Madagascar is home to an astonishing number of wildlife species, but perhaps most famous are its lemurs—and for very good reason. The big-eyed primates are charismatic, diverse, resourceful, whimsical and even quite humanlike. Lemurs have another, less fortunate distinction: They are the most endangered primates in the world, according to leading primate conservationists who gathered Read more
Last week was a pivotal week in primate-related news. The world mourned the passing of Koko the gorilla, whose impressive sign language vocabulary and love of kittens reminded us all of our kinship with non-human primates—our closest biological relatives. And a group of 28 internationally recognized primate conservation experts issued a global warning that our Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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