To help beleaguered Javan rhinos, study calls for tree felling, captive breeding

To help beleaguered Javan rhinos, study calls for tree felling, captive breeding

Once roaming across Southeast Asia, the Javan rhino today persists on a single peninsula off the western-most coast of Java in Indonesian. There, in Ujung Kulon National Park, around 70 Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) survive. A tsunami, a disease or a determined group of poachers could wipe them out for good. To complicate matters further, […]

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Mountain islands: Restoring a transitional cloud forest in Costa Rica

Mountain islands: Restoring a transitional cloud forest in Costa Rica

In 2001, South African-born couple, Genevieve and Ian Giddy traveled to Costa Rica to climb Mount Chirripó, one of Central America’s highest peaks, protected within Chirripó National Park. Coming down from the 3,821-meter (12,536-foot) summit, the couple viewed a stark divide between the protected biodiverse high-altitude cloud forest and the deforested cattle pasture and farms […]

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Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick

Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick

The outlook is bleak for Sumatran rhinos. Decades of poaching and habitat loss have precipitated a steep population decline. Once found across Southeast Asia, from the Himalayan foothills to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the critically endangered species, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, is now only found in Indonesia. Conservationists estimate that fewer than 100 individuals survive […]

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Study warns of ‘biotic annihilation’ driven by hunting, habitat destruction

Study warns of ‘biotic annihilation’ driven by hunting, habitat destruction

Humans are driving species to extinction 1,000 times faster than what is considered natural. Now, new research underscores the extent of the planet’s impoverishment. Extinctions don’t just rob the planet of species but also of functional and phylogenetic diversity, the authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argue. […]

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