Where do illegal lion parts come from? A new tool offers answers
Over the past 50 years, lion numbers have decreased by three-quarters. Only 20,000 to 40,000 of these majestic big cats survive in the wild today. A third of lion deaths…
Lions News
Return of the lions: Large protected areas in Africa attract apex predator
Lions are returning on their own to parks in Mozambique and Chad thanks to the creation of vast landscape mosaics that include core protected areas, corridors and cooperating communities through which the big cats roam.
Video of rare West African lion cubs sparks hope for the population
New video of a West African lioness and her three cubs is exciting news for the conservation community, sparking hope for the slow recovery of a population perilously close to…
Trafficked: Kidnapped chimps, jailed rhino horn traffickers, and seized donkey parts
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Three chimpanzees have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom after intruders broke into a primate sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo.…
Small cats should be a conservation priority, says Panthera’s new board chair Jonathan Ayers
Most people are familiar with the world's "big cats": Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguar, puma, and cheetah. But far fewer people know about the much larger number of small cat species,…
Conservation after coronavirus: We need to diversify and innovate (commentary)
The loss of the Mukambi River Pride lioness last June was sobering proof that the shock wave of COVID-19 had reached the heart and wildlife of Zambia’s Kafue National Park.…
Reckoning with elitism and racism in conservation: Q&A with Colleen Begg
In the wake of George Floyd's killing last year, long-running concerns about discrimination, colonial legacy, privilege, and power dynamics in conservation have gained prominence, forcing many organizations in the sector…
Sri Lanka zoo lion contracts COVID-19 as reports of animal infections rise
COLOMBO — Thor is an 11-year-old, well-built male lion at Sri Lanka’s National Zoological Gardens in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala. He’s something of an icon at the zoo, famed…
Private investors look to high-end tourism to fund conservation in Mozambique
When COVID-19 started to sweep across the world last year, conservationists feared that it would be a disaster for Africa’s wildlife. Tourism revenues evaporated, causing salary cuts and layoffs for…
Deforestation intensifies in northern DRC protected areas
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) contains the bulk of Africa’s humid rainforest. But forests that were once dense, impenetrable and continuous are increasingly fractured by deforestation. New satellite…
Keeping animals wild vs ‘safe’ should be prioritized, lion biologists argue (commentary)
Wild animals, especially big cats, have captivated human interest for as long as we have existed. The very first figurative art, laboriously carved out of woolly mammoth ivory over 40,000…
South Africa pulls the plug on controversial captive lion industry
The South African government has made a landmark decision to end the nation’s captive lion breeding industry. This includes closing down facilities that offer touristic experiences like canned hunting and…
Captive lions kept in ‘stressful conditions’ create perfect recipe for disease, experts say
In 2019, animal welfare inspectors visited Pienika Farm, a captive-lion facility in the North West province of South Africa. They found sick lion after sick lion living in conditions inspectors…
Coronavirus is a crisis for South Africa’s captive lions, campaigners warn
Wildlife conservation and animal welfare groups say the COVID-19 pandemic ought to spell the end for one of South Africa’s most controversial businesses: the captive breeding of lions. Industry representatives…
Some lions adapted to hunting in water, and that’s important for conservationists to understand (commentary)
The lion. The king of the jungle. It’s certainly one of Africa’s (if not the world’s) most iconic animals. It is on the ‘must see’ list of just about every…
Legal and illegal trade negatively impacting survival and wellbeing of Africa’s wildlife: Report
A new report finds that both legal and illegal trade are detrimental to the conservation of Africa’s iconic wildlife. Released last week by the London-based NGO World Animal Protection to…
Big cat trade driven by demand for traditional Asian medicine, according to report
Traditional Asian medicine is driving the growing international trade in big cat products and leading to the mistreatment of thousands of animals, according to a recent report. Bones, blood, and…
Simba’s future depends on putting communities at the forefront of lion conservation (commentary)
This past weekend, Disney’s newly released version of The Lion King shattered box office records by earning $544 million in theaters around the world. But while Simba and Mufasa’s return…
$25m in funding to help African gov’ts prosecute poachers, traffickers
A prominent African wildlife conservation NGO has committed $25 million to help protect iconic fauna from poaching and habitat loss across the continent by investing in African institutions and people.…
Tanzania’s Maasai losing ground to tourism in the name of conservation, investigation finds
The government of Tanzania is casting aside Maasai communities to make way for lucrative high-end safari tourism and hunting, says the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank, in a report…
Suspected poisoning takes down 11 lions in Uganda park
Eleven lions were allegedly poisoned to death in a Ugandan national park in early April. Authorities discovered the bodies of three lionesses and eight cubs, members of the same pride,…
Trump’s elephant, lion trophy hunting policy hit with double lawsuits
Conservationists have slapped the Interior Department and USFWS with suits challenging their “case-by-case” trophy hunting policy and a new advisory council.
Trump to allow elephant and lion trophies on case-by-case basis
In a decision conservationists say could potentially invite corruption, the Trump administration will allow trophy hunting imports from Africa on a case-by-case basis.
Films celebrate big cats on World Wildlife Day
Big cats around the world face many challenges, from diminishing prey populations and habitat degradation, to poaching for their meat and body parts. A current spike in the killing of…
$23.5 million funding pledge aims to protect critical West African national park
Benin’s Pendjari National Park, one of West Africa’s largest remaining strongholds for the elephant and the critically endangered West African lion, has now received a major funding boost. Four groups…
Lions deal blow to giraffe numbers by targeting young, study finds
Lions put a damper on the number of young giraffes that survive to maturity, according to a new study, raising concerns about a species that has recently slipped into decline.…
U.S. court ruling complicates Trump’s elephant and lion policy
A new federal ruling against an Obama-era ban on Zimbabwe elephant trophy hunting imports could throw Trump’s trophy hunting policy into even further confusion.
Trump’s indecision on trophy hunting reignites heated debate
A U.S. decision to allow import of trophy hunted elephants led to public outrage, Trump’s halt to the order, and the revival of a trophy hunting ethics discussion.
Jane Goodall interview: ‘The most important thing is sharing good news’
This week’s podcast featured a discussion between Mongabay’s founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler and Jane Goodall, the world’s most recognizable conservationist and one of this media outlet’s esteemed advisory…
‘Record’ number of migratory species protected at October wildlife summit
Attendees at the world’s largest wildlife conference have called for stepping up protection for 34 migratory species, including giraffes, whale sharks and two of Africa’s big cats. “Migratory animals play…
Keeping lions at bay to keep them going
Living together can be hard. But put people and their livestock close to lions and other hungry predators, and it’s as hard as it gets. In East Africa, wildlife and…
First ever photos of wild lion nursing leopard cub
Last Tuesday, a guest at Ndutu Lodge in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area observed something unusual: a five-year-old wild lioness nicknamed Nosikitok was nursing a leopard cub estimated to be only a few weeks old. Lions have…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- In Brazil’s Amazon, land invasions — and fires — threaten a protected reserve
- A Guatemalan reserve turns from civil war refuge to deforestation hotspot
- Narco activity takes heavy toll on Colombia’s protected forests, satellite data show
- Photos confirm narcotraffickers operating in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve
Oceans
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
- Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave
- Six months after first Houthi ship sinking, attacks slick Red Sea with oil
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- In the DRC, a government commission is taking funds owed to people relocated by mines
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
