just a few minutes, its mate, a chestnut-brown female, follows suit. These two great-billed seed finches are part of a decades-long conservation project that aims to reintroduce one of Brazil’s most endangered species into a part of the Cerrado grassland that used to be its home before poaching for trade wiped out the birds. Sentenced by song A native of savanna ecosystems, the great-billed seed finch (Sporophila maximiliani) , feeds on flowering grasses and sedges, particularly on sword grass (Paspalum virgatum) and plays an important role in seed dispersal. Although it occupies a broad range across parts of Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, the Guianas and Brazil, it’s rare wherever it occurs and is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In Brazil, where the species clings on in small areas of the Cerrado and the southern Brazilian Amazon, it’s considered critically endangered. Even optimistic population estimates are dire, at fewer than 2,500 mature individuals and no more than 250 in any given population. According to Luis Silveira, curator of ornithological studies at the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Zoology, the situation may be far worse: “A few years ago, there were probably no more than 100 wild birds left in all of Brazil.” While habitat loss and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/rewilding-efforts-throw-a-lifeline-to-brazils-most-trafficked-endangered-bird/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282686</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2024 15:58:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/04155011/Banner_Anna-Rauhaus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280675</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Farming, Forests, Habitat Loss, Herps, Hunting, Over-hunting, Overexploitation, Reintroductions, Reptiles, Rewilding, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists as recently as 2019. Spotted softshell turtles, Pelodiscus variegatus, were previously considered part of the genetically and morphologically variable Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis), a widely distributed species ranging from eastern Russia through China and Korea to Vietnam. However, scientists now classify Chinese softshell turtles as a species complex comprising seven separate species, one of which is the spotted softshell turtle. Although the orange-and-black-speckled turtles were described as distinct in 2019, frustratingly little is known about them in order to inform conservation actions, according to Thomas Ziegler, coordinator of nature conservation projects for Vietnam and Laos at Cologne Zoological Garden in Germany. “It’s actually a race against time, to discover species before they disappear,” Ziegler, who was involved in the scientific description of the species, told Mongabay in an email. “The joy of the discovery quickly gave way to worry — does it still exist, or has it already been extirpated?” One of the captive-bred juvenile spotted softshell turtles (Pelodiscus variegatus) photographed upon its the release into the wild in northern Vietnam. Image courtesy of C. T. Pham and T. Ziegler. Following the first scientific description of the species, Ziegler and his colleagues from Germany&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280675</doi>				</item>
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