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One of many unattributed AI-generated images doing the rounds on social media.

The new burden of proving wildlife is real

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 May 2026
Prehistoric rock art site in northeast Zimbabwe showing a variety of large animals that were symbolic of the hunter-gather world view. Includes elephant, rhino. They relate to they complex system of trance or myth, both essential elements of their socio-religious system. Image courtesy of Robert Stewart Burrett via Wikimedia Commons.

Humanity’s ancient bond with biodiversity is visible in rock art (analysis)

Kerry Bowman 20 May 2026

Overtourism threatens Sri Lanka’s leopards

Mongabay.com 6 May 2026
A gemsbok (Oryx gazella), also known as the South African oryx, in a mixed herd of herbivores at Tswalu. Image by John Cannon/Mongabay.

The value of South Africa’s wildlife shouldn’t be in the hands of wealthy foreign hunters (commentary)

Stephanie Klarmann 30 Apr 2026
A squat lobster in the deep sea.

Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis)

Andrew D. Thaler 14 Apr 2026

American Samoa said ‘no’ to deep sea mining, Washington heard ‘faster’ (commentary)

Jackie Dragon 1 Apr 2026
Scientists Yanive Aluma and Odel Harve check on a subaquatic whale-recording device. Image courtesy of Project CETI.

Scientists call for ethics rules as AI fuels animal communication research

Mongabay.com 10 Feb 2026
Rainforest rainbow in Sabah. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

AI-centered conservation efforts can only be ethical if Indigenous people help lead them (commentary)

McKalee Steen, Magali de Bruyn 9 Jan 2026
An Indigenous Mbuti hunting group inside Okapi National Reserve. Photo ©️ Brent Stirton/Getty Images.jpg

Protected areas in Africa are vital but local perceptions vary (commentary)

Heidi Kretser, Diane Detoeuf, Michelle Wieland, Jessica L’Roe 19 Dec 2025
Monkeys traverse unprotected electric lines in Costa Rica, a situation that leads to deaths of many monkeys, sloths, kinkajous and more. Image courtesy of International Animal Rescue.

Costa Rica’s ‘shocking’ wildlife crisis: Nation must move to prevent animal electrocution (commentary)

Elena Kukovica 17 Dec 2025
A diver swimming close to a female sperm whale pod.

Unregulated tourism risks disrupting Timor-Leste’s whale migration

Robin Hicks 11 Dec 2025
Fishing gear. Image courtesy of Thomas Merritt via Unsplash.

‘Myopic’ fisheries managers toy with a new ‘tragedy of the commons’ (commentary)

Charles Clover 9 Dec 2025
Malocas (traditional longhouses) of Indigenous communities in isolation on the Peru-Brazil border. Image by ORPIO.

Respecting uncontacted peoples can protect biodiversity and our humanity (commentary)

Kerry Bowman 3 Dec 2025
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in an arm wrestling match with environmental agents to unlock oil extraction on the Amazon North shore. Image by Ricardo Stuckert/PR.

Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 13 Nov 2025
A man wearing a face mask reads newspaper outside a shopping mall in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in January 2021. Malaysian authorities imposed tighter restrictions on movement to try to halt the spread of COVID-19. Image by AP Photo/Vincent Thian.

Strong ethics set journalists apart in a changing information landscape (commentary)

Lee Kwai Han 7 Nov 2025
A full-circle rainbow arcing over a vast oil palm plantation in Jambi, Indonesia, carved out of what was once native rainforest. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

No, Bill Gates, we don’t have to choose between people & planet (commentary)

Mary Robinson 6 Nov 2025
A common octopus (Octopus vulgaris). Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Octopus farming is a dangerous detour for marine conservation (commentary)

Giulia Malerbi 8 Oct 2025
Palm civet in a wildlife farm in Dong Nai Province, Viet Nam. Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

New global guidelines needed to rein in the wildlife pet trade (commentary)

Elizabeth Bennett 7 Oct 2025
Mountain gorillas by Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo for Mongabay.

Mongabay staffer shares the joy and impact of wildlife photography

Mike DiGirolamo 30 Sep 2025
A black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), an endangered species of ruffed lemur.

Rights of nature concept creates room for life, but it’s still ‘fuzzy’: Study

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 25 Sep 2025
Artist's conception of a manumea, Samoa's 'little dodo.' Image via Samoa Conservation Society fundraising page.

Funding is needed to save Samoa’s ‘little dodo’ from extinction (commentary)

Gianluca Serra 18 Sep 2025
A white rhino in a community conservation area with tourists in the background. Image courtesy of James Ward / Rewild Safaris.

The safari industry’s ‘conservation-washing’ is a growing problem (commentary)

Tom LaRock 26 Aug 2025
Kavantissa, a regal tusker considered Sri Lanka’s largest elephant, stands more than 3 meters (10 feet) in height. He faces the risk of being killed due to his habit of roaming close to human settlements. Image courtesy of Gimantha.

It’s time to update the language of human-wildlife interactions (commentary)

Tracie McKinney 14 Aug 2025

An aging leopard’s suffering sparks ethical debate in Sri Lanka

Mongabay.com 23 Jul 2025
Snow leopard approaches camera trap, Kyrgyzstan. Photo credit: Panthera-SAEF-NAS-UW.

Culture and spirit belong at the center of wildlife conservation (commentary)

Beth Allgood, John Waugh, Craig Talmage 9 Jul 2025
Eurasian brown bear courtesy of Magnus Lundgren/Swedensbigfive.org.

Sweden needs a rights of nature legal framework (commentary)

Emil Siekkinen 26 Jun 2025
Humpback whales in French Polynesian waters. The intensity and duration of marine heat waves could have widespread effects on marine biodiversity, increasing the likelihood of species displacement and mortality. Image by Toby Matthews / Ocean Image Bank.

Whales still aren’t ‘eating all the fish’ (commentary)

Peter Corkeron 18 Jun 2025
A pod of Sperm Whales move into a defense line to stop a pod of Orcas (Killer Whales) getting to their calf, off the coast of Sri Lanka. Image © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace.

Our responsibility for cetacean conservation grows with proof of their intelligence (commentary)

Avery Ancell 8 May 2025
A model of a woolly mammoth at the Royal Victoria Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2018. Photo by Thomas Quine, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

‘De-extinction’ isn’t just misleading — it’s dangerous, ecologist says

Mike DiGirolamo 6 May 2025
Eurasian brown bear courtesy of Magnus Lundgren/Swedensbigfive.org.

Coexistence with Europe’s carnivores is possible (commentary)

John Linnell 10 Apr 2025
Snow leopard at ease in its high-mountain habitat. Image courtesy of Madhu Chetri.

How cultural and religious beliefs combine for snow leopard conservation (commentary)

7 Apr 2025

It’s time for a U.N. ‘universal declaration on nature’ (commentary)

Katherine Snow 9 Jan 2025

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