Howling in the dark: Shining a light on a newly remembered wolf
IFRANE NATIONAL PARK, Morocco — As he guides his flock of sheep home through stands of oak and endangered Atlas cedar, Umimun Hammou feels something is wrong. Rounding a bend…
Spying on fear in the wild: Q&A with ecologist Meredith Palmer
In the late 1990s, a Yale ecologist named Oswald Schmitz and his students made an interesting discovery by gluing spiders’ mouths shut. Schmitz’s team placed the glued spiders in enclosed…
The ‘Cougar Conundrum’: Q&A with author Mark Elbroch
In 2016, a mountain lion known as P-45 killed 10 alpacas on a ranch in California’s Santa Monica Mountains. That’s rare behavior for a mountain lion, writes wildlife biologist Mark…
In picturesque Boracay, a crown-of-thorns infestation is eating away at the reef
BORACAY ISLAND, Philippines — The resort island of Boracay is showing signs of recovery, thanks to an ongoing rehabilitation and the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed off the island from tourists. Authorities…
Predators disproportionately impacted by human land use changes, study finds
New research looking at whether particular types of wildlife are more affected than others by habitat loss determined that predators are the most impacted, as was expected — but the…
Rare Amazon bush dogs caught on camera in Bolivia
Video footage of a pack of rarely-seen bush dogs has been captured by a camera trap at a ranch in eastern Bolivia. The footage, provided exclusively to Mongabay, was captured…
2020 ballot initiative would restore wolves to Colorado
Earlier this month, more than 200,000 signatures were delivered to the Colorado secretary of state calling for the restoration of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to be put on the 2020…
How Laos lost its tigers
The last tiger in Lao PDR likely died in terrible anguish. Its foot caught in a snare, the animal probably died of dehydration. Or maybe, in a desperate bid to…
Predator-free by 2050? High-tech hopes for New Zealand’s big conservation dream
When the British explorer James Cook circumnavigated the islands that he would later call New Zealand in 1769, he described the birdsong on the densely forested archipelago as “deafening.” One…
Rise in crocodile sightings linked to habitat degradation in Indonesia
AMBON, Indonesia — Last February, a crocodile in eastern Indonesia crawled right into a trap. The animal, a 2-meter-long (6.6-foot) saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), was suspected to have preyed on…
Solving the mystery of the UK’s vanishing hen harriers
Gliding over the moors of England in search of prey, the hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) may never have suspected it would itself fall prey to a greater predator—man. Scientists have…
Hunting pumas to save deer could backfire, new research suggests
The puma family took biologist Mark Elbroch by surprise. They were supposed to be a ways off. But here they were, year-old kittens, bungling the final moments of a baby…
Those kicks were fast as lightning: Kangaroo rats evade deadly snake strikes
A student-led research team from three California universities has shown that desert kangaroo rats frequently avoid predation by rattlesnakes through a combination of speedy reaction times, powerful near-vertical leaps, and…
Can jaguar tourism save Bolivia’s fast dwindling forests?
ÑUFLO DE CHÁVEZ, Bolivia — Few countries in the tropics have seen their trees chopped down as quickly as Bolivia did between 2001 and 2017. According to data from the…
In a predator-infested forest, survival for baby birds comes by the road
More young birds survived near a road through a Thai forest than those living deeper in the forest where more predators lurked, researchers found during a recent study. The disruptive…
Flashing lights ward off livestock-hunting pumas in northern Chile
Pulsating lights placed around llama and alpaca herds warded off puma attacks during a recent experiment in Chile, suggesting the method might help avert conflict between herders and dwindling populations…
Shorebirds can no longer count on the Arctic as a safe haven for rearing their young
A new analysis of over 70 years’ worth of shorebird population data suggests that climate change has altered the migratory birds’ Arctic safe haven to such a degree that it…
Pumas engineer their environment, providing habitat for other species
New research suggests that mountain lions in the western United States play an outsize role in changing their surroundings, leading the authors of the study to suggest that the big…
Filling in the gaps: Managing endangered species on the high seas
Of gaps and limitations Our knowledge about sea animals is riddled with holes. We may study and record sea lion colonies or sea turtle nesting and hatching events as they…
Restore wolves or slaughter deer to save Japanese forests?
From the peak of Mt. Rausu, a clear view of the Shiretoko Peninsula opens from the Okhotsk Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east. Below, a…
Speed trap: Cameras help defuse human-cheetah conflict in Botswana
Botswana’s policy of zero tolerance for poaching and illegal hunting has given it the reputation of valuing wildlife conservation. But an increase in human-wildlife conflict in recent years appears to…
Bear-human conflict risks pinpointed amid resurgent bear population
Scientists have mapped out instances of human-black bear conflict in a part of the U.S. state of Nevada where bears are returning decades after they vanished. The results of their…
Why top predators matter (insider)
Few species have faced such vitriolic hatred from humans as the world's top predators. Considered by many as pests, often as dangerous, they have been gunned down, poisoned, speared, finned,…
A ‘perfect policy storm’ cuts puma numbers by almost half near Jackson, Wyoming
Several decades of seemingly unrelated policies, ranging from increases in elk hunting to the reintroduction of wolves, have combined to cut a population of mountain lions in the western United…
A warmer climate tinkers with Arctic spider’s choice of prey
Climate change could shift the appetites of Arctic spiders, leading to the slower release of carbon from the thawing tundra, according to new research led by biologist Amanda Koltz of…
Plant communities roar back after rat removal from Pacific islands
Plant numbers have surged in a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean following the eradication of invasive rats that gobbled up seeds and gnawed away at vegetation, a new…
Fishing gear poses the greatest danger to young great whites off the West Coast of the U.S.
Fishing nets and lines kill more young white sharks living near Mexico and southern California than any other cause of death, a new study has found. A team of researchers…
India’s foxes and monkeys are dumpster diving and eating food scraps
Spiti Valley, located in the remote Trans-Himalayas, is one of the least populated places in India and home to several rare and endangered wild animals. Here, to see wild herbivores…
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,…
Tropical forest fragmentation nearing ‘critical point,’ study finds
Deforestation in the tropics is caused by many different human activities that vary in intensity depending on location. In South America, industrial agriculture is the big driver of deforestation while…
