Think that GIF of the smoking chimp is funny? The chimp wasn’t laughing
You might think it’s cute to text a GIF of a chimpanzee in overalls walking a dog, but behind this seemingly adorable image is a grim truth: “Those animals were…
One of world’s last two northern white rhinos withdrawn from breeding program
Scientists striving to save the northern white rhino from extinction have announced their decision to retire one of the world's last two individuals from their assisted breeding program. The BioRescue…
Faroe Islands to evaluate traditional hunt after slaughter of 1,400 dolphins
The recent killing of 1,428 white dolphins in the Faroe Islands has brought renewed scrutiny to the island nation’s long-held tradition of driving cetaceans into shore and butchering them for…
On World Elephant Day (and every day) humans should stay away from wildlife (commentary)
Ordinarily at this time of year, I would have just returned from fieldwork in Sri Lanka, where I have spent more than 14 years studying wild Asian elephants. Summer is…
‘What’s your real footprint on the animal world?’: Q&A with author Henry Mance
Many of us love animals. At least, we think we do. We may serve our cats gourmet food and let them sleep in our beds. We may buy our dogs…
The Pope, a prince and a judge walk into a bar…to argue for nature’s rights (commentary)
The Pope, a prince, and a judge walk into a bar... Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. What it represents instead is not a meeting in a bar,…
Keeping animals wild vs ‘safe’ should be prioritized, lion biologists argue (commentary)
Wild animals, especially big cats, have captivated human interest for as long as we have existed. The very first figurative art, laboriously carved out of woolly mammoth ivory over 40,000…
Skin in the game? Reptile leather trade embroils conservation authority
Shoes, watches, wallets and bags — anything made from exotic reptile skins — were plucked from the shelves in Selfridges, a high-end department store in the U.K., in February 2019.…
Vatican calls landmark meeting to conserve Amazon, protect indigenous peoples
Starting October 6, the Catholic Church will hold its first ever synod focused on an ecological biome. Bishops, indigenous leaders and activists will meet and set plans to help save the Amazon.
Interfaith leaders step up to protect the world’s ‘sacred’ rainforests
During Climate Week, starting September 22 at the UN in New York City, interfaith leaders will unveil the Faiths for Forests Declaration, with a call to political action by global congregations.
How to make sure your aquarium fish are ethical (commentary)
Fishkeeping has been around for centuries, and the amount of people who want to start keeping fish grows year after year. However, many newcomers to the hobby don’t carry out…
To collect or not to collect? Experts debate the need for specimens
Modern day expeditions face a collection dilemma as scientists consider ethics and endangerment A tray of Eriocnemis (a genus of hummingbird) specimens, Swedish Museum of Natural History - Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet,Stockholm,…
Pope Francis: ‘this is our sin: we exploit the earth’
In Southern Italy over the weekend, Pope Francis reiterated his view that environmental destruction constituted a sin. Visiting the largely agricultural region of Molise, the pope responded to an address…
David Attenborough: someone who believes in infinite growth is ‘either a madman or an economist’
Sir David Attenborough has said that people living in poorer countries are just as concerned about the environment as those in the developed world, and "exporting environmentalism" isn't necessarily an…
Butchering nature’s titans: without the elephant ‘we lose an essential pillar in the ability to wonder’
The world's largest land animal looms small in the distance. Photo by: Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. Africa's elephant poaching crisis doesn't just threaten a species, but imperils one of…
How Tarzan created Jane Goodall and how Goodall then repaid the favor
The Ethical Ape is a regular column published by author and researcher Shawn Thompson. The views expressed in the column are his own. The woman we know as Jane Goodall…
Coming to terms with the evil Jane Goodall and the mystery of the dragonfly incident
The Ethical Ape is a regular column published by author and researcher Shawn Thompson. The views expressed in the column are his own. It is the easiest of premises to…
Why endangered species need conservation champions
The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com…
Elephant ancestors and Africa’s Bigfoot: new initiative works to preserve a continent’s wildest tales
Africa's Wildest Stories is a new initiative in Kenya to capture personal stories about the relationship of people to nature. Elephant Keeper Mishak Nzimbi (above) has been working at the…
Experts: sustainable logging in rainforests impossible
Logging in Gabon, Central Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Industrial logging in primary tropical forests that is both sustainable and profitable is impossible, argues a new study in Bioscience,…
Scientists: if we don’t act now we’re screwed
Aerial view of the infamous Río Huaypetue gold mine in the Peruvian Amazon. This remote but massive gold mine is known for the destruction of primary rainforest, widespread mercury pollution,…
Can loggers be conservationists?
Sawmill in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year researchers took the first ever publicly-released video of an African golden cat (Profelis aurata) in a Gabon rainforest. This beautiful,…
Doing good and staying sane amidst the global environmental crisis
An interview with Dr. Sarah Bexell. The vanishing giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is just one victim of the global environmental crisis. Photo by: Sarah Bexell. Several years ago while teaching…
Climate scientist admits to deceptively obtaining Heartland Institute files
Climatologist Peter Gleick with the Pacific Institute has admitted to obtaining documents from the conservative advocacy group, the Heartland Institute, through a fake name and leaking them to the press.…
Cara Hoffman: Direct action is ‘the only real solution’ to environmental problems
Our generation of ecological writers, scientists, and activists confront a situation without historical analog. 21st Century naturalists and environmentalists genuinely concerned about enjoying and preserving wilderness are forced to accept…
The ocean crisis: hope in troubled waters, an interview with Carl Safina
The view from Lazy Point. Photo courtesy of Carl Safina. Being compared—by more than one reviewer—to Henry Thoreau and Rachel Carson would make any nature writer's day. But add in…
Would legalizing the trade in tiger parts save the tiger?
An interview with Kirsten Conrad. Just the mention of the idea is enough to send shivers down many tiger conservationists' spines: re-legalize the trade in tiger parts. The trade has…
Guilty verdict over euthanizing tigers in Germany touches off debate about role of zoos
In June a German court handed down a guilty verdict to the Magdeburg Zoo director, Kai Perret, and three employees for euthanizing three tiger cubs in 2008. The zoo decided…
Indonesian people-not international donors or orangutan conservationists-will determine the ultimate fate of Indonesia’s forests
With 18,000 islands spanning two major bigeographic realms (and a curious outlier in Sulawesi) across an area of nearly 2 million square kilometers, Indonesia is one of the world's most…
Holding the Global North Responsible for Climate Change: What Would Lord Russell Do?
Would a climate change tribunal offer justice to those affected by global warming? If Lord Bertrand Russell were still alive today, he would most likely be appalled by the Global…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Mennonite colony builds bridge, clears forest in Bolivian protected areas
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
- Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
Oceans
- A year before deep-sea mining could begin, calls for a moratorium build
- WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
- Experts fear end of vaquitas after green light for export of captive-bred totoaba fish
- Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou
Amazon Conservation
- Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Ecuador’s Pastaza province, Indigenous groups collaborate on forest conservation
Land rights and extractives
- Coal mining threatens Ethiopia’s ancient coffee forest
- Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG
- In Indonesian Borneo, a succession of extractive industries multiplies impacts, social fractures
- Illegal mining threatens one of the last forest links between the Andes and Ecuador’s Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries
- Citizen participation: a key achievement at the first COP to the Escazú Agreement
- “We are on the front line”: Q&A with Indigenous land defender Adiela Jineth Mera Paz
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
