LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo — On Dec. 2, Togolese authorities intercepted 38 monkeys at the airport. They were being sent from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic…
The island nation of Madagascar is celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity, characterized by remarkably high rates of endemicism; approximately 90% of its wildlife is unique to the island, making it…
BINTAN ISLAND, Indonesia — Ever since Munsa was a young man, he would quietly paddle a small boat past the mangroves on Air Glubi Island into the Kawal Sea armed…
Brazil confiscates biggest catch of shark fins to date In June, IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental protection agency, announced it had seized 28.7 metric tons of shark fins, the largest confiscation…
A new species of stone oak tree has been described from deep in the forests of northern Sumatra and appears to be an important source of food for the Tapanuli…
Once roaming across Southeast Asia, the Javan rhino today persists on a single peninsula off the western-most coast of Java in Indonesian. There, in Ujung Kulon National Park, around 70…
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…
As 2023 draws to a close, so, too, does the first full year of Mongabay’s Conservation Reporting Fellowships. Launched at a time of unprecedented planetary upheaval, the program aims to…
The trade in shark fins is still underway in the United States, despite legislation making such activities illegal, an investigative report has found. Environmentalists say this indicates that officials need…
On Oct. 17, a mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), also zoologically known as a marsh crocodile, was recovered from the Bhubaneswar River in Bangladesh’s south-central Faridpur district, creating much excitement among…
With its iconic skylines and waterfront vistas, Singapore is today a bustling city-state with one of the highest population densities in the world. Two centuries ago, before the British chose…
In 1862, German naturalist Eduard von Martens was part of a multiyear expedition to what was known then as the Far East. That July, he found himself in a fish…
The world’s two worst nuclear accidents, in Ukraine and Japan, along with the human exclusion zones around them, are informing scientists about radiation effects, and how ecosystems evolve with less pressure from people.
A three-year project supporting alternative livelihoods has shown success in changing the behavior of hunters living on the northern edge of Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve. Participants signed on to reciprocal…
In this episode of Mongabay Sessions, Mongabay staff journalist Liz Kimbrough talks with renowned filmmaker Ken Burns, delving into his latest documentary, The American Buffalo. The American Buffalo narrates the…
“Manatees are found where the water is deep. Wherever they are found, water is plentiful. If this precious animal becomes extinct, we will run out of water,” says Eduardo Portilla,…
Brazil has an abundance of wildlife, including many mammal species found nowhere else on Earth. Most of Brazil's 701 native mammal species provide services that benefit people, such as helping…
LOMBOK, Indonesia — Suhardi, 43, glides across a technicolor coral garden. Freediving down to the seafloor, he scoops up a handful of sand that he sprinkles over the reef. The…
Many people have never heard of the güiña, or the tigrillo, or the tirica. Unlike their higher-profile cousins, the jaguar and the puma, these elusive wildcats aren’t well-known. In fact,…
Over the past 50 years, lion numbers have decreased by three-quarters. Only 20,000 to 40,000 of these majestic big cats survive in the wild today. A third of lion deaths…
PHNOM PENH — “This book won’t stop deforestation, but it can show what’s at stake, what we will lose if we lose Prey Lang,” said Nerea Turreira-Garcia, assistant professor at…
A new report suggests that the rapid acceleration of climate change has pushed the Earth systems humanity relies upon to the brink of collapse, placing the world on a “devastating…
JAKARTA — Most of the habitat of the Javan hawk-eagle is protected, but threats of forest degradation and isolation loom over the surviving population of Indonesia’s national bird, a new…
Wolves, with their widespread distribution from North America to Eurasia, are ecologically vital as keystone species, playing a critical role in maintaining the health and balance of ecosystems by regulating…
The sand cat is small, elusive and adapted to life in some of Earth’s most inhospitable deserts — that makes it hard to study and conserve, with lots of unknowns about its behaviors and populations across its range.
“They are going to flood the Tapayuna people’s history,” says Yaku Suya, a 43-year-old Indigenous leader from the village of Tyrykho, in Xingu Indigenous Park in the heart of the…
Between 15 and 18% of the least-studied areas in the Brazilian Amazon are at high risk of severe climate and land-use changes by 2050, research has shown, meaning we could…
There’s near-universal folklore told throughout Brazil of colorful fish that fall from the clouds during the rains to live in newly formed ponds. These stories arose to explain a hard-to-believe…
KATHMANDU — In the isolated kingdom of Lo Manthang, tucked away in Nepal’s Himalayas, ancient structures stand tall on arid lands that only allowed tourists in from the late 1990s.…
A less colorful world looms on our horizon. Almost half of the world’s flowers are in danger of extinction, according to a recent preprint posted on biorxiv.org. A group of…