Around 18 kilometers southeast of Tibet's Lake Mansarovar, a sacred lake for both Hindus and Buddhists, there lies yet another pilgrimage site, albeit of a different nature: The Limi Valley,…
In December 2015, officials from Nepal's Central Investigation Bureau had a hunch that something was amiss with the country’s tigers. The bureau, in the past few months, had seized more…
Last May, a fire in Nepal's Chitwan National Park sent a clear message to the whole world. More than 4,000 wildlife parts from 48 different species, including 357 rhino horns,…
No one really knows for sure how many snow leopards there are left in the world, but an initiative spearheaded by snow leopard range countries and scientists announced last week…
The legend of the Yeti, a mysterious, ape-like, bipedal creature rumored to live in the Himalayas, has persisted for centuries. Tales of the mythical beast first made their way to…
Throughout Asia – from muddy mangrove swamps in India to crisp temperate forests in the Russian Far East – there were once at least 100,000 tigers. Today about 3,500 of…
The latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species had bad news about the conservation status of many species, including some that were previously so abundant that their…
Tigers once roamed widely throughout Asia, from Turkey to the east coast of Russia and down to Vietnam. But a variety of threats, including human-wildlife conflict, the over-hunting of tiger…
KATHMANDU, Nepal — When Nepal adopted a new constitution in September 2015, lawmakers anticipated conflict over the rights of ethnic minorities and women, the delineation of provincial boundaries and the…
This is the second in a two-part series on rhino conservation in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. Read Part One here. SAURAHA, Nepal — Upon arriving in Sauraha, the primary gateway…
This is the first in a two-part series on rhino conservation in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. The second article, focused on how conservation policies affect local communities, can be read…
On June 14, a routine scanning of baggage at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport revealed a grim contraband. A Vietnamese citizen’s suitcase contained 28.7 kilograms (63.3 pounds) of poached rhino horns…
New research published in the Journal of Heredity suggests that there are three subspecies of snow leopard, which researchers say could create new conservation opportunities for the elusive species that…
On Monday, the Nepalese government set fire to more than 4,000 items of confiscated wildlife parts in an attempt to demonstrate zero tolerance for the illegal wildlife trade. The stockpile…
SAURAHA, Nepal — Since the 1980s, SARS, Ebola, HIV, and other diseases originating in wildlife have hit global headlines due to their devastating impact on human and livestock populations. By…
A little plant can go a long way — so long it has earned the name “mile-a-minute weed.” This prodigious propagator is Mikania micrantha, a plant that reached Asia from…
Farmers in the Terai region of Nepal face jumbo threats on a day-to-day basis, resulting in damage to crop yields, destruction of their homes, and, in some cases, even a…
When an Elephant Comes Knocking: A new approach to selective elephant fencing is being tested in Nepal
Investigations are underway to locate the poachers responsible for killing a rare one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. The male rhino was found Saturday shot dead and…
Rhinoceroses have become emblematic of the absolute horror of today’s poaching wars. Images of bloated corpses, their foreheads and horns viciously sawed off, epitomize the greed and malevolence that some…
The number of Bengal tigers is growing in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park — a United Nations World Heritage Site. The endangered cats have become healthier, and their population is flourishing…
In the wrong hands, technology can be a menace to animals. Poachers around the world use night vision goggles, assault rifles and even helicopters. The technological gap between those involved…
When people think about rhinos, they likely think of Africa, where black and white rhinoceroses roam the grasslands and savannas. However, Asia is also home to three distinct species of…
The grayish-white form of the ghost of the mountain slinks through the snowcapped slopes of Central Asia. Its remote, harsh habitat, cryptic coat and elusive nature have impeded investigation and…
With one palm above the rhino’s nostril to check its breathing and another under its head to make sure it wasn’t slumping, an anxious official yelled over the sound of…
The Eastern Himalayas in South Asia is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, and now there are more than 200 new species known to science to prove the point —…
Good news for tigers came last week with government approval of an extension for Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal.
Indian rhino with horn removed to prevent poaching. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A new survey in Nepal counted 645 one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis), up from 375 animals ten years…
Indian rhino in Bardiya National Park in Nepal. Photo by: Krish Dulal/Creative Commons 3.0. With the aid of Interpol, authorities have arrested the leader of a rhino poaching gang responsible…
Overall, the brown bear is one of the most widespread bear species in the world, found in much of Eurasia and North America, in quite large numbers. A subspecies called…
Critically Endangered Indian vultures (Gyps indicus) hanging out in their nest at Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. Photo by: Yann/Creative Commons 3.0. When Europeans first arrived in North America, they exterminated three…
Infrastructure projects threaten to cut Chitwan National Park in half. Chitwan National Park is a conservation success story. Since its establishment in 1973 the park's populations of both Bengal tigers…