Increasing demand for songbirds is raising the risk of “secondary extinctions” of so-called “master birds” in Southeast Asia, conservationists warn. While these birds never enter the region’s songbird singing competitions,…
JAKARTA — Customs inspectors at the Indonesian capital’s main port uncovered more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales in a shipping container bound for Cambodia in late February, in…
Authorities in France and Spain have arrested six French nationals and two Spaniards who were allegedly part of a transnational syndicate that were trafficking critically endangered European eels. The suspects…
CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — A Sumatran elephant found dead in Indonesia’s Central Aceh district in late February was the latest case of electrocution to kill one of Indonesia’s remaining critically…
Populations of Rüppell’s vultures have fallen by more than 90% over the past four decades. Knowing exactly where these critically endangered birds breed can allow conservationists to put protective measures…
MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely…
Just three months ago, Brazil seemed close to winning the highest level of international trade protections for the country’s symbol and namesake, the Brazilwood tree (Paubrasilia echinata). On Nov. 26,…
A Mongabay exposé that revealed widespread Brazilian government procurements of shark meat to serve in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions has won first place in the…
Protecting vulture populations in Africa presents some unique challenges for conservationists. These slow-breeding and ecologically vital scavengers range over vast territories and are vulnerable to poisons targeting other species and…
Earlier this month, a team of conservationists translocated 16 critically endangered banteng into Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in northeast Cambodia in a bid to boost numbers that had dwindled to…
In December 2024, Turkish customs officers were flummoxed when they discovered a malnourished baby gorilla in the cargo hold of an airplane flying from Nigeria to Bangkok, transiting via Istanbul.…
A strikingly handsome emerald-green moth, lost to science for nearly one-and-a-half centuries, has been rediscovered in South Africa by citizen scientists who posted photographs of it online. The moth, Drepanogynis…
Division was four years old when he died, a young age even by the shortened standards now applied to North Atlantic right whales. His body was found in late…
COLOMBO — In Sri Lanka, agamid lizard species are growing increasingly vulnerable due to three main factors: shrinking habitats, climate change and being traded as exotic pets. The Indian Ocean…
Deep in the coastal woods of South Carolina, behind high fences, guard dogs, and security cameras, is a group of people who know more about turtles than you. Posters and…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the permits of 28 companies over environmental violations that authorities say exacerbated the deadly floods and landslides that struck the island of Sumatra…
Between Nigeria’s Cross River and Cameroon’s Sanaga River lies one of West Africa’s largest remaining blocks of intact rainforest. Noisy groups of Preuss’s red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus preussi) move through…
CAPE TOWN — Western leopard toads have been listed as endangered since 2016. Andrew Turner, scientific manager for CapeNature, the government body that manages protected areas and conservation in South…
Between 2000 and 2023, more than 6,000 African primates were traded internationally in 50 countries, according to a newly published report. Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and critically endangered western gorillas…
More than 145,000 African forest elephants roam the rainforests of Africa, according to a recent population assessment. Published in December by the African Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the…
Encompassing some 7,400 square kilometers, or 2,860 square miles, along the Honduran border, Nicaragua’s Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is the largest biosphere reserve in Central America. It’s home to the Miskito…
ELEUTHERA, Bahamas — Tucked away beside the main road that runs along Eleuthera, a narrow island in the Bahamas, the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve holds 12 hectares (30 acres)…
A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons has won second place in the national category of the 67th ARI/Banrisul Journalism…
ARVOREZINHA, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil — The admirable little red-bellied toad is the size of a thumb, but it has achieved giant feats: In 2014, it prevented the construction…
PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia — A group of specialist Sumatran elephants have joined recovery operations in Aceh following the catastrophic landfall of Cyclone Senyar in late November — two decades after…
JAKARTA — Reeling from a cyclone that may have erased a chunk of its population, the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape population, now faces the prospect of losing…
JAKARTA — A Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape, has been discovered dead in mud and log debris in a village in northern Sumatra — a grim sign of…
KAPUAS HULU, Indonesia — A palm oil company is rapidly clearing rainforest inside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that’s home to orangutans and sun bears, adding to concerns over Indonesia’s efforts…
It was 2006 and Ismail Ebrahim, a botanist with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), was worried. While surveying one of the last remaining patches of renosterveld shrubland in…
KATHMANDU — Of the eight known species of pangolins found in Asia and Africa, three are listed as critically endangered on the Red List that’s maintained by the IUCN, the…
It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean's series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush…
A controversial proposed mining project in Malawi’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is raising opposition from traditional chiefs and conservationists. Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi is a renowned biodiversity hotspot,…
