Mongabay · Page 21

On Jan. 29, the sky above Mexico City’s Zócalo plaza was filled with the floating figures of giant balloon whales. Hundreds of people from the “Whales or Gas?” coalition protested in front of the National Palace over the Saguaro energy project, a…

A total of 86 Darwin’s frogs are now being housed at London Zoo to keep them safe from a deadly infectious disease that has affected more than 500 species of amphibians worldwide. In October 2024, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London, the…

Nigerian authorities have seized 3.76 metric tons of pangolin scales and arrested five people in Lagos, in a follow-up to the recent arrest of a Chinese national suspected of trafficking pangolin scales. The seizure, made in April, is estimated to have come…

From land mine detection to sniffing out illegally trafficked wildlife parts, a group of trained African giant pouched rats in Tanzania is proving a valuable partner for humans, Mongabay’s Lucia Torres reported in February. In the 1990s, Belgian industrial…

The strongest winds in decades triggered damage across northern and eastern China, killing a cyclist, grounding flights, shutting down tourist sites, and prompted emergency weather alerts across much of the country. The cyclist, a 55-year-old woman from Anhui…

Iceland’s largest commercial whaling company, Hvalur hf., has said it will not hunt any fin whales in the summer of 2025. In December 2024, Iceland’s government granted Hvalur hf., run by billionaire Kristján Loftsson, a five-year license to hunt 209 fin…

LANGEBAAN LAGOON, South Africa — Deon Warnick’s three chest freezers stood silently in his living room, lids open. Without any fish to keep frozen, he was using them as cupboard space instead. In his backyard stood a stack of empty fish crates, and his…

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Reddipalli, a village tucked into the dry red soils of Khammam district in India’s Telangana state, there lived a man who…

In early March, Kevin Junker’s renewable energy startup, SmartSolar, which installs and manages rooftop panels for its clients, announced it had secured $1.85 million in its first round of venture capital fundraising, giving the Ho Chi Minh City-based firm a…

JAKARTA — Prosecutors in Indonesia have charged four judges and two lawyers accused of bribery in a recently concluded trial involving palm oil giants Permata Hijau, Wilmar and Musim Mas. The Attorney General’s Office made a late-night announcement on…

Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don’t know it yet, but they’re about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It’s late afternoon, yesterday’s rain has left a swamp on the ground and Leco has already dug his boots into the young…

Since 2019, researchers have been using lasers and making incursions into the depths of the Brazilian Amazon to identify giant trees that tower far above the rainforest canopy. Besides being a natural and scientific patrimony, these trees have an important…

EILAT, Israel — Rugged red mountains tower over the aquamarine waters off Eilat in southern Israel. A group of divers plunges beneath the waves on a warm winter morning, bound for a crag encrusted with coral known as Japanese Gardens. The hypnotic reverie of…

KHANKE, Iraq — In the wind-swept town of Khanke in northern Iraq, a fragile tree stands as a quiet symbol of resilience. Its slender trunk bends slightly in the dry breeze, its roots gripping soil once strewn with plastic waste. Beneath its shade, a group of…

Microplastics are pervasive in the environment and often so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye. Removing them has been a big challenge, but recent research finds that water hyacinths can be effective at remediating microplastic from aquatic…

In February, Seychelles became the first country to comply with an international standard that aims to make governments’ management of their fisheries more transparent. The goal of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) standard is to improve oversight…

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At a time when traditional news outlets are shedding reporters and chasing clicks, Mongabay is bucking the trend: it’s…

MALINAU, Indonesia — Indonesia is pressing ahead with construction of a new network of dams in Borneo to power a major “green” industrial estate that will relocate Indigenous communities and cut into one of Asia’s largest stretches of intact…

In what’s being hailed as a conservation success, the wattled crane has seen its conservation status in South Africa improve from critically endangered to endangered. Globally, the wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN…

As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, coral bleaching events are expected to become more frequent. So, scientists are looking for ways to help coral reefs recover more quickly, and a new study from Japan suggests that artificial structures like…