Fénix, a female Chaco eagle, lived at San Rafael Zoo in Mendoza province, Argentina, until the zoo shut down in 2016. She was later transferred to the Buenos Aires Ecopark, an old zoo that had been converted into a research center, hospital and shelter for animals without a destination. There, she began a difficult training […]
Tag: habitat loss
Increased Poaching of Critically Endangered Orangutans During Pandemic
“Critically endangered orangutans, tigers, elephants and subsistence farmers, are now all struggling to survive in remnant forests,” said Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project, in an emailed statement. “Over 80% of native forest in Sumatra and Borneo have been cleared for large plantations. When you add in a global pandemic which has plunged more […]
A cruel end for a gentle giant: Critically endangered Sumatran elephant dies in agony after its leg was caught in a trap in Indonesia
The body of a critically endangered elephant killed by a hunting trap was found in Indonesia on Friday, local officials said. Shocking images of the Sumatran elephant show the animal’s decomposing body lying on its side, with a cut on its leg from where it was caught by the trap. The male elephant, who is […]
Butterfly numbers plummeting in US west as climate crisis takes toll
The varied, and beautiful, butterfly species that dot the US west are being cut down by the climate crisis, new research has found, with rising temperatures helping cause a steep decline in butterfly numbers over the past 40 years. There has been a 1.6% reduction in the total number of butterflies observed west of the […]
Pet trade relies on ‘disposable’ wild chameleons from Madagascar
DIANA REGION, Madagascar — With the sun still low in the sky, my taxi boat pulled up to a floating wooden pontoon in the bustling port of Ankify in northwestern Madagascar. As one of the few foreigners, or vazaha, in the port that morning, I was instantly surrounded by local taxi drivers eager to take […]
500 years of species loss: Humans drive defaunation across Neotropics
A new study provides an in-depth look at the detrimental impacts of human activities on wildlife in the Neotropical region of the Americas over the past 500 years. The study, published Sept. 15 in Nature Scientific Reports, found that more than 56% of species in mammal assemblages, or groups of coexisting species, living in the […]
The next great threat to Brazil’s golden lion tamarin: Yellow fever
In April 2018, workers with the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, a Brazilian NGO dedicated to the protection of the golden lion tamarin, found one of the endangered primates, apparently sick and unable to climb trees, lying on the forest floor in Aldeia, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Rio de Janeiro city. The following day, field […]
Audubon Calls for More Resources and Attention (not Less) for Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo
This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed a 9 percent decrease in designated habitat for the western distinct population of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo) (Coccyzus americanus) even though it is found in only a fraction of its former range in the American West. Listed as a Threatened Species under the […]