KATHMANDU — Hari Prasad Sharma recalls being astonished when he visited the Chure region in Nepal’s southern Madhesh province to study sloth bears. Sharma, an associate professor of zoology at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, had planned to install camera traps in the region to study the bears, Melursus ursinus, in what was believed to be […]
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North Atlantic orcas reveal the troubling persistence of toxic ocean pollutants
With their shiny black tops and pure white undersides, the killer whales, or orcas, are the sleekest hunters in the ocean. But being apex predators comes with a great cost. Their bodies absorb the chemical pollutants that build up in the long chain of prey leading to their meals. Now, a recent study in Environmental […]
Iconic tusker’s plight shows challenges in managing Sri Lanka’s wild elephants
ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — “He is a king without a crown.” This is how wildlife lovers refer to the majestic elephant Agbo, named after a king from an ancient kingdom of humans overlapping with some areas of Agbo’s home range in north-central Sri Lanka. Agbo is among the largest Sri Lankan tuskers, so there was […]
No animals harmed as wildlife specimen collection goes digital in 3D
Imagine you’re leading an expedition in the depths of a forest. You discover a species of frog that piques your interest. Conventional rules of taxonomy dictate that you capture the animal, euthanize it, and take it back to a lab or museum. But what if it’s a rare or threatened species? What if the animal […]
Ecologists help migratory birds adapt to climate change
A team of scientists drives across northern Europe under the cloak of darkness in a white van full of carefully caged songbirds. They’re on their way from the Netherlands to Sweden, where winter weather will linger for two weeks longer. The birds in the van are European pied flycatchers who arrived in the Netherlands earlier […]
Texas ocelot breeding and reintroduction may offer new route to recovery
KINGSVILLE, Texas — That ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are native to the United States may come as a big surprise to many people. But the small wildcats, more commonly associated with Central and South America, once ranged across much of the Southwestern U.S., though today they survive in only two small populations isolated on the Texas […]
Clouded leopards face alarming decline amid ‘genetic crisis,’ study warns
With their camouflaged coats, impossibly long tails, and extraordinary tree-climbing skills, clouded leopards are evolutionary marvels. They’re beautifully adapted to a feline life in the trees. But what evolution hadn’t reckoned on was us. A new genetic study indicates that the one-two punch of habitat loss and poaching has dealt the genetic diversity of the […]
Crime analysis sheds light on tiger poaching in Malaysia
Conservationists have for the first time adopted a crime analysis strategy developed for urban policing and applied it to assess the effectiveness of counterpoaching measures to protect the critically endangered Malayan tiger, according to a study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science. A deep-forest ranger patrol was established by conservation NGO Panthera in collaboration with […]