Marine protected areas are getting SMART (commentary)
This year, World Wildlife Day will celebrate life in the world’s oceans. It’s a fitting tribute. Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the world’s surface, harbor hundreds of thousands…
Conservation Technology News
Wildtech provides news and information on how the conservation community can better leverage technology. Mongabay is a non-profit.
Study finds people apt to shrug off extreme weather as normal
Climate research has demonstrated that the overall warming of the planet is leading to a jump in extreme weather. High temperatures have risen even higher than they’ve typically been, of…
The odor side of otters: Tech reveals species’ adaptations to human activity
Human-dominated mangroves are far from what is considered an ideal environment for otters. And yet an estuarine island on India’s western coast is home to a thriving population of the…
AI and public data identify fishing behavior to protect hungry seabirds
In a classic poem, an ancient mariner finds himself haunted by the albatross he killed. Two hundred years after Samuel Coleridge penned that poem, albatrosses still follow fishing ships. But…
Audio: The sounds of a rare New Zealand bird reintroduced to its native habitat
On today’s episode, we speak with Oliver Metcalf, lead author of a recent study that used bioacoustic recordings and machine learning to track birds in New Zealand after they’d been…
A snapshot of camera traps reveals user frustrations and hopes
Camera trapping has become an important conservation and research tool worldwide. Photos from remote cameras have afforded us insights into the lives of rare, shy, cryptic, nocturnal, or otherwise seldom-seen…
The good luck black cat, revealed by camera traps
Sometimes, a black cat can bring good luck. A professional photographer, together with leopard researchers from San Diego Zoo and Kenya’s Loisaba Conservancy, used camera traps to document the presence…
Jammin’ at wind farms may help save bats
Wind turbines are a valuable source of renewable energy, but they’re eco-unfriendly in one particular way: the giant spinning blades frequently kill birds and bats. A new system that jams…
How do you assess if a reintroduced species is thriving? Listen for it
When you’re new to an area, it takes time to settle in. We all want a comfortable place to live, in a safe neighborhood, with convenient access to shops and…
Urbanization in Asia provides a window of hope for tigers, study finds
Whether Asia’s tiger populations bounce back, or they evaporate into the pages of history depends on the decisions humans make about how we live on this planet, new research suggests.…
Camera traps and customary wisdom help redefine bear conservation
In 1998, Douglas Clark witnessed Manitoba’s second recorded grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) sighting of the century. Then a warden in Canada’s Wapusk National Park, he remembers swooping down near…
Study finds bears react, then habituate, to drones
Noisy aliens flying above us might stress us out or cause alarm. As drones fly UFO-like over forests, wetlands, deserts, and oceans, serving as tools to monitor wildlife, detect habitat…
For conservationists, crowdfunding sites raise both funds and awareness
The bill to train two dogs to guard a penguin colony: $18,000. Set up camera traps in one of the world’s most remote, understudied rainforests in New Guinea: $16,000. Build…
As animal tagging goes cutting-edge, ethical questions abound
Devices worn by wild animals that record their location, and in some cases their behavior and environmental conditions, are known as biologgers. They have vastly increased our knowledge of animal…
A ‘FitBit for squid’ could help track the ocean’s squishier species
Research on soft-bodied marine invertebrates such as squid and jellyfish has been slow in coming. Squid are keystone taxa and important food sources for myriad larger species, said T. Aran…
New space lasers offer best 3D look at global forests yet
Researchers and forest managers working to record and reduce the rapid loss of forests are now armed with a new tool to monitor vegetation across the globe. In December 2018,…
Can satellite data help monitor sustainable rural development?
Spatial data from satellites are now fine-scale enough to provide land use and vegetation cover information at the level of individual farms. An international team of researchers examined the potential…
The case for forests’ prominent role in holding off climate change
Most scientists and experts agree that forests are critical to stabilizing the global climate, and the 2015 Paris climate agreement recognized the need to “conserve and enhance” their carbon sequestration…
‘Ecosystem guardians’ remain passionate despite dicey conditions
Central America is home to some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, with its rich savannas, tropical forests and coastal dunes hosting a bounty of flora and fauna.…
Drones with thermal cameras help detect camouflaged species
Forestry and construction companies in the U.K. are required to ensure their work doesn’t endanger protected species, including the nesting sites of protected bird species. In the case of the…
Audio: Rhett Butler on how sound can save forests and top rainforest storylines to watch in 2019
On today’s episode, we welcome Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler to discuss the biggest rainforest news stories of 2018 and what storylines to watch in 2019. He also discusses…
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…
Eavesdrop on forest sounds to effectively monitor biodiversity, researchers say
There’s a lot to listen for in a tropical forest. There’s the sound of life: the howls, the hoots, the croaks. There’s the sound of loss: the buzz of chainsaws,…
Machine learning tool helps prioritize plants for conservation
If you know the animals in your neighborhood but not the plants, you’re not alone. Scientists have documented nearly 400,000 plant species and expect to identify many more. But unlike…
Top camera trapping stories of 2018
Everyone loves camera trap photos. Remotely installed cameras triggered by motion or heat of a passing person or animal, have helped research projects document the occurrence of species or describe…
Top 10 happy environmental stories of 2018
“I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces of puzzle scattered all over the place. If you look at the whole picture it…
The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018
2018 was a difficult year for the world's tropical rainforests. Below are of some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year, but we couldn't cover everything, so if there…
10 ways conservation tech shifted into auto in 2018
You can now speak into your mobile phone and have it produce written text. Then have Google translate your words into Japanese, or Hindi. In two seconds. These examples of…
Drone 3D models help assess risk of turtle nesting beaches to sea level rise
After months of fasting as she traveled hundreds of kilometers across the ocean, a female loggerhead sea turtle hauls herself up onto the sand: the shoreline she has returned to…
Social media, e-commerce sites facilitate illegal orchid trade
Reports of illegal trafficking in elephant ivory or rhino horn abound, but plants are actually more frequent victims of the illicit trade than wildlife. In fact, roughly 30,000 of the…
