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In South Africa, huge stockpiles of rhino horn are kept, even though there’s a global ban on trading it.
Sunday Abiodun, 40, a former poacher turned forest ranger, armed with a sword, looks for poachers inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria, 2023. Abiodun is now part of a team working to protect the Omo Forest Reserve, which is facing expanding deforestation from excessive logging, uncontrolled farming and poaching.
(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Interventions to prevent crime against wildlife can be effective, but significant gaps in our knowledge remain.
Pangolins are the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal.
Jekesai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images
Pangolins are among the most trafficked and poached mammals in the world.
An African white rhino cow and calf.
Brent Stirton/African Parks
What would you do with 2,000 farmed rhinos? An African charity wants them to help their wild cousins.
A white rhino in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
Enrico Di Minin
To what extent should the costs of protecting globally valued rhinos be carried by their local custodians?
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
The findings suggest that poaching rates are lower where there is strong national governance and levels of local human development are higher.
Donkeys allow herders to travel further in the rocky terrain of southern Tunisia.
Linda Pappagallo/Pastres
Pastoral communities should be included in conservation initiatives – but the ecology of pastoral lands has long been misunderstood.
Elephants crossing a road in Botswana.
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A study of tweets posted in 2019 found that tweets about elephant conservation didn’t align with the actual greatest threats to the animals, creating the risk that funding could be misdirected.
Techniques from the security sector guide a lot of modern conservation work.
Marina Ortega/Alamy Stock Photo
Money pouring into conservation has funded drones and military-style training for rangers.
Moving surplus rhinos to set up new populations, and hunting small numbers of males encourages population growth and range expansion.
Michael 't Sas-Rolfes
Legal hunting helps rhino conservation for biological and socio-economic reasons.
African forest elephants.
GUDKOV ANDREY/Shutterstock
This was the first national DNA-based assessment of any free-ranging large mammal in Africa.
Plavi011/Shutterstock
A new study reveals the major players and routes involved.
Statistical techniques are often used to show where poaching actually happens.
Wildsnap/Shutterstock
There is a promising trend of growing research and training in statistical ecology in Africa.
Amnat30/Shutterstock
We analysed the legal systems regulating the wildlife trade in China. Here’s what we found.
A herd of elephants in Mali.
Carlton Ward Jr
Elephants avoided areas where others were poached.
No rhinos were harmed in the making of this image.
Media Drum World/Alamy
Helicoptering heavy herbivores across Africa is no laughing matter.
Despite its numerous benefits, biodiversity is still not well appreciated in Nigeria.
Philippe Clement/Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Nigeria must improve biodiversity awareness among its citizens to stem animal poaching and halt biodiversity loss.
GettyImages
Most South African provinces are favourable for the establishment of a new invasive alien pest, which may lead to the extinction of native cycad species.
An African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis ) in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo.
Nicolas Deloche/Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A new review of the status of African elephants finds scientific grounds for dividing them into two species, and reports that both have suffered drastic population declines since 1990.
Tim – one of the last big tusker elephants – died last year at the age of 50, in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
From the author
Elephants use their giant incisors to dig holes, impress rivals and rest weary trunks. But as so many continue to be killed for their ivory, he question is whether they are destined to be tuskless.