Often mistaken for a strange bear-cat hybrid, the binturong is a secretive mammal native to Southeast Asia’s dense rainforests. With its shaggy black fur, prehensile tail and unmistakable buttery scent, this arboreal creature is both peculiar and captivating. What is a binturong? The binturong (Arctictis binturong), sometimes known as the ‘bearcat’, is neither bear nor […]
Tag: iucn red list
Comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and sea turtles prove nature loss can be reversed, scientists say
Conservation comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and green sea turtles prove that global nature loss can be reversed, scientists have said. But a report warns food production must be the next “positive tipping point” if the world is to avert biodiversity collapse. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) analysed nearly 36,000 animal populations and more than […]
Pakistan expands protected habitat for Indus River dolphin as recovery offers hope
Between 11 million and 16 million years ago, during the high sea levels of the middle Miocene period, the ancestors of the Indus River dolphin entered the muddy waters of what is the Indus Basin today. Over millennia, they adapted to their new environment through extraordinary evolutionary shifts, developing sophisticated echolocation while gradually losing their […]
It has a gaping, cavernous mouth crammed with sharp teeth – and one of the wildest mating strategies in the animal kingdom
This creature goes by several different names: Johnson’s abyssal seadevil, humpback anglerfish and black seadevil anglerfish. None of them are particularly endearing. That’s possibly down to the fact that this deep-sea fish looks like the creature from the black lagoon… if you chopped off its head, added a gleaming fishing rod and left it bobbing […]
“You’re looking at one of the wildest landscapes on Earth and watching a species that almost nobody has ever studied.“
Researchers have uncovered new information about a rare rodent known as the Wolffsohn’s viscacha, allowing them to reclassify the species from Data Deficient to Endangered on Argentina’s national Red List. The Wolffsohn’s viscacha (Lagidium wolffsohni) is a relatively large rodent, measuring approximately 470mm from head to rear, with the tail extending up to 305mm. Looking like a cross between […]
A shy bird found only in Nepal is waiting for the world to notice
Nepal’s shrubby hillsides are home to a medium-sized bird with brownish upperparts, distinctive black streaks from the shafts of its feathers and, sometimes, a chalky white facial patch. It’s the spiny babbler (Turdoides nipalensis), a mysterious bird, recorded only in Nepal. In June, the bird made headlines with a sighting for the first time in the forests of […]
“It’s the size of a house cat, with all the charisma of rusty-red teddy bear…”
These tree-dwelling cuties are the original panda, having been described by scientists nearly 50 years before their black and white namesakes. They’re not actually even close relatives of the giant panda, belonging to their own unique family (Ailuridae) and sharing traits withracoons, weasels and skunks. How big are red pandas? Brilliantly adapted against the cold and for life in the […]
Africa’s amphibians are overlooked in conservation planning, experts warn
Herpetologists are calling for greater inclusion of amphibians in African conservation planning, in a recent letter published in the journal Science. Africa is home to roughly 1,170 known species of amphibians, 99% of which are endemic. Some 37% of the amphibians are recognized as threatened with extinction. The researchers note that amphibians — frogs, salamanders and caecilians — […]