Rhett Ayers Butler
Once formidable predators in the world’s coastal and estuarine waters, sawfish—members of the ray family with their distinctive, toothed “saws”—now find themselves on the verge of vanishing. On International Sawfish Day, it is worth highlighting a creature whose form is as memorable as its fate is precarious. Sawfish, which can grow up to 7.6 meters [Continue reading]
Yesterday the latest Living Planet Index (LPI) report was released by WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It paints a sobering picture: wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of 73% over the past half-century. Based on nearly 35,000 monitored population trends spanning 5,495 species, LPI documents a collapse in biodiversity that extends across [Continue reading]
On World Octopus Day 🐙, it seems fitting to reflect on a creature whose intelligence is as intriguing as its ability to blend into its surroundings. The octopus, a soft-bodied mollusc with eight limbs, has long mesmerized audiences ranging from scientists and storytellers. With over 300 species scattered across the oceans—from shallow coral reefs to [Continue reading]
Planet has unveiled Project Centinela, an initiative designed to bolster conservation efforts in some of the world’s most vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. The program will provide cutting-edge satellite imagery and analytical tools to scientists and conservationists working in areas at the highest risk of species extinction. By offering access to high-resolution, high-frequency data, Planet seeks to [Continue reading]
Today is World Gorilla Day The lush forests of equatorial Africa, once a riot of life teeming with an unimaginable richness of plants and creatures, are yielding to a more ordered world—trees and crops planted in straight lines, forest sounds replaced by the hum of chainsaws and motorbikes, the rich, earthy scent of understory vegetation [Continue reading]
Today is International Rhino Day We share the planet with five rhino species: the white and black rhinos of Africa, and the Sumatran, Javan, and Indian (Greater One-Horned) rhinos of Asia. While the Indian and southern white rhinos have seen significant recoveries, most rhinos remain critically endangered, teetering on the edge of extinction. The Northern [Continue reading]
Today is World Manta Day. In conservation, economic valuation is increasingly recognized as a potent tool to incentivize species protection. Manta rays exemplify how their worth, alive, far surpasses the value placed on their body parts in global fisheries. Both the reef manta (Manta alfredi) and the giant manta (Manta birostris) face significant threats, particularly [Continue reading]
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. That makes it a fitting moment to recognize the crucial role these birds of prey play in our world. Vultures, long maligned as harbingers of death, are emerging as unsung heroes in the field of public health. In India, their precipitous decline in the 1990s—caused by the veterinary use [Continue reading]
The destruction of tropical forests is often framed as a carbon issue, but it has more immediate consequences for people living nearby. One of the most tangible effects is local temperature. Deforestation in Borneo, for instance, has left the island significantly hotter and drier, with severe consequences for both the environment and local communities. A [Continue reading]
Today is Amazon Rainforest Day. To mark the occasion, here are a few facts and figures about the world’s largest tropical rainforest: 🌳 The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, bigger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined. 🌳 At 6.9 million square kilometers, the Amazon Basin [Continue reading]
Today is International Primate Day. While most people are familiar with monkeys, the great apes, and possibly lemurs, fewer may realize that there are over 500 known species of primates, making them one of the most diverse groups of mammals. These species range from the diminutive Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur of Madagascar to the formidable [Continue reading]
Today is International Whale Shark Day. In a world that often exalts the loud, the fast, and the fierce, there exists a creature that quietly defies convention. The whale shark, the largest fish in the ocean, glides through warm seas with an elegance that belies its immense size. Despite their bulk—reaching up to 40 feet [Continue reading]
On this World Orangutan Day, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the profound connection between these creatures and the ecosystems they inhabit. Orangutans, our distant relatives who share 97% of their DNA with us, inhabit a world vastly different from ours, yet one that mirrors important aspects of our own. In the dense, rain-soaked forests [Continue reading]