More than 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles have washed ashore on the beaches of Tamil Nadu state in southern India this month. Most were found near the state capital, Chennai. “I never heard [of] such large numbers of turtles stranded at any beaches of Tamil Nadu at least in the last three decades,” K. Sivakumar, […]
Tag: Mongabay.com

Five-month-old male gorilla, victim of illegal wildlife trade, seized in Istanbul
On Dec. 22, 2024, Turkish customs officers conducting a random search of a plane’s cargo hold found a surprise stowaway inside a small wooden crate with holes: a malnourished baby gorilla dressed in a soiled T-shirt. The Turkish Airlines flight was headed from Nigeria to Thailand and was transiting via Istanbul, authorities told local media. […]

In Panama, major port construction begins at key mangrove site
Conservation groups in Panama are trying to halt the construction of a new port in the Pacific province of Chiriquí that they say could destroy breeding grounds and nurseries for marine species. The Puerto Barú project, located outside the town of David, would create a new port on Panama’s northwest coast, increasing trade and tourism […]

Scientists are tracking global wildlife’s contributions to humanity
In October 2020, the hoofbeats of American bison thumped across the prairie of the Rosebud Reservation for the first time in more than a century. Years in the works, the release of 100 bison (Bison bison) in the U.S. state of South Dakota resulted from a collaboration between the Sicangu Lakota Oyate Nation, WWF and […]

Do cheetahs scavenge? Yes, research says, but also not really
NAIROBI — Cheetahs are known to be selective in their feeding habits — “clean eaters” that only go after the prime parts of their kill, such as the liver. But a new study has found that the large, slender, spotted cat found in Africa and parts of Western Asia can also scavenge. Unlike other African […]

1 in 4 freshwater species worldwide at risk of extinction: Study
The most extensive global assessment of freshwater animals to date has revealed that a quarter of all freshwater animal species on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction. The largest number of these threatened species are found in East Africa’s Lake Victoria, South America’s Lake Titicaca, Sri Lanka‘s Wet Zone, and India‘s Western Ghats […]

New study reveals why some birds are all about that bass
Birds produce an impressive variety of songs and calls, but the biological and ecological factors that influence the pitch, or frequencies, that birds create hasn’t been well understood — until now. Previous studies haven’t come to a consensus likely because they were small in scope, focusing on an individual species or a specific range. But […]

Bangladesh sees first ever rewilding of captive-bred elongated tortoises
Two species of critically endangered tortoises were reintroduced to Bangladesh‘s forests last December. Six captive-bred elongated tortoises (Indotestudo elongata) were first released in Lawachara National Park in northeastern Bangladesh on Dec. 18. This was followed by the release of 10 Asian giant tortoises (Manouria emys phayrei) in Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts […]