LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s economic capital of Lagos is one of the world’s most plastic-polluted cities. Lagos state authorities last month imposed a ban on single-use plastics, but residents say weak enforcement and the absence of alternatives weaken its effectiveness. Plastic pollution has been a major source of concern in the city of more than 20 million people that generates at least 13,000 tons of waste daily. Almost a fifth of that waste is plastics. In Geneva this week, countries are negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution.

By Ope Adetayo, Associated Press 

Banner image: A scavenger sorts out plastic waste at a dumpsite on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Aug 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Carlos Mallo Molina grew up inspired by his engineer father who led port construction projects across Spain. But while working on a highway project in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, Molina realized that a related plan to build a port in a marine protected area threatened the marine ecosystem that he had come to love.

In a May Mongabay Newscast episode, Molina told host Mike DiGirolamo about his decision to quit engineering in 2018 and found the nonprofit Innoceana, which contributed to the cancellation of the proposed port.

“I was a diver since I was a kid. And I think that connected me to the ocean in a very deep way,” Molina told Mongabay, adding that it was his father who encouraged his love for the ocean.

When he started working in Tenerife as a civil engineer, he continued to go diving on weekends.

“It [the ocean] was full of sea turtles. It was full of whales. It was full of marine life. And so, I think understanding how my impact was going to destroy actually a marine protected area … [I realized] I need to do something to change what I’m doing in the way that I can protect this ocean,” he told DiGirolamo.

Molina’s activism earned him the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, but he emphasized that it was not his efforts alone that led to the cancellation of the port project. Together with biologists, underwater photographers, economists and lawyers, the community started a platform called Save Fonsalía.

Not everyone in the community was initially convinced; many locals in Tenerife rely on tourism for their livelihood.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Molina said perceptions began to change, as people were cooped up at home.

“I think that helped people understand how important is nature not only for development, not only for tourists, but also just to live, just to be a human being,” he said.

What ultimately persuaded the government to halt the project were data collected by his group on the many species that would have been affected by the construction of the port, including a large population of pilot whales. The activists pointed out that the environmental impact assessment used to support the port construction was outdated and did not include the species that were recently categorized as endangered.

Eventually, Innoceana was also able to get funding to create a marine conservation and education center instead.

Molina called it a “long-lasting solution,” adding, “We are going to educate all of the kids in the area. We are going to help development. We are going to create something that goes in the right direction to protect a marine protected area.”

Listen to the full podcast episode here.

Banner image of a school of grunts (Pomadasys incisus) in the Teno-Rasca Marine Strip by Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Scroll through social media, and you’re sure to find videos of cockatoos swaying rhythmically to music. Scientists studying these impressive dance moves report in a recent study that at least 10 cockatoo species dance, sharing at least 30 distinct dance moves between them.

Cockatoos are a family of parrots, which are highly intelligent birds. Many parrot species are known to be masters of vocal mimicry. Pet cockatoos, in particular, are quite popular online for their dance moves: Snowball, a male Eleonora cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora), is famous for bobbing his head and tapping his feet to the Backstreet Boys song “Everybody.” Researchers who analyzed his dance found he had at least 14 different dance moves.

To see how widespread dancing is among cockatoos, scientists in the latest study analyzed 45 cockatoo-dancing videos available on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

Of the 21 known cockatoo species worldwide, the scientists found dancing videos featuring 10 species, including white (C. alba), Goffin’s (C. goffiniana), sulfur-crested (C. galerita) and Moluccan cockatoos (C. moluccensis), as well as little corellas (C. sanguinea) and galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla).

Across all the species, the researchers recorded 30 distinct dance movements, including 17 that hadn’t been previously described scientifically. They also recorded 17 “rare” movements only seen in one bird.

The analysis “indicated that dancing is far more complex and varied than previously thought,” lead author Natasha Lubke from Charles Sturt University in Australia said in a statement.

The researchers also tested if cockatoos only dance in response to music. At Wagga Wagga Zoo in New South Wales, Australia, they subjected two galahs, two sulfur-crested and two pink cockatoos (Lophochroa leadbeateri) to three different treatments: electronic dance music on repeat for 20 minutes; no music for the same duration; and a podcast episode with people talking.

All birds showed some dance movements during all three treatments, without responding to music in any special way.

“We don’t fully know why this is,” Rafael Freire, study co-author from Charles Sturt University, writes in The Conversation. “One possibility could be because we played music to existing male-female pairs, and the social environment alone was sufficient to trigger dance behaviour.”

Freire adds that since dancing has mainly been observed in pet cockatoos, the “dance moves might represent an adaptation of courtship display movements as a way to connect with their human owners.”

Playing music may even help enrich the lives of captive parrots, Freire said in the statement.

“The similarities with human dancing make it hard to argue against well-developed cognitive and emotional processes in parrots, and playing music to parrots may improve their welfare,” he said. “Further research would be beneficial to determine if music can trigger dance in captive birds and serve as a form of environmental enrichment.”

Banner image: Sulfur-crested cockatoos. Image by Sardaka via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries.

The country best known for samba and soybeans has quietly become the world’s largest importer of shark meat. A recent investigation by Mongabay’s Philip Jacobson, Karla Mendes and Kuang Keng Kuek Ser reveals the extent to which this flesh, sold generically as cação, has infiltrated Brazil’s public institutions. Over two decades, at least 5,400 metric tons of shark meat were procured for government facilities including 5,391 schools, more than 1,100 of which cater to infants and toddlers. Other recipients include prisons, hospitals, military bases, and even maternity wards.

What’s troubling is not just the volume but the obfuscation. Brazilians consuming cação are rarely informed they’re eating shark, let alone which species. Almost all procurement records lack species-specific labeling. This is more than semantic negligence: It risks fueling the illegal trade in threatened species. With 16 of 31 oceanic shark and ray species classified as threatened, and blue sharks — the trade’s apparent mainstay — listed as near threatened, lax procurement may be hastening ecological collapse.

The public health implications are equally severe. Sharks, being apex predators, bioaccumulate heavy metals like mercury and arsenic. Yet, in Brazil, shark meat is regularly served to some of the most vulnerable citizens — young children, the elderly, and pregnant women — without mandatory contaminant testing. A feeding guide from the Ministry of Health even recommends cação for infants under 2, citing its lack of bones, but ignoring toxicity concerns. Some municipal nutritionists cite choking hazards to justify its inclusion; critics argue this logic prioritizes convenience over safety.

Culturally, shark meat has shifted from niche coastal fare to mass-market staple. Import volumes soared in the 2000s, partly as an unintended consequence of shark finning bans. Previously discarded carcasses had to be landed; Brazil, with a population of 212 million and widespread poverty, became an easy market. Institutional purchases under anti-hunger policies created steady demand, solidifying a market that now spans more than 200 suppliers and dozens of brands.

Some municipalities have begun to push back. São Paulo canceled a major procurement after public outcry. Paraná state now requires species-level labeling. But most of the country remains unaware. As long as cação remains both ubiquitous and ambiguous, Brazil’s public institutions may continue serving up a toxic dish — hidden in plain sight.

Read the full investigation by Philip Jacobson, Karla Mendes and Kuang Keng Kuek Ser here.

Banner image: Shark meat on sale in Brazil is labeled as cação, a generic term whose true meaning is unknown to most Brazilians, surveys show. Image by Philip Jacobson/Mongabay.

In Eswatini, the Southern African country formerly known as Swaziland, people still commonly hunt for honey with the help of wild birds, a new study finds. This rare form of human-wildlife cooperation, which has disappeared from much of Africa, is expected to endure in Eswatini, sustained by tradition and peer-to-peer learning, researchers say.

Only in a handful of places in Africa do people still work with honeyguide birds (Indicator indicator) to find wild bees’ nests. In Eswatini, researchers interviewed 80 honey-hunters and found the practice is widespread and involves several key steps: summoning the birds through whistles and sounds; keeping them engaged as they lead the way to bees’ nests; subduing the honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata) and harvesting the honey; and rewarding the birds with beeswax.

These skills are typically “vertically” passed down to younger generations by older family or community members. But in Eswatini, they’re also horizontally shared among young hunters, researchers found.

“It’s more of a pastime that young boys do while they’re out herding cattle, so most of the time the information transfer, as opposed to it being vertical from adults to children, in Eswatini, it is mostly horizontal, shared between young boys while they’re out there having fun,” said study lead author Sanele Nhlabatsi from the University of Eswatini.

“The fact that both vertical and horizontal information transfer facilitates the spread of this culture, in between and within generations, also plays a huge role [in sustaining it].”

This recreational aspect sets Swati honey-hunters apart from communities such as the Yao, in northern Mozambique, where honey-hunting with honeyguides supplements livelihoods, nutrition and income.

Only eight of the interviewed honey-hunters said they sold honey for income. The practice can therefore persist without economic incentives, Nhlabatsi said.

“The fact that it is not the main [source of] income, but people still do it anyway, means it is unlikely that people stop doing it because they’ve found a different source of income.”

The study also revealed modern twists. Traditionally, some hunters whistle on the dried, hollowed-out, spherical fruit of hedge caper bushes (Capparis sepiaria) to summon honeyguide birds. But some young hunters now recreate these whistles using plastic balls from roll-on deodorant sticks, especially when the fruit is out of season.

Wiro-Bless Kamboe, a conservation biologist at the University for Development Studies in Ghana, who wasn’t involved in the Eswatini study, said the findings resonate with his own research in northern Ghana where honey-hunting with honeyguides persists despite rapid social and economic change.

Unlike in Eswatini, though, knowledge transfer in Ghana is predominantly vertical, with hunters passing skills down to sons and close relatives. “It’s fascinating how the knowledge is passed on differently,” Kamboe told Mongabay.

“While many [Ghanaian] honey-hunters say wild bees’ nests are becoming scarcer, most believe the practice will continue as long as young people remain interested.”

Banner image: A female greater honeyguide eating wax combs left behind by a honey-hunter. Image courtesy of Dom Cram.

CALDONO, Colombia (AP) — The Indigenous Guard of the Nasa people formed in Colombia in 2001 to protect Indigenous territories from armed groups and from environmental destruction such as deforestation and illegal mining. In the last few years, they have been forced to confront a growing problem with those armed groups recruiting children into operations that include growing coca for cocaine. By one estimate, more than 900 children have been recruited in one region where the groups are highly active. The Guard members don’t carry weapons, but that hasn’t stopped them from confronting the armed guerrillas to try to recover child recruits. More than 40 Guard members have been slain in the nearly 10 years since a 2016 peace deal that some dissidents have ignored.

By Steven Grattan, Associated Press

Banner image: A coca plant in Bolívar, Colombia.  Photo by Dbotany/ Ilmari Karonen Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)