Scientists have identified four new-to-science species of chameleons inhabiting four distinct, isolated mountains in northern Mozambique.

These mountains — Namuli, Inago, Chiperone, and Ribáuè —are granite inselbergs rising sharply from the arid savanna. They act as “sky islands” or ecological oases that have allowed unique species to evolve in isolation for millions of years.

The research team, led by herpetologists Krystal Tolley of the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the University of Johannesburg, alongside Werner Conradie from Port Elizabeth Museum, explored the inselbergs from 2014 to 2018 to survey the chameleons found there. Their analysis of the chameleons’ DNA and physical traits confirmed that each mountain harbors its own distinct species.

The newly described species are Nadzikambia franklinae, N. goodallae, N. nubila and N. evanescens.

Two of the chameleons’ names pay homage to women scientists: N. franklinae, found on Mount Namuli, is named after British chemist Rosalind Franklin, while N. goodallae, found on Mount Ribáuè, honors late conservation icon Jane Goodall.

The other two chameleons were named for their habitat and microclimate: N. nubila is named after the Latin nubilus, meaning cloudy, referring to the clouds that are key for the mid-elevation wet forest on Mount Chiperone. Meanwhile, the species name of N. evanescens means “vanishing” in Latin, to reflect the desperate state of its shrinking home on Mount Inago.

All four chameleons are forest specialists that live high in the canopy of primary rainforests, the researchers say. However, these reptiles are already in imminent danger of extinction due to widespread slash-and-burn clearing of the forests and their conversion to agriculture, the researchers write.

“They do not tolerate other vegetation types, and therefore cannot use the habitat that is converted to agriculture,” Tolley told Mongabay by email. “The result is direct mortality (during the slash and burn clearing) but also any surviving chameleons will no longer have a home … and will be quickly predated upon.”

Tolley added that forest loss across the mountains has consequences for the local human population as well, such as compromising water security by reducing cloud cover and rainfall and causing rivers to silt up. “While there is a short-term gain in terms of food production, in the longer term, the removal of forest causes more harm than reward,” she said.

The researchers note that the local communities around Mount Chiperone view it as holy, providing the forests there some level of community protection. This community-led stewardship likely gives N. nubila a lower risk of extinction compared to its sister species, the authors

Banner image of a female sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia goodallae) from Mount Ribáuè. Image by Krystal Tolley (CC BY 4.0).

A continent-wide genomic study of both savanna and forest elephants in Africa has found that African elephants once roamed widely, both species exchanging genes throughout their range.  However, as humans decimated elephant populations for their ivory and fragmented their habitats with farms and urban development, the effects of these disturbances appeared in the genomic patterns of both African elephant species. 

Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) were considered one species until 2021, by when genetic studies confirmed they are two distinct evolutionary lineages that diverged 2 million to 5 million years ago.

The recent study, which sequenced 232 genomes of savanna and forest elephants across 17 African countries, confirmed the deep divergence between the elephant species. The researchers also found that the two species have a history of hybridization, especially where forest and savanna habitats meet. In areas such as Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, the team found evidence of recent hybridization.

Meanwhile, some savanna elephants far from forest habitats, such as those in northern Uganda, the Serengeti in Tanzania, and the Zambezi in Southern Africa, also have signs of forest elephant ancestry in their genomes, the study found. This suggests there was hybridization at some point in the deep past, the authors say. They link this to shifts in the extent of tropical forests in response to climate change over millions of years.

The researchers also found signals of human impacts on some elephant genomes. For example,  savanna elephants in Eritrea and Ethiopia have been hunted down to small population sizes and live in small, isolated habitat fragments surrounded by agriculture and human settlements, hundreds of kilometers away from other elephant populations. The study found that both populations have a high degree of inbreeding and low genetic variation. In contrast, elephants in Southern Africa are genetically diverse because their populations are connected, enabling the exchange of genes.

“The anthropogenic impact on elephant populations was really drastic in the last two decades, but due to the long life span and generation time in elephants, detecting even the steep declines, particularly in the forest elephant, can still be rather difficult,” Patrícia Pečnerová, study lead author, told Mongabay by email. “One measure that is relatively robust even within short time spans, is inbreeding, mating between relatives.”

Pečnerová added that elephants normally avoid mating with close relatives, “but if a population decline reduces their numbers, inbreeding becomes more common.”

“This research underscores that connectivity is essential for the health of elephant populations,” George Lohay, an elephant genetics researcher in Tanzania not affiliated with the study, told Mongabay by email. “Many countries have not put much emphasis on the genetic connectivity of elephants (and other megafauna). I feel like this is a wake-up call and a reason to make regulations to maintain the present wildlife corridors or restore some crucial connectivity areas.”

Banner image of African elephants by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Visual storyteller Taiwo Aina-Adeokun traveled across Nigeria over several months from 2025-26, documenting areas of the country where heavy plumes of smoke, containing the sooty pollutant black carbon, are a part of daily life.

In some cases, the soot comes from Nigeria’s smoked-food culinary traditions. In others, it is a byproduct of the country’s oil industry.

“I didn’t stay inside the smoke for too long because my eyes were watery and red and I was coughing,” Aina-Adeokun told Mongabay by phone.

“I’m sure if we did a medical scan, we’d find effects in [residents’] system, like a respiratory problem. But most of the people there have been in this business for decades, so they are used to being in the smoke.”

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  Anthonia Akonasu, a fish seller, smokes fish in the Makoko community of the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria.
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  The Makoko community is a densely populated settlement built on stilts over the Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria.
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  A portrait of Anthonia Akonasu.

“Once we breathe [the soot particles] in, they go into our lungs and affect our respiratory health,” Tom Grylls, an air pollution specialist at the Clean Air Fund, told Mongabay in a video call. “But because they’re so small, they can go beyond the lungs and into your bloodstream and therefore are linked with effects on your heart and on your nervous system.”

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  Smoked fish in Makoko, Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria.
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  Early-morning fish-smoking fires in the Makoko community in Nigeria.
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  Most residents in Makoko work as fishers and fish traders, processing their daily catch over open fires. Lagos, Nigeria.

Black carbon primarily impacts low-income households with limited access to electricity. It also disproportionately affects women, since much of residential exposure occurs while cooking, a task that women often dominate across many cultures.

Port Harcourt in Rivers State, a region in Nigeria around 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of Lagos, is also famous for its smoked food, including cow skins.

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  Soot on Peter Akpos’ hands as he roasts over an open fire.
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  Peter Akpos has smoked cow skin for the last 18 years. He is exposed to smoke almost every day as a part of his profession.
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  Cow skins on an open fire in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
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  Smoke rises from a cow-skin processing unit in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Burning wood creates the signature smoky taste of the dish. Residential electricity and gas, which emit less soot, are expensive and uncommon in the community. But even vendors who can afford these heat sources often still prioritize charcoal for the flavor it lends food.

“They didn’t see [the smoke] as a problem. They saw it as their lifestyle. That really stood out for me,” Aina-Adeokun said.

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  Happiness Gift frying garri (made from cassava) with firewood with her mom in K-Dere village in Ogoniland, Nigeria.
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  A pot coated with soot from firewood burning in Gift's kitchen in K-Dere village, Rivers State, Nigeria.
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  Foam from a bed darkened by soot accumulation in Bodo village, Rivers State, Nigeria.
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  18-year-old Dumbar Gomah points to inscriptions carved into soot residue on a wall in Bodo village, Rivers State, Nigeria.

“There was a time I traveled for a long period and left a foam mattress against the wall,” Happiness Gift, a resident of K-Dere village in Ogoniland, Nigeria, told Aina-Adeokun. “When I returned nine months later, the mattress had turned black.”

“It is hard to know when [soot] has affected someone, except when they see black soot in their nose or cough up black particles,” Gift added.

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  Biochemist Gogo Appolus shows soot wiped from a car near the industrial gas flare at Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Ltd.
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  A gas flare at the Indorama petrochemical company in Port Harcourt.
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  Residents are impacted by the black carbon emitted on an industrial scale by the oil sector.

Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Ltd. burns gas at its refinery in Port Harcourt. Gogo Appolus, a biochemist at Rivers State University in Nigeria, wipes his hands on a car nearby, showing the accumulated soot on his hands.

“Nigeria is one of the largest producers of oil, and people in those regions have been suffering from the effect of soot for decades now,” Aina-Adeokun told Mongabay.

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  Black carbon pollution left over from illegal crude oil extraction and burning in Rivers State, Nigeria.
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  Many local water sources have been contaminated and no longer have fish.
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  Holes with crude oil mixed with water from an illegal refinery.

Rivers State in Nigeria is rich in crude oil resources. For years, illegal and legal refineries have extracted and burned petroleum products, contributing to widespread soot pollution in the region. Government crack downs on illegal refinery sites have reduced soot levels over the last 4-5 years.

Banner image: Portrait of Anthonia Akonasu. All images courtesy of Taiwo Aina-Adeokun/Climate Visuals.

The Salween River, Asia’s longest free-flowing waterway that briefly serves as a border between Thailand and Myanmar, is facing a crisis as recent testing has found arsenic levels far exceeding the safe limit set by the World Health Organization. Researchers from Thailand’s Chiang Mai University first raised the alarm in September 2025 after detecting high levels of toxic contaminants in nearby rivers. Experts suspect unregulated mining in Myanmar is to blame, reports Mongabay’s Gerry Flynn.

Satellite imagery analyzed by the Stimson Center, a U.S.-based think tank, identified 127 suspected mines that opened within the Salween River Basin between 2016 and 2026. What’s being mined is unclear, but some operations likely include rare earth mines, experts say. Chemicals like cyanide, mercury, arsenic and cadmium can be released into ecosystems during rare earth mining.

The WHO’s safe threshold for arsenic exposure is 0.01 milligrams per liter. Tests of multiple water samples from the Salween River Basin have found arsenic levels several times that limit.

For the millions of people living along the Salween’s 3,300-kilometer (2,050-mile) path, the river is a vital source of drinking water, irrigation and food. Pongpipat Meebenjamart, chair of the in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province, reported that local fishers are afraid and struggling as buyers avoid potentially toxic catches.

“It’s very urgent that, even if the contamination doesn’t exceed the safety levels, the government takes swift action to identify the source of the contamination, safe water supplies for affected communities,” Pongpipat said. “We can’t solve everything downstream here in Thailand. Here, few feel confident. Nobody in Mae Sam Laep has returned to fishing. Everyone is still afraid.”

News of the contamination has forced farmers like Di Padee to make difficult choices.

“Not many feel it’s safe to plant new crops,” he said. “For those who farm on the banks of the Salween, though, there’s really no choice but to use the contaminated water.”

Pianporn Deetes, environmentalist and executive director of Rivers and Rights, described the water pollution as a form of “invisible violence” driven by global supply chains. She warned that the Salween, once considered a pristine system, is being sacrificed for mineral extraction.

“I foresee that the global demand of the critical minerals will increase tremendously, while the sources are limited to places like Myanmar, but we need to identify no-go zones,” Pianporn said. “Clearly this is the headwater of a river system that is a vital source of life for millions of people and also significant for the ocean. How can we allow this to happen?”

A spokesperson for Thailand’s Pollution Control Department said they’re working with other agencies to provide health guidelines and secure alternative water sources, but critics say the government’s response is slow and its messaging unclear.

Read the full story by Gerry Flynn here.

Banner image: A drone shot of a mining site in Myanmar. Image courtesy of Ecological Alert and Recovery–Thailand.

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

In a lowland forest in southeastern Madagascar, what was missing proved as telling as what was found. Researchers working in the Manombo Special Reserve trapped tufted-tailed rats in intact interior forest. But in the nearby degraded littoral areas, their traps never caught the endemic rodents. Instead, black rats, an introduced species, dominated those traps.

The finding appears in a recent genetic study of two rodents found only in Madagascar: Webb’s tufted-tailed rat (Eliurus webbi) and the lesser tufted-tailed rat (Eliurus minor).

The paper’s primary contribution is technical: it presents the first complete mitochondrial genomes for members of the Nesomyinae rodent subfamily unique to Madagascar. Earlier work relied on shorter gene fragments, which limited the resolution of evolutionary relationships. Whole mitochondrial sequences provide a clearer basis for distinguishing closely related species and identifying variation within them.

This matters because the taxonomy of Eliurus remains unsettled. More than a dozen species have been described, and additional diversity is likely. Without reliable genetic baselines, it is difficult to determine how many species exist, where they occur, or whether their populations are changing. The new sequences do not resolve these questions, but they offer a clearer starting point.

The ecological observation underscores why that kind of detail matters. Native rodents appear confined to intact forest, while disturbed areas favor generalists like the black rat. The mechanism is unclear: habitat degradation may exclude native species directly, or invasive competitors may displace them. Each possibility carries different implications for conservation and management.

There are also consequences beyond biodiversity. Rodents are hosts for a range of pathogens, and the composition of a rodent community shapes the types of diseases present and how they spread. Generalist species that thrive near human settlements often carry more transmissible pathogens. When they replace native species, the pattern of disease risk can shift, sometimes increasing exposure.

Improved genetic tools make it possible to monitor these changes more precisely, including through noninvasive sampling of environmental DNA. This makes it easier to connect ecological monitoring with public health, often framed under “One Health.”

The conclusion is modest. In Manombo, intact forest supports native species; degraded forest does not. That contrast reflects a broader pattern. Understanding it depends on careful identification, repeated observation, and the accumulation of baseline data — work that is incremental, but foundational.

Read the full story by Rhett Ayers Butler here.

Banner image: Eliurus tufted-tailed rat. Image courtesy of Elise Paietta.

Calving season for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale has come to a close with 23 new baby whales, the most calves born in a single year since 2009.

Part of the baby boom during the winter calving season can be attributed to females giving birth at closer intervals than in years past: 18 of this year’s moms gave birth within the last six years.

“While a healthy right whale can give birth every three to four years, we had been seeing nearly 10 years between calves for some females,” Amy Warren, scientific program officer with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center, said in a statement.

One explanation for the calving delay is the stress of climate change, researchers say. Small crustaceans called copepods, the main food source for baleen whales, including North Atlantic right whales, have started shifting locations over the last decade, and many whales are traveling farther to find sufficient food.

There are an estimated 384 North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) today, living along the East Coast of North America. At least one whale was spotted near Ireland, and many are turning up in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, over a thousand kilometers from their usual habitat. Swimming to the Gulf makes their 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) migration from Florida to New England roughly 50% longer. That equates to more energy put into finding food, potentially leaving less resources for raising babies, Philip Hamilton, a senior research scientist with the New England Aquarium, told Mongabay in an email.

Still, the closer birth interval suggests that “those females have been more successful at foraging and are in better condition,” Hamilton told Mongabay by email. He added that this year’s high calf numbers are also partly due to a “backlog of calving females” after several years of delayed births.

An increase in births is welcome news for the species, though scientists estimate that a sustained 50 births per year are needed to restore the population. That’s a tall order for a species with just 70 reproductively active females.

Right whales were so named because they float when killed, making them the “right” whale for commercial whalers. They’re also slow going, coastal, and spend most of their time near the surface, qualities that made them easy prey for whale hunters and still put them in danger today.

Their migration takes them through busy shipping lanes and patches of ocean dense with ropes and trap lines. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates more than 85% of the whales have been entangled with fishing gear at least once in their lives.

So far, this year’s calves appear to be doing well. “At last count … 18 of the 23 calves had successfully migrated to the feeding grounds around Massachusetts,” Hamilton said. At this point in 2024, at least five of the 20 known calves had already died, he added.

Banner image: A North Atlantic right whale with her calf. Image by FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).