Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) have co-existed with human practices for thousands of years, including shifting cultivation. Shifting agriculture encompasses a variety of different practices that involve abandoning plots for periods…
Environmentalists have responded with alarm to a proposed amnesty permitting the registration of illegally captured elephants in Sri Lanka. Recent reports in Sri Lankan media have outlined the proposal, stating…
In 2010 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pledged to set aside 17 percent of the world's land as protected areas in addition to protecting 60 percent of the world's…
The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com…
Described by a number of media outlets as "the size of your face" a new tree-dwelling tarantula discovered in Sri Lanka has awed arachnophiliacs and terrified arachnophobes alike. But the…
A new species discovered in the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary: Pseudophilautus sirilwijesundarai. Photo by: L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe. Two surveys in the mountainous forests of Sri Lanka's Peak Wilderness Sanctuary have uncovered…
The starry shrub frog has been rediscovered after believed extinct for nearly 160 years. Photo by: L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe. In 1853 Edward Frederick Kelaart, a physician and naturalist, collected a…
Clearing of elephant habitat at the edge of Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy of the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL). A biofuel plantation near Yala National Park has…
The Sri Dalada Maligawa Buddhist Temple, which may soon receive 359 elephant tusks. The Sri Lankan government is planning to give 359 elephant tusks to a Buddhist temple, a move…
A female Polypedates ranwellai. Photo courtesy of Mendis Wickramasinghe. Sri Lanka, an island country lying off the southeast coast of India, has long been noted for its vast array of…
The Kandyan dwarf toad hadn't been seen for over a century until researchers stumbled on it in 2009. Photo courtesy of: L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe. A small toad not seen since…
The U.S. tropical aquarium market poses problems and opportunities for conservation, according to a landmark study published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. The study reviewed import records in the…
Over 25 years after people stopped growing cardamom in Sri Lanka's Knuckles Forest Reserve (KFR), the spice crop is still having an impact on the forest, according to a recent…
Slender loris baby stays close to mom. Photo courtesy of ZSL. Twin grey slender lorises (Loris lydekkerianus) were born in the Zoological Society of London's (ZSL) zoo in London this…
November 2011 was a big month for environmental news stories. Topping the list was the Obama Administration's decision to delay the controversial Keystone pipeline which would have carried tar sands…
Dole and Letsgrow Ltd banana plantation in Somawathiya National Park. Photo courtesy of Environmental Foundation Limited. After a threat of lawsuit, Dole Inc. has abandoned a banana plantation in Somawathiya…
Dole plantation's location within Somawathiya National Park as given by source on Google Earth. Click to enlarge image to see full park size including plantation. Environmental NGOs in Sri Lanka…
For more information on this issue: Dole destroying forest in national park for bananas Dole Food Company has responded to allegations that it is clearing land in a national park…
Destruction in Somawathiya National Park for Dole and Letsgrow plantation. Photo by: Anonymous Source. Dole Food Company, a US-based corporation famous for its tropical fruit products, is allegedly destroying rainforest…
The Travancore flying squirrel (Petinomys fuscocapillus) occurs in the forests of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, a global biodiversity hotspot, and is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN…
Discovered in a tea estate Pseudophilautus schneideri measures just 2.28 centimeters long. Photo courtesy of Madhava Meegaskumbura. Two new incredibly small frogs have been discovered in Sri Lanka, an island…
One would think that it would be easy to track Asia's largest land animal, but in fact Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are generally shy, mostly nocturnal, and stick to the…
The Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides , thought extinct by researchers for over six decades, has finally posed for a photograph. This small nocturnal primate lives in the…
Three different species of frogs have been discovered living in the dung of the Asian elephant in southeastern Sri Lanka. The discovery—the first time anyone has recorded frogs living in…
The population growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region has dropped to 1.1 percent, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2008, compiled by the UN’s Economic and…
Sri Lanka's rainforests fast-disappearing but hope remains An interview with Dr. Ranil Senanayake, chairman of Rainforest Rescue International: Sri Lanka's rainforests fast-disappearing but hope remains Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November…
Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 17, 2005 [update] Nigeria has the world's highest deforestation…
New deforestation figures show Nigeria has worst rate of forest loss [2010 update] Nigeria has the world's highest deforestation rate, Brazil loses the largest area of forest annually, and Congo…
16% of frogs species in Sri Lanka may be gone, new survey finds 16% of frogs species in Sri Lanka may be gone, new survey finds mongabay.com July 2, 2005…
