Enforcement efforts meet technology: A story of success in the Maya Golden Landscape in Southern Belize

May 1, 2018

By Karla Gabriela Hernández-Aguilar, Christina Garcia and Kamille Pennell, Ya’axché Conservation Trust Toledo District is the southernmost District in the country of Belize. It is the least developed region in the country and features the most pristine forests, majestic rivers, coastal lowland plains, and offshore cayes. Despite its tiny size of 4,649 kilometer squared,, this Read more

GWC is an Earth Optimist because…

April 17, 2018

In 2017, the Smithsonian Institute launched the inaugural Earth Optimism Summit in Washington, D.C.. The summit served as a way to build community and positive thinking during Earth Month; to overshadow the doom-and-gloom rhetoric on our current climate and conservation issues by instead focusing on the positive impacts made around the globe. This year, Earth Read more

Tapir Tracks Pave Path for Effective Conservation

March 30, 2018

An old man paces the lowland forests of Nicaragua’s Indio Maíz Biological Reserve. He’s a great swimmer, loves eating palm leaves and fruit, weighs in at around 500 pounds and can be a bit of a tease. His name is Almuk, a Baird’s Tapir who for the last year has deftly eluded a team of Read more

Fishing Cat Spotted in Indonesia?

March 2, 2018

Even as conservationists have started to fear that the Fishing Cat is extirpated from Indonesia, new footage, though inconclusive, has renewed hope that the species may not yet have vanished from Southeast Asia. The likely last sighting of a wild fishing cat in Java was before 1990. Over the past 15 years, researchers have placed Read more

Gum-Chewing Mini Monkeys Get Expanded Genetic Family Tree

January 25, 2018

Move over, Kardashians. Keeping up with the world’s smallest monkey is considerably more engaging than any reality TV show, says behavioral ecologist Stella de la Torre, who has been studying Pygmy Marmosets in South America since 1994. Different groups of Pygmy Marmosets have different dialects, gum-feeding preferences and insect-hunting techniques, each population has its own Read more

Newly Discovered Blue Tarantula a Beacon for Invertebrate Conservation

November 20, 2017

Walking through the jungle in the dark of the night, my visual stimuli were limited to the area illuminted by the small, bright beam of light from my flashlight. On nights like these, I am out scanning for nocturnal biodiversity. Specifically, as the herpetologist for the Biodiversity Assessment Team, a joint conservation research team through Read more

Saola: The tip of the Annamites extinction iceberg

October 24, 2017

The Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)—a primitive wild cattle species endemic to the Annamite mountain range of Vietnam and Lao PDR—is on the verge of extinction. In a recent letter published in the journal Science, a group of conservation scientists call attention to the critical situation of the species and a bold new plan to save it Read more

From Words to Visuals: Re-thinking the Protected Area Management Plan

October 18, 2017

Protected area plans are often long, complex documents that may just end up sitting on the shelves and unused. Over the coming weeks, GWC aims to take a novel approach to the standard protected area plan by developing a plan that is entirely visual, transcending language barriers and accessible to anyone who stands to gain Read more

A Bean in Borella

October 13, 2017

I had just finished a pleasant—no, horrible—5k on the most hated machine of any oarswoman/man, the erg, when my phone started lighting up like a malfunctioning Christmas light. It was fellow GWC associate conservation scientist and Small Cat Advocacy & Research (SCAR) co-founder Ashan on the other end, informing me about a kitten that was Read more

Bringing together experts for South Asian small mammal conservation

September 15, 2017

Small mammals serve as pollinators, seed dispersers and, as prey species, also help maintain populations of reptiles, birds, small cats, small carnivores and even large carnivores. For example, marmots, squirrels and rodents (including porcupines) make up a large part of the diet of Snow Leopards, Leopards and wolves. Small mammals are also very good indicator Read more