The last few surviving Asiatic cheetahs live in Iran, where they stalk the hyper-arid landscape, where temperatures swing from -30°C to 50°C. This is the only place in the world a cheetah, most of which…
The world’s five species of sawfish are the most threatened fishes in the world.
David Wackenfelt
Sawfish are the most endangered group of marine fish in the world, largely thanks to overfishing and habitat loss. Formerly abundant, they have disappeared from many countries’ waters, and in many others…
The National Trust has reported that the seasonal activities of plants and animals in the UK have been exceptionally early in 2014. Spring and summer have come early – and observations from some parts…
Could Australia’s new threatened species commissioner be the break Tasmania’s endangered devils need?
jomilo75/Flickr
Australia’s threatened animals and plants may have received a small win today — the announcement of Australia’s first threatened species commissioner by Environment Minister Greg Hunt in Melbourne. The…
Fostering captive-born pups into wild litters helps boost the species.
Ryan Nordsven/USFWS
Red wolves were one of the first carnivores Europeans encountered in North America. Unfortunately, this meant red wolves were also one of the first to be exterminated. Fuelled by fear and superstition…
Quolls have been hit hard by the introduction of cane toads, foxes, cats and other big changes over the past 200 years – but if we act fast, we may be able to save them.
Bronwyn Fancourt
With sharp teeth and an attitude to match, quolls are some of Australia’s most impressive hunters. Ranging from around 300g to 5kg, these spectacularly spotted marsupials do an out-sized job of controlling…
I spent a few years in South Africa searching for the elusive brown hyaena. The aim of the study was to assess the differences in the distribution and abundance of brown hyaena between protected and unprotected…
A greater stick-nest rat ready to be released - with radio collar attached.
Arid Recovery
Almost a third of Australia’s mammals have become extinct or are facing extinction, largely thanks to introduced predators such as cats and foxes. But what is the best way to save the species still alive…
Already many thousand more toy armadillos, but probably fewer real ones.
Tânia Rêgo/ABr
Charles Darwin ate one on his trip to Brazil. Apparently it tasted more like pork than chicken. My nine-year-old, football-mad, half-Brazilian son could identify one on his World Cup merchandising and…
Older elephants with larger tusks are becoming rarer due to their ivory.
Muhammad Mahdi Karim
The shocking news that Satao, the much-loved African Elephant who lived in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park, has been killed and butchered for his tusks highlights once again the terrible and unsustainable…
Cattle drovers have won back the right to graze livestock in the Australian Alps - against scientists’ advice.
AAP Image/Bob Richardson
From reef dredging, to shark culling, to opening old-growth forests to logging, environmental policies are leaving Australia’s wildlife exposed to threats. The reason, we propose, is that society and government…
American wolves show us how important large predators are for conservation.
Doug McLaughlin
We know that introduced predators such as foxes and cats are one of the greatest threats to Australia’s wildlife, but what is the best way to control them? Many Australian ecologists argue dingoes are…
Mining in Madagascar – but do the miners give enough back?
Amy Glass/People and Development/supplied
“Biodiversity offsetting” – protecting animals and plants in one area to make up for negative impacts in another – is increasingly used by companies such as mining firms, as a way to boost their corporate…
What lives in Brazil and looks like a football? Brazil’s official World Cup mascot. The three-banded armadillo is a mammal native to Brazil’s dry tropical forests, and rolls into a ball when threatened…
Back after going missing for more than a century: the New Guinea big-eared bat.
Julie Broken-Brow/supplied
More than a century after it was “lost”, the New Guinea big-eared bat has been discovered by Queensland researchers working in Papua New Guinea’s forests. The critically endangered bat was thought to be…
A species of bee declared extinct in the UK almost 30 years ago is flying again – thanks in part to the efforts of farmers. Researchers have been restoring the short-haired bumblebee to Romney Marsh and…
Carp have spread throughout Australia’s waterways - but CSIRO is hoping to bring a new genetic weapon to bear on them.
Kletr/Sutterstcok.com
A genetic modification that creates male-only populations could give us a new weapon against invasive fish such as carp that plague our waterways. “Daughterless technology”, which works by removing females…
Cleaned out - badgers can make quick work of even spiny hedgehogs.
Steve Plummer
Richard Young, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
What to do, when two of Britain’s most loved animals run up against each other? In a study recently published in the journal PLOS One, we found that the numbers of hedgehogs living in suburban areas in…
Global shipping is expected to triple by 2060.
Let Ideas Compete/Flickr
The high seas cover about 50% of Earth’s surface and host a major share of the world’s biodiversity, but remain largely ungoverned. With increasing threats to open ocean ecosystems, now more than ever…
A conservation success story, Bald Eagle numbers are now sky high.
Frank Kovalchek
The number of endangered bird species is rising and even with our best intentions, there isn’t enough money to save them all – so how do we decide which species we should let go? A new approach has been…