We know very little about the growth and reproductive biology of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish species. Because they’re listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, scientists are looking for ways to fill this gap in our knowledge without overly disturbing or distressing individual whale sharks. Scientists at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in […]
Tag: Mongabay.com
In protecting songbirds, Indonesia ruffles owners & breeders’ feathers
JAKARTA — Songbird owners in Indonesia are up in arms over the recent inclusion of hundreds of bird species in the national list of protected animals. The owners plan to protest outside the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Central Jakarta on Aug. 14, according to the Indonesian Songbird Fan Club (FKMI), a coalition of owners’ […]
A ‘perfect policy storm’ cuts puma numbers by almost half near Jackson, Wyoming
Like many places in the American West, the region is a patchwork of land that’s under the control of different government agencies with differing opinions and management goals. “It makes that part of our country really unique,” Mark Elbroch, a biologist with the wild cat conservation group Panthera and one of the study’s lead authors, […]
POLL: Should Trump’s border wall be scrapped to protect wildlife populations?
The infamous proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico has been, to put it lightly, controversial. The apple of the Trump administration’s eye, a total barrier between the two countries remains entrenched in the wish list of the U.S. president. But while Donald Trump maintains that it would effectively reduce illegal immigration, critics say […]
‘Better and better’: Thermal cameras turn up the heat on poachers
Nearly 2 million animals, mostly wildebeest and zebra, migrate roughly 800 kilometers (500 miles) each year between Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara National Reserve across the border in Kenya. Their joint search for fresh green grass is an ecological phenomenon and a major tourist attraction in both countries. But along with tourists, […]
Krill fishing companies pledge to protect key food of Antarctic animals
A majority of krill fishing companies have announced their commitment to voluntarily stop harvesting the tiny crustaceans from vast areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, including around important breeding penguin colonies.The announcement on July 9 follows years of campaigns and negotiations led by environmental groups such as Greenpeace. “This is a bold and progressive move from […]
POLL: Should trophy hunting of lions be made illegal?
On June 7th, a trophy hunter shot a male lion in Umbabat Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, a part of the Greater Kruger National Park. Nothing surprising about this: around 500 lions, usually males, are killed every year by trophy hunters on the African continent. What’s made this different is the suspicion that the […]
Orangutan found shot, hacked at palm plantation with history of deaths
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia are investigating the killing of a rare orangutan whose body was found riddled with bullet and knife wounds in an oil palm plantation with a history of orangutan deaths. Workers at the plantation in Seruyan district, in the Bornean province of Central Kalimantan, pulled the badly decomposed corpse […]