Photo: new vipers discovered in Asia’s rainforests
Hard to miss the bright red ruby eyes of the world's newest pitviper: Cryptelytrops rubeus. Photo ©: Peter Paul van Dijk. Researchers have discovered two new species of pitviper in…
Last year’s drought hit Amazon hard: nearly a million square miles impacted
A new study on its way to being published shows that the Amazon rainforest suffered greatly from last year's drought. Employing satellite data and supercomputing technology, researchers have found that…
Amazon still neglected by researchers
Terra Incognito? Venezuela's Amazon rainforest (a portion of which is viewed here by Google Earth) has been almost wholly ignored by researchers. Andean forests even less represented in research than…
What’s behind the 85% decline of mammals in West Africa’s parks?
A recent, well-covered study found that African mammals populations are in steep decline in the continent's protected areas. Large mammal populations over forty years have dropped by 59% on average…
India says tiger numbers up, but expert raises doubts
According to the Indian government tigers have gone up by 225 individuals in the past four years, from 1,411 big cats to 1,636 today, a 16% increase. The new census,…
Leaf harvesting impacts Amazon palm
Overexploitation of wildlife doesn't just threaten animals such as bluefin tuna, pangolins, and parrots, but plants as well. Leaves from the carana or puy palm (Lepidocaryum tenue) are used for…
Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups
Former US President, Bill Clinton, spoke out against Brazil's megadams at the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, which was also attended by former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and film director, James…
New land snail invading Singapore requires swift action
An African land snail Limicolaria flammea has been discovered by researchers in six locations in Singapore, perhaps heralding a new invasion of alien land snails in Southeast Asia. Although snails…
Logged forests in Vietnam retain significant biodiversity, including dipterocarp trees
Little remains of Vietnam's primary forest: as of 2005 only 12% of Vietnam forest was classified as primary. While deforestation rates have lessened since the end of the 1990s, survival…
How to save the Pantanal and increase profits for the cattle industry
Continuous versus rotational grazing. Photo courtesy of: Eaton, D. P., Santos, S. A., Santos, M. C. A., Lima, J. V. B. and Keuroghlian, A. 2011. Rotational Grazing of Native Pasturelands…
Environmental sustainability—the new economic bottom line
That's the message in Accounting for Sustainability: Practical Insights. The book represents the compilation of a five-year project—nicknamed "A4S"—sponsored by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, that examined the feasibility of…
Counting orangutans: the best way to survey the great apes
How do you count orangutans when they are difficult to spot in the wild given that they are shy, arboreal, and few and far between? To find a solution, biologists…
Alien plants invade Nigerian protected ‘gene bank’
Very few studies have been conducted on invasive species in Nigeria, however a new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science has discovered 25 invasive plants in a…
Cloud forest dung beetles in India point to ‘fossil ecosystem’
In the cloud forests and grasslands of India's Western Ghats, known as sholas, researchers have for the first time comprehensively studied the inhabiting dung beetle populations. The resulting study in…
Expedition granted?: hoping to save nearly-extinct seals through National Geographic contest
The Critically Endangered Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). Photo by: Brenda Becker. Dashiell Masland, known as 'Dash', has always been in love with the sea and its inhabitants. Now, she…
Arctic sea ice maximum ties for lowest on record
Providing more data on how climate change is impacting the Arctic, the maximum extent of sea ice this year was tied with 2006 for the lowest on record. Maximum sea…
New organization seeks to make biofuels sustainable, but is it possible?
Not too long ago policy-makers, scientists, and environmentalists saw biofuels as a significant tool to provide sustainable energy to the world. However, as it became clear that biofuels were not…
New seabird discovered, first in 55 years
Stephen Maturin, if he were not fictional, would be delighted. A new seabird has been discovered by an international expedition headed by one of the world's top seabird-experts, Peter Harrison,…
Conservationists oppose snow leopard hunt for ‘science’
Update:Mongolia has announced it will cancel the hunt of 4 snow leopards for scientific research following an outcry from conservationists. Well-known biologist and Vice President of the big cat conservation…
Photos: penguins devastated by oil spill
Northern rockhopper penguins covered in oil. Photo by: Tristan Conservation Team of Simon Glass, Wayne Swain and Matthew Green. Courtesy of: The Tristan da Cunha Website. Disturbing photos show northern…
US approves first deepwater drilling in Gulf since BP disaster as oil tar balls reappear on coast
Yesterday the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement awarded Royal Dutch Shell PLC the first deep-water exploration permit since the BP disaster last year, which sent some…
Hundreds of endangered penguins covered in oil after remote spill
Nightingale Island as viewed from Google Earth. Conservation workers have found hundreds of oiled northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi) after a cargo vessel wrecked on Nightingale Island, apart of the…
Expedition granted?: Indonesia’s ‘paper parks’ targeted in National Geographic contest
Rangers on elephant back in Sumatra, although most patrols are on foot. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2011. Twenty-five year old Trevor Frost wants to save parks in Indonesia under…
Want water? save forests
The UN-backed Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is urging nations to conserve their forests in a bid to mitigate rising water scarcity problems. "[Forests] reduce the effects of floods, prevent…
India government: forest target ‘unrealistic’
Not long ago much of India was covered in vast and varied forests. Today just over one-fifth (21%) of the nation remains under forest cover, according to the Food and…
Pet trade, palm oil, and poaching: the challenges of saving the ‘forgotten bear’
This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. "The…
As US Republicans officially dismiss climate change, scientists charge them with ‘willful ignorance’
US Republican congress members officially rejected the widespread scientific consensus that the world is warming and the cause is primarily greenhouse gas emissions. As Republicans in the US House and…
Oil exploration on hold in Virunga National Park—for now
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has suspended oil exploration in Africa's oldest national park, Virunga, until a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is conducted. The move ends oil companies, Soco…
Goodbye national parks: when ‘eternal’ protected areas come under attack
Outline of Yellowstone National Park, the world's first modern protected are, as seen by Google Earth. Yellowstone was opposed by many when it was first created including logging and mining…
Serengeti road project opposed by ‘powerful’ tour company lobby
Government plans to build a road through Serengeti National Park came up against more opposition this week as the Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators (Tato) came out against the project,…