GUALCINCE, Honduras — The Lenca call it a sacrificial stone, where their indigenous ancestors went to make offerings to deities. A triangle of rock with different circles inscribed on its surface,…
With Amazon deforestation due to soy production much reduced, agribusiness has vastly expanded into the Cerrado savannah next door; environmentalists are rushing to save what’s left.
MONTES DE MARIA, Colombia - Under a cloudless sky and a baking sun in late January, Argemiros Capela, 76, pointed to a patch of scrubland on his lot that had…
Although they may lie thousands of miles apart and house different species, the world’s tropical forests may not be as different from each other as they seem to be. A…
Researchers have captured a camera trap photograph of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in a national park in Gabon where the predator hasn’t been seen for two decades. Conservation groups…
Lions put a damper on the number of young giraffes that survive to maturity, according to a new study, raising concerns about a species that has recently slipped into decline.…
Scientists have described a new species of bird found only on the island of Rote in eastern Indonesia — but already the population of the honey-eating fowl is threatened by habitat…
As the world heads toward more frequent and severe droughts, forests will increasingly suffer from water scarcity. In this scenario, finding ways to predict how trees will respond to water…
A recent study mapped the world’s dry forests using a relatively new tool that combines creative satellite image analysis with local- and national-scale knowledge. Natural resource agencies worldwide inventory their…
Trees from one of South America’s fastest-disappearing landscapes are ending up as charcoal on the shelves of European supermarkets, according to a report by the NGO Earthsight. The London-based watchdog…
Part of Brazil’s most altered landscape has proven that it's capable of regenerating after the effects of farming, timber plantations and ranching, according to a recent study. The research demonstrates…
The conservation NGO African Parks has signed an agreement with the government of Benin to rejuvenate a little-known park in the West African country of Benin. The organization will help…
Companies are still getting their soybeans from the clearance of little-known forests and savannas in Brazil and Bolivia, according to a new report, despite calls to shift their focus to degraded…
New research has, for the first time, made use of very high resolution images of Earth’s drylands, revealing that they hold a much larger portion of the world’s forests than…
Twenty rhinos are moving to a new home in Rwanda from South Africa over the next two weeks. The reintroduction will bring the eastern black rhinos (Diceros bicornis michaeli), a…
The Earth is losing species at a rate about a hundred times faster than historical (also called "background") levels. For specific groups, that number is higher still, with research indicating…
Skittering in small clans among the hard-scrabble brush of the Gran Chaco in South America, the taguá looks like a cross between a svelte pig and an over-sized hedgehog. Also…
The illegal trade in Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia Cochinchinensis) is so well-oiled that when loggers don't have enough men in Thailand's forests to carry all their spoils over the Cambodian border,…
THAP LAN NATIONAL PARK, Thailand -- One fresh chain for a saw, around fifty cans of sardines, a plastic bag full of garlic, and a few empty rice sacks. Wildlife…
When a forest falls prey to disease, pests, drought or clearing by humans, the impacts ripple well beyond that local ecosystem, according to a new study. Much like the well-known…
