Ongoing deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest jeopardizes multiple species, such as the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari). It can also increase the risk of other threats like disease, potentially including spillover events from domestic animals. How this is impacting the species remains broadly unknown and understudied, according to a recent paper published in the journal Biological […]
Tag: white-lipped peccary
Population cycles explain white-lipped peccary’s ups and downs, study shows
Scientists say they have solved the mystery behind the periodic disappearance and reappearance of the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) across huge areas of central and South America. A new study suggests that white-lipped peccary populations become so big that they over-shoot their resources, which weakens the animals and makes them more vulnerable to disease and […]
Harpy eagle’s return to Costa Rica means rewilding’s time has come (commentary)
Hollow eye sockets glared at me from the dark tropical leaf litter. Not expecting to be watched from below, I rested on my haunches, searching with the image recognition software installed by my primate ancestors. Once sure there were no coils of a deadly fer-de-lance snake, I plunged my hand into the leaves. Out came […]
Wildlife emergency in Bolivia as fires threaten animal sanctuaries
A ghastly orange grin extends across the treetops in Guarayos, Bolivia, marking a cruel turn of fate for rescued wildlife. On the ground, the air is too smoky to breathe, and hot enough to scorch. The woods are so dry that everything burns. Fire is eating its way through one of the world’s great efforts […]
Peccary’s disappearance foreboding for other Mesoamerican wildlife
The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), a hairy, pig-like mammal that once lived throughout the forests of Central and South America, now only skitters around in 13 percent of its former range, according to a report released in November 2018. More than two-thirds of white-lipped peccary populations are on the decline, said scientists who met to […]
Alarming proof of underreported bushmeat crisis in heart of Amazonia
When satellite imagery of the Brazilian rainforest shows lush, dense forests, most of us likely expect that those trees are packed with wildlife. But what if what we are actually seeing is an empty forest? According to a recent study published in Conservation Letters, this possibility is already becoming a reality in the pre-frontier areas […]
Wildlife catastrophe at Amazon dam a warning for future Tapajós dams
When the Balbina Dam was completed in 1986, it flooded primary forest in the state of Amazonas along Brazil’s Uatumã River, forming a massive reservoir speckled by 3,546 flood-induced islands. In 1990, the Reserva Biológica (REBIO) do Uatumã was established, protecting the entire 443,700 hectare (109,6427 acre) reservoir, dubbed Balbina Lake, along with the adjacent […]
Jaguars in Argentine Chaco on verge of local extinction
The majestic jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest of the New World cats, is found as far north as the southern states of the US, and as far south as northern Argentina. In the past jaguars ranged 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) further south, but their range has shrunk as habitat loss and human disturbance have increased. […]