Rhett Ayers Butler
Until recently, the pangolin’s fate had mostly unfolded in silence. Hunted for its scales, consumed in markets, and shipped across borders with bureaucratic indifference, it is the most trafficked mammal in the world—more so than elephants or tigers. Yet its name rarely echoes beyond the corridors of conservation circles. With its shy demeanor and prehistoric [Continue reading]
They are not yet gone. But for thousands of species, the earth is already holding its breath. A new review in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment confirms what conservationists have long suspected: over 10,000 species now sit on the precipice, listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, the final designation before vanishing from the wild [Continue reading]
Last month, I had the opportunity to join a group of scientists and conservationists on an expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands, thanks to a cabin that had become available on their vessel. This remote volcanic archipelago, located roughly 285 miles off the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, is not an easy place to [Continue reading]
He spent a lifetime defending an animal few people understood, and even fewer could name. In 1967, on the spring-fed waters of Florida’s Crystal River, a teenager named James “Buddy” Powell encountered a stranger in a rowboat. The man, a Cornell graduate student, was looking for manatees—a species so obscure then that few had studied [Continue reading]
When wolves on Pleasant Island, off Alaska’s southeastern coast, arrived in 2013, they quickly exhausted the local deer population. Rather than return to the mainland, they adapted. Their new prey: sea otters. Up to 70% of their diet now consists of the charismatic marine mammals, according to new research. But this dietary shift has come [Continue reading]
She bore no records, only witness. For more than a century, Vatsala stood. Through wars and heatwaves, bureaucracies and monsoons, she moved through India’s forests with a gait that outlasted the institutions around her. She died where she had lived for decades, in the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, after slipping into a forest [Continue reading]
For more than 30 years, Mark Erdmann has worked in some of the most remote and biologically rich marine ecosystems on Earth. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has made it his mission to protect Indonesia’s reefs and mangroves—places many only dream of diving. Over the course of his career, [Continue reading]
In the embattled heart of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where war and wilderness meet, an unheralded act of defiance unfolded late last year. In October 2024, conservationists released four female Grauer’s gorillas—Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo, and Ndjingala—into the wild, marking the largest reintroduction of eastern gorillas in African history, reports Elodie Toto. The release took [Continue reading]
Shark conservation is not a field for the faint of heart. It pits biology against commerce, sentiment against symbolism, and science against entrenched bureaucracies. Sharks themselves—apex predators honed over hundreds of millions of years—are now among the most imperiled inhabitants of the oceans. Vilified in pop culture, sliced up for their fins, and managed more [Continue reading]
On May 22—the International Day for Biological Diversity—conservationists, scientists, and governments alike reflect on the staggering variety of life on Earth and the urgent need to protect it. Biodiversity, broadly defined, refers to the variety and variability of life at all levels: ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity within species. It underpins everything from food systems [Continue reading]
Today, May 22, is the International Day for Biological Diversity. To mark the occasion, here’s a look at the world’s most biodiverse countries and territories, using two approaches: (1) total number of species (2) species richness relative to land or marine area These rankings are always contentious. People are often disappointed or upset when a [Continue reading]
Since 1970, North America has lost 3 billion birds. The decline hasn’t stopped. Bird populations across the United States are plummeting, according to a new report from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) that paints a sobering picture of ecological decline. One in three species—229 in total—are now in urgent need of conservation. Among [Continue reading]
Life on Earth is changing—not just in numbers, but in essence Human activity is reshaping life on Earth in profound and alarming ways. A landmark study published in Nature offers the most comprehensive synthesis to date of how five primary anthropogenic pressures—habitat change, pollution, climate change, resource exploitation, and invasive species—are affecting biodiversity across all [Continue reading]
Few apes have done more to unsettle human certainties than Kanzi. He was not the first non-human primate to use symbols to communicate, but he was the first to do so with such fluency, subtlety, and apparent ease that it prompted uncomfortable questions about the supposed uniqueness of human language, culture, and thought. Born in [Continue reading]
For months on end, he would maroon himself on remote islands—no phone, no company, no fanfare. Just a transistor radio, a hammock, and the possibility of seeing a turtle. It was enough. For Satish Bhaskar, the joy lay not in discovery as much as in the quiet act of observing: measuring tracks in the sand, [Continue reading]
Few creatures better embody the notion of peaceful coexistence than the manatee. Slow-moving and largely indifferent to human affairs, these aquatic herbivores graze on seagrasses and algae in the shallow coastal waters of the Americas and West Africa. Yet despite their unassuming nature, manatees are increasingly at the mercy of human activity. The West Indian [Continue reading]
A forest may burn to the ground, but beneath the ashes, a pangolin is already rebuilding. Pangolins are best known for their misfortune. As the world’s most trafficked mammal, their numbers have been decimated by poaching for scales and meat. But a recent study underscores what is at stake beyond the species itself: pangolins play [Continue reading]
The vaquita teeters on the brink of extinction. Here’s how people are trying to save it. Fewer than ten vaquitas, the world’s smallest porpoise, remain in the Gulf of California, their only habitat. Illegal fishing for totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder is prized in China for its purported medicinal value, has decimated the population. [Continue reading]
February 16th is World Whale Day. One little-known but interesting fact about whales is that some species have been found to store carbon in their bodies for over a century, making them natural climate allies. How does that work? When whales die and sink to the ocean floor, their massive bodies trap carbon that [Continue reading]
February 15th is World Pangolin Day Among the world’s lesser-known mammals, few are as peculiar or as imperiled as the pangolin. Scaly yet soft-footed, reclusive yet trafficked in vast numbers, pangolins embody paradoxes. On World Pangolin Day, here are a few facts about these creatures that warrant more attention than they receive. 💪 The only [Continue reading]
February 14th is known for love and affection—but not only among humans. It is also World Bonobo Day, a celebration of one of our closest relatives, the endangered bonobo (Pan paniscus). These apes have long been associated with cooperation and social harmony, a reputation that aligns fittingly with Valentine’s Day. Yet, recent research paints a [Continue reading]
Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo, became an internet sensation—but will her fame help save her species? Jeremy Hance explored that question in a recent piece on Mongabay News. Moo Deng became TikTok famous overnight. Millions watched videos of her antics: gnawing on a keeper’s boots, chasing water from a hose, and snoozing in a [Continue reading]
Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo, became an internet sensation—but will fame help save her species? Jeremy Hance explored that question in a recent piece published on Mongabay. Moo Deng became TikTok-famous overnight. Millions watched videos of her antics: gnawing on a keeper’s boots, chasing water from a hose, and snoozing in a way only [Continue reading]
Today is International Zebra Day With their iconic black-and-white stripes, zebras are widely recognized, yet they are often underestimated beyond their striking appearance. Members of the horse family, zebras possess exceptional hearing and eyesight, can sprint up to 70 km/h (43 mph), and deliver kicks powerful enough to deter apex predators. Their distinctive stripes, however, [Continue reading]
Today is Wildlife Conservation Day Nature documentaries and conservation campaigns paint an image of Earth teeming with wildlife, but the numbers tell a different story. A February 2023 study, published in PNAS, quantified the biomass of the world’s mammals and revealed an ecosystem heavily dominated by humanity and its livestock. A few striking figures from [Continue reading]