COLOMBO — For Nilantha Kodithuwakku, a naturalist involved in whale and dolphin-watching operations, it’s always a spectacular scene to witness pods of playful dolphins jumping and spinning in the air. But occasionally the scene he encounters is of dolphin carcasses, either floating or washed ashore, with the tail flukes missing.Charles Anderson, a marine biologist based […]
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New assessment shows Sri Lanka’s amphibians being pushed to the brink
COLOMBO —Adam’s Peakis Sri Lanka’s fourth-highest mountain and considered a holy site for people of multiple faiths, who flock there in their thousands during the pilgrimage season from December to May each year. The trail to the summit cuts across the biodiversity-rich Peak Wilderness Sanctuary. It was on the edge of this busy trail that […]
The next great threat to Brazil’s golden lion tamarin: Yellow fever
In April 2018, workers with the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, a Brazilian NGO dedicated to the protection of the golden lion tamarin, found one of the endangered primates, apparently sick and unable to climb trees, lying on the forest floor in Aldeia, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Rio de Janeiro city. The following day, field […]
Chinese government reportedly recommending bear bile injections to treat coronavirus
The government of China is reportedly recommending a coronavirus treatment that includes bear bile. The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported today that a list of recommended treatments for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 published by the Chinese government earlier this month includes injections of a traditional medicine called “Tan Re Qing,” which contains bear […]
China beefs up wildlife trade ban as COVID-19 outbreak intensifies
China has banned the trade and consumption of wild animals in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 2,700 lives and infected more than 81,000 people, most of them in China, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. A temporary ban on trade in wildlife announced in January was expected to […]
‘Intense’ human pressure is widespread among terrestrial vertebrates, study finds
A new study assessing the cumulative impacts of human activities on wildlife found that the vast majority of terrestrial species are facing “intense” pressure due to humanity’s footprint across the globe. A research team led by Christropher O’Bryan of Australia’s University of Queensland looked at human pressures across the ranges of 20,529 terrestrial vertebrates and […]
Where the logging ends in Indonesian Borneo, the forest clearing begins
Logging for timber by definition reduces tree cover. But what happens when logging stops? Anew study has found that in concessions where timber firms have stopped operating, deforestation actually appears to increase, thanks to illegal clearing for agriculture and industrial plantations. An inactive logging concession therefore creates a conservation risk, but also a conservation opportunity, […]
‘Out of control’: Unprecedented fires ravage Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands
PORTO JOFRE, Brazil – Only fragile wisps of freshly-sprouted grass dotted the charred plot of farmland in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands. Standing amid the ash and burnt vegetation, Eledilson Nunes de Souza lifted his hand, marking a line halfway up his chest. “Usually, at this time of year, it’s all flooded here – the water is […]