Armed with a shotgun and tracking a rare species of antelope, Ernie Dosio, 75, was killed after stumbling across the animals in dense vegetation in Gabon. The carcass collector had been moving through thick undergrowth with a professional hunter when the pair unknowingly walked into the herd. The animals were said to be so well […]
Tag: hunting
Loss of prey could drive Atlantic Forest jaguars to extinction
Conserving the dwindling jaguar population in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest won’t be possible without protecting its prey. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which found that the absence of deer, peccaries and other animals that sustain these big cats is driving it toward local extinction. Jaguars (Panthera onca) once ranged from the southwestern U.S. to Argentina and […]
Researchers tracked 9 great hammerhead sharks off Florida and the Bahamas. Here’s what they discovered
Giant hammerhead sharks are masters of the “thermal hustle,” maintaining peak hunting performance over a surprisingly wide range of ocean temperatures, a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology reveals. As the climate crisis unfolds, the findings provide insight into the species’ possible future movements and survival. All living things have an optimal range of temperatures they […]
War on Iran disrupts efforts to save the Asiatic cheetah, world’s rarest big cat
Before the war began in February 2026, there was some rare good news for Iran‘s imperiled Asiatic cheetahs. Rangers spotted and filmed a female in the North Khorasan province accompanied by five cubs — a first. No more than four had ever been seen before, and every individual counts. The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is the world’s most […]
A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation
TSWALU KALAHARI RESERVE, South Africa — From high on a promontory in the Korannaberg Mountains, a mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) peers down to the west across the green-dappled plain below, the sun rising behind. In the distance, wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunt in the veld, verdant after early rains. And nearby, white rhinos (Ceratotherium […]
Powerful swimmers with massive heads, thick necks, and paws like sledgehammers, these diving big cats hunt below and above the water. Watch them in action
It was said that it couldn’t be done: the terrain was too dangerous; the floods would wipe out the cameras; the system was too unpredictable. But the truth is, no-one had really tried Andi Cross tells Melissa Hobson. We were headed to Porto Jofre, known for its wild jaguars, to help the Jaguar Identification Project (JIP) complete a […]
“Effects range from internal bleeding to manipulating behaviour or liquifying a host.” These are the deadliest weapons in the animal kingdom
When a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hammer of a gun. After pulling the trigger to release the stored elastic potential energy, the club moves like a […]
“Staring menacingly, the buffaloes encircled our vehicle.” My close encounter with a mega-stampede
We’re parked up in our Land Cruiser on the golden grasslands of Botswana’s Mababe Depression, surrounded by Cape buffaloes caked in mud. “There must be 3,000 of them here,” our guide Jonah Seboko says quietly, scanning the scene with his binoculars. “Beautiful, just beautiful.” That’s not a word I’d ever really associated with the notoriously […]