This story was produced in collaboration with Bellingcat. JAKARTA — A new report by Mongabay and independent journalism organization Bellingcat has uncovered several Facebook groups selling protected species in Indonesia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. In a Facebook group whose Indonesian name translates to “West Bogor Animal Selling and Trading Forum,” […]
Tag: cockatoo
Australia to create a national park for 12,000 koalas
Few animals tug at Australian hearts like the koala. Yet the marsupial, once common along the eastern seaboard, was declared endangered in New South Wales (NSW) in 2022. Habitat loss, climate stress, and disease have driven populations down so far that a parliamentary inquiry warned they could vanish from the state before 2050. The proposed […]
Common pesticide caused mass death of little corellas, NSW environment watchdog confirms
A common agricultural pesticide caused the mass deaths of 200 little corellas across Newcastle in March, the New South Wales environment watchdog has confirmed. The Environment Protection Authority said toxicology tests had detected the presence of barley grain and the pesticide fenitrothion in all the deceased birds. Fenitrothion is a pesticide commonly used in agriculture […]
Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis
Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off […]
No signs of slowdown in wildlife trafficking in 2024 as demand persists
Wildlife trafficking remains a pressing threat to the survival of countless species, with sharks, pangolins, rhinos, birds, big cats and others among the hardest hit. Mongabay’s extensive reporting aligns with the 2024 U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) World Wildlife Crime Report, which highlights these species as prime targets of a $20 billion per […]
Cockatoo Rescued After Four Weeks Inside Australian Supermarket
A sulphur-crested cockatoo named Mickey, who had been living inside a Sydney supermarket for nearly a month, has finally been captured by wildlife services. Mickey had been surviving on a diet of brioche while stuck in the Coles supermarket at Macarthur Square, Campbelltown. New South Wales environment minister Penny Sharpe shared the news on Tuesday […]
Cockatoo defies gravity while ‘checking out’ photographer: ‘Never seen anything like it’
The picture-perfect timing of one bird lover has landed him an incredible image of a cockatoo flying upside down, with the bird believed to be “checking him out” while readying a hollow to nest. Graeme Toft, 72, has been a professional photographer for over a decade but admits he’d “never seen anything like it before” […]
More Australian wildlife added to threatened species list in 2023 than ever before, conservationists say
More plants, animals and habitats were added to the national list of threatened wildlife in 2023 than in any year since the list was established, according to analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation. A total of 144 animals, plants and ecological communities were added to the list, five times more than the yearly average and […]