A growing human population, expanding croplands, and drier conditions driven by climate change within protected areas could significantly intensify human-elephant conflict in Southern Africa, a recent study finds. Southern Africa is home to almost 300,000 African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), with many populations rebounding after decades of poaching. The region is also seeing rapidly expanding farms and […]
“Its bristles are like thousands of tiny, hollow needles poking out of every inch of skin, ready to inject you with neurotoxin that burns like fire for several hours…”
These ocean predators might look soft and fuzzy but don’t be tempted to stroke their bristles – they’re full of a potent neurotoxin that can be seriously painful if you get stung. Apart from the burning pain, you might feel a bit dizzy or sick but the symptoms aren’t typically any worse and no-one is […]
Killer fungus: how a disease threatening bat species has spread to northern Canada
Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white fungus. When they shone their headlamps to get a closer look, they saw another bat with the […]
Why Focusing on Wildlife Is Offering Permanently Ad-Free Subscriptions
The modern internet has a noise problem. Click on almost any online article about wildlife conservation today, and you are immediately bombarded. Autoplay videos block the text. Pop-up banners tracking your data flash across your screen. Interstitial ads force you to hunt for a tiny “X” just to continue reading. It is exhausting. More importantly, […]
“Torpedo-shaped bodies, pointed snout and a jutting lower jaw packed with fearsome, sharp teeth – it has been known to attack swimmers…”
These fierce-looking, torpedo-shaped fish can be found in warm and tropical waters all round the world. Each of the 20 or so different species of barracuda are intimidating ocean predators, but it’s the great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) that strikes fear into the hearts of prey fish big and small. What do barracuda look like? One of the deadliest fish in the […]
Rescued from traffickers, reintroduced orangutan becomes mother in the wild
Seven years after being returned to the forests of northern Sumatra from a rehabilitation facility, a female orangutan rescued from traffickers has been found nurturing a baby in the wild, giving new encouragement that reintroduced apes can establish breeding populations. “From victim of illegal wildlife trafficking to a mother in the wild, Bulan’s journey demonstrates […]
“This slashing can cause fatal wounds in humans…” 10 deadliest birds on the planet, including one with a highly lethal 12cm claw…
We don’t often think of birds as dangerous, says Dominic Couzens. That’s a mistake, because to their prey species they are, of course, completely deadly. Perhaps surprisingly, a few species can also be a peril to humans, and back in prehistoric times there were probably more. Here we will look both at the birds that […]
The Tiger Returns to Kazakhstan in First-in-the-World Rewilding Project a Decade in the Making
Kazakhstan has taken a massive step towards its long-held goal of re-establishing the tiger in the country by releasing a female Amur tiger into the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve. Established in 2018 for this exact purpose, what followed was a truly generational effort of reforestation and replenishing prey species of deer and antelope that the Caspian tiger, now […]