Wildlife Conservation and Protection

Cuddly polar bears and hyperrealistic chimeras may seem harmless on social media, but experts worry AI animal content can warp our understanding of, and relationship to, wildlife.

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“Honestly, it sort of started off as a joke. It’s like, ‘Oh, well, why don’t we give them an old folks home?’” Eric Fox, associate curator of penguins at the aquarium, said. “But the more we were looking at their welfare data and understanding what ailments they go through, what physical limitations they have, we started to realize that we were on to something.”

The adult female, named Swim Shady, returned the wild behind the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, just north of Palm Beach.

Sir David Attenborough is championing a bid by conservationists to raise £30 million to secure a vast upland estate for nature.

In a significant breakthrough for conservation and climate policy, a new resolution passed yesterday at the IUCN World Conservation Congress has formally recognised the role of wild animals as critical enablers of natural solutions to climate change.

Indigenous leaders say free, prior, and informed consent must guide decisions about synthetic conservation technologies on their lands.

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The African Forest #Elephant is a Critically Endangered species found in the dense #rainforests of Central and #WestAfrica. They are smaller than their savanna relatives, with straighter tusks and rounder ears, uniquely adapted to their forested habitat. As ecosystem engineers, these elephants play a crucial role in maintaining Afrotropical forests by dispersing seeds and mitigating against climate change by shaping forest composition. However, relentless #poaching for ivory, habitat destruction due to #palmoil, #cocoa and #tobacco agriculture, and human-elephant conflict have decimated their population. Recent studies have shown that African Forest Elephants’ movement patterns vary significantly between individuals, with some elephants exploring vast distances while others remain in small home ranges. This variation poses unique challenges for conservation efforts. Resist and fight for their survival each time you shop, be #vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.

Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago.

It was a balmy day in Del Rio, a Texas border town about 170 miles west of San Antonio, when a citizen conservationist looking for wildlife stumbled upon a striking rust and orange caterpillar with fleshy horn-like protrusions that are meant to scare predators. Eventually this larva would become the pipevine swallowtail, an eye-catching butterfly that features black, blue, white and orange hues and feeds on a number of native plants including milkweed.

On the eve of a key biodiversity summit in the UAE, scientists have issued a fresh warning about the health of bird populations, with 61% of assessed species now recording declines in their numbers.

On a bright and clear day, Gillian T. Davies reached the end of a winding dirt track where armed guards waited.

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An Indonesian songbird once nearly extinct in the wild, the Bali starling, is making a comeback through community-led conservation on Nusa Penida and beyond.

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archived (Wayback Machine): - Mongabay article - research cited

The nature group separately used state government land-clearing data in NSW and Queensland to calculate how much koala habitat had been cleared in those states from 2011 to 2023 – the most recent year for which data was available.

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Pandas attract funding and focus in conservation - but systems processes are just as vital.

A two-year effort by hundreds of science and conservation experts from 158 countries reveals the latest shark conservation statistics, while providing insight into the process to protect large groups of species.

[UK] We require several decent years in a row – 2025 is an improvement on last year but we need more vintage years

A team of researchers in France are building on fundamental experimental research undertaken in the Ukrainian Chornobyl exclusion zone with a new project in the Japanese Fukushima Prefecture to further our understanding of what it means for animals to live and reproduce in radioactive environments.

A federal court in Brazil has blocked the start of planned explosions along a 35-kilometer (22-mile) rock formation called Pedral do Lourenço in the Tocantins River, pausing a major infrastructure project until a judge can inspect the site.

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The blue crane, South Africa’s national bird, is now at greater risk of extinction, as a new regional assessment lists the species as “vulnerable.”

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Hundreds of monkeys can now safely cross roads in Alta Floresta, a city in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Seven canopy bridges have reconnected rainforest fragments that were separated by urban roads.

archived (Wayback Machine): - Mongabay article - study cited

archived (Wayback Machine): - Mongabay article - study cited

On June 27, 2025, Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County regarding a reckless plan for a massive detention center in the heart of the Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”