On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing…
With recent conservation efforts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples and local communities in managing protected areas, forest elephant populations are on the verge of stabilizing,in at least one national…
KIGALI — When scientists, conservationists and policymakers from around the world gathered in East Africa this July — exchanging ideas, celebrating successes and planning for the future — the international…
When it comes to mapping green cover, it's easy to miss the trees for the forest. New research suggests that there are a lot of missed trees: almost 30% of…
More than 60% of people in Central Africa have no access to electricity. An ambitious proposal aims to change that with a network of pipelines, refineries and gas-fired power plants…
Mountain gorillas are currently the only nonhuman great ape whose population is not declining. Thanks to successful conservation interventions, the species' population has increased from 620 in 1989 to more…
When Milka Chepkorir Kuto took the stage on July 18 at the opening ceremony of the Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) in Kigali, Rwanda, she came with a sobering message…
“When we caught it, we all just looked at it and said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” Jon Flanders, director of endangered species interventions at…
Stricter measures implemented to protect endangered mountain gorillas from COVID-19 should be made permanent long after the pandemic has passed, conservationists say, citing a significant drop in respiratory infections among…
Traveling these days isn’t easy. When it involves moving 30 rhinos by air across a continent, it gets even trickier. “Anything can change in seconds,” Jes Gruner, Rwanda regional operations…
Editor's Note: The journal article discussed in this report, "Exploring the potential effect of COVID-19 on an endangered great ape," was formally retracted by its authors Jan. 25, 2022. According…
I saw my first wild gorillas in Rwanda in 2002 and I was immediately drawn in by their power, their beauty, and the awareness that these amazing creatures were, despite…
Mountain gorillas, one of the world’s endangered apes, appear be facing a fresh health threat after a successful conservation campaign saved them from looming extinction, a new study says. Thanks…
On Jan. 11 this year, something happened that primatologists had both feared and expected: two western lowland gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Right from…
There’s a tree-planting frenzy everywhere you look. In August 2019, the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India announced that more than a million Indians had planted 220 million trees…
The first time Bugingo Gaspard illegally entered Akagera National Park in Rwanda, he was 10 years old. With no fence separating the now 112,200-hectare (277,300-acre) protected area from the agricultural…
In the 23 years since founding Volcanoes Safaris, Praveen Moman has weathered a range of crises in the region around Rwanda and Uganda: Ebola outbreaks, economic strife, kidnappings, political unrest.…
Sneaking up on animals can be tough. That’s why wildlife researchers often turn to motion-sensing cameras, also known as camera traps, to study animals in the wild. However, most of…
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo shut its doors to tourists this week in an attempt to protect its great apes from possibly being infected by the…
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, gorilla conservation teams are working to ensure that Africa’s endangered mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), and the people who protect them, remain safe. Gorillas are…
Africa's conservation challenges are daunting. The continent faces rapid human population growth, expanding agriculture and infrastructure, and globalized demand for its natural resources, including its forests, oceans, and wildlife. On…
Five eastern black rhinos translocated from European zoos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park have successfully completed an initial period of acclimatization and been moved into larger, 1-hectare (2.5-acre) enclosures. They…
A sodium craving may be the reason endangered mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) from Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda leave the park to raid nearby eucalyptus plantations, according to a…
As an environmental journalist I’m bombarded every day with headlines like “The Insect Apocalypse is Here” or “Half of Global Wildlife Lost.” The end of nature, at least as previous…
December 1978 A year into an 18-month research project on the critically endangered mountain gorilla in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, Amy Vedder and Bill Weber, newlywed graduate students from the…
Decades of “extreme” conservation have lifted the mountain gorilla from the edge of extinction, leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to change the animal’s status from the…
Climate change is reshaping relations between parks, people and the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. But more and deeper research is needed to determine likely long-term impacts.
According to the results of a census released last week, the mountain gorilla population in East Africa’s Virunga Mountains numbered 604 as of June 2016, up from from 480 in…
U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will be heading to Rwanda next week for the construction of a gorilla research facility being funded through her newly launched wildlife conservation foundation.…
Six conservationists received the conservation world’s “Green Oscars” at an awards ceremony at the Royal Geographic Society in London, U.K., on April 25. The Whitley Award, granted by the U.K.-based…
The equatorial ecosystems of the Albertine Rift are packed with plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Formed as tectonic plates in eastern Africa have slowly pulled away from…
Anti-poaching efforts in Africa are inherently dangerous, especially given the increasing militarization of the poaching gangs that are decimating elephant and rhino numbers across the continent. But recent news out…
