Platypuses reintroduced to Australia’s oldest national park are breeding and appear to be on a good population trajectory with 20 known individuals now, scientists say.

For more than 50 years, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal, had been absent from Royal National Park, a protected area located just south of Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales. A reintroduction program was initiated in 2023, led by Gilad Bino from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a co-founder of the Platypus Conservation Initiative.

“It is a privilege to be part of bringing platypuses back to a part of their former range where they had been missing for generations,” Bino said in a statement.

In 2023, researchers first introduced a founding group of 10 platypuses to the Hacking River that flows through the national park. A second group of three animals followed in 2025. Each animal was fitted with a transmitter to allow scientists to monitor their survival, movements, and breeding.

In May 2026, researchers introduced four more platypuses sourced from healthy populations: two males they named Absinthe and Duckie, and two females they named Dawn and Hydra. At the same time, the researchers carried out extensive surveys and found 20 known individuals. More individuals could be present that were missed.

Visitors are also reporting platypus sightings in the park, especially around the river. “That public connection — people seeing platypuses back where they belong — is one of the most rewarding outcomes of this work,” Bino said.

The scientists have not only encountered platypuses from the original founding group, but also a new subadult, hatched in the park, showing the population is breeding.

“We now have multiple age classes in the park, evidence of breeding across consecutive seasons and animals interacting with the river system as a healthy platypus community should,” Tahneal Hawke, project co-lead also from UNSW, said in the statement. She added the population is “starting to stand on its own.”

According to UNSW, this is the first successful platypus translocation in New South Wales.

Josh Griffiths, an expert on the platypus with EnviroDNA, who was not involved in the reintroduction, told Mongabay by email that the population remains “very small and isolated,” and thus vulnerable to environmental disturbance and long-term genetic issues, but that it is “tracking in the right direction.”

Griffiths added the project “demonstrates the capacity of platypuses to adapt back to areas where they have disappeared if we can restore habitat to suitable condition.”

Banner image: A platypus swimming. Image by Charles J. Sharp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker has pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. environmental law by using illegally sourced teak from Myanmar on two of its yachts imported into the U.S.

The U.K.-based Sunseeker International Limited, which describes itself as “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” along with its U.S. subsidiary pleaded guilty on May 13, 2026, to violating the U.S. Lacey Act. The regulation prohibits trade in wildlife and plant products, including timber, that have been sourced in violation of domestic or foreign laws.

Sunseeker had not responded to Mongabay’s request for comment at the time of publishing.

As part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Sunseeker agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and implement a compliance plan.

The U.S. DOJ said in a news release that illegally sourced timber was identified in components of two yachts priced at approximately $2.98 million and $1.07 million, respectively. The company is scheduled for sentencing in the U.S. on Aug. 20, 2026.

Sunseeker, which manufactures its yachts in the U.K., previously pled guilty to violating the U.K. Timber Regulation in a U.K. court in 2024.  The company was accused of using illegally obtained teak in its yachts. It was fined 358,759.64 pounds (about $454,300) for 11 specific timber exports, according to previous Mongabay reporting.

U.S. authorities noted the teak imported into the country originated from the same illegal imports prosecuted in the U.K.

While highly prized in the luxury yacht industry, much of the teak from Myanmar, also called Burmese teak, is dubbed “blood timber,” Mongabay previously reported. Components of the teak trade in the country have links to illegal logging, smuggling and revenue flowing to the Myanmar military junta, said Faith Doherty, forests campaign leader at the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Since the military coup in 2021, the junta has been linked to widespread human rights atrocities and violence against civilians, leading the U.S., U.K., and EU to impose sanctions on Myanmar’s timber sector.

The EIA first flagged Sunseeker’s supply chain risks in 2018.

Doherty told Mongabay the cases against Sunseeker matter, because Burmese teak is an issue involving the environment, conflict, corruption, human rights and corporate responsibility. However, she called the fines imposed “small compared with the value of luxury yachts and the profits attached to Burmese teak.”

“Without tougher penalties, seizure risks, and director-level accountability and reputational consequences, some companies may still treat fines as a cost of doing business rather than a reason to change,” she said.

Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, welcomed the U.S. prosecution, but called for all companies and governments to ban Myanmar timber imports.

“The teak trade has long fueled violence and forest destruction in Myanmar,” Maung told Mongabay.

Banner image of Myanmar teak courtesy of EIA. 

Fewer than 1,000 leatherback sea turtles remain in the Eastern Pacific, nesting along the coastline that runs from Mexico to Ecuador. Scientists have previously fitted tracking devices to leatherbacks on other beaches across Latin America and from bycatch near Ecuador. However, they recently tagged the first nesting leatherback in Ecuador, the southern limit of the species’ nesting range.

Scientists named the turtle Lucero, “morning star” in Spanish, and estimated her age at 25-40 years. They plan to gather data on her migration and feeding patterns, which should help inform conservation policies for the critically endangered subpopulation. (Globally, the species, Dermochelys coriacea, is listed as vulnerable.)

Researchers from Ecuador-based Fundacion Reina Laud were at sea when they first spotted Lucero heading toward a remote stretch of beach to nest. They alerted Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist and founder of the U.S.-based Leatherback Project.

The team didn’t know where Lucero would emerge, so they stationed people the length of the beach with radios to watch out for her, according to Veelenturf.

“It was really quite an adventure because we just spent multiple nights out on the beach waiting for her,” she told Mongabay in a video call.

When sea turtles lay eggs, they enter a trance-like state in which they don’t seem to notice activity around them, Veelenturf said. That’s when the team attached a satellite tag to the top of Lucero’s shell. Now, each time she surfaces to breathe, the tag pings a satellite and transmits information about her movements.

Leatherbacks can be found across most of the world’s oceans, but the eastern Pacific subpopulation has declined by roughly 98% over the last several decades. One of their biggest threats is getting caught in fishing nets as bycatch, which can be deadly for turtles and expensive for fishers, whose nets get damaged in these entanglements.

By tagging Lucero, the researchers want to learn where she travels, when, and how deep she dives. With that information, they can better advise fishers on how to avoid areas frequented by sea turtles.

“We wanted to understand how the habitat use and the fishing grounds use is overlapping,” Veelenturf said.

She added that fishers have another practical motivation for helping the 900-kilogram (2,000-pound) turtles: “They can eat their weight in jellyfish every single day, and jellyfish consume juvenile fish and fish larvae. So when you have a healthy leatherback population, [it] supports healthy fish stocks and fishing communities in turn.”

Since laying her eggs, Lucero has migrated south to coastal Peru, her tracker shows. The tag will likely stay attached for a year or two, though Veelenturf said she hopes it lasts long enough to trace Lucero’s migration route and foraging grounds.

“Every day I check it and hold my breath and wait to see the transmitting signal,” she said.

Banner image: Callie Veelenturf and Kerly Briones with Lucero on Playa Pajonal, Ecuador. Image courtesy of Nikki Riddy.

About a year ago, Kenya announced plans for its first nuclear power plant to be built in Siaya County, on the shores of Lake Victoria. However, following local protests, Kenya’s state-run Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) announced plans to conduct “a robust, transparent, and multi-layered educational campaign” to address concerns.

The facility would produce roughly 2,000 megawatts of energy and cost roughly KSh500 billion ($3.85 billion) to build.

“As the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency, we hear and respect the voices of the residents of Siaya. Public participation is not a mere procedural formality. It is a constitutional right,” the agency said in a statement shared on social media. The agency said the project wouldn’t proceed “without the broad informed consent of the community.”

The statement came two days after protests from residents living near the proposed nuclear power project. They voiced concerns about potential nuclear contamination and ecological risks to Africa’s largest fresh-water lake. Many locals depend on the lake for food and their livelihoods.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has previously assured the public that the flagship energy project will be safe.

Power Shift Africa (PSA), a Pan-African think tank focused on climate change, has condemned the proposed shift toward nuclear energy, saying it risks diverting attention and resources from Kenya’s readily available renewable energy solutions, which are cleaner and safer.

In a statement sent to Mongabay, PSA Director Mohamed Adow said a nuclear facility can take more than a decade to become operational. “For comparison, the 55MW solar plant in Garissa [Kenya] took only one year to finalize. If we really need to get this electricity to people at record speeds, then we have to look no further than renewables.”

The project was initially earmarked for Kilifi County, on Kenya’s coast, but after Kilifi residents rejected the plan, the government shifted to the new site in Siaya County.

NuPEA has previously held stakeholder consultations with communities in Siaya County to sell the idea of a nuclear power project. They’ve also been working to shore up national political support. In February, a delegation from NuPEA and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) paid a courtesy call to the Speaker of the National Assembly to discuss the Nuclear Regulatory Act and strengthen “institutional collaboration and policy support for the nuclear power program.”

However, Adow warned nuclear contamination in Lake Victoria would be devastating. He pointed to a 2024 report by The Council on Strategic Risks, which, he said, found that “biodiversity collapse in the Lake Victoria Basin could trigger conflict, economic instability, migration and insecurity across East Africa.”

“Already, declining fish stocks, pollution and environmental degradation are threatening livelihoods, social cohesion and regional stability, and the millions who live around this lake need ecological protection, not a monument to an energy Baal,” Adow said.

Banner image: Local residents near Lake Victoria, protesting the planned construction of a nuclear power project on May 21, 2026. Picture sourced from social media.

PARIS (AP) — Europe is baking under unseasonal heat that is shattering temperature records, including in the United Kingdom on Monday, and prompting government warnings after deaths were reported at amateur sports events in France.

The French sports minister, Marina Ferrari, posted condolences to the loved ones of a runner who died Sunday in a Paris race. Le Parisien newspaper reported that the 53-year-old man suffered a heart attack during the run in the capital’s 20th arrondissement, and that firefighters were unable to revive him.

It wasn’t yet known if the cause of the runner’s death was heat-related, but Ferrari suggested a possible link. Temperatures in Paris went as high as 32 C ( 90 F) in the afternoon.

“The events that occurred today (Sunday) during running races are a reminder that practicing sports in extreme heat requires absolute vigilance,” Ferrari said in an X post. “My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the runner who died in Paris, as well as with the people who were treated by emergency services.”

In the southeastern city of Lyon, local media Actu Lyon on Monday reported the death of a woman who suffered heat stroke there during another sports competition, also on Sunday.

The national weather service, Meteo France, said temperatures are breaking records for the month of May, soaring past 30 C (86 F) in many parts of the country and forecast to last into the week.

The United Kingdom broke its record Monday for the hottest temperature recorded in May, after a heat wave was declared in several parts of the country.

Residents and tourists sought relief at beaches, parks and searched for shade on the holiday as the temperature hit 34.8 C (94.6 F) at Kew Gardens in southwest London, breaking the previous record of 32.8 C (91.4 F) set in 1922 and matched again in 1944.

The U.K. Health Security Agency has issued its first amber health alert of the year, warning of a rise in deaths, particularly among the elderly, at the hottest times of the day.

Next-level weather wildness is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds. Experts say unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger.

By Associated Press

Banner image: People seek relief from the heat along the Seine River in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. Artwork by street artist JR is seen on the Pont Neuf in the background. Image by Michel Euler, Associated Press 

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

Asia’s mainland leopard cat is easy to overlook. It’s small, nocturnal, and often mistaken for a domestic cat or a leopard cub. On paper, it appears secure. The species ranges from India to the Russian Far East, and is listed as “least concern” on the IUCN Red List. It may be one of the world’s most abundant wildcats.

That status is reassuring, though only to a point. The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) is a generalist, able to live in forests, plantations, and other human-shaped landscapes. This adaptability has helped it persist where more specialized animals have declined. It also makes the species easy to misread. A wildcat can be widespread and still poorly understood, reports contributor Annelise Giseburt for Mongabay.

Much of the uncertainty lies in the gap between maps depicting the cat’s global range and field data. Country-level population figures are often thin or missing. Researchers rely on small local studies and extrapolation. In some places, the cat may be doing well. In others, it faces habitat loss, hunting, road deaths, and genetic isolation. Local declines can disappear inside a global assessment that looks stable across a large range.

The pattern is familiar in conservation. Big cats draw funding, monitoring technology like camera traps, and political attention. Smaller cats, even common ones, receive far less. That leaves the leopard cat in a strange position: present across much of Asia, yet still scientifically under-described.

There is a practical reason to care. Leopard cats help control rodents, a role that matters in farming landscapes as well as forests. They also offer a test of whether conservation can pay attention before a species becomes rare. Waiting for scarcity is an expensive habit.

The leopard cat is not an emergency symbol. That is precisely what makes it worth noticing. It reminds us that “least concern” is not the same as well known, and abundance is not the same as safety.

Read the full story by Annelise Giseburt here.

Banner image: A leopard cat in India’s West Bengal state. India’s population of leopard cats is not contiguous, with individuals in the western part of the country isolated from the rest of the leopard cat’s range. Image by Soumyajit Nandy via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).