Many dozens of major infrastructure projects — including highways, dams and mines — have been given the green light in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, and hundreds more are…
There are now three species of flying squirrel in North America, and it turns out that the newest member of the family has actually been gliding amongst the treetops of…
What lurks in the soil beneath your feet? In the soil beneath us live billions of organisms, ranging in size from one-celled bacteria to gophers. These critters aerate the soil,…
An international team of researchers journeyed into the jungles of the seldom-traveled Kabobo Massif in March 2017 along the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…
One might assume that the biggest challenge in managing an ambitious, multinational initiative like the Barcode of Wildlife Project (BWP) stems from the cross-cultural dimensions of the enterprise. But the…
The Census of Marine Life (CoML), a 10-year international effort to determine the diversity of life found in Earth’s oceans, described over 1 million species, ranging from single-celled microbes to…
An ambitious global initiative, the Barcode of Wildlife Project unites research biologists, investigators, prosecutors, and members of law enforcement in partner countries in using DNA barcoding to combat wildlife crime.
A small NGO, Species360, manages a database that stores records on thousands of species around the world, with countless potential applications.
“We can do this,” declared the big round pins on the chests of attendees at the first annual Innovation Summit on Overcoming the Invasive Species Challenge. Cohosted by the National…
What has a body like a shark’s, a saw protruding from its head and critically endangered status according to the IUCN? The largetooth sawfish is a species of ray that…
How could we harness DNA barcode technology in a handheld device that frontline officials could use to combat timber and wildlife trafficking?
armed salmon escaping from Norwegian aquaculture facilities are mating with wild salmon frequently enough to dilute their genetic stock, according to a recent paper. As a result the wild salmon…
Earlier this summer, members of the Forest Legality Alliance (FLA) gathered in Washington, DC for their Semi-Annual Membership Meeting. As a precursor to the upcoming CITES COP17 meeting in September,…
Preoccupied with snipping a saliva-soaked plant part with a scalpel and placing it in a little tube of viral transport media, veterinary epidemiologist Tierra Smiley Evans thought she was alone,…
If humans need a reminder of our collective ignorance about the natural world than here’s a really good one: scientists believe they have discovered a new species of whale. You…
Handheld, palm-sized, lightweight DNA preparation and sequencing devices are coming your way soon.
Results of an assessment of the technology needs of front-line conservationists and researchers that informs wildtech.mongabay.com
A field biologist explains how conservation dogs enhance our ability to understand and protect wild species.
In a Q&A with WildTech, Meaghan Parker-Forney of the World Resources Institute discusses the illegal timber trade, tree DNA and the barcode of life.
When Ross McEwing, technical director of the TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network, learned about a new technique for testing rhino horn DNA, he knew the tool could help bring wildlife traffickers in Vietnam to justice.
Warning: Some images below may contain graphic content. At best numbering roughly 2,800 individuals, the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is critically endangered. Yet population data has been notoriously difficult…
Scientists conduct first ever in-field DNA test...and potentially discover new species Ana Rodriguez Prieto conducting a test run of the new technology in Italy. Photo courtesy of MUSE. Yesterday, a…
Polar bear in Alaska. Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivore. Photo by: Alan Wilson/Creative Commons 3.0. A new study casts doubt on findings from 2013 that hairs from…
An ocelot in Colombia. Photo by: Brodie Ferguson. By comparing camera trapping findings with genetic samples taken from feces, biologists have determined that the density of ocelots on Barro Colorado…
Past whaling may have resulted in lost cultural knowledge for world's biggest mammals Relict whaling and sealing ships at Grytviken, South Georgia. Photo by: Liam Quinn/Creative Commons 2.0. In 1904,…
Scientists have named new species after celebrities, fictional characters, and even the corporations that threaten a species' very existence, but a new snail may be the first to be named…
Employing genetics scientists discover distinct population of big-eyed, long-fingered tarsiers Despite some media reports, scientists have not yet discovered a new species of big-eyed, nocturnal primate—known as tarsiers—in the Philippines.…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Chuck Cannon As a professor at Texas Tech, Dr. Chuck Cannon has been, among other things, working to create a system of…
This is the story of three seals: the Caribbean, the Hawaiian, and the Mediterranean monk seals. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the Caribbean monk seal was a hugely…
In 1929, two sons of Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy Junior and Kermit) led an expedition that killed a barking deer, or muntjac, in present-day Laos, which has left scientists puzzled for…