A group of students and parents huddled behind a row of wooden boxes in New Zealand’s Godley Valley on the country’s South Island. The box doors were flung open, and birds with fluffy white bellies and long, pointy bills flapped their black wings, chirping as they took off into the crisp winter air. This month, […]
Tag: Mongabay.com
Elephant shrew ‘lost’ to science for 52 years is ‘rediscovered’ in Africa
The Somali sengi is a strange amalgamation of creatures. While its body is the shape and size of a mouse’s, it has spindly, gazelle-like legs that allow it to dart across boulders at breakneck speed. It also has a long, trunk-like nose that resembles an elephant’s, although it functions more like an anteater’s with its […]
A genetic map hopes to trace rescued chimps back to their homes
Experts estimate that nearly 2,000 chimpanzees may be lost to the wildlife trade each year. Chimpanzees are currently listed as endangered by the IUCN (the western chimpanzee, one of four subspecies, is listed as critically endangered), and their numbers are still declining. While chimpanzee conservation has many components, researchers say genetic studies are an increasingly […]
As wild areas become farmland, species that carry zoonotic diseases flourish
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, much of the blame for the human and economic devastation caused by the virus has been directed toward China. In particular, the country’s “wet markets” have come under fire for endangering public health, despite the fact that few offer the species of wildlife hypothesized […]
Is Chinese investment driving a sharp increase in jaguar poaching?
A decapitated jaguar found floating in a river by a scientist doing fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon; a dead jaguar spotted on the highway between Boa Vista and Manaus, its carcass first observed whole by the side of the road, later seen without its head or paws; dozens of media reports documenting the seizure of […]
Brazilian Amazon protected areas ‘in flames’ as land-grabbers invade
In a remote slice of Triunfo do Xingu, deep in Brazil’s northern Pará state, swaths of lush forest have been engulfed by flames in recent days. In another stretch to the north, a patch of untouched jungle has been almost entirely cleared this year. In countless other parts of this vast protected region, the Amazon […]
Fires in the Pantanal: ‘We are facing a scenario now that is catastrophic’
A canopy of thick smoke blanketed a vast patch of Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands, stretching as far as the eye could see. Underneath, flames were engulfing the yellowed grasslands of the Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, parched by weeks of drought. Fed by gusty winds, the fire had already been burning for days and showed no signs […]
‘Meaningless certification’: Study makes the case against ‘sustainable’ palm oil
JAKARTA — A new study on certified oil palm plantations and their links to past deforestation has sparked a debate over whether they can be considered sustainable if they’re established on once-forested land. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, analyzed highly detailed satellite images from 1984, the oldest available, to […]