Deforestation clips howler monkey calls, study finds
Howler monkeys change their calls when they’re close to deforested areas, a new study has found. A team of researchers, led by anthropologist Laura Bolt of the University of Waterloo…
Tool use in puffins may point to ‘underestimated’ intelligence in seabirds
The camera traps that ecologist Annette Fayet had set up didn’t provide the clues she had hoped to find about puffin diets and nesting behavior. What they did provide, though,…
Our most popular nature and environment stories
In 2019, Mongabay celebrated its 20th year, including its 9th year as a non-profit media outlet. During the year we produced nearly 4,900 articles across English, Indonesian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese,…
Audio: The best animal calls featured on the Mongabay Newscast in 2019
This is our last episode of 2019, so we took a look back at the bioacoustic recordings we featured here on the Mongabay Newscast over the past year and today…
Female golden rocket frogs know a good father when they hear him
Rain drenched a team of ecologists in the Kaieteur National Park in Guyana as they scrambled to keep their sound equipment dry. They were recording a male golden rocket frog…
A Philippine conservation park juggles funding needs with animal welfare
ILOILO, Philippines — A pig growled in pain. I walked up to the enclosure of sharp, rusty metal grill to see a Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons), known locally as…
Canaries in the coal mine? North Atlantic right whale use of key habitat changing rapidly
Scientists say that behavioral changes observed in North Atlantic right whales should be considered a “canary in the coal mine” scenario. A team of researchers with the Center for Conservation…
Amazon primates face barriers in responding to climate change
New research shows that without healthy forest corridors that allow animals to find new habitat, primates native to the Amazon basin will suffer as the impacts of climate change worsen.…
Moon and Earth’s magnetic field guide European eels on their epic migration
Far out in a featureless sea, the light of the moon is a beacon for migrating eels. They’re aiming for coastal estuaries, gateways to freshwater rivers where they will live…
It takes a school, and a community, to save this rare Philippine hornbill
The school bell rings for recess and as the students prepare to leave their rooms, a screeching bird call blares through the rooms and hallways of Sebaste National High School,…
Audio: How listening to individual gibbons can benefit conservation
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we speak with Dena Clink, a scientist studying individuality and variation within Bornean gibbon calls. She’s here to play us some of the…
Female gorillas recognize and respond to contagious disease
Salt clearings deep in the Congo basin host numerous breeding groups of Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). These intelligent social mammals usually reside in groups of two to eight…
This toad from central Africa impersonates a deadly viper to avoid predators
Scientists say they’ve discovered the first-known instance of an amphibian mimicking a venomous snake to deter would-be predators. There are a number of examples of harmless animals impersonating harmful or…
Amazon’s male white bellbird has the loudest recorded call
When the male white bellbird sings, it’s not just loud: it’s ear-splittingly loud. In fact, the call of this Amazonian bird is the loudest recorded call among all bird species…
Why is Europe rewilding with water buffalo?
This post is part of Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild, a monthly column by Jeremy Hance, one of Mongabay’s original staff writers. At the end of…
These rare pigs can dig it. With a tool, that is. And moonwalk too
PARIS — Priscilla grabs a piece of tree bark and uses it to dig the dirt in front of her. It’s classic tool use, the kind of thing primates are…
As climate crisis deepens, wildlife adapts, maybe with lessons for us
Recent studies of Twitter posts have shown that people can be quick to shrug off extreme weather as normal. However, researchers are also finding that some wildlife — maybe better…
Audio: Humpback whales across the Pacific Ocean are singing the same song
Today we speak with Jim Darling, a marine biologist who is here to play us some recordings of remarkably similar humpback whale songs from around the world. Listen here: …
Manta rays are social creatures who are choosy about their friends
It turns out that manta rays might be as picky about their friends as you or me. Researchers have found evidence of structured social relationships among wild, free-ranging reef manta…
Audio: The superb lyrebird’s song, dance and incredible vocal mimicry
It’s summer in the North and we’re on holiday! So for today’s show, we replay one of our favorite Field Notes episodes, featuring field recordings of the superb lyrebird, an…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Fighting to save an endangered ape, Indonesian activists fear for their lives
- Iran sentences eight conservationists convicted of spying
- Watchdog denounces arrests of four anti-mining activists in Indonesia
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- Amazon’s Munduruku stage daring Christmas raid to recover sacred urns
- Belo Monte boondoggle: Brazil’s biggest, costliest dam may be unviable
- Amazon’s Mura indigenous group demands input over giant mining project
Asian rhinos
- Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
- Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
- Indonesia to capture 3 wild Sumatran rhinos to add to breeding population
