This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections…
LILONGWE ― Habitat loss and direct persecution of large carnivores are well-documented threats, but the role that cultural demand plays in the fortunes of many species of wildcats is poorly…
Real-time monitoring has captured images of lionesses with cubs in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park, but conservationists warn human pressure makes it unlikely all the cubs will reach adulthood. There…
On a dawn drive through a savannah reserve in Zambia, a ranger slows the truck and points to a faint trail in the dust. It is not the spoor of…
Andrew Stein had been working across Africa for more than 15 years when he first heard of lion poisoning incidents in Botswana. In a bid to protect their livestock, communities…
As apex predators, lions (Panthera leo) roam the African savanna, and occasionally even the rainforests, as the only social big cats. A small, isolated population of Asiatic lions (Panthera leo…
Ancient Egypt’s feline gods, embroidered tigers on Chinese textiles, lions in Southern Africa’s San cave paintings and jaguars symbolizing military prowess in Mesoamerican cultures — all of them show how…
NAIROBI ― For the last two decades, Matambire Mgemaa, a pastoralist in southern Tanzania in the environs of Ruaha National Park, nighttime has meant staying vigilant to protect his goats,…
BLANTYRE, Malawi ― In 2012, African Parks, a conservation nonprofit, brought three lions to Malawi's Majete Wildlife Reserve, ending the big cats' 30-year absence from the protected area. Since then,…
BLANTYRE, Malawi ― African lions are declining due to the decrease in their herbivore prey, necessitating the need for increased prey protection measures to reverse this trend, a study says.…
NAIROBI ― Poisoning, poaching and loss of habitat have significantly reduced populations of lion prides in Uganda, signaling the need for long-term commitments to conservation action, researchers write in a…
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 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.
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…
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.…
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,…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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,…
