Nepal’s hydropower boom is killing birds via power lines
KATHMANDU — When Suman Hamal was growing up in his hometown of Putalibazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, he saw birds of different species and sizes fly around in his neighborhood.…
Conservationists aim to save critically endangered European eels on Italy’s Po River
OASI DI CANNEVIÉ, Italy — In the early morning haze, Luca Bellini steered his green boat through the web of canals and lagoons of the Po River Delta. He had…
Mating game: Survival of some small wildcats at risk due to housecat hybrids
Interbreeding with domestic cats, and also with other wildcat species, is altering the behaviors and genetic profiles of some small wildcats, creating conservation dilemmas about how best to define and protect these species.
Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, drought
A population of endangered elephant shrews has rebounded in a threatened coastal forest reserve in Kenya, suggesting the rabbit-sized mammals with endearingly long snouts could be adapting to both human…
Greater Mekong proves an ark of biodiversity, with 380 new species in a year
A thick-thumbed bat, a color-changing lizard, and a Muppet-looking orchid are just a few of the 380 new-to-science species found and described in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia…
In the Colombian Amazon, Indigenous communities protect the sacred black caiman
For the Indigenous peoples of Colombia’s lower Caquetá River, the lakes of Puerto Caimán form a huge maloca, a cultural and spiritual hub. This watery habitat is home to the…
Fires threaten Afromontane forests’ ‘whole new world’: Q&A with Martim Melo
Afromontane forests occur at high altitudes across Africa. They’re thought to be relics of former glacial periods in Africa. Studying genetic data from birds living in these moist temperate forests,…
Record year for olive ridley turtles in Bangladesh as conservation work pays off
Bangladesh has recorded the highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs laid on the country’s beaches this nesting season, thanks to extensive conservation actions. A survey by the NGO Nature…
A Guarani community brings native bees back in the shadow of São Paulo
Márcio Werá Mirim, chief of the village of Tekoá Yvy Porã, shares his people’s sacred story in a mix of Portuguese and Guarani as he walks along a path in…
One left: British Columbia’s last chance on northern spotted owls
A thousand northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) once lived among the sweeping cedars and towering Douglas firs of southwestern British Columbia’s old-growth forests. Today, only one female survives. She…
‘I’m not distressed, I’m just pissed off’: Q&A with Sumatran rhino expert John Payne
In 2019, the last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia died. Her name was Iman and ever since her capture in 2014, she had been under the care of the Bornean Rhino…
Trapping holds back speed of bird recovery in a Sumatran forest, study shows
JAKARTA — A decade of protection and natural regeneration of tropical forests has helped bird populations increase in the southern lowlands of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, but continued wild trapping by…
Honey production sweetens snow leopard conservation in Kyrgyzstan
SHAMSHY, Kyrgyzstan — “I was only 9 when I first saw a snow leopard with my father. He was a ranger bringing injured animals found in the mountains to the…
Philippines a global hotspot for giant clams — and their illegal trade
The Philippines, a hotspot of marine biodiversity, has emerged as the global epicenter of an illicit trade in giant clams that threatens the survival of these massive sea creatures. According…
Inaugural Indigenous women’s forum spotlights Congo Basin conservation
On May 8, the first forum of Indigenous women and local communities from Central Africa and the Congo Basin opened in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. This…
Death of last female Yangtze softshell turtle signals end for ‘god’ turtle
Sometimes, our current mass extinction crisis can be represented by the loss of a single individual. On April 21, locals spotted a 93-kilogram (205-pound) body in the waters of Dong…
‘Chasing giants’: Q&A with megafish biologist and author Zeb Hogan
In 2005, fishers in northern Thailand captured a Mekong giant catfish of gargantuan proportions. Tipping the scales at 293 kilograms (646 pounds), the critically endangered Pangasianodon gigas raised a question…
A Guatemalan town fights to bar gold mining and save its waters
In 1997, people in Asunción Mita, a municipality in eastern Guatemala, weren’t really thinking that mining could arrive close to home. But that same year, the country’s Ministry of Energy…
Snares don’t discriminate: A problem for wild cats, both big and small
In 2019, researchers declared the Indochinese tiger extinct in Laos as widespread snaring in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park picked off the last few individuals of Panthera tigris corbetti. Two…
Study shows Javan leopard habitat shrinking, but real picture may be worse
Across the Indonesian island of Java, suitable habitat for Javan leopards shrunk by more than 1,300 square kilometers, or 500 square miles, between 2000 and 2020. That’s according to a…
In a Bolivian protected area torn up for gold, focus is on limiting damage
LA PAZ — At dawn in Apolobamba, in the Bolivian highlands, groups of vicuña and alpaca — some sheared, some shaggy — amble around looking for scrub to graze on,…
Still time to save Brazil’s Cerrado, study shows, but it’s running out fast
Brazil’s Cerrado may not be a household name like the neighboring Amazon Rainforest, but this vast savanna biome is even more threatened and fragmented. A new study now shows there’s…
Montana cannot be trusted with grizzly bear & wolf management (commentary)
Whether you live in Big Sky country, have enjoyed its natural wonders as a tourist, or marveled at the iconic imagery of Yellowstone National Park’s bears and wolves from afar…
‘Extinct’ snails return to Tahiti in largest wildlife reintroduction ever
The Polynesian tree snail, a tiny mollusk about the size of an aspirin pill, used to be found in abundance on Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia. But about 30…
Colombia: Scientists explore remote seamounts to protect hammerhead sharks
In 1995, when Colombia protected the island of Malpelo by setting up the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, the area had a recorded 43 species of crustaceans, six species of…
Bangladesh’s vultures still threatened by poison despite conservation actions
Authorities investigating the discovery of 14 dead vultures in a feeding zone that’s meant to be safe for the scavenging birds have found that they died from eating poisoned bait…
Indianapolis Zoo offers $1m grant for plan to save a threatened species
The Indianapolis Zoological Society has announced it will award a $1 million grant to an organization that can “develop and execute a plan that will have a measurable and sustainable…
Ground-nesting chimps hold lessons for conservation — and for human evolution
Chimpanzees tend to sleep more on the ground than previously thought, a behavior that has implications for their conservation and could help explain how and when early humans abandoned trees…
Mating urge adds new pressure to human-elephant conflict in Nepal
CHITWAN, Nepal — Wild male elephants in search of females to mate with are homing in on captive domestic elephants, in the process posing a threat to human settlements and…
New ‘snug,’ a snail with a too-small shell, described from Brunei rainforest
JAKARTA — A group of researchers and citizen-scientists have described a new “semi-slug” species from the lowland rainforests of northern Borneo. The so-called snug, a snail whose external shell is…
