PEKANBARU, Indonesia — Reportedly home to 3% of the planet’s mammal species and one of the highest levels of lowland plant diversity known to science, Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park is a sanctum for Sumatra’s wildlife – including critically endangered Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus). But the capacity of Tesso […]
Tag: Rhett Butler
For two rhino species on brink of extinction, it’s collaboration vs. stonewalling
Fatu doesn’t seem to care about the carrot she’s been offered by her caretaker. She raises her enormous head and gives it a sniff before returning to what she was doing, which is nipping delicately at the dry, scraggly grass at her feet. A few yards away, her mother, Najin, is doing the same. “They’re […]
‘They never intended to conserve it’: Outcry as loggers gut Cambodian reserve
In late February, conservationist Kheng Khou tried to enter Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, which he routinely patrols with other members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN). Instead, he and his colleagues were denied access and threatened with arrest. Local authorities told them they couldn’t enter because they didn’t have permission from the Cambodian Ministry […]
‘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 […]
Palm oil processors top plantations in destroying proboscis monkey habitat
JAKARTA — The oil palm processing industry has become the biggest threat to the iconic and endangered proboscis monkeys of Indonesian Borneo, a new study has found. The study, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, analyzed the loss of habitat of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) in Balikpapan Bay, home to one of […]
Conservationists welcome China’s wildlife trade ban
Conservationists are welcoming news that the Chinese Government has temporarily banned the sale of wildlife in markets, restaurants and over e-commerce as part of an effort to contain the Coronavirus outbreak, which has already claimed 56 lives. Defined as a zoonotic disease since it’s normally relegated to wildlife, it may have originated from a snake […]
‘We have cut them all’: Ghana struggles to protect its last old-growth forests
KUMASI, Ghana — The West African country of Ghana is known for having rich natural resources including vast tracts of rainforest. But its primary forest has all but vanished, with what remains generally relegated to reserves scattered throughout the country’s southern third. These reserves are under official protection. However, that hasn’t stopped logging and other […]
Whale stress levels influenced by human activity, earwax study suggests
Scientists have mapped whale stress levels in relation to human activity going back nearly a century and a half — using earwax collected from baleen whales. From 1870 to 2016, the whales’ stress levels seem to be closely associated with activities such as industrial whaling, naval operations during World War II, and rising sea-surface temperatures, […]