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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/strange/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 07:09:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Strange</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/strange/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 11:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09111227/night-monkeys-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317266</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Deforestation, Habitat Loss, Monkeys, Protected Areas, Research, Rivers, Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from the light. It was a night monkey, from the genus Aotus. This brief encounter would decide Montilla’s path. “I became very passionate about those animals, in fact, when I was in school, my favorite pastime was to go outside and lie down under their sleeping place, to watch them do nothing,” Montilla, now a doctoral student in biological sciences at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, told Mongabay in a video call. “I’m very surprised by the fact that [night monkeys] have gone unnoticed for so long, both in the scientific community and in the public sphere,” he added. “It’s astonishing because at midnight they are moving right past our houses and we don’t even notice.” Night monkeys, also known as owl monkeys, are the only primate group in the Americas that have adapted to be active at night. These monkeys have evolved enormous round eyes with retinas 50% bigger than those of daytime-active primates to better capture the scarce light available in their environments. Unlike other nocturnal primate species in Asia and Africa, such as lorises (family Lorisidae), tarsiers (Tarsiidae) and lemurs (Lemuroidae), which tend to be solitary, night monkeys form lifelong monogamous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317266</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, the world’s smallest otter continues to elude researchers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-nepal-the-worlds-smallest-otter-continues-to-elude-researchers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-nepal-the-worlds-smallest-otter-continues-to-elude-researchers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 05:34:20 +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/20/2025/12/22045750/Z50_7454-min-scaled-e1766379564645-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311840</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Ecosystems, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Mammals, New Discovery, Pollution, Rediscovered Species, Rivers, Species, Species Discovery, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A year ago, the appearance of the Asian small-clawed otter in Nepal created a buzz, given that the species hadn’t been seen in the country in 185 years. Since then, however, it’s disappeared once again, with no confirmed sightings in the past year, leaving researchers flummoxed on the question of whether it’s still [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A year ago, the appearance of the Asian small-clawed otter in Nepal created a buzz, given that the species hadn’t been seen in the country in 185 years. Since then, however, it’s disappeared once again, with no confirmed sightings in the past year, leaving researchers flummoxed on the question of whether it’s still found in the country. The November 2024 discovery of a juvenile Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus) in Dadeldhura district, on Nepal’s western border with India, left researchers hopeful of more sightings would follow. However, limited funding and difficulties in DNA analysis have left them relying on scattered clues rather than certainty, even as the species is formally incorporated into the country’s conservation plans. “Despite multiple reports of suspected signs, such as scats recovered from different river systems, there hasn’t been a second verified sighting of the Asian small-clawed otter anywhere in the country,” Mohan Bikram Shrestha, a leading otter researcher, told Mongabay. “We firmly believe that the animal is present in the eastern river systems as well.” The lone confirmed record from 2024 was remarkable not only for being the first recorded sighting since 1839, but also for raising the possibility that overlooked populations of the world’s smallest otter species might still roam Nepal’s rivers and wetlands. A rescued Asian small-clawed otter with its distinct webbed feet in Dadeldhura, Nepal. Image by Rajeev Chaudhary. Since then, however, there’s only been indirect evidence of a possible otter presence. Community members and researchers have collected suspected otter&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-nepal-the-worlds-smallest-otter-continues-to-elude-researchers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-nepal-the-worlds-smallest-otter-continues-to-elude-researchers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311840</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Three new gecko species described in Nepal: Interview with herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 17:56:21 +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/20/2025/03/21174235/2.-Karans-Bent-toed-gecko-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296280</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Herps, New Discovery, Protected Areas, Reptiles, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Nepal’s reptiles are one of the least studied among the country’s diverse flora and fauna, researchers have long been saying that it could be home to numerous species waiting to be discovered by science. Herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai, a PhD student at Federation University Australia, is one of the handful of scientists who have dedicated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Nepal’s reptiles are one of the least studied among the country’s diverse flora and fauna, researchers have long been saying that it could be home to numerous species waiting to be discovered by science. Herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai, a PhD student at Federation University Australia, is one of the handful of scientists who have dedicated their careers to studying smaller herps such as lizards, geckos and frogs across Nepal. He has been actively involved in raising awareness about the dark sitana (Sitana fusca), a critically endangered lizard endemic to Nepal. Bhattarai and his team recently discovered three new-to-science species of bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus genus). According to a study documenting the discovery published in the journal Zootaxa, the nocturnal lizards, known for their camouflaging abilities, were found in the forests and rocky terrains of the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape. The newly identified species have been named Cyrtodactylus chitwanensis (Chitwan bent-toed gecko), Cyrtodactylus annapurnaensis (Annapurna bent-toed gecko) and Cyrtodactylus karanshahi (Karan’s bent-toed gecko) — the last one in honor of Nepal’s renowned herpetologist Karan Bahadur Shah. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi spoke with Bhattarai, who is currently based in Australia, over the phone to discuss the new findings and their implications. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and edited for clarity. Mongabay: Could you please tell us how you discovered these new species? Santosh Bhattarai: Well, we made the discovery during my PhD field research in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape in Nepal. My research focuses on amphibians and reptiles in the landscape,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296280</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top new species from 2024</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2024/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2024 22:47:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/01222118/Image-1-Leopardus-tigrinus-pardinoides-Cuenca-3-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292398</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Australia, Cameroon, Central America, Chile, China, Global, India, Indonesia, Latin America, Malaysia, Mekong Basin, Pacific Ocean, Peru, South America, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Birds, Botany, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Traditional Knowledge, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the mountaintops of Southeast Asia, each new species shows us that even our well-known world contains unexplored chambers of life. This year, in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the mountaintops of Southeast Asia, each new species shows us that even our well-known world contains unexplored chambers of life. This year, in Peru&#8217;s Alto Mayo Landscape alone, scientists uncovered 27 new-to-science species, including four new mammals, during a two month expedition. Meanwhile, the Greater Mekong region yielded 234 new species, and scientists from the California Academy of Sciences described 138 new species globally. The ocean depths continued to surprise, with more than 100 potentially new species found on an unexplored underwater mountain off Chile&#8217;s coast. Two new mammal species were found in India this year, including the world’s smallest otter. Scientists estimate only a small fraction of Earth&#8217;s species have been documented, perhaps 20% at best. Even among mammals, the best-known group of animals, researchers think we’ve only found 80% of species.  Most of these hidden species are likely bats, rodents, shrews, moles and hedgehogs. Members of Indigenous Awajun communities in Peru&#8217;s Alto Mayo assist scientists with their research, such as throwing cast nets to capture fish.  68 fish species were collected, including eight that are new to science. Photo courtesy of Trond Larsen/Conservation International. However, while species may be new to Western science, many have been well known to Indigenous peoples and local communities for generations. These communities often maintain sophisticated classification systems and deep ecological&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2024/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292398</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Greater Mekong serves up 234 new species in a year, from fanged hedgehog to diva viper</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2024 06:11:37 +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/20/2024/12/16052538/1-Hylomys-macarong-%C2%A9-Alexei-V.-Abramov-02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Mountains, New Discovery, Orchids, Pet Trade, Plants, Reptiles, Research, Rivers, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled by WWF. A striking orange-and-black crocodile newt recorded at the highest ever elevation for its type, a karst dragon lizard that represents an entirely new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled by WWF. A striking orange-and-black crocodile newt recorded at the highest ever elevation for its type, a karst dragon lizard that represents an entirely new genus, and a shrew mole that tips the scales at only 8 grams, or less than 0.3 ounces, qualifying it among the top 10 lightest land mammals on Earth, feature among the new assortment of species. Nature enthusiasts and researchers in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, along with experts at global museums, described 173 plants, 26 reptiles, 17 amphibians, 15 fish and three mammals previously unknown to science. The 2023 haul brings the total number of newly described species in the region since 1997 to 3,623. “Although these species were just described by science last year, they have been living in the unique habitats of our region for many millennia,” said Chris Hallam, head of wildlife and wildlife crime at WWF-Greater Mekong. “Each of these species is a critical piece of a functioning, healthy ecosystem and a jewel in the region&#8217;s rich natural heritage.” Other new curiosities include a species of wild ginger with roots that smell like mango; a red-and-green pit viper with scales sculpting the appearance of glamorous eyelashes around its eyes; and a soft-furred hedgehog that makes up for its lack of pointy spines with formidable incisors, described by researchers as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291689</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hold my ointment: Wild orangutan observed healing wound with medicinal plant</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2024 13:13:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/14090318/Picture_5_credits-Armas-Fitra-TNGL-KLHK-MPI-UNAS-YEL--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282051</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Strange, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with a plant known to have healing properties. It was June 22, 2022, when the research team in the Suaq Balimbing area of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with a plant known to have healing properties. It was June 22, 2022, when the research team in the Suaq Balimbing area of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park first noticed that the male Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), which they named Rakus, had a fresh wound under his right eye and inside his mouth while vocalizing a long call. Three days later, the team observed Rakus start to selectively chew on the stem and leaves of the Fibraurea tinctoria liana, and then repeatedly apply the subsequent sap precisely onto the facial wound for several minutes. The orangutan eventually covered the wound with the chewed leaves, and by June 30, the wound was already closed and showed no sign of infection, the researchers reported in their recently published study in the journal Scientific Reports. “This observation is the first time that a wild animal was observed actively treating his wound with a healing plant. So, that’s a very important finding,” study lead author Isabelle B. Laumer, a cognitive and evolutionary biologist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, told Mongabay in an email interview. The male Sumatran orangutan, named Rakus by researchers, with a fresh facial wound in June 2022. Image courtesy of Armas Fitra/Suaq Balimbing Research. Research has shown that some animals, especially primates and apes, engage in self-medicating behavior. However,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282051</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top species discoveries from 2023</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2023 15:36:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/27150956/chameleon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277110</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Australia, Brunei, Ecuador, Global, India, Japan, Madagascar, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists named hundreds of new to science species this year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squids, a silent frog, and some thumb-sized chameleons. These newly uncovered creatures give us just a glimpse into the immense biodiversity yet to be found across the planet. “I think most people believe that we know most species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists named hundreds of new to science species this year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squids, a silent frog, and some thumb-sized chameleons. These newly uncovered creatures give us just a glimpse into the immense biodiversity yet to be found across the planet. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview. Experts estimate only 10-20% of Earth&#8217;s species have been documented by Western science. This year, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences described 153 new plant, animal and fungi species. Since 2020 alone, researchers have classified 100,000 new plant and fungus species. However, at this pace, researchers say documenting all life could take centuries, and many species may go extinct before they’re even named. More than a million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, suggests the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Many new species of plants, fungi, and animals are assessed as vulnerable or critically endangered with extinction as soon as they’re found. “There is something immensely unethical and troubling about humans driving species extinct without ever even having appreciated their existence and given them consideration,” Walter Jetz, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, told Mongabay, It’s important to note that although a species may be newly described by science, Indigenous people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277110</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Super flock of pigeons leaves Nepali researchers asking what happened</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/super-flock-of-pigeons-leaves-nepali-researchers-asking-what-happened/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/super-flock-of-pigeons-leaves-nepali-researchers-asking-what-happened/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2023 15:30:18 +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/20/2023/09/08152159/DSCN3970-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273095</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Disasters, Farming, Flooding, Migration, Raptors, Strange, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU – In December 2022, Hiru Lal Dangaura, Vikram Tiwari and Subam Chaudhary were conducting a routine check on a vulture colony in the western plains of Nepal, when they witnessed a stunning spectacle: a huge flock of pigeons. There were so many of the birds that the swarm stretched across the sky, forming a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU – In December 2022, Hiru Lal Dangaura, Vikram Tiwari and Subam Chaudhary were conducting a routine check on a vulture colony in the western plains of Nepal, when they witnessed a stunning spectacle: a huge flock of pigeons. There were so many of the birds that the swarm stretched across the sky, forming a dynamic canvas of gray and white. The observers recalled hearing the rhythmic flapping of wings and the soft cooing of the birds, as they looked at them in wonder and fascination. The discovery of the flock, estimated at some 6,500 pigeons on Dec. 14, and 7,500 the next day, has been touted as a rare phenomenon that has puzzled local researchers and bird-watchers alike, Dangaura and his colleagues wrote in a recently published study in the Nepalese Journal of Zoology. A large flock of common woodpigeons seen in western Nepal in December 2022,. Image courtesy of Hiru Lal Dangaura. The flock dispersed in a few days. “We had never encountered such a large assembly of pigeons in our careers,” Dangaura, a project field officer at the NGO Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), told Mongabay. The observation coincided with the period when in the plains started irrigating their land for their winter wheat crop. “When water enters the fields, bird prey such as worms and insects come to the surface. The pigeons we saw were feeding on those types of prey,” Dangaura said. The flock was made up of the South-Central Asian subspecies of the common woodpigeon,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/super-flock-of-pigeons-leaves-nepali-researchers-asking-what-happened/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/super-flock-of-pigeons-leaves-nepali-researchers-asking-what-happened/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273095</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Orangutan ‘beatboxing’ offers clues about human language, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/orangutan-beatboxing-offers-clues-about-human-language-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/orangutan-beatboxing-offers-clues-about-human-language-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2023 20:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/28124321/bornean-orangutan-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Indonesia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Beatboxing became popular in the 1980s, when Doug E. Fresh performed the style around the New York City hip-hop scene. However, the seeds of this vocal technique, which involves making two sounds at once, can be found hundreds of years ago in the vibrato of the Zulu isicathamiya vocalists and tabla bols of Hindustani singers. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Beatboxing became popular in the 1980s, when Doug E. Fresh performed the style around the New York City hip-hop scene. However, the seeds of this vocal technique, which involves making two sounds at once, can be found hundreds of years ago in the vibrato of the Zulu isicathamiya vocalists and tabla bols of Hindustani singers. But could this vocal style have roots further back? According to a new study in PNAS Nexus, researchers have found some clues in one of our closest animal kin— the orangutans. Researchers observed orangutans for 3,800 hours in Borneo and Sumatra, recording two populations making beatbox-like vocalizations. &#8220;Humans rarely produce voiced and voiceless noises simultaneously. The exception is beatboxing,” Madeleine Hardus, study co-author, said in a statement. “But the very fact that humans are anatomically able to beatbox, raises questions about where that ability came from. We know now the answer could lie within the evolution of our ancestors.” Orangutans can produce special calls that involve combining two different sounds. For example, females in Sumatra produce “kiss squeaks” at the same time as “rolling calls” to alert other orangutans of predators. The study&#8217;s authors say this highlights their impressive vocal control and coordination skills. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/29200208/orangutan_compressed.mp4 &nbsp; &#8220;Humans use the lips, tongue, and jaw to make the unvoiced sounds of consonants, while activating the vocal folds in the larynx with exhaled air to make the voiced, open sounds of vowels,&#8221; Adriano Lameira, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick and co-author of the research, said. “Orangutans&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/orangutan-beatboxing-offers-clues-about-human-language-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/orangutan-beatboxing-offers-clues-about-human-language-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/29200208/orangutan_compressed.mp4" length="1142204" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2022 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2022 17:52:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/11184718/FISHCirrhilabrus-finifenmaa_4%C2%A9-Yi-Kai-Tea-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264198</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Cameroon, Central America, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Global, Guinea, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latin America, Madagascar, Maldives, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Peru, South America, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Owls, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A resplendent rainbow fish, a frog that looks like chocolate, a Thai tarantula,  an anemone that rides on a back of a hermit crab, and the world&#8217;s largest waterlily are among the new species named by science in 2022. In this well-trodden world, finding a new species is a glimpse of the uncharted riches of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A resplendent rainbow fish, a frog that looks like chocolate, a Thai tarantula,  an anemone that rides on a back of a hermit crab, and the world&#8217;s largest waterlily are among the new species named by science in 2022. In this well-trodden world, finding a new species is a glimpse of the uncharted riches of biodiversity still hidden around the globe. Scientists estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Even among the most well-known group of animals, mammals, scientists think we have only found 80% of species. Most of these hidden species are likely bats, rodents, shrews, moles, and hedgehogs. “Based on our analysis, a conservative estimate would be that there are hundreds of species of mammals worldwide that have yet to be identified,” Bryan Carstens, a professor at The Ohio State University, told Mongabay. This year, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences named 146 new species, including “44 lizards, 30 ants, 14 sea slugs, 14 flowering plants, 13 sea stars, seven fishes, four beetles, four sharks, three moths, three worms, two scorpions, two spiders, two lichens, one toad, one clam, one aphid, and one sea biscuit.” Around 2,000 new species of plants and fungi are found each year, according to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew). These are potential sources of food, medicines, and other solutions. Unfortunately, many new species of plants, fungi, and animals are assessed as Vulnerable or Critically Endangered with extinction. “There is something immensely unethical and troubling&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264198</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous knowledge settles question of a Bornean tree species: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2022 05:04:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/17045519/sabah_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257406</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Cryptic Species, Culture, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Science, Species, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, Traditional Knowledge, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When plant systematist Elliot Gardner first began collecting samples of a fruit-bearing tree in Malaysian Borneo, he thought he was looking at just one species. Western taxonomists had long considered both the cultivated and wild types of Artocarpus odoratissimus, a close relative of breadfruit and jackfruit, as a single species. But time and again, Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When plant systematist Elliot Gardner first began collecting samples of a fruit-bearing tree in Malaysian Borneo, he thought he was looking at just one species. Western taxonomists had long considered both the cultivated and wild types of Artocarpus odoratissimus, a close relative of breadfruit and jackfruit, as a single species. But time and again, Indigenous Iban and Dusun field botanists told him they recognized the two types as completely separate species. In a new study published in Current Biology, Gardner and his Indigenous and academic colleagues from Malaysia, the U.S., and Europe analyzed DNA samples from the two types of tree growing in Malaysian Borneo and from herbarium specimens. The results of their genetic tests confirm that the trees are indeed two distinct species. The finding is the latest in a growing body of research that demonstrates the value of Indigenous and local knowledge to conservation science and sustainable land management. The fruit of the tree known to the Iban as lumok (Artocarpus odoratissimus) are large and juicy, similar to jackfruit. Image by Elliot Gardner According to Gardner, from Florida International University and lead author of the study, the fact that Iban and Dusun Indigenous knowledge-derived classification of the trees was more accurate than Linnean taxonomy emphasizes how Indigenous knowledge holds key insights and should be recognized as complementary to modern science. “The two kinds of knowledge can really complement one another if you have equal engagement,” Gardner told Mongabay. “Scientific taxonomy brings a broad, synthetic approach so that we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A marine mystery unfolds with the discovery of nitrogen-fixing plankton</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/a-marine-mystery-unfolds-with-the-discovery-of-nitrogen-fixing-plankton/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/a-marine-mystery-unfolds-with-the-discovery-of-nitrogen-fixing-plankton/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2022 21:05:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/02205008/HOT_Ops_024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253267</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cryptic Species, Marine, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, and Species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was completely by accident that Chris Schvarcz and his colleagues discovered two new marine phytoplankton species. In 2014, Schvarcz was using phytoplankton cultures to study viruses as a Ph.D. student at the University of Hawai‘i. Over the course of his research, he noticed something unusual. Some forms of phytoplankton, or diatoms, are known to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was completely by accident that Chris Schvarcz and his colleagues discovered two new marine phytoplankton species. In 2014, Schvarcz was using phytoplankton cultures to study viruses as a Ph.D. student at the University of Hawai‘i. Over the course of his research, he noticed something unusual. Some forms of phytoplankton, or diatoms, are known to fix nitrogen, which is a cell’s ability to convert nitrogen from the air into ammonia. Nitrogen fixation is an important process because it can help support productivity in nutrient-poor parts of the ocean. But phytoplankton usually needs the help of a symbiont to fix nitrogen. Yet the phytoplankton in Schvarcz’s cultures appeared to be doing the impossible: they appeared to be fixing nitrogen by themselves. Schvarcz reached out to his colleague, Sam Wilson, a researcher who holds positions at both the University of Hawai‘i and Newcastle University in the U.K., to see what he made of it. “He said, ‘Sammy, I&#8217;ve got this diatom that can grow in nitrogen-free media,’” Wilson told Mongabay. “And I said, ‘Ah-huh, yeah, yeah,’ thinking that maybe there&#8217;s some contaminant nitrogen or something else might be going on … because the ability to fix nitrogen is quite evolutionary restricted. Only certain bacteria and archaea can do it.” Several days later, Wilson borrowed samples from Schvarcz as he worked on a method to measure nitrogen fixation, and he also noticed some peculiarities. “I discovered this day-and-night pattern of nitrogen fixation that I’d never seen before, so now I was really confused,”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/a-marine-mystery-unfolds-with-the-discovery-of-nitrogen-fixing-plankton/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/a-marine-mystery-unfolds-with-the-discovery-of-nitrogen-fixing-plankton/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2021 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2021 18:29:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/21182636/Screen-Shot-2021-12-21-at-12.26.13-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250851</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Ecuador, Global, Guiana Shield, India, Latin America, South America, Venezuela, West Africa, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ants, Bats, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Carnivores, Cetaceans, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Orchids, Owls, Plants, Plastic, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview.  Moura is the co-creator of a study that maps out places in the world likely to hold the highest number of species unknown to science. As it turns out, there are a lot. This year, Mongabay reported on newly described species from nearly every continent, including a fuzzy orange bat from West Africa, tiny screech owls from Brazil, an acrobatic North American skunk, a snake from the Himalayas (found on Instagram), a new whale species in the Gulf of Mexico, an Ecuadoran ant whose name broke the gender binary, and an Australian “killer tobacco.” Map showing the portion of undiscovered species worldwide. Image by Mario R. Moura. (Moura and Jetz 2021) “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants and fungi that have not been scientifically described,” says the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. However, though a species may be new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250851</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pepé Le New: Meet the acrobatic spotted skunks of North America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/pepe-le-new-meet-the-acrobatic-spotted-skunks-of-north-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/pepe-le-new-meet-the-acrobatic-spotted-skunks-of-north-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2021 15:04:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/15144713/Skunk_Western-Spotted-Skunk-captured-during-BioBlitz-2014-at-Knickerbocker-Ranch-c-Robby-Heischman-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Cryptic Species, DNA, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, New Discovery, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[To hear an audio reading of this article listen here: The familiar striped skunk of North America (think of the cartoon Pepé Le Pew) has a lesser-known cousin: the spotted skunk. These polka-dotted relatives are smaller, about the size of a fat squirrel, and do impressive handstands to warn predators before they launch their stinky [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[To hear an audio reading of this article listen here: The familiar striped skunk of North America (think of the cartoon Pepé Le Pew) has a lesser-known cousin: the spotted skunk. These polka-dotted relatives are smaller, about the size of a fat squirrel, and do impressive handstands to warn predators before they launch their stinky spray. And now, this skunk group has a few more members. Researchers analyzed spotted skunk (Spilogale spp.) DNA and found that rather than the four skunk species previously recognized by science, there are actually seven. Their findings are published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. A spotted skunk performing its signature handstand. Image by Jerry W. Dragoo courtesy of the Field Museum. Scientists used DNA from 203 skunk specimens, both modern species and those preserved in museum collections. “If we’re trying to tell the full story of skunk evolution we need as many samples as we can,” Ferguson says. “For example, we didn’t have any modern tissues from Central America or the Yucatan. We were able to use museum collections to fill those holes.” Skunks are notoriously difficult to study in the wild, partly because catching them is an easy way to get sprayed, and also because they are adept tree climbers who live in remote areas. For the researchers to get enough specimens to study differences in spotted skunk DNA, they used a method common in the days of the Wild West: wanted posters. Researchers put up wanted posters throughout Texas to encourage&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/pepe-le-new-meet-the-acrobatic-spotted-skunks-of-north-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/pepe-le-new-meet-the-acrobatic-spotted-skunks-of-north-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Mismanaged to death’: Mexico opens up sole vaquita habitat to fishing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/mismanaged-to-death-mexico-opens-up-sole-vaquita-habitat-to-fishing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/mismanaged-to-death-mexico-opens-up-sole-vaquita-habitat-to-fishing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2021 12:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/16205656/030819_EH_SeaShepherd_VaquitaSightingSharpie-3719-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244912</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Ecosystems, Extinction, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, International Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trade, trafficking, Vaquita, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Mexican government will no longer protect the habitat of the critically endangered vaquita in the Upper Gulf of California, but has opened the area up to fishing, according to a news report. It’s estimated that there are only about nine vaquitas left in the world. The vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a bathtub-sized porpoise endemic to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Mexican government will no longer protect the habitat of the critically endangered vaquita in the Upper Gulf of California, but has opened the area up to fishing, according to a news report. It’s estimated that there are only about nine vaquitas left in the world. The vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a bathtub-sized porpoise endemic to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, has experienced a sharp population decline in the two past two decades, mainly due to illegal gillnet fishing for the critically endangered totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi). In 2017, the Mexican government established a “no tolerance” zone to protect the vaquita from illegal fishing, and even expanded the area last September. But now the government has given fishers open access to the refuge, the only enforcement being a  “sliding scale of sanctions if more than 60 boats are repeatedly seen in the area,” according to Mexico News Daily. “I fear this might be the death knell for the vaquita, as the plan that has been proposed by Mexico will convert what should be a straightforward ‘no go’ zone into a complex enforcement area with varying levels of monitoring and deterrence depending on the amount of illegal fishing taking place in the area,” Kate O’Connell, marine consultant at the Washington, D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute, told Mongabay. “The vaquita are being mismanaged to death.” Two vaquitas surfacing for air in the Sea of Cortez. Image by NOAA. O’Connell said gillnet fishing is technically still banned in the Upper Gulf&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/mismanaged-to-death-mexico-opens-up-sole-vaquita-habitat-to-fishing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/mismanaged-to-death-mexico-opens-up-sole-vaquita-habitat-to-fishing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244912</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fear not the bobcat (Commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/fear-not-the-bobcat-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/fear-not-the-bobcat-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2021 16:15:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Elbroch]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/23160259/bobcat-video-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241950</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Commentary, Environment, Green, Human-wildlife Conflict, Small Cats, Social Media, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The video of a bobcat attacking a couple in North Carolina is frightening, and we wish them a hasty recovery. Rest assured, however, that such behavior – and the infection of wild cats with rabies – is abnormal. Although rare, attacks from rabid bats, raccoons and skunks are more likely. Healthy wild cats don’t bother [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The video of a bobcat attacking a couple in North Carolina is frightening, and we wish them a hasty recovery. Rest assured, however, that such behavior – and the infection of wild cats with rabies – is abnormal. Although rare, attacks from rabid bats, raccoons and skunks are more likely. Screen grab of the bobcat video posted by The New York Times. Healthy wild cats don’t bother people. Overwhelmingly, wild cat encounters in the United States leave the two-legged awestruck, clutching their phones to snap photos rather than calling 911. “When cats attack” moments are characteristically the result of unique circumstances, like the Utah jogger charged by a female puma to drive him away from her kittens. Viral videos capturing outlier acts of aggression paint inaccurate portraits of hostile carnivores, rather than accurately illustrating their elusive nature and roles strengthening ecosystems supporting human life. Bobcat in the snow. Photo credit: Nick Garbutt In celebrating Earth Day this week, let’s not allow unnecessary fear of our wild neighbors mar our connection with nature and wild cats. Mark Elbroch is Panthera&#8216;s Puma Program DirectorThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/fear-not-the-bobcat-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/fear-not-the-bobcat-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241950</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spiny new chameleon species described from Bale Mountains of Ethiopia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/spiny-new-chameleon-species-described-from-bale-mountains-of-ethiopia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/spiny-new-chameleon-species-described-from-bale-mountains-of-ethiopia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2021 15:18:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/06143653/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-9.35.41-AM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241384</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Environment, Green, Herps, New Discovery, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have described a new chameleon species from the Bale Mountains of south-central Ethiopia, and say the biodiversity hotspot may harbor even more. Named Wolfgang Böhme’s Ethiopian chameleon (Trioceros wolfgangboehmei), in honor of the senior herpetologist at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZMFK) in Bonn, Germany, the chameleon is around 15 centimeters (6 inches) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have described a new chameleon species from the Bale Mountains of south-central Ethiopia, and say the biodiversity hotspot may harbor even more. Named Wolfgang Böhme’s Ethiopian chameleon (Trioceros wolfgangboehmei), in honor of the senior herpetologist at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZMFK) in Bonn, Germany, the chameleon is around 15 centimeters (6 inches) long and has a distinctive crest of large spiny scales along its back and tail. The species has been described in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. The new chameleon species, Trioceros wolfgangboehmei. Photo from Koppetsch et al 2021. CC-BY 4.0 Researchers uncovered the new reptile while examining variations in Ethiopian chameleons (Trioceros affinis). After careful study of the internal and external features of both preserved and wild chameleons, researchers decided there were enough differences to warrant a new species. The researchers suggest that the Ethiopian chameleon be considered a species complex, a group with an unknown number of species, rather than a single species. They expect more species to be described from the group. &#8220;Given the variation in colour patterns and morphology between different populations of these chameleons in Ethiopia, it is likely that these groups still bear a higher hidden diversity than expected, which might be revealed by further ongoing investigations,” said Thore Koppetsch, a zoologist from the ZMFK who was part of the team that described the species. Trioceros wolfgangboehmei in a muted tone. Chameleons can change the arrangement of specialized skin cell to blend in with their surroundings. Photo from Koppetsch et&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/spiny-new-chameleon-species-described-from-bale-mountains-of-ethiopia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/spiny-new-chameleon-species-described-from-bale-mountains-of-ethiopia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241384</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two new species of endangered screech owls identified from Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2021 16:28:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/01161816/Screen-Shot-2021-04-01-at-11.17.39-AM-768x456.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241236</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, New Discovery, Owls, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two new species of tiny screech owls from the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests in Brazil have been described by science. &#8220;They&#8217;re cute little owls, probably five or six inches long [13-15 centimeters], with tufts of feathers on their heads,” said John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two new species of tiny screech owls from the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests in Brazil have been described by science. &#8220;They&#8217;re cute little owls, probably five or six inches long [13-15 centimeters], with tufts of feathers on their heads,” said John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the researchers who described the new species in the journal Zootaxa. “Some are brown, some are gray, and some are in between.&#8221; The newly described Alagoas screech owl (Megascops alagoensis) from Brazil’s Atlantic forest is thought to be critically endangered. Image by Gustavo Malacco. The discovery was the result of several years of work in forests, natural history collections, and the laboratory, analyzing the black-capped/tawny-bellied screech owl complex (Megascops atricapilla – M. watsonii), a group of owls with an uncertain number of species. Altogether, the researchers analyzed 252 owl specimens, 83 tape recordings of calls, and 49 genetic samples. &#8220;To draw the birds out, we used tape recordings,&#8221; Bates said. &#8220;We&#8217;d record their calls and then play them back. The owls are territorial, and when they heard the recordings, they came out to defend their territory.&#8221; By closely examining the appearance, calls and DNA of the screech owls, the scientists determined that there were enough differences to classify two new species. One of the newly described species, the Xingu screech owl (Megascops stangiae)  was named in honor of the late activist Sister Dorothy Mae Stang. Image by Kleiton Silva. The new screech owls have been named&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241236</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New map shows where the 80% of species we don’t know about may be hiding</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/new-map-shows-where-the-80-of-species-we-dont-know-about-may-be-hiding/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/new-map-shows-where-the-80-of-species-we-dont-know-about-may-be-hiding/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2021 15:08:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/31144137/madagascar_herps_0084-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241150</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Mapping, Rainforests, Saving Species From Extinction, Science, Solutions, Species, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2012, researchers described a teensy, aspirin-sized chameleon, Brookesia nana, from a thin slice of rainforest in northern Madagascar. The species, which experts believe is the smallest reptile in the world, grabbed plenty of headlines worldwide. Mario Moura, a former postdoctoral associate in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University and current professor at the Federal University of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2012, researchers described a teensy, aspirin-sized chameleon, Brookesia nana, from a thin slice of rainforest in northern Madagascar. The species, which experts believe is the smallest reptile in the world, grabbed plenty of headlines worldwide. Mario Moura, a former postdoctoral associate in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University and current professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, says it&#8217;s pretty common to find species that are new to science, especially in parts of the world such as Madagascar. &#8220;I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth&#8217;s species,&#8221; Moura told Mongabay in an interview. The Gonzaga&#8217;s leaf frog (Pithecopus gonzagai) was first seen by scientists in 2020 in Northeastern Brazil&#8217;s Atlantic Forest. Image by Diego Santana. Moura and his colleague, Walter Jetz, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale, recently published a study in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution that investigates the untapped potential of the world&#8217;s unknown species, focusing on terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. The duo created a map of the world that shows where most undescribed terrestrial vertebrates might be located. While previous studies have looked at how many undescribed species there are, this study aims to identify these species&#8217; locations and the taxonomic groups to which they belong. &#8220;We know that 80% of Earth&#8217;s species are undiscovered, but where are they?&#8221; Moura said. We are moving from [questions] like, &#8216;How many species are there’ to questions like &#8216;where&#8217; and &#8216;what.'&#8221; The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/new-map-shows-where-the-80-of-species-we-dont-know-about-may-be-hiding/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241150</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mystery bird not seen in 172 years makes surprise reappearance in Borneo forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/mystery-bird-not-seen-in-172-years-makes-surprise-reappearace-in-borneo-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/mystery-bird-not-seen-in-172-years-makes-surprise-reappearace-in-borneo-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2021 16:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/25165601/kalbar_1006-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239959</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birding, Birds, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Rediscovered Species, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Species, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three years ago, Panji Gusti Akbar was flipping through the pages of Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago when he came across a photo of a bird with brown wings and a black stripe across its brow, appropriately named the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata). On the map beside the bird, there was a question mark, indicating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three years ago, Panji Gusti Akbar was flipping through the pages of Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago when he came across a photo of a bird with brown wings and a black stripe across its brow, appropriately named the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata). On the map beside the bird, there was a question mark, indicating that no one knew where the species lived. In fact, this bird hadn’t been sighted for the past 172 years. “I just had some sort of feeling that, ‘it must be nice to be the one who finds it,’ but just forgot about it,” Akbar, an ornithologist who works at the tourism company Birdpacker Indonesia, told Mongabay. The rediscovered black-browed babbler. Image by Muhammad Suranto and Muhammad Rizky Fauzan. Then, in October 2020, Akbar received a message from a colleague on WhatsApp with a picture of a living bird with brown wings, a gray breast and a distinctive black stripe on its brow. Two men had accidentally caught it in South Kalimantan province, in Indonesian Borneo, and had taken photos of it before releasing it unharmed. Akbar flipped through his entire field guide, but only found one bird that matched the picture on his phone: the black-browed babbler. But at first, he had trouble believing what he was seeing. “I contacted as many leading ornithologists as possible, and they all agreed that there is no other bird that [it] looks [like] other than a black-browed babbler,” Akbar said. “It just blew my mind.” There is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/mystery-bird-not-seen-in-172-years-makes-surprise-reappearace-in-borneo-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239959</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study suggests the Tasmanian tiger survived into the 21st century</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/study-suggests-tasmanian-tiger-survived-into-the-21st-century/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/study-suggests-tasmanian-tiger-survived-into-the-21st-century/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2021 20:17:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Fair]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/04195010/Thylacines_in_the_National_Zoo_Washington_D.C._-_close_up-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239289</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Oceania, and Tasmania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Camera Trapping, Cryptozoology, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Green, Habitat, Hunting, Mammals, Marsupials, Over-hunting, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In July 2019, Australian authorities on the island of Tasmania received a report of a footprint spotted by an unnamed individual on a walk up to Sleeping Beauty Mountain in the southeast of the state. “Wasn’t able to take a photo, however he googled it when he got home and believes it was a Tasmanian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In July 2019, Australian authorities on the island of Tasmania received a report of a footprint spotted by an unnamed individual on a walk up to Sleeping Beauty Mountain in the southeast of the state. “Wasn’t able to take a photo, however he googled it when he got home and believes it was a Tasmanian Tiger,” the report reads, according to the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE). That same year, a government plant biologist saw what they believed to be a Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), or thylacine, from 30 meters (100 feet) away in a remote area. “Good description given, bounded into bush,” the report states. In 2018, three cyclists said they witnessed a thylacine crossing the road in front of them. Images captured in 1911 and 1933. From the public domain. These are just three of more than 1,200 alleged thylacine sightings reported between 1910 and 2019 in Tasmania that have been collated and analyzed by Barry Brook, a mammal ecologist at the University of Tasmania, and colleagues to create the Tasmanian Thylacine Sighting Records Database, which they used to estimate an extinction date for the thylacine. Their findings, released in pre-print format in January through bioRxiv and undergoing peer review, indicate the iconic Australian marsupial predator most likely died out in the late 1990s or early 2000s — decades later than has been assumed. The results surprised even Brook. “Contrary to expectations, the inferred extinction window is wide and relatively recent, spanning from the 1980s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/study-suggests-tasmanian-tiger-survived-into-the-21st-century/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/study-suggests-tasmanian-tiger-survived-into-the-21st-century/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Well, hello there: Glass frogs ‘wave’ to communicate near noisy waterfalls</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/well-hello-there-glass-frogs-wave-to-communicate-near-noisy-waterfalls/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/well-hello-there-glass-frogs-wave-to-communicate-near-noisy-waterfalls/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2021 13:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/21134000/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Bioacoustics, Communication, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Freshwater, Frogs, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, New Discovery, Rainforests, Science, Species, Wildlife, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Becca Brunner was standing chest-deep in an Ecuadoran rainforest stream, holding up audio equipment as she recorded the high-pitched call of an elusive glass frog. But then she encountered something unexpected: the frog was fluttering its front and back legs as well as bobbing its head. “I was basically in the pool of water that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Becca Brunner was standing chest-deep in an Ecuadoran rainforest stream, holding up audio equipment as she recorded the high-pitched call of an elusive glass frog. But then she encountered something unexpected: the frog was fluttering its front and back legs as well as bobbing its head. “I was basically in the pool of water that was right underneath the waterfall with my microphone,” Brunner, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, told Mongabay in an interview. “When I noticed that it was doing these flipping movements, I got even more excited, of course, but I had to come out of the stream.” Brunner climbed the steep, slick waterfall, and balanced precariously on one foot to capture video of the frog’s waving routine. “You&#8217;d have to be a crazy person like me to scale a slippery waterfall to find this out,” she said. But to Brunner, her efforts were worth it. She had discovered that the glass frog (Sachatamia orejuela), which mainly lives in the spray zones of waterfalls, didn’t just communicate acoustically, but also used visual signaling. While it’s still not clear why these frogs wave their limbs and bob their heads, Brunner says it’s likely to attract females or to lay claim to territory, although this needs further investigation. “The really cool thing about the waving is that they need to add this other component because they live near really loud environments,” said Brunner, who co-authored a paper on the discovery. “That&#8217;s the most exciting part to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/well-hello-there-glass-frogs-wave-to-communicate-near-noisy-waterfalls/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/well-hello-there-glass-frogs-wave-to-communicate-near-noisy-waterfalls/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Amazon’s short-eared dog was thought to be a scavenger. Now there’s video</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-amazons-short-eared-dog-was-thought-to-be-a-scavenger-now-theres-video/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-amazons-short-eared-dog-was-thought-to-be-a-scavenger-now-theres-video/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2020 09:26:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/28070920/shorteared-dog3-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236926</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Camera Trapping, cameras, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Cryptic Species, Ecology, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Remote Sensing, Species, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2016, conservation biologist Holly O’Donnell was striding through the Amazon rainforest in southwestern Peru, recording every mammal she saw or heard while performing a line transect survey for the Peruvian NGO Fauna Forever. A few minutes into her walk, she smelled something fetid. Following the scent several meters off the trail, she found the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2016, conservation biologist Holly O’Donnell was striding through the Amazon rainforest in southwestern Peru, recording every mammal she saw or heard while performing a line transect survey for the Peruvian NGO Fauna Forever. A few minutes into her walk, she smelled something fetid. Following the scent several meters off the trail, she found the carcass of a nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), which may have died due to a recent cold weather event called a friaje. She hurried back to Fauna Forever’s camp at Las Piedras Amazon Center to get a spare camera trap, and installed it near the dead armadillo. She hoped to capture a wild cat like an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) or a jaguar (Panthera onca) preying upon the carcass, but mostly expected to see vultures. A couple of weeks later, O’Donnell retrieved the memory card from the camera. As expected, she found clip after clip of vultures pecking at the armadillo. But then she saw something unexpected: A short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) darted past the lens, sniffing and nibbling at the carcass. “I didn’t believe it at first,” O’Donnell, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), told Mongabay in an interview. “[I thought] it can’t be a short-eared dog, it must be wrong. Maybe it’s a pet … but no, it was [a short-eared dog].” O’Donnell’s disbelief was justified. Short-eared dogs, a near-threatened species endemic to the Amazon Basin, are notoriously elusive, making them a difficult species to study. At Fauna Forever,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-amazons-short-eared-dog-was-thought-to-be-a-scavenger-now-theres-video/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-amazons-short-eared-dog-was-thought-to-be-a-scavenger-now-theres-video/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236926</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar giant frog is a new species, but also a deep-fried delicacy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/madagascar-giant-frog-is-a-new-species-but-also-a-deep-fried-delicacy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/madagascar-giant-frog-is-a-new-species-but-also-a-deep-fried-delicacy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2020 07:30:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/31181619/RRazafison_NewFrog_3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234405</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Cryptic Species, Frogs, Species, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Traditionally called radaka, large frog species endemic to Madagascar are appreciated for their delicate taste, which is similar to chicken. Although people have hunted the frogs for ages, scientific knowledge of them remains limited, and measures to protect them are little respected. Now, genetic sequencing has enabled scientists to identify a new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Traditionally called radaka, large frog species endemic to Madagascar are appreciated for their delicate taste, which is similar to chicken. Although people have hunted the frogs for ages, scientific knowledge of them remains limited, and measures to protect them are little respected. Now, genetic sequencing has enabled scientists to identify a new member of the giant frog genus Mantidactylus. According to a study published in the Journal of Natural History in May, the genus Mantidactylus includes 32 scientifically recognized species in Madagascar. For a long time, two of these — giant frogs endemic to the island — have held the attention of researchers for their very large size: M. guttulatus is the country’s largest frog, with a body length of 12 centimeters (4.7 inches), and M. grandidieri, with a body length of nearly 11 cm (4.2 in). Genetic analysis of these species enabled researchers to discover that they comprised not two but three species of frog. The third will be called M. radaka in reference to the common name, radaka. “It is highly probable that other species belonging to the same group exist,” Christian Randrianantoandro, a biologist at the University of Antananarivo and co-author of the study, told Mongabay. “But the time to precisely identify them has not yet arrived. At this stage, the data about them remains largely insufficient.” From a morphological perspective, it’s easy for even the most experienced scientists to confuse M. guttulatus and M. grandidieri, as they are so similar. The new species, M.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/madagascar-giant-frog-is-a-new-species-but-also-a-deep-fried-delicacy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/madagascar-giant-frog-is-a-new-species-but-also-a-deep-fried-delicacy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234405</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Say hello to Madagascar’s newest mouse lemur, a pint-sized primate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2020 12:07:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/03150645/Jonahs-mouse-lemur-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233316</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Genetics, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Lemurs, Primates, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Species, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When searching for mouse lemurs in Madagascar&#8217;s forests, scientists seek out their gleaming eyes in the dark. Their eyes are large for an animal about the size of a fist and no heavier than a tennis ball. Mouse lemurs are shy and nocturnal, and unlike in the movie named for the island, they’re generally not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When searching for mouse lemurs in Madagascar&#8217;s forests, scientists seek out their gleaming eyes in the dark. Their eyes are large for an animal about the size of a fist and no heavier than a tennis ball. Mouse lemurs are shy and nocturnal, and unlike in the movie named for the island, they’re generally not boisterous dancers who like to “move it.” Now, a new species of mouse lemur, considered the tiniest primates in the world, has revealed itself to scientists: Microcebus jonahi. Ute Radespiel at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany has studied these elusive creatures for 25 years. A team led by her and Dominik Schüßler at the University of Hildesheim named the lemur for prominent Malagasy primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy, who has dedicated his life to studying and protecting Madagascar&#8217;s endemic lemurs. Malagasy primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy. Image courtesy: Jonah Ratsimbazafy. Keeping lemurs, all 108 known species of them, from the abyss of extinction is a mammoth undertaking. Almost all lemurs are at risk of dying out, and a third are already critically endangered, according to the IUCN. A cousin of the newly discovered M. jonahi — Madame Berthe&#8217;s mouse lemur (M. berthae), the world’s smallest primate — is one step away from extinction. M.jonahi may be staring at the same fate. &#8220;Although the Jonah&#8217;s mouse lemur has only just been scientifically described, it is unfortunately already in danger of extinction,&#8221; Radespiel said. It’s a worry echoed by other scientists who fear some of Madagascar&#8217;s unique flora and fauna will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A ‘crazy beast’ that coexisted with dinosaurs discovered from Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/a-crazy-beast-that-coexisted-with-dinosaurs-discovered-from-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/a-crazy-beast-that-coexisted-with-dinosaurs-discovered-from-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2020 09:32:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/30091725/230456_web-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=229680</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biogeography, Cryptic Species, Evolution, Extinction, Fossils, Islands, Mammals, New Discovery, Research, Species, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A 66-million-year-old fossil has allowed scientists to describe a bizarre new species of mammal that lived in Madagascar during the time of the dinosaurs. They’ve christened it Adalatherium hui, which in Malagasy and Greek translates into “crazy beast.” The “hui” is a nod to Yaoming Hu, a paleontologist who specialized in early mammals. To the lay eye, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A 66-million-year-old fossil has allowed scientists to describe a bizarre new species of mammal that lived in Madagascar during the time of the dinosaurs. They’ve christened it Adalatherium hui, which in Malagasy and Greek translates into “crazy beast.” The “hui” is a nod to Yaoming Hu, a paleontologist who specialized in early mammals. To the lay eye, it looks like a house-cat-sized badger; but to the scientists who discovered it, A. hui is nothing short of the “oddest of oddball” creatures. “Knowing what we know about the skeletal anatomy of all living and extinct mammals, it is difficult to imagine that a mammal-like Adalatherium could have evolved; it bends and even breaks a lot of rules,” lead researcher David Krause, curator at the Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science, said in a statement. The fossil record is sparsely populated with mammalian fossils from the Mesozoic era. The team got lucky and discovered a well–preserved, almost complete, skeleton in northwestern Madagascar. It turned out to be the most complete fossil of any Mesozoic mammal found from the southern hemisphere. The Mesozoic, known as the age of the dinosaurs, lasted from about 252 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. What makes the creature exceptional is its anatomical structure, which is a unique mosaic of features. For one thing, its peculiar teeth give very little indication of its ancestry because they are nothing like those found in other mammals. For another, its vertebral column has more vertebrae that any of contemporaneous mammals. Then, there&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/a-crazy-beast-that-coexisted-with-dinosaurs-discovered-from-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/a-crazy-beast-that-coexisted-with-dinosaurs-discovered-from-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-229680</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New monkey discovered on &#8220;island&#8221; amid deforestation in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/new-monkey-discovered-on-island-amid-deforestation-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/new-monkey-discovered-on-island-amid-deforestation-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2019 17:09:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/23172922/Plecturocebus_parecis-HEAD-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225702</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cryptic Species, Forests, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DNA analysis has revealed a &#8220;new&#8221; species of monkey that only survives today because its habitat is difficult to access and therefore hasn&#8217;t been converted for large-scale agriculture, reports New Scientist. Writing in Primate Conservation, a team of scientists analyzed the traits of a group of titi monkeys rediscovered in 2011 in the Chapada dos [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DNA analysis has revealed a &#8220;new&#8221; species of monkey that only survives today because its habitat is difficult to access and therefore hasn&#8217;t been converted for large-scale agriculture, reports New Scientist. Writing in Primate Conservation, a team of scientists analyzed the traits of a group of titi monkeys rediscovered in 2011 in the Chapada dos Parecis, a plateau in southern Rondônia and western Mato Grosso that lies in the &#8220;Arc of Deforestation&#8221;, an area where vast swathes of forest have been cleared for cattle ranching and mechanized soy farms. They determined that the monkeys in this area are sufficiently distinct from the closely related ashy black titi to be classified as a separate species. They dubbed the primate Plecturocebus parecis after the name of the plateau. Plectrocebus parecis from the forest reserve of the UHE Rondon II hydroelectric plant. Photograph A by Alberto Caldeiras; photographs B, C and D by Manoel Pinheiro, and photographs E and F by Fabiano Mattos. While Plecturocebus parecis lives in an area of high deforestation, its habitat &#8212; transition forest between the wet Amazon rainforest and the drier Cerrado woodland &#8212; lies with within Juruena National Park and indigenous territories. The steep sides of plateau have also afforded protection by making its habitat unappealing for large-scale deforestation that has happened elsewhere in the region. For these reasons, the researchers recommended listing Plecturocebus parecis as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Plecturocebus parecis is the third new monkey species described in Brazil this year. Results&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/new-monkey-discovered-on-island-amid-deforestation-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/new-monkey-discovered-on-island-amid-deforestation-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2019 11:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/11120442/Chevrotains-768x467.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224270</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, In-situ Conservation, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Over-hunting, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Snares, Strange, Tropical Forests, Ungulates, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in southern Vietnam. I pack my camera, a bottle of water, and a poncho; outside the window I can see a light rain. I’m here to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in southern Vietnam. I pack my camera, a bottle of water, and a poncho; outside the window I can see a light rain. I’m here to report on the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor), a so-called mouse-deer that’s been missing in action (at least from science) for nearly 30 years. My phone goes off. It’s a WhatsApp message from Anh The Nguyen, my wildlife guide on this venture. It’s time: the chevrotain is nocturnal, meaning our best chance to see one is at night. To help us, Nguyen has hired two local hunters from the Raglai ethnic group. They know the territory and they know the animal. We take two motorbikes from the village to the forest, but barely make it a few blocks before taking shelter under an aluminum overhang as the rain, drowsy until now, becomes a full-blown tropical downpour. It thunks against the metal and the night sky growls with thunder. Long forgotten by scientists, two years ago, the silver-backed chevrotain, also known as the Vietnam mouse-deer, gained prominence as one of the “25 Most Wanted” in the Search for Lost Species Initiative by Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC). A silver-backed chevroatin. Illustration by Eric Losh. “That’s when we first put together a plan of action,” said Andrew Tilker, the Asian species officer for GWC, who described a 2017 meeting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224270</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>AI and drone-based imagery improve power to survey cryptic animals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/ai-and-drone-based-imagery-improve-survey-power-of-cryptic-animals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/ai-and-drone-based-imagery-improve-survey-power-of-cryptic-animals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Mar 2019 13:16:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/15113005/koala-in-the-trees_courtesy-of-QUT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=216575</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Cryptic Species, Drones, Forests, Marsupials, Remote Sensing, Research, Sensors, Solutions, Surveying, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Koalas are Australian icons, known globally for their fuzzy ears, broad wet nose, and love of eucalyptus leaves. They are also cryptic, slow-moving creatures that live high in the leafy canopy of said eucalyptus trees and are threatened by human activity. Developing effective conservation management strategies for threatened species like koalas (Phascolarctus cinereus) requires knowing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Koalas are Australian icons, known globally for their fuzzy ears, broad wet nose, and love of eucalyptus leaves. They are also cryptic, slow-moving creatures that live high in the leafy canopy of said eucalyptus trees and are threatened by human activity. Developing effective conservation management strategies for threatened species like koalas (Phascolarctus cinereus) requires knowing where they are and how many are in a target area, so scientists need be able to accurately survey and monitor their populations. Adult koala with joey. Koalas spend a lot of time sitting or resting in tree branches. Image by Benjamint444, via Wikipedia, CC 3.0. Accurate monitoring via surveys requires not only finding the animals but knowing how easily and consistently they can be found with the given method; for statistical analysis, it means being able to estimate the probability of detecting them on any given survey. A team of researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia has done just that for a new method combining a trio of increasingly popular wildlife survey tools: small drones, thermal imagery, and machine learning. The researchers found that their combination method more accurately detected the cryptic koalas than expert observers did, while saving time and money. New tools for wildlife surveys As small, commercially available drones become cheaper and more reliable, scientists are exploring their potential as a tool for a variety of wildlife research and monitoring activities. Drones offer a unique aerial viewpoint, and their ability to carry cameras or other sensors as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/ai-and-drone-based-imagery-improve-survey-power-of-cryptic-animals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/ai-and-drone-based-imagery-improve-survey-power-of-cryptic-animals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-216575</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Genetic test reveals Baltic flounder migration routes and a new species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/genetic-test-reveals-baltic-flounder-migration-routes-and-a-new-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/genetic-test-reveals-baltic-flounder-migration-routes-and-a-new-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2019 14:11:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lakshmi Supriya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/13122314/European-flounder-%C2%A9-OCEANA-Carlos-Su%C3%A1rez-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=216462</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Sea Change]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Finland and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Cryptic Species, DNA, Endangered Species, Fish, Fisheries, Genetics, Oceans, Research, Species Discovery, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2163-3717]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The waters of the eastern Baltic Sea around Finland are home to the flounder, a flatfish with both its eyes on one side of the head that uses its camouflage to move cryptically along the sea floor. Its renown in the region was mainly as a mainstay of Baltic fisheries for centuries. That is, until [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The waters of the eastern Baltic Sea around Finland are home to the flounder, a flatfish with both its eyes on one side of the head that uses its camouflage to move cryptically along the sea floor. Its renown in the region was mainly as a mainstay of Baltic fisheries for centuries. That is, until recently, when scientists discovered that the flounders off the coast of Finland are not one, but two different species that look nearly identical. A European flounder (Platichthys flesus) near the Åland Islands, Finland. P. flesus was until recently thought to be the only flounder species in the Baltic Sea. Image © OCEANA Carlos Suárez. Moreover, researchers report, the predominant species found in the Gulf of Finland about 30 years ago has now almost completely disappeared from there. And since the two species likely react differently to climate change and overfishing, unique conservation strategies may be required for each. Baltic fishers began by catching flatfish, which were abundant in the waters south of the Finnish coast, at the beginning of last century. The 1970s and 1980s saw a dramatic decline in the number of flounders caught, which has been attributed to climate change, overfishing, and several other environmental factors. In a new study, a research team led by Paolo Momigliano of the University of Helsinki, put forth a new hypothesis. They propose that the near-complete disappearance of one flounder species coincided with the drop in fishing catch and that this disappearance could be one reason for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/genetic-test-reveals-baltic-flounder-migration-routes-and-a-new-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-216462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Video: scientists capture giant spider eating an opossum</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/video-scientists-capture-giant-spider-eating-an-opossum/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/video-scientists-capture-giant-spider-eating-an-opossum/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2019 14:02:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/02135311/spider_Pamphobeteus_and_Chiasmocleis_royi-Emanuele_Biggi_1280-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=216092</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Environment, Invertebrates, Spiders, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the first time, researchers have documented a giant spider eating an opossum in the Amazon rainforest. Writing in the February 28th issue of the journal Amphibian &#038; Reptile Conservation, a team of scientists led by Rudolf von May of the University of Michigan describe several rarely observed cases of invertebrates eating various vertebrates, including [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the first time, researchers have documented a giant spider eating an opossum in the Amazon rainforest. Writing in the February 28th issue of the journal Amphibian &#038; Reptile Conservation, a team of scientists led by Rudolf von May of the University of Michigan describe several rarely observed cases of invertebrates eating various vertebrates, including frogs, lizards, snakes, and even a mammal &#8212; a mouse opossum. The same individual of Pamphobeteus sp. dragging the mouse opossum on the leaf litter. Photo by Maggie Grundler The mouse opossum incident occurred in 2016 in the Peruvian Amazon. While on a herpetological survey at night, a group of three University of Michigan biology students “heard some scrabbling in the leaf litter,” according to Michael Grundler, a University of Michigan graduate student. What they saw &#8220;shocked&#8221; them. “We looked over and we saw a large tarantula on top of an opossum,” said Grundler, a co-author of the paper, in a statement. “The opossum had already been grasped by the tarantula and was still struggling weakly at that point, but after about 30 seconds it stopped kicking.” Grundler said the tarantula was about the size of a dinner plate, while the opossum was the size of a softball, making for a dramatic and unexpected scene. “We couldn’t really believe what we were seeing,” Grundler said. “We knew we were witnessing something pretty special, but we weren’t aware that it was the first observation until after the fact.” Indeed, an opossum expert at the American Museum&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/video-scientists-capture-giant-spider-eating-an-opossum/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-216092</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top camera trapping stories of 2018</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/top-camera-trapping-stories-of-2018/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/top-camera-trapping-stories-of-2018/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2018 13:12:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/31124137/zebra-moving-fast-away-from-camera_snapshot-serengeti_feature-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214230</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Antarctica, Botswana, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Gabon, Global, India, Indonesia, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Camera Trapping, cameras, Citizen Science, Conservation, Cryptic Species, data, early warning, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, Research, Surveying, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Everyone loves camera trap photos. Remotely installed cameras triggered by motion or heat of a passing person or animal, have helped research projects document the occurrence of species or describe a vertebrate community in a given area. Their remoteness allows camera traps to photograph shy, cryptic, or nocturnal species, the presence of which would otherwise [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Everyone loves camera trap photos. Remotely installed cameras triggered by motion or heat of a passing person or animal, have helped research projects document the occurrence of species or describe a vertebrate community in a given area. Their remoteness allows camera traps to photograph shy, cryptic, or nocturnal species, the presence of which would otherwise be difficult to confirm. A spotted hyena caught by a camera trap recently in the Batéké Plateau National Park in Gabon, the first seen in the park in 20 years. ©Panthera/ANPN/TAF. For example, camera traps installed to document and monitor species in several lesser-known nature reserves have captured the first spotted hyena in a Gabonese national park in 20 years; confirmed discovery of lowland bongo in Uganda for first time; and various large mammals and rare birds in a biological reserve in Ecuador. This review of camera trapping stories we covered in 2018 shows that camera trapping studies are addressing new research and management questions, including document rare events, assess population dynamics, detect poachers, and involve rural landowners in monitoring. And with projects generating ever-larger image data sets, in some cases with millions of images, they are using volunteers and, more recently, artificial intelligence to analyse the information. Camera traps installed by the local guides of Punta Marenco Lodge in southwestern Costa Rica caught a puma (Puma concolor) traveling on a steep ridge in a wildlife refuge on the edge of Corcovado National Park. Image courtesy of Osa Camera Trap Network (OCTN). For elusive Javan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/top-camera-trapping-stories-of-2018/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214230</doi>				</item>
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