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A bonobo named Kanzi could play pretend, challenging ideas about animal imaginations

Liz Kimbrough 18 Mar 2026
Juvenile Sumatran orangutans like this are highly sought by traffickers. Image courtesy of Onrizal Onrizal.

Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)

Onrizal Onrizal 12 Mar 2026
A photo of Zeytin posted by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Facebook in December 2024. No further updates have been provided since the country's announcement to not send Zeytin to Africa.

Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo

Spoorthy Raman 13 Feb 2026
A chimpanzee in Uganda. Image by Nigel Hoult via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Risk-taking comes earlier in chimpanzees than in humans, study finds

John Cannon 6 Feb 2026
A mountain gorilla, a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Study ties same-sex behavior in primates to ecological and social pressures

Aimable Twahirwa 28 Jan 2026
A man holds a chicken as he walks on log used as a makeshift bridge at a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, Dec. 1.

Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides

Hans Nicholas Jong 22 Jan 2026
Flood survivors use logs to cross a river in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 2, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara.

Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Jan 2026
An eastern chimpanzee in Uganda. Image by Nik Borrow via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Chimpanzees and gorillas among most traded African primates, report finds

Spoorthy Raman 7 Jan 2026
In this aerial photo taken using a drone, people are seen making their way on a muddy road at a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Photo credit: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara

After Cyclone Senyar, Indonesia probes whether development amplified scale of disaster

Hans Nicholas Jong 6 Jan 2026
Myotis nimbaensis, shown here, is a new species of bat named for the mountain range in which it is found, the Nimba Mountains in West Africa. Photo © Kendra Snyder / Bat Conservation International.

Rare bats at risk as iron ore mine advances in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains

Victoria Schneider 30 Dec 2025

Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans

Hans Nicholas Jong, Achmad Rizki Muazam 18 Dec 2025
A mother and infant Tapanuli orangutan were directly sighted in the Lumut Maju peat swamp forest in North Sumatra. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay-Indonesia.

Sumatran flood disaster may have wiped out a key Tapanuli orangutan population, scientists fear

Hans Nicholas Jong 12 Dec 2025

New cluster of Tapanuli orangutans discovered in Sumatra peat swamp

Junaidi Hanafiah 17 Oct 2025
The critically endangered western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is found in both protected and unprotected forests in southeastern Cameroon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

World Gorilla Day: What imperils our powerful cousins, and what brings hope

Shreya Dasgupta 24 Sep 2025
Augustin K. Basabose. Image by Allison Shelley for Wild Earth Allies

In eastern Congo’s war-torn forests, Augustin Basabose gave hope to gorillas and people

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Aug 2025

Global brands join drive for deforestation-free palm oil in Indonesia’s Aceh

Hans Nicholas Jong 22 Aug 2025
Banner image of Kanzi by William H. Calvin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bonobos keep track of groupmates even when they can’t see them, study finds

Bobby Bascomb 20 Aug 2025
Banner image of an adult and baby orangutan at Betung Kerihun National Park in Indonesian Borneo, by Sabar Minsyah via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

World Orangutan Day: Ongoing threats & habitat loss haunt these great apes

Kristine Sabillo 19 Aug 2025
An adult Sumatran orangutan

Orangutans make up for lost sleep with daytime naps, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 24 Jul 2025
A family of chimpanzees. Image by Michele W via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0).

World Chimpanzee Day: the strength — and fragility — of chimp memory

Shreya Dasgupta 14 Jul 2025
Banner image of the Ekalakala bonobo group in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the DRC courtesy of Martin Surbeck/Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project.

Female bonobos wield power through unity: Study

Kristine Sabillo 3 Jun 2025
women working in a field in Uganda

Peril and persistence define the path of Africa’s conservationists

Orji Sunday 3 Jun 2025
Chimpanzees in in Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau eating a fermented African breadfruit. Image by Bowland et al., 2025 (CC BY 4.0).

Chimpanzees filmed sharing alcoholic fruits for the first time

Shreya Dasgupta 9 May 2025
A western lowland gorilla in Cameroon.

In Cameroon’s forgotten forests, gorillas and chimps hang on

Spoorthy Raman 7 May 2025
A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) hangs from the trees. Fewer than 100,000 orangutans remain on Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Orangutan habitat under siege as palm oil company clears forest in Borneo

Hans Nicholas Jong 29 Apr 2025
Ex-captive orangutans at Camp Leaky in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler

An interview with orangutan conservationist and advocate Gary Shapiro

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Apr 2025
Bonobos in the DRC’s Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve. Image courtesy of Maud Mouginot.

Bonobos combine calls in ways that resemble human language, study finds

Shanna Hanbury 8 Apr 2025
Kanzi, the bonobo, died aged 44 in March 2025. Image ©️Ape Initiative.

Kanzi the bonobo redefined what it means to be human

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Apr 2025
The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is considered one of the most threatened primate species on the planet. Image by Julie Langford via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Mongabay investigation finds gorilla trade more widespread than previously thought

Mongabay.com 1 Apr 2025
Banner image of Kanzi by William H. Calvin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Famous bonobo Kanzi, known for smarts & gaming, dies at age 44

Kristine Sabillo 27 Mar 2025
A young orangutan grasps and hangs on to a woody liana.

As apes adapt to human disturbance, their new behaviors also put them at risk: Study

Charles Mpaka 24 Mar 2025

Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Mar 2025

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