In Sumatra, a vulnerable, ‘mythical’ wild goat lives an unknown life
So far, the Sumatran serow has eluded Pungky Nanda Pratama. Some villagers tell him the animal, a type of goat-antelope, sleeps in the trees hanging by its horns, or scales…
Ikea faces Swiss complaint over wood believed to have been illegally logged
The Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF) has lodged a complaint against the local subsidiary of furniture giant Ikea and its CEO, Jessica Anderen, accusing them of violating Swiss wood…
‘We are all ecstatic’: Rescued wild pangolin gives birth to healthy pup
Ally arrived at the veterinary hospital the way most rescued pangolins do: underweight, dehydrated and suffering from pneumonia. But a routine ultrasound revealed that Ally wasn’t a typical patient —…
Anticipated new restrictions on wildlife trade in Vietnam fall short of a ban
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — On July 23, after several months of anticipation within Vietnam’s conservation community, the government released a new directive on managing the wildlife trade in…
Narwhals beware: Killer whales are on the rise in the Arctic
Narwhals are Arctic-dwelling whales with a unique feature: the males have spirally, sword-like tusks that can extend up to 3 meters (10 feet). But these magical-looking creatures are facing a…
New study quantifies impact of hunting on migratory shorebird populations
Habitat loss and climate change are often blamed for the decreasing numbers of migratory shorebirds in a major flyway in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. But it might be…
Vietnam wildlife trade ban appears to flounder amid coronavirus success
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Conservation organizations in Vietnam sent a letter to the Prime Minister last week asking for an update on planned measures to curtail the trade…
As COVID-19 pandemic deepens, global wildlife treaty faces an identity crisis
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, popularly known as CITES, is a rare animal: an international environmental treaty with teeth. It regulates the global trade in some of…
Chinese ban on eating wild animals likely to become law: Q&A with WCS’s Aili Kang
Over four months after the first cases of COVID-19 surfaced in China, the world remains in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases and almost…
Vietnam considers wildlife trade ban in response to coronavirus pandemic
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — As the coronavirus pandemic continues its deadly onslaught around the world, the Vietnamese government has moved to ban the wildlife trade. Amid scientific theories…
Coronavirus outbreak may spur Southeast Asian action on wildlife trafficking
MANILA — Governments across Southeast Asia have vowed to strengthen cooperation in curbing the illegal wildlife trade, suspected to have sparked the novel coronavirus epidemic. The issue will be at…
A Philippine conservation park juggles funding needs with animal welfare
ILOILO, Philippines — A pig growled in pain. I walked up to the enclosure of sharp, rusty metal grill to see a Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons), known locally as…
Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam
VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in…
Massive pangolin seizure in Borneo smuggling operation bust
Police and wildlife officials confiscated nearly 30 metric tons (33 tons) of pangolin carcasses, meat and scales, as well as dozens of the live animals, in Malaysian Borneo on Feb.…
Camera trap captures spotted hyena in Gabon national park, the first in 20 years
Researchers have captured a camera trap photograph of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in a national park in Gabon where the predator hasn’t been seen for two decades. Conservation groups…
The curious case of the phantom hippo teeth
Think of the illegal wildlife trade, and elephant tusks and rhino horns come to mind. But another of the world’s largest land mammals is slipping under the radar: the common…
Bats and viruses: Beating back a bad reputation
A burned-out stump was all that remained by the time a team of virologists arrived in Méliandou in 2014. They had been hunting for the source of the deadly outbreak…
‘Running out of time’: 60 percent of primates sliding toward extinction
Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans -- our great ape cousins teeter on the precipice of extinction. And it’s not much of a secret that we humans have had a lot to do…
Fiery end for the last of the toothfish pirates
aptain Siddharth Chakravarty said he tracked the Viking for two months before he could guess where it might go next. “We detected the ship and determined it was moving in…
Alarming proof of underreported bushmeat crisis in heart of Amazonia
When satellite imagery of the Brazilian rainforest shows lush, dense forests, most of us likely expect that those trees are packed with wildlife. But what if what we are actually…
Sung te giac ethics: New wealth brings new responsibilities (commentary)
Money brings many things. It can bring great happiness and it can cause great suffering. It depends on how it is used. Ethics are important. New prosperity following Vietnam’s accession…
Eaten to extinction? India’s purple frog faces another threat
New research finds local harvesting and consumption of tadpoles may be putting the already-endangered Indian purple frog at further risk of extinction.
Killing of black macaques in Indonesia sparks debate over hunting
Eight months after a lecturer at an Indonesian university posted to Facebook about hunting and killing a pair of black macaques for his Christmas dinner, advocates for the critically endangered…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Cattle-driven clearing continues in Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu protected area
- New palm oil frontier sparks scramble for land in the Brazilian Amazon
- Deforestation rises in Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Park as cattle invade
- ‘What other country would do this to its people?’ Cambodian land grab victims seek int’l justice
Oceans
- Sharks on a knife’s edge as Maldives mulls lifting 10-year fishing ban
- Sea turtles under threat as Indian government weighs development in Andaman Islands
- European tuna boats dump fishing debris in Seychelles waters ‘with impunity’
- Red flag: Predatory European ships help push Indian Ocean tuna to the brink
Amazon conservation
- Brazilian Cerrado savanna: Wildcat miners descend on Indigenous reserve
- As COP26 looms and tropical deforestation soars, REDD+ debate roars on
- ‘We are made invisible’: Brazil’s Indigenous on prejudice in the city
- Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
Land rights and extractives
- With British Columbia’s last old-growth at risk, government falters: Critics
- Total’s East African oil pipeline to go ahead despite stiff opposition
- Brazilian Cerrado savanna: Wildcat miners descend on Indigenous reserve
- Cambodia puts its arduous titling process for Indigenous land up for review
Endangered environmentalists
- Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
- Thailand’s Indigenous Peoples fight for ‘land of our heart’ (commentary)
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- 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
Conservation effectiveness
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- Scientists in Costa Rica are growing new corals to save reefs
- Technology innovations look to change the cacao landscape in Colombia
- In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Indonesian governor’s arrest in road project points to more tainted contracts
- Papua deforestation highlights eastward shift of Indonesia forest clearing
- Podcast: Omens and optimism for Sumatran orangutans
- Planned coal-trucking road threatens a forest haven for Sumatran frogs
