In Kenya’s Maasai Mara, detection dogs are a ranger’s best friend
It took Gage roughly six seconds to find the tiny piece of ivory hidden on the underside of our vehicle. Gage, a Labrador retriever, specializes in finding ivory and firearms,…
10 of 11 black rhinos now dead after relocation attempt in Kenya takes tragic turn
Last month, officials with the Kenya Wildlife Service attempted to move 11 endangered black rhinos from two national parks, Nairobi and Lake Nakuru, to a third, Tsavo East. Nine of…
Securing a future for Grevy’s zebras and the cultures of northern Kenya (commentary)
For most foreigners, the mention of Kenya conjures images characteristic of the country’s southern safari circuit — the famed Masai Mara wildebeest migration, Amboseli’s elephant herds dwarfed by Mount Kilimanjaro’s…
‘Better and better’: Thermal cameras turn up the heat on poachers
Nearly 2 million animals, mostly wildebeest and zebra, migrate roughly 800 kilometers (500 miles) each year between Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara National Reserve across the border…
Lab-grown embryos raise hope of saving near-extinct rhino
In March this year, Sudan, the last known male northern white rhino, died at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy at the age of 45. He left behind a daughter, Najin, and granddaughter, Fatu,…
Death by hippo poop: Scientists solve a fish massacre in the Mara River
In the Mara River in Kenya, fish die in the thousands every now and then. And the hippopotamus is to blame, a new study has found. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) spend…
Agroforestry gives Kenyan indigenous community a lifeline
WEST POKOT, Kenya — The Cherangani people, an indigenous community in Kenya’s Rift Valley, have always called the Cherangani Hills Forest their ancestral home. Also known locally as the Sengwer,…
Kenyan reserve’s tourism monitoring app builds revenue and transparency
Nature reserves frequently operate with scarce resources, relying on revenue from tourism or donations for their survival. When managers of the Mara Triangle portion of Kenya’s renowned Maasai Mara National…
Photos: Meet the 2018 ‘Green Oscars’ winners
Six conservationists received the conservation world’s “Green Oscars” at an awards ceremony at the Royal Geographic Society in London, U.K., on April 25. The Whitley Award, granted by the U.K.-based…
Conservationist known as a caretaker for Kenya’s orphaned elephants dies at 83
Daphne Sheldrick, a conservationist known for her work to care for and return orphaned elephants to the wild, died of breast cancer on April 12 at the age of 83.…
AI can ‘help us move mountains’ for people and planet, Watson developer says
Neil Sahota is an IBM Master Inventor and World Wide Business Development Leader in the company's Watson Group. He works to create solutions powered by Watson, the supercomputer that he…
Local conservancies create new hope for wildlife in Kenya’s Maasai Mara (commentary)
Set amid the open plains and rolling savannas of Kenya’s Maasai Mara landscape, Naboisho conservancy hosts some of the finest wildlife viewing that Africa can offer. Covering around 20,000 hectares…
The world’s last male northern white rhino has died
The fate of the northern white rhinoceros now hangs by an extremely thin thread. Forty-five-year-old Sudan, believed to be the world's last surviving male northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni),…
Last of its kind: sole surviving male northern white rhino is gravely ill
The world's sole surviving male northern white rhino is gravely ill, reports Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which safeguards the last three individuals of the critically endangered rhino subspecies. In an…
Robbery or retribution? Police investigate death of prominent conservationist in Kenya
Esmond Bradley Martin, a well-known elephant and rhino conservationist, has been found dead, apparently of a stab wound to his neck, according to multiple media reports. His wife, Chryssee, found…
Lions deal blow to giraffe numbers by targeting young, study finds
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.…
Kenyan farmers reap economic, environmental gains from ABCDs of agroforestry
KERICHO, Kenya – Less than a decade ago, the hills of Tuiyobei village in Kenya’s Rift Valley were nearly bare, with few trees or shrubs beyond the coffee plantations that…
Storytelling empowers indigenous people to conserve their environments
The moon rides high over the Bolivian Amazon as the Tsimané people crowd around the fire to tell stories. A conservation scientist sits among them, leans in to catch every…
Jane Goodall interview: ‘The most important thing is sharing good news’
This week’s podcast featured a discussion between Mongabay’s founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler and Jane Goodall, the world’s most recognizable conservationist and one of this media outlet’s esteemed advisory…
Can agroforestry propel climate commitments? Interview with Peter Minang
The Paris Agreement, reached at COP21 in December 2015, aims to keep global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
- In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands
- On anniversary of nun’s murder Amazon land rights activists at high risk
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- Coronavirus puts Brazil’s quilombos at risk; will assistance come?
- Amazon road projects could lead to Belize-size loss of forest, study shows
- Bolsonaro revives a plan to carve a road through one of Brazil’s last untouched areas
Asian rhinos
- U.S. fund that supports Sumatran rhino research faces deep cuts under Trump
- Reproductive woes spell need for more viable females in Sumatran rhino program
- Indonesia-WWF split puts rhino breeding project in Borneo in limbo
