Critically endangered species News

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Siblings Tīwhiri-A3 and Tīwhiri-A4 on Pukenui Anchor Island, New Zealand. Image courtesy of Sarah Manktelow/New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC).

Record kākāpō breeding season with 95 rare parrot hatchlings: Photo of the week

Shanna Hanbury 10 Apr 2026
Kushki (male) is one of the last surviving Asiatic cheetahs from northeastern Iran’s Miandasht Wildlife Refuge.

War on Iran disrupts efforts to save the Asiatic cheetah, world’s rarest big cat

Kayleigh Long 9 Apr 2026
Lack of prey in Atlantic Forest protected areas could drive local extinctions of jaguars, a recent study warns.

Loss of prey could drive Atlantic Forest jaguars to extinction

Sean Mowbray 8 Apr 2026

Camera traps take first photos of rare island antelope on Zanzibar 

Ryan Truscott 6 Apr 2026
“For mothers and young elephants, Dzanga Bai becomes something of a playground and a very safe place,” says Yvonne Kienast, project manager and head researcher of the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests

David Akana 6 Apr 2026
The vulnerable Rufous-breasted blue flycatcher was photographed on Luzon Island in March 2025. It was last documented in 2008. Image by kenny_well via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Once lost, now found: Five “missing” bird species rediscovered in 2025, offering hope

Spoorthy Raman 4 Apr 2026
A new species of pit viper was discovered and is still in the process of being described. Image courtesy of Fauna & Flora.

New species discovered in Cambodia’s rare rocky ecosystems

Shanna Hanbury 2 Apr 2026
Banteng

How wild cattle recovery is transforming local livelihoods near key Thai reserve

Carolyn Cowan 2 Apr 2026
A lemur eating a strawberry guava. Image courtesy of Natalee Phelps.

An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping

Ryan Truscott 31 Mar 2026
White-bellied heron

Local conservationists sustain research on threatened heron amid Myanmar instability

Carolyn Cowan 30 Mar 2026

Palm oil clearing advances in Bornean orangutan habitat despite red flags

Hans Nicholas Jong 26 Mar 2026
Hooded vultures are small, scruffy-faced vultures native to sub-Saharan Africa.

‘Staggering’ trade for belief-based use drives hooded vultures to near-extinction in Benin

Spoorthy Raman 25 Mar 2026
The endangered Sumatran laughingthrush is another masterbird species threatened by trade. Image by Simon Bruslund

Songbird trade threatens lesser-known ‘master birds’ with secondary extinctions: Study

Sean Mowbray 23 Mar 2026
Officers display pangolin scales intended for smuggling into Cambodia.

Jakarta port authorities seize 3 tons of pangolin scales in Cambodia-bound container

Anggita Raissa 20 Mar 2026
Every year, up to 100 tonnes of glass eels, worth €2.5-3 billion, are smuggled out of Europe.

Eight arrested as Europe cracks down on lucrative eel smuggling syndicates

Spoorthy Raman 19 Mar 2026
Galaxy frog in the Western Ghats, India, with photo taken by conservationist Rajkumar K P as part of conservation project (c) Rajkumar K P ZSL .jpg

World Frog Day: New species described amid threats to amphibian survival

Mongabay.com 19 Mar 2026
The Albardão dune fields in the extreme south of Brazil’s southernmost Rio Grande do Sul state. Image courtesy of ICMBio.

Brazil protects huge coastal area with endangered dolphins and megafauna fossils

Shanna Hanbury 18 Mar 2026
An adult kākāpō named Alice and her chick Rupi. Image courtesy of Jake Osborne/New Zealand Department of Conservation.

Critically endangered kākāpō parrot has standout breeding season

Shanna Hanbury 9 Mar 2026
The electric current flowing through the fences not only endangers elephants but also humans and other wildlife.

Electrocution, conflict, poaching mark grim start to year for Sumatran elephants

Junaidi Hanafiah 9 Mar 2026
A vulture nesting colony on Ngethelewan, an inselberg located on the Boma plateau, in South Sudan.

Satellite images identify vulture breeding colonies by their droppings

Ryan Truscott 5 Mar 2026
A judge watches a cockfight in Peru.

How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish

Mongabay.com 27 Feb 2026
Photos from Macron's official visit to Lula in 2024 sparked memes for their resemblance to a “pre-wedding photo shoot.”

Brazil wanted more protections for its endangered national tree. Then France called

Fernanda Wenzel, Spoorthy Raman, Emmanuelle Picaud 27 Feb 2026
Fresh shark meat is sold as cação at street markets in Rio de Janeiro. Image by Karla Mendes/Mongabay.

Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil

Mongabay.com 26 Feb 2026
A white-backed vulture in Zimbabwe. Image by Chris Collyer/ Birdlife Zimbabwe.

Africa’s vulture safe zones face tough test across vast landscapes

Sean Mowbray 19 Feb 2026
Banteng

Helicopter translocation brings isolated banteng to safer grounds in Cambodia

Carolyn Cowan 17 Feb 2026

US ocean regulator faces criticism over changes to right whale protection rule

Associated Press 16 Feb 2026
A photo of Zeytin posted by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Facebook in December 2024. No further updates have been provided since the country's announcement to not send Zeytin to Africa.

Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo

Spoorthy Raman 13 Feb 2026
One of the specimens of Drepanogynis insciata photographed by Cameron Scott.

Citizen science rediscovers rare South African moth

Ryan Truscott 11 Feb 2026
Dave Collins holds a Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta), a local turtle whose populations are doing just fine in the Eastern US. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.

A last refuge for turtles on the brink

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026
Division in April 2023/04/09. Photo credit: New England Aquarium

Division’s final journey

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Feb 2026

Habitat destruction, illegal trade threaten Sri Lanka’s endangered agamid lizards

Kamanthi Wickramasinghe 31 Jan 2026
a newly hatched Rote Island snake-necked turtles (Chelodina mccordi) at the turtle survival center in South Carolina USA. Photo by Liz Kimbrough

The Turtle Bank: The last of these Asian turtle species find refuge in the Carolina pines

Liz Kimbrough 28 Jan 2026

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