Climb confirms that the world’s tallest tropical tree tops 100 meters
There’s a new record for the tallest tree in the tropics, and the scientists who found it say it could add to our understanding of how and why some trees…
Conservation Technology News
Wildtech provides news and information on how the conservation community can better leverage technology. Mongabay is a non-profit.
Indonesia oil slicks highlight weak enforcement against bilge dumping
JAKARTA — Two ships have been spotted allegedly dumping waste oil in the sea off the eastern coast of Sumatra, highlighting what activists say is poor enforcement against marine pollution…
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…
Crab season to be cut short in California to protect whales and turtles
Whales and sea turtles off the coast of California will have less time to contend with possible entanglements in crab fishing gear in 2019, after a one-and-a-half-year lawsuit settlement shortened…
Virtual reality tool gives viewers the vision of a nocturnal primate
Other animals see the world quite differently from us humans. Researchers at Dartmouth College teamed up with a student-based technology lab to develop an interactive virtual entry into the vision…
New research teases apart complex effects of naval sonar on whales
Whales can behave quite differently in response to sonar depending on where they live and what they’re doing, new research has found. The pair of studies, on different species and…
Combining artificial intelligence and citizen science to improve wildlife surveys
A research team testing the capacity of both citizen scientists and machine learning algorithms to help survey the annual wildebeest migration in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania found that both…
AI and drone-based imagery improve power to survey cryptic animals
Koalas are Australian icons, known globally for their fuzzy ears, broad wet nose, and love of eucalyptus leaves. They are also cryptic, slow-moving creatures that live high in the leafy…
Genetic test reveals Baltic flounder migration routes and a new species
The waters of the eastern Baltic Sea around Finland are home to the flounder, a flatfish with both its eyes on one side of the head that uses its camouflage…
Something smells fishy: Scientists uncover illegal fishing using shark tracking devices
In April 2015, researchers headed out to the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to service acoustic receivers they had dotted around the archipelago, and to download tag data from…
Reducing human-elephant encounters with calls, texts, and digital signs
In India, few animals carry the kind of cultural symbolism that elephants do. Human-elephant interaction boasts a rich history dating back centuries. Nevertheless, such a long association has also included…
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…
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.…
