Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world: the Tasmanian devil. Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) used to live in Australia but now they can only be found in the island state of Tasmania, […]
Tag: threatened species
Hunters kill migrating birds on their 10,000km journey to Australia
IT IS LOW TIDE at the end of the wet season in Broome, Western Australia. Shorebirds feeding voraciously on worms and clams suddenly get restless. Chattering loudly they take flight, circling up over Roebuck Bay then heading off for their northern breeding grounds more than 10,000 km away. I marvel at the epic journey ahead, […]
EU/Chinese soy consumption linked to species impacts in Brazilian Cerrado: study
Ask Europeans how palm oil consumption is impacting biodiversity, and many will be quick to list threats to the emblematic orangutan, whose habitat in Indonesia has been drastically reduced by oil palm plantations grown for the international market. But ask those same citizens how the massive amount of soy imported from Brazil to feed European […]
Three pangolin species closer to extinction: IUCN
The pangolin’s future looks gloomy, according to the latest update by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which assesses the conservation status of species. Of the eight known species of the pangolin, one of the world’s most trafficked mammals, two African species, the while-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis) and the giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), […]
Mountain gorilla census reveals further increase in numbers
The outlook for eastern Africa’s mountain gorillas is growing brighter, as a recent census released on Dec. 16 shows that the subspecies’ numbers have risen since 2011. Scientists believe there are now at least 1,063 mountain gorillas living in the wild. Tara Stoinski, the CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, […]
Water-guzzling demands of Trump’s border wall threaten fish species
The survival of eight endangered and threatened species, including four kinds of endemic fish, is in doubt in Arizona, as massive quantities of groundwater are extracted to construct Donald Trump’s border wall. The 30ft-high barrier is under construction on the edge of the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Arizona, where rare desert springs […]
Lebanese Minister Marwan Kheireddine Hunts Animals For Fun
Since hunting humans is not currently accessible to local bankers and politicians (but stay tuned, it’s probably underway!), Lebanese Minister of State and Al-Mawarid Bank Chairman Marwan Kheireddine has decided he enjoys hunting animals for sport. Amazing! And by amazing, I mean disgusting. In a photoshoot in Hunter and Safari Magazine that can only be described […]
WWF’s first jaguar collaring mission reveals flourishing population on Amazonian island
WWF has collaborated with partners to successfully tag three wild jaguars with special collars, allowing scientists to better monitor and understand the behaviour of this iconic species. The mission, part-funded by WWF-UK and undertaken by WWF-Brazil, theInstituto Onça-PintadaandInstituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, took place on a protected Amazonian island off the coast of […]