The more we try to understand chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives, the more we find ourselves humbled by the richness and complexity of their lives — and of their intelligence.

Today, on World Chimpanzee Day, we look back at some of the latest studies that reveal facets of these great apes’ long, powerful memories.

Finding hidden ant nests

Previous research has confirmed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the wild remember where their favorite fruit trees are, season after season. A recent study that monitored chimpanzees in Dindefelo Community Nature Reserve in Senegal has found chimps also remember locations of hidden underground ant nests for years. They repeatedly return to these sites, using their sight, smell, taste and touch to detect the availability of ants in the nests, Mongabay contributor Charles Mpaka reported in February 2025.

“We realized that the fact that the chimpanzees in our study were going back to the same ant nests, even though these were almost never visible, was really important because it suggested that their repeated ant nest visits were not opportunistic, but rather that the chimpanzees relied on their memory to find the nests and revisit them over and over again,” said study co-author R. Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar.

Remembering friends and family

Another study found that chimpanzees also have rich, long social memories. In an experiment, zoo chimpanzees and bonobos were shown images of former group mates and of individuals who were strangers. The participating chimps and bonobos paid more attention to the known faces than those of the strangers, suggesting the great apes can remember friends and family even when they’ve been apart for years, Mongabay’s Malavika Vyawahare reported in September 2024.

They also paid more attention to individuals they’d shared a more positive relationship with previously, compared to those with whom they hadn’t been very close. “Their social relationships seem to shape their memory,” said study lead author Laura Simone Lewis.

Losing love language

The flip side of this culture of building up long-term memories is that the loss of individuals in a population can lead to the slow erosion of learned practices and traditions. A recent study found that a group of chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park that lost many male individuals to poaching over the past decades has lost the distinct auditory mating gestures the males would use to attract females, contributor Ryan Truscott reported in March 2025.

“We’ve shown that a behavior that is totally learned can be lost,” said study lead author Mathieu Malherbe.

This loss of a mating signal suggests other socially learned skills, such as using tools to access insects in hard-to-reach-places, are also at risk of disappearing as chimps are lost to poaching or habitat destruction. “If you go and disrupt, basically, the possibility for individuals to pass on any knowledge, then you have a huge issue,” Malherbe said.

Banner image: A family of chimpanzees. Image by Michele W via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0).

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

Natural climate solutions, or NCS, range from reforestation and agroforestry to wetland restoration, and have long been championed as low-cost, high-benefit pathways for reducing greenhouse gases. In theory, they could provide more than a third of the climate mitigation needed by 2030 to stay under 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) of warming above pre-industrial levels. But in practice, progress is stalling. A sweeping new study, led by Hilary Brumberg of the University of Colorado Boulder, U.S., reveals why.

Drawing on 352 peer-reviewed papers from across 135 countries, researchers cataloged 2,480 documented barriers to implementing NCS. The obstacles aren’t ecological. Rather, they’re human: insufficient funding, patchy information, ineffective policies, and public skepticism. The result is a vast “implementation gap” between what is technically possible and what is politically, economically or socially feasible, the authors write.

The analysis found that “lack of funding” was the most commonly cited constraint globally, identified in nearly half of all countries surveyed. Yet it rarely stood alone. Most regions face a tangle of interconnected hurdles. Constraints from different categories often co-occur, compounding difficulties: poor governance erodes trust; disinterest stems from unclear benefits; technical know-how is stymied by bureaucratic confusion.

These patterns vary by region and type of intervention. Reforestation projects, for instance, face particularly high scrutiny over equity concerns, especially in the Global South, where land tenure insecurity and historical injustices run deep. Agroforestry and wetland restoration often struggle with the complexity of design and monitoring. Meanwhile, grassland and peatland pathways remain understudied, despite their importance.

The study’s most striking insight may be spatial. Countries within the same U.N. subregion tend to share a similar profile of constraints, more so than across broader development regions. This geographic clustering suggests an opportunity: Supranational collaboration, if properly resourced and attuned to local context, could address shared challenges more efficiently than isolated national efforts.

Crucially, the authors argue that piecemeal fixes will not suffice. Because most countries face an average of seven distinct constraints, many from different domains, effective solutions must be integrated and cross-sectoral. Adaptive management — a flexible, feedback-based approach — could help. By identifying which barriers arise at each stage of an NCS project’s life cycle, it may be possible to design interventions that are not just technically sound, but socially and politically viable.

Natural climate solutions still hold vast potential, the authors believe. But unlocking it will require less focus on where trees grow best — and more on where people can make them thrive.

Banner image: Harapan rainforest canopy in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia, by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Around 2,300 people died in 12 European cities due to an extreme heat wave that hit the region from June 23 to July 2, a rapid scientific analysis has found.

Researchers also estimated that roughly 1,500 of those deaths, or 65%, were attributable to anthropogenic climate change.

“Climate change has made it significantly hotter than it would have been, which in turn makes it a lot more dangerous,” Ben Clarke, a researcher at Imperial College London, told Reuters.

The heat wave, which hit most of Europe and northern Asia in June and early July, was found to be 2-4° Celsius (3.6-7.2° Fahrenheit) hotter during the 10-day stretch than it would have been without fossil fuel-driven climate change in 11 of the 12 cities evaluated.

The study’s authors looked at a dozen large metropolitan centers in Europe, including Rome, London, Paris and Frankfurt, and found that only Lisbon experienced a smaller climate-driven increase, of less than 2°C.

Data on the actual number of observed deaths during the heat wave weren’t officially available at the time of the analysis, so the researchers estimated excess heat-related deaths that may have occurred during the 10-day period by using epidemiological models that establish the relationship between heat and deaths as well as historical mortality data.

They estimate there were 2,305 excess heat-related deaths during the heat wave, with 1,504 deaths attributable to climate change. More than 80% of the deaths were estimated for those older than 65 years.

While heat-related deaths tend to be underreported officially, the media did report several such cases during the heat wave.

In Italy, Brahim Ait El Hajjam, a 47-year-old construction worker and business owner, died while working on a building site near Bologna, Italy. Following his death, the regional government prohibited outdoor work under direct sun from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. until Sept. 15.

In Spain, where June temperatures “smashed” historical records, according to Spain’s meteorological agency, a 2-year-old boy who had been locked in a car for four hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. died of heatstroke in Tarragona on July 1.

On July 2, two people died in a wildfire in rural Lleida, a province in Catalonia that had not recorded wildfire deaths since 2012.

Several cities across Europe reported record June temperatures, including 46.6°C (115.9°F) on June 29 in Mora, a town in the Évora district of eastern Portugal. England faced its warmest June since records began in 1884, according to the U.K. Met Office.

The heat wave was also felt across much of Asia, with Japan’s June temperatures at their historical highest since record-keeping began in 1898, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

In Kazakhstan, air temperatures 7°C (12.6°F) degrees above average deformed roads, while in South Korea, 59 out of 97 climate observation stations recorded new all-time highs.

Banner image: A man fans himself on a hot day in Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain, on June 28, 2025. Image © Paul White/AP.

As the demand for butterflies, spiders, ants and other terrestrial invertebrates grows worldwide, researchers in a recent study say better policy and regulation coverage can help ensure sustainability.

The researchers reviewed existing scientific studies that mention the trade in terrestrial invertebrates and found that most research focuses on the exotic pet trade, specifically of spiders and insects. The review also found that live invertebrates are traded to be kept as pets, for pet food, research, education, honey production, pollination services and entertainment such as beetle wrestling. Dead or preserved invertebrates are often traded as decorative ornaments, as food sources and in traditional medicine practices.

The reviewed studies also showed that invertebrates are traded both physically in community markets, grocery and pet stores, but also traded on social media, pet store websites, international auction platforms and on the dark web.

Sandra Altherr, a biologist and co-founder of German charity Pro Wildlife who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay by email the findings weren’t surprising. “We have been observing the exotic pet trade in Europe for more than 25 years and have indeed noticed an increasing shift in the market towards tarantulas, scorpions, ants, praying mantises, bugs, or crabs as exotic pets – for terrariums or aquariums.”

Alice Hughes, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong who was also not part of the research, told Mongabay by email that such studies “provide a critical baseline to understand dimensions of trade, which provide the basis for monitoring, and hopefully better regulation.”

While unsustainable harvesting of invertebrates can cause population declines, disruption of food chains and habitat destruction, the trade can also provide livelihoods to local communities or become an opportunity to educate the public on conservation, the authors write.

They add that eliminating the trade is “far from possible” but say certain actions can ensure sustainability, citing the success of the government-led Insect Farming and Trading Agency (IFTA) in Papua New Guinea, which has “effectively balanced economic interests with conservation requirements” for butterflies. The authors also recommend aligning national and international policies to engage with courier services for better monitoring and for CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty, to expand its appendices and include more terrestrial invertebrates that require improved conservation efforts.

“I fully agree with the authors’ finding that CITES needs to do more for invertebrates,” Altherr said. “The next CITES conference will be from 24 November to 5 December – and one of the tabled proposals will be to list 15 tarantula species from Latin America in CITES App. II (a proposal by Bolivia, Argentina, and Panama).”

Hughes added that “most species in trade have vanishingly little data to understand any of the dimensions of trade” and that baseline data based on universal standards “would be a first step to identifying potentially vulnerable species, and managing the trade.”

Banner image of a honeybee farm by Nelynnnnn via Wikimedia Commons (CCO 1.0).

China is rapidly scaling up its solar and wind energy infrastructure, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all utility-scale projects currently under construction worldwide, according to a new report from the Global Energy Monitor (GEM). With 510 gigawatts (GW) already under construction and a total pipeline of over 1.3 terawatts (TW), China is consolidating its position as a dominant force in the global energy transition.

This acceleration follows years of sustained growth. As of early 2025, China’s operating solar and wind capacity has reached 1.4 TW—equivalent to 44% of the global total and more than the combined capacity of the European Union, United States, and India. In the first quarter of this year, wind and solar supplied 22.5% of the country’s electricity, overtaking thermal power capacity for the first time.

The majority of China’s new capacity is coming from centralized utility-scale projects, particularly in northern and western regions such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, which host nearly 40% of the country’s planned solar and wind capacity. In 2024 alone, China added 278 GW of solar and 46 GW of wind.

Offshore wind is emerging as a growing component of China’s renewable energy mix. From under 5 GW in 2018, offshore wind capacity has expanded to 42.7 GW as of March 2025—more than half of global offshore capacity in construction. The technology is gaining traction in coastal provinces like Jiangsu and Guangdong, which together account for over half of the country’s installed offshore wind. These regions are also piloting initiatives to link offshore wind to heavy industry and green hydrogen production.

Despite the rapid buildout, offshore wind faces challenges. Following the phaseout of national subsidies in 2021, annual additions dipped before rebounding modestly. In response, some provinces introduced localized incentives to sustain momentum. Analysts at GEM note that further policy coordination may be needed to maintain the pace of development, especially in deeper waters where floating platforms and typhoon-resilient designs are required.

China’s offshore wind pipeline now includes nearly 67 GW in various stages of development, with over 40% under construction. New pilot projects aim to integrate offshore wind with emerging technologies such as underwater data centers and direct electrification of industrial complexes.

While fossil fuel development continues alongside renewables, China’s current trajectory suggests a growing shift in how the country meets its energy demands. With new capacity expected to come online at a record pace this year, China’s solar and wind expansion is reshaping the global energy landscape.

Banner: Longyangxia Dam Solar Park. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Wellington’s solitary coral, a species thought to be extinct for more than two decades, was rediscovered in 2024 near Tagus Cove in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, according to a recent study. 

Over multiple dives in 2024, scientists from the Charles Darwin Foundation, the Galápagos National Park Directorate, and the California Academy of Sciences spotted more than 290 live colonies of Wellington’s solitary coral (Rhizopsammia wellingtoni) in several locations off Isabela and Fernandina islands, including four sites where the species had never been recorded before.

“There were underwater handshakes and shouts of excitement,” Terry Gosliner, a senior curator at the California Academy of Sciences and study co-author, told Mongabay Latam contributor Ana Cristina Alvarado. “We didn’t just rediscover the species, we saw healthy colonies reproducing. It was one of the most exciting underwater moments of my career.”

Unlike most reef-building corals, R. wellingtoni is a solitary coral, meaning each polyp lives independently. The species, found only in the Galápagos Islands, also doesn’t rely on sunlight or symbiotic algae to live, meaning it can survive in deeper and darker waters.

The species was almost completely wiped out following the 1982-1983 El Niño warming event, leading the study’s authors to infer that it’s sensitive to increases in surface water temperature. However, between August 2000 and March 2023, water temperatures in the region were cooler than average due to a La Niña event, which may have allowed the coral to bounce back, the researchers say.

They also speculate that that rather than going extinct, the coral possibly survived in the deep sea, where temperatures are cooler. Then, when conditions improved in shallower water, the coral reoccupied those areas.

Wellington’s solitary coral has remained listed as critically endangered (possibly extinct) on the IUCN Red List since 2007. Gosliner said that if the coral continues to reproduce at healthy rates, the threat status could be reassessed and eventually improved to vulnerable.

But global warming across the Earth’s oceans makes this uncertain. “More El Niño events will come, and the ocean keeps warming,” Gosliner said. “As long as we don’t move away from a carbon-based economy, we’ll keep facing these problems.”

Read the full interview with Terry Gosliner, in Spanish, here.

Banner image: Purple and gray Wellington’s solitary corals. Image courtesy of Inti Keith/Charles Darwin Foundation.