Last year, Brazil rolled back crucial parts of its landmark Forestry Code, potentially opening vast tracts of forest for destruction; it is also moving ahead on a number of Amazon…
In the Lower Basin of the Sanaga River in Cameroon, near Lake Ossa and the Douala-Edea National Parks, manatees swim and float about like round, potato-shaped mermaids. This region is…
A camera trap survey along the Sikre River in Honduras has discovered that the region is home to a menagerie of rare mammals, including giant anteaters. The survey, published in…
Scientists have applied a species prioritization scheme to Brazil's diverse mammals to deduce which species should become the focus of conservation efforts over the next few years in a new…
We now live in a world dominated by humans (the Anthropocene), whose activities on Earth are resulting in new habitats and new environmental conditions including climate change. To many, the…
At least 60 big cats have been killed within national protected areas in Brazil during the past two years according to a recent survey published in mongabay.com's open access journal…
The Brazilian government offers tax relief to landowners who set aside areas for preservation. While this has expanded the system of private ecological reserves considerably, the Brazilian government currently lacks…
A comprehensive survey of the wildlife sold in the markets of Tuensang has resulted in a stunning record of the wildlife trade in the state of Nagaland in northeast India,…
There are often many obstacles for scientists when gauging wildlife decline and forest loss, and one of the most difficult is civil conflict, like the situation in the Similipal Tiger…
Adult Peruvian night monkey. Photo by: Jean Paul Perret/NPC. The Peruvian night monkey (Aotus miconax) is one of the world's least known primates, having never been studied in the wild--until…
Barbary sheep in Tennoji Zoo. Photo by: Kuribo. The Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia), or aoudad, is a goat-antelope found in northern Africa. It is currently listed as Vulnerable by the…
White-tailed deer are usually thought of as inhabiting temperate forests in the U.S. and Canada, but this widespread species can also be found across tropical forests, from Mexico to Peru.…
Black River Gorges National Park, Mauritius. Native species on the island of Mauritius have long had to deal with invasive species. In fact, invasives likely played a major role in…
Male lion in Zambia. Photo by: Stuart Pimm. African lions (Panthera leo) living outside of protected areas like national parks or reserves also happen to be studied much less than…
Gaur bull in Nagarahole National Park, India. Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) is one of the large wild ungulates of Asian jungles. It is the tallest living ox, and one of…
Blue shark (Prionace glauca) off southern California. Photo by: Mark Conlin/NMFS. A recent study published in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science raises concerns about levels of heavy metals,…
Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. Getting local people to become invested in wildlife conservation is not always easy, especially in parts of the world where protected areas are seen as…
A logging road splits rainforest in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Although research into the impact of selective logging in tropical forests has…
Deforestation and forest disturbance in Madagascar's largest national park increased significantly less than a year after a coup displaced the country's democratically-elected president in 2009, finds a new study that…
Editor's note: this story should have been published 12/12/2011 but due to a technical glitch never went online. We just noticed its unpublished status today. Our apologies to Velho and…
Zebras in the Ngorongoro Crater, a part of the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Illegal hunting in Tanzania's Greater Serengeti Ecosystem (GSE) remains a prevalent activity for…
The intensity of land-use influences the speed of regeneration in tropical rainforests, says new research. Tropical rainforests are a priority for biodiversity conservation; they are hotspots of endemism but also…
African buffalo are a common target for bushmeat in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Bushmeat consumption, or "wildlife hunted for human consumption," poses a significant threat to wildlife conservation…
Rainforest beetle in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), the UN program to conserve tropical forests by paying developing nations to keep…
Perturbed male elephant in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. One of the biggest challenges for big African wildlife like lions, elephants, and buffalo is movement across native habitat that…
Vieques Island. Photo by: USFWS. Life in the ocean require nutrient, but too much of a good thing can be hugely detrimental. Nutrient pollution from agricultural and industrial runoff causes…
Free-roaming dogs (Canis familiaris) can fill a variety of ecological roles including competitor, predator, prey, and transmitter of disease to both wildlife and people with particular concern for rabies. A…
One of the major concerns about the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degrdatation (REDD+) program is that it could prioritize conservation of high carbon ecosystems like peatlands over high biodiversity…
Malayan tiger. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. While founded with good intentions, wildlife trade bans may in some cases be worsening the plight of some endangered species, argues a commentary…
Counting wildlife may sound straight-forward, but achieving accurate estimates has plagued scientists for centuries, especially in difficult and dense environments like rainforest. Recently, one method to estimate leaf-eating primates was…