Parks News

Google Earth image showing the Surui tribe's territory (right) and unprotected areas (left) in the Brazilian state of Rondonia. Strictly protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon are associated with lower…

Imazon map showing deforestation in Amazonian conservation units. Ten percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between August 2012 and July 2014 occurred in protected areas, reports new research from…

Sloth on all fours seeking salt. Photo courtesy of camera trap video compilation from Tiputini Biodiversity Station. A compilation of new camera trap videos from Yasuni National Park shows off…

Young primatologist takes first photo ever of Bouvier's red colobus Detail from the world's first photo of Bouvier’s red colobus (Piliocolobus bouvieri) taken early March 2015 in the Ntokou-Pikounda National…

Mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. Photo by: Cai Tjeenk Willink/Creative Commons 3.0. Last Friday, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced it was considering changing the…

Media coverage of ruins raises controversy among scientists, but leads to stepped-up protection efforts in long-neglected region Temple at Tikal, a Mayan city in Guatemala. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.…

Cobalt-winged parakeets at a clay lick in Yasuni National Park, which the Ecuadorian government is increasingly opening up to oil drilling. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. The world loves its protected…

Could a website save the world's lemurs? Indri lemur (Indri indri). Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year, scientists released an emergency three-year plan that they argued could, quite literally,…

Manu National Park in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year, more than 6,000 people gathered for the World Parks Congress 2014, an event held around every…

Poison dart frog in Yasuni National Park. Some scientists believe the park is in the epicenter of the most biodiverse region on the planet, yet Ecuador has been exploiting the…

Sierra Nevada fox caught on camera trap in Yosemite National Park. Photo by: National Park Service. For years, biologists believed the Sierra Nevada fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) was down to…

Tracking lions, photographing bats, collecting insects, bringing elephants home: it's all part of a day's work in Gorongosa National Park. This vast wilderness in Mozambique—including savannah and montane rainforest—was ravaged…

Screen shot of Asian elephants from video camera traps in Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo by: Habitat ID. Camera trap video from Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Thailand has…

One of the female reintroduced agoutis with a radio collar. Photo by: Rui Salaverry. When one thinks of Rio de Janeiro, one usually doesn't think: rainforest. However, in the heart…

50-80% of protected areas underfunded, poorly managed Yellowstone National Park was the world's first modern protected area. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS. Protected areas are undoubtedly the world's…

An Antarctic krill. Photo by: Uwe Kils/Creative Commons 3.0. Another year, another failed attempt to protect a significant chunk of the Ross Sea, which sits off the coast of Antarctica.…

ATBC warns about canal's impact on water security and indigenous people A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 The Association for Tropical Biology and…

An interview with Alan Rabinowitz, author of the new book, An Indomitable Beast: the Journey of the Jaguar Female jaguar (staring into camera) with subadult male offspring moving through an…

Studies in conservation biology often focus on rare, threatened species faced with impending extinction, but what about common animals of least concern? Could they too help conservationists fine-tune their approach?…

Endangered species have it bad enough, but in conflict zones, things get worse The human cost of war is horrendous. However, while most attention is focused on the suffering caused…

Protected areas are working. That's the conclusion of a new analysis of over 80 different studies on the efficacy of parks and nature reserves in safeguarding wildlife. Published in the…

Chinese consortium pushes new canal through Nicaragua, threatening indigenous people, environment. A stealthy jaguar moves across a camera trap in Bankukuk, Nicaragua along the path of the Gran Canal. Conservationists…

Sylvia Earle is one of the ocean's staunchest defenders. A National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence and former chief scientist with NOAA, Earle has spent a lifetime documenting the rapid…

Employing genetics scientists discover distinct population of big-eyed, long-fingered tarsiers Despite some media reports, scientists have not yet discovered a new species of big-eyed, nocturnal primate—known as tarsiers—in the Philippines.…

Like Memorial Day, when we honor our nation's military veterans, World Ranger Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the thousands of rangers who put their lives on the…

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Shonil Bhagwat Entrance to a sacred grove in Kodagu, India. Photo courtesy of Shonil Bhagwat. "In Africa, you can come across Kaya…

The Perijá brush-finch has only recently been considered a species in its own right. Photo by: Trevor Ellery. A coalition of conservation groups have established a new protected area in…

Art-form helping establish new park by acting as communication bridge between conservationists, local people Two years ago, environmental artist Roger Peet set off to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…

Southern elephant seals battle for mating rights. Photo by: G. Harris/WCS. Conservationists are celebrating the announcement that UNESCO has dubbed Argentina's Península Valdés a biosphere reserve under the Man and…

On bison, wolves, and woodpeckers: the wonder of Europe's only lowland virgin forest. Bialowieza Forest at dawn. Old-growth forest is characterized by ancient trees, tall canopies, little undergrowth, and a…