Habitat loss drove long-tailed macaques extinct in Bangladesh, experts say
DHAKA — Experts point to habitat loss from a wide range of factors as the main reason the long-tailed macaque, one of the most widely distributed monkey species in the…
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ harming wildlife the world over: Study
While PFAS impacts on human health are well known, scientists are also finding severe impacts on wildlife, including hawksbill turtles, American alligators, Arctic kittiwakes, hooded seals, striped bass, bottlenose dolphins and other species.
For Vietnam’s rare reptiles, lack of captive populations may spell doom
Vietnam is the meeting point of two incredibly biodiverse ecoregions, where the tropical ecosystems of Southeast Asia merge seamlessly with the temperate biomes of mainland Asia. Across a terrain of…
African Parks to rewild 2,000 rhinos from controversial breeding program
On Sept. 4, African Parks, a multinational nonprofit conservation organization, announced that it had purchased Platinum Rhino, John Hume’s controversial intensive rhino breeding operation, and intended to rewild the more…
Off Mexico’s coast, world’s largest limpet is slipping into extinction
The world’s largest limpet, Scutellastra mexicana, is making its last stand on a group of islands off Mexico, with experts warning that it may slip into extinction without urgent conservation…
World’s largest private rhino herd doesn’t have a buyer — or much of a future
On May 1 this year, an online auction for a controversial captive-breeding project that comes with one in eight of all southern white rhinos in the world ended in a…
Study: More than 900 at-risk species lack international trade protections
Used as food, pets, medicine and décor, plants and animals across the globe are threatened by international trade. A recent study reveals concerning gaps in trade protections for the most…
Amid government inaction, Indonesia’s rhinos head toward extinction (analysis)
Margaret Kinnaird has worked in conservation for decades, from North America to Africa. But it was only when she started working in Indonesia that she heard the acronym NATO, or…
Bangladesh orchid losses signal ecological imbalance, researchers say
Among the 188 identified orchids once found in Bangladesh, 32 are extinct from nature in the last few decades, according to a study published in the now-defunct International Journal of…
Small wildcats pose big challenges, but coexistence is very much possible
Big cat conflict is a threat to charismatic species like tigers and leopards. Small cat conflict, though often less severe, can also harm the livelihoods of communities and farmers and…
Philippines research offers hope for conserving enigmatic Rafflesia plants
Found only in Southeast Asian rainforests, the Rafflesia genus produces the world’s largest flowers. Their prodigious size is no small feat, considering that Rafflesia possess neither roots, leaves nor stems.…
Bangladesh’s new red list of plants shows country has already lost seven species
DHAKA — Bangladesh has over the last century lost seven plant species that once occurred in the country, and now risks losing at least another five, according to the first-ever…
Dam-building spree pushes Amazon Basin’s aquatic life closer to extinction
“People need to think about river basins or freshwater systems like a heart, a living system,” says Bernardo Caldas, from WWF-Brasil. Caldas is the co-lead author of a new study…
A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
A new report has highlighted the maritime border zone between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as a hotbed for the illegal wildlife trade, and called for urgent intergovernmental action to…
Global study of 71,000 animal species finds 48% are declining
A survey of all five vertebrate groups — mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish — plus insects, found nearly half of populations are shrinking, while just 3% are increasing, overwhelmingly due to human pressures.
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.
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…
‘Anthill tiger’: Putting one of Africa’s rarest wildcats on the radar
Every night, somewhere unseen across the vast, semidesert and dry savanna habitat of Southern Africa, the continent’s deadliest cat emerges to hunt. Black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) are ideally suited for…
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…
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…
‘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…
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…
Chilean chinchilla faces new threat from copper mine near national reserve
Las Chinchillas National Reserve is located in the hills of the Coquimbo region, in the province of Choapa, where more than a decade-long drought has turned the earth yellow. The…
Small cats face big threats: Reasons to save these elusive endangered species
More than 30 species of small cats roam Earth today. They control small mammal populations to keep ecosystems in balance while helping farmers reduce rodent numbers. Over a dozen small cat species are hugely at risk.
Monarch butterflies become a powerful symbol for justice at the U.S./Mexico border (commentary)
Monarch butterflies could go extinct, much to the dismay of environmentalists in the U.S. and Mexico. Monarch butterfly populations in Mexico have dropped 22% in the last year, according to…
For Argentina’s ruddy-headed goose, threats grow while population shrinks
The photo speaks for itself: a woman lies on the ground with just her smiling face visible, her body covered by about 20 dead geese, the result of a “successful”…
Five years since the death of Sudan, new film highlights hope for rhinos
Sudan, a 45-year-old rhino believed to be the world’s last surviving male northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), died five years ago at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on…
New map boosts Philippine eagle population estimate, but highlights threats
The Philippine eagle, the archipelagic nation's iconic, endemic apex predator, has been declared threatened with extinction for nearly three decades. Yet despite its status as the national bird, little is…
Last chance: Study highlights perilous state of ‘extinct in the wild’ species
Hundreds of thousands of European bison once grazed the grassy slopes from Spain to Ukraine — until they gradually went extinct in the wild by 1927. But when the last…
