Biologists near Quito, Ecuador are rushing to evacuate a critically endangered frog species before a volcanic eruption wipes it out. The small, chocolate-striped rocket frog—Hyloxalus (Colostethus) jacobuspetersi—was once common around Quito, even in pastures and backyards (it adapts well to peopled landscapes). Now, for unclear reasons, there is just one population left. Fewer than 100 […]
Category: News
Video: Staring Down Angry Elephants (graphic scenes!)
Filmmakers and conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert come face-to-face with a herd of angry elephants. Their only option is to stare the elephants down. If they try to flee, it could provoke an attack. This video was first published by PBS.org on 14 Oct 2015.
California bans captive breeding of SeaWorld killer whales
The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved a $100 million expansion of the tanks SeaWorld uses to hold killer whales in San Diego — but it banned breeding of the captive orcas that would live in them. Animal rights activists praised the decision as a death blow to the use of killer whales at the […]
Suspected poachers ‘kill 14 elephants with cyanide’ in Zimbabwe
Suspected poachers used cyanide to kill 14 elephants in Zimbabwe’s western Hwange national park and in the north since Sept 26, the national wildlife agency said on Tuesday Hwange, home of Zimbabwe’s most famous lion Cecil who was killed by an American dentist in July, holds 53,000 elephants, twice the park’s carrying capacity, the park’s […]
Maltese falcon makes a comeback
The return of the peregrine falcon to Malta, known to some as the “Maltese falcon”, has excited hopes that the iconic bird is making a comeback. At least one breeding pair was caught on film last week by a German-based NGO, Campaign Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), and according to local experts there may now be […]
New species of ‘hog-nosed’ rat discovered in Indonesia
Victorian scientists have discovered a new mammal, the hog-nosed rat, with features not been seen by science before. Hyorhinomys stuempkei was previously undocumented in any scientific collection. The rodent was found by a team of scientists from Museum Victoria, Louisiana State University and the Dutch Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in a remote, mountainous forest of Mount […]
How to watch the great migration of animals from Serengeti
Every year a million wildebeest, half a million gazelle and 200,000 zebra make the perilous trek from the Serengeti park in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya in their search for water and grazing land. It is one of nature’s most spectacular sights – and one that few people are able to see […]
Can Anything Save the Sumatran Rhino From Extinction?
In 2008, a rhino wandered into an oil-palm plantation in Sabah, a state on the Malaysian island of Borneo. It was limping from a snare injury and, for a rhino, was unfamiliar looking: very small—and hairy. When Rasmus Gren Havmøller—a Danish Ph.D. student focused on conservation, ecology, and genetics at the University of Copenhagen—read about […]