COLOMBO — Over the past two years, Daham Piyasena has lived through momentous times: the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s history, which led to unprecedented public protests that forced…
JAKARTA — Excavators have begun clearing land in the Indonesian region of Papua in what’s been described as the largest deforestation undertaking in the world. A total of 2 million…
Revered by the Indigenous Mbuti and Efe tribes as a spiritual symbol and uplifted by the Democratic Republic of Congo as a national one, the okapi is deserving of a…
For two years, a volunteer organization in eastern Sierra Leone worked to encourage residents of Kenema district to plant trees and switch to more climate-resilient crops. Sierra Leone Environment Matter's…
COLOMBO — Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island, lies far away from the United States and is just one-sixth the size of California. But interestingly, one of the three newly…
U.S. government agencies responsible for handing out conservation grants overseas still aren’t doing enough to protect human rights, according to an internal review. The review was commissioned by the U.S.…
High rates of inbreeding among hooded vultures in Ghana and South Africa spell trouble for their future, according to a newly published study. The study found that despite wide differences…
COLOMBO — This past Aug. 17 would have been just another ordinary day for the elephants of Sri Lanka: feeding, drinking, resting and, for some, raiding nearby farms. But for…
Budo-Sungai Padi National Park is a swath of dense tropical rainforest a fifth the size of Bangkok that lies along southern Thailand's isthmus linking the country to Peninsular Malaysia. Its…
A lost bird Everything we know for certain about the Itombwe owl comes from just two individuals: one dead for more than 70 years, and the other also most likely…
Taman Negara, Peninsular Malaysia's premier national park, is celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity centered around a 130-million-year-old tropical rainforest that’s believed to be the world’s oldest. Within it, a remarkable…
When Manuel Lopes-Lima set out to survey aquatic biodiversity on the Corubal River in 2022, he’d set his expectations very low. The river that straddles the West African nations of…
As a young student, Aristide Kamla had “big plans” when he traveled to Lake Ossa in Cameroon to conduct his master's degree fieldwork with the little-known African manatee. He was hoping…
PALEMBANG/PANDEGLANG, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia are investigating possible links between a recent bust of rhino horns for sale and a killing spree of Javan rhinos still being uncovered in…
Swimming with giant manta rays (Mobula birostris) feels like an underwater dance. Their slow, rhythmic movements are astonishing to Madalena Pereira Cabral. She describes her dives alongside manta rays, which…
A growing trend for macabre dead bat ornaments sold via online merchants, many of them based in the United States, is driving unsustainable harvesting from the wild. A new study…
Experts urge stronger law enforcement to curb the sale and consumption of manatee meat, while conservation efforts focus on educating communities on the importance of the mammal to the biome.
Bangladesh, a signatory nation of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), has failed to control illegal bird trade and has recently been…
Evolution thought of everything long before we did. Take the case of the forest hinge-back tortoise (Kinixys erosa) found in the Congo Basin, as well as parts of West Africa and all the…
Scientists, communities and government officials from five African countries agree that the freshwater fish stocks in the Kavango and Zambezi River systems are in severe trouble. Delegates representing all three…
Ida Auris Arango remembers the day in 2023 when she stumbled upon the Andean cat and its young on the mountainside. While shepherding her alpacas, she heard her dog barking…
Northern Benin is fast becoming one of the most dangerous areas in the world for wildlife rangers: In late July, five rangers working for the conservation NGO African Parks were…
A law that would protect a massive stretch of Argentina’s seafloor is running out of time for a parliamentary vote, and conservationists are racing to raise awareness before they run…
LOLIONDO, Tanzania — Whistleblowers speaking to Mongabay have reported instances of poaching over decades in Tanzania linked to a luxury hunting firm catering to the United Arab Emirates’ elites and…
Simon Espley attended the pioneer stage of a brave and visionary project to translocate 2,000 farmed rhinos into the wild — 12% of the wild white rhino population. This is his story.
The Gambles’s flatwing, a critically endangered damselfly with glittering translucent wings, is so rare scientists estimate there could be as few as 250 left in the wild. When zoologist Abiodun…
MEXICO CITY — Top suppliers of Mexican avocados continue to work with growers who use land where forests have been cleared illegally, a new investigation shows. Top suppliers Calavo Growers,…
The Russell’s viper was long thought to be nearly extinct in Bangladesh, where it is known as chandra bora, until about a decade ago. Wildlife biologists were unaware of the…
PADANG, Indonesia — One of an estimated 400 of the world’s remaining Sumatran tigers was found dead on July 25 after becoming trapped in a wire snare set in Agam…
PHUKET, Thailand — The air is thick and sticky in the forest surrounding the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project center. Thanaphat Payakkaporn, head of the project, bends down to pick up the…
GORONTALO, Indonesia — A palm oil industry body and a state-owned company are proposing a vast new palm oil plan encompassing around 1 million hectares (nearly 2.5 million acres) of…
Brown skuas and south polar skuas, two gull-like species that nest in Antarctica, are sometimes called the “pirates of the Southern seas.” These migratory seabirds are fierce, competitive predators that…
