Nigeria finds itself at the heart of the illegal pangolin trade
EPE, LAGOS – A babel of voices hangs in the misty air over the Oluwo bushmeat market in Epe, in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos state. Smoke curls toward women selling live…
Europe-bred rhinos join South African cousins to repopulate Rwanda park
Five eastern black rhinos translocated from European zoos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park have successfully completed an initial period of acclimatization and been moved into larger, 1-hectare (2.5-acre) enclosures. They…
Big cat trade driven by demand for traditional Asian medicine, according to report
Traditional Asian medicine is driving the growing international trade in big cat products and leading to the mistreatment of thousands of animals, according to a recent report. Bones, blood, and…
Is the rhino horn trade a cartel? Economic analysis suggests it works like one
When economist Adrian Lopes read a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a question popped into his mind. The report, which described rhino poaching and counter-poaching measures, talked…
Tests show multi-rotor UAVs can improve cetacean behavioral studies
A New Zealand-based research team assessing the utility of small, multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to survey and study humpback whales determined that video data collected from a UAV improved…
Indigenous-managed lands found to harbor more biodiversity than protected areas
New research bolsters the case for indigenous-led land management as a crucial conservation solution. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Policy last month, focused on land and…
Indonesia agrees to attempt Sumatran rhino IVF with eggs from Malaysia
JAKARTA — The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to carry out in vitro fertilization of Sumatran rhinos, heralding a breakthrough in a decades-long effort to breed the nearly…
Africa’s largest reserve may lose half its area to oil development
Created in 2012, Niger’s Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve is the last region of the Sahara relatively undisturbed by human activity. But expanding oil exploration threatens this sanctuary…
Forest loss threatens territorial gibbons in southern Borneo
Gibbons living in southern Borneo have the largest territories of any of their close relatives, according to a new study. From a conservation perspective, those large ranges are a liability,…
Simba’s future depends on putting communities at the forefront of lion conservation (commentary)
This past weekend, Disney’s newly released version of The Lion King shattered box office records by earning $544 million in theaters around the world. But while Simba and Mufasa’s return…
Secretive and colorful dryas monkey isn’t as rare as once thought
On a July day in 2014, biologists Henri Silegowa and Jean Pierre Kapale were buying rice in Bafundo, a village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when they noticed…
When it comes to captive breeding, not all Sumatran rhinos are equal
In November 2018, a small female Sumatran rhino plunged into a pit trap in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Pahu, as she came to be called,…
The ambitious plan to recover and rewild the feisty, dwarf cow
Don’t let appearances fool you. The animal pictured above — the dwarf cattle known as tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) from the island of Mindoro in the Philippines — may look cute;…
Congo government opens Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park to oil exploration
The government of the Republic of Congo has, according to its own maps, opened up new areas for oil exploration in sections of the world’s largest peatlands and Nouabalé-Ndoki National…
Orangutan habitats being cleared in areas near palm oil mills, report finds
Rainforest clearance during the month of May destroyed orangutan habitat near 144 different palm oil mills in Indonesia, according to a report by MapHubs, an open-data platform and technology company…
Study finds lemurs in degraded Madagascar forest skinny and stunted
An iconic yet critically endangered species of lemur living in heavily degraded forests in Madagascar appears to be in poor health, a recent study has found. The study’s lead author,…
Eat the insects, spare the lemurs
MASOALA PENINSULA, Madagascar — It’s a lovely walk from the village of Ambodifohara to BeNoel Razafindrapaoly’s field. Nestled at the foot of the mountains of Masoala National Park in northeastern…
‘Let us trade’: Debate over ivory sales rages ahead of CITES summit
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe — A decade ago, what was supposed to be a one-off sale of 102 tonnes of ivory from southern African states raised $15 million for conservation and…
Chimps in Sierra Leone adapt to human-impacted habitats, but threats remain
A new study of western chimpanzees in southwestern Sierra Leone finds they are adapting to survive in severely degraded habitat. But researchers say this doesn’t obviate the need to minimize…
Audio: Listen to the first-ever recordings of right whales breaking into song
Today we speak with Jessica Crance, a research biologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who recently discovered right whales singing for the first time ever. Listen…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- ‘Weird’ police probe rules Indonesian activist died in drink-driving crash
- Suspicions of murder in death of Indonesian environmental activist
- Oil palm, cattle and coca take a toll on Colombia’s indigenous Jiw
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
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
- Amazon fish kill at Sinop spotlights risk from 80+ Tapajós basin dams
Asian rhinos
- Malaysian attempt at Sumatran rhino IVF fails on low quality of sperm
- At India’s Assam Zoo, decades of experience lead to rhino-breeding success
- For India’s flood-hit rhinos, refuge depends increasingly on humans
