In December 2023, three staff members from the Iranian Cheetah Society crowded around a laptop, moved to tears by the sight of a mother cheetah and her four cubs, caught on a camera trap. Population estimates for the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) vary, but experts say fewer than 30 may remain. Once […]
Tag: mongabay
Ridiculously rare photo catches Asian caracal swimming a river in India
If you’ve ever thought of the caracal before, you’ve probably pictured it inhabiting the savannas of Africa, its long-fringed ears sticking up above the wild grasses. But although the caracal (Caracal caracal) is best known from its African habitats, a tiny population persists in India. It’s here, on the Chambal River, that a tourist, Vaibhav […]
Bangladesh uses satellite transmitters on saltwater crocodiles in Asia’s first
DHAKA — In a breakthrough in saltwater crocodile conservation in the country, Bangladesh has started using a satellite tagging system to monitor the species’ movements, habits, and life span in the Sundarbans mangroves. These mangrove forests are the animal’s only wild habitat in Bangladesh. On March 13, Bangladesh Forest Department, for the first time in […]
Mexico’s avocado industry harms monarch butterflies, but will U.S. officials act? (commentary)
Monarch butterflies are returning to gardens across the United States, but a few months ago, I stood in a mountain forest in Mexico where the monarchs spend the winter. They clustered on trees by the thousands and when the sun hit them, they swarmed in a cloud of bright orange confetti. I was surrounded by […]
Tapirs in Brazil’s Cerrado inspire research on human health & pesticides
It was in 2015 when researchers were attempting to capture tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) in the Brazilian Cerrado to install monitoring collars so they could study the species. While trying to complete the anesthetic procedure, they noticed that the anesthesia was not working, and as a result, they had to supplement the doses for the procedure […]
Bonobos, the ‘hippy apes’, may not be as peaceful as once thought
Anthropologist Maud Mouginot recalls an encounter with bonobos early one morning in 2019 deep in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo that helped revise her impression of them as the peace-loving “hippy apes.” It was still pitch dark in Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, in the center of the country, and she and colleagues were […]
A tiger cat gains new species designation, but conservation challenges remain
Many of the world’s small wildcats are enigmatic, elusive and roam beyond the media spotlight enjoyed by their big cat cousins. But you could be forgiven for never having heard of Latin America’s cloud forest-dwelling small cat Leopardus pardinoides, as researchers only recently described it as a new species. A team comprised of dozens of […]
Jaguar release offers a lifeline to Gran Chaco’s lonely big cats
The lowland forest of El Impenetrable National Park in northern Argentina sprawls across the hot, swampy green of the Gran Chaco biome, home to South America’s largest mammals and thousands of plant species. It’s a critical conservation unit for the protection of one of the planet’s most deforested ecosystems, yet it’s missing an important resident: […]