Two centuries ago, extinctions were rare. Islands were hotspots, losing flightless bird species like the dodo and other animals that were hunted out of existence by European traders and colonists or killed off by introduced rats and cats. The Industrial Revolution changed that: Extinction rates soared across continents, roughly paralleling the exponential growth in human […]
Tag: mongabay
A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
A new report has highlighted the maritime border zone between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as a hotbed for the illegal wildlife trade, and called for urgent intergovernmental action to protect this biodiversity hotspot at the apex of the Coral Triangle. Wildlife trade monitoring nonprofit TRAFFIC documented and analyzed the seizure of more than 25,000 […]
Woodpeckers for fire recovery? A new online tool tells you how
Imagine a burned forest in California. The charred remains of trees, the soot on the forest floor and the smoke in the air might make it seem like all is lost. Far from it. While fires negatively affect many species of animals, they also spawn new and complicated ecosystems with rich biodiversity. In California, the black-backed […]
Years of pioneering work make Brazil the model for reintroduction of jaguars
Xamã is a year old. In August 2022, the jaguar cub was found all by himself, extremely malnourished and feeble, on private land in the municipality of Sinop, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso. His mother was not around. She’d probably died, or the two may have been separated by a large fire nearby. Rescued by environmental […]
Melting Arctic sea ice is changing bowhead whale migrations, study finds
A population of bowhead whales living in the western Arctic has long followed the same migration patterns. But new research suggests that climate change and the subsequent melting of sea ice are altering their movements, raising concerns about the future impacts on these whales and the Indigenous populations reliant on them for nutrition and cultural […]
Greater Mekong proves an ark of biodiversity, with 380 new species in a year
A thick-thumbed bat, a color-changing lizard, and a Muppet-looking orchid are just a few of the 380 new-to-science species found and described in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia between 2021 and 2022. In a report released this week by WWF, researchers highlight the remarkable diversity in this underexplored hotbed of life. The report […]
One left: British Columbia’s last chance on northern spotted owls
A thousand northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) once lived among the sweeping cedars and towering Douglas firs of southwestern British Columbia’s old-growth forests. Today, only one female survives. She lives alone now within the traditional territory of the Spô’zêm First Nation. While a larger – albeit still threatened – population remains in the United […]
‘Anthill tiger’: Putting one of Africa’s rarest wildcats on the radar
Every night, somewhere unseen across the vast, semidesert and dry savanna habitat of Southern Africa, the continent’s deadliest cat emerges to hunt. Black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) are ideally suited for nocturnal stalking: They are evolutionarily older than jungle cats and domestic cats, boast exceptional night vision and hearing, and are believed to kill more prey […]