In July this year, conservationists from North Carolina Zoo in the U.S. and the Grumeti Fund in Tanzania went searching for a white-backed vulture in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park that had been tagged a few weeks earlier. Tracking data suggested the bird had died. The team traveled off-road to the southwestern edge of the park, […]
Tag: mongabay
Indigenous guardians embark on a sacred pact to protect the lowland tapir in Colombia
In the forest’s fecund gloom, José Muchavisoy leads the guardians of the territory as they scan the undergrowth for trails left by their target. Strangely splayed paw prints, dung among the leaf litter and mud wallows where the creature cooled off during the hottest hours of the day are hints it was recently here. If […]
Relief in Sri Lanka as key threat to nonprotected forests is repealed
COLOMBO — Environmental activists in Sri Lanka are celebrating the end of a 2020 decree that left the island’s nonprotected forests more vulnerable to agriculture and development projects. “This is a landmark victory for the protection of these important forests, securing their long-term conservation,” said Eric Wikramanayake, chair of the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL). The […]
Slender-billed curlew, a bird last photographed in 1995, is likely extinct
For decades, the slender-billed curlew, a grayish-brown migratory wetland bird with a long, arched bill, has evaded detection, prompting speculation about whether the species is still out there. Now, a new study has confirmed that the species is indeed most likely extinct. “Speaking personally it’s a source of deep sadness,” Geoff Hilton, conservation scientist at […]
Microplastics are sickening and killing wildlife, disrupting Earth systems
Bottlenose dolphins leapt and torpedoed through the shallow turquoise waters off Florida’s Sarasota Bay. Then, a research team moved in, quickly corralling the small pod in a large net. With the speed of a race car pit crew, veterinarians, biologists and their assistants examined the animals, checking vital signs while taking skin, blood and other […]
Protecting 2.6% of oceans could prevent deadly whale-ship collisions: Study
Ship strikes are a leading threat to large whales, with global shipping routes overlapping 92% of their habitats, a new study finds. But protecting whales in the most dangerous collision hotspots would require action over just 2.6% of the ocean’s surface, researchers conclude, potentially saving thousands of whales with minimal disruption to global trade. The […]
A Nigerian reserve, once a stronghold for chimps, is steadily losing its forest to farming
Oluwa Forest Reserve, located in southwestern Nigeria, contains some of the last large swaths of old growth — also called “primary” — forest in the region. These forests are home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including endangered species and subspecies such as red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki), white-bellied pangolins […]
Rappahannock Tribe first in US to enshrine rights of nature into constitution
The Rappahannock Tribe has become the first tribal nation in the United States to successfully adopt a tribal constitution that recognizes the rights of nature, giving legal protection to the river it has lived alongside for thousands of years. The new constitution recognizes nine specific rights for the Rappahannock River, including rights to “naturally exist, […]