Mongabay · Page 46

KATHMANDU — On the morning of Jan. 5, a soldier deployed at the Chitwan National Park shot a wild elephant (Elephas maximus) after it allegedly attacked an elephant patrol attempting to guide it back into the jungle. According to the national park, the…

The Philippines’ western island province of Palawan tops tourists’ bucket lists for its picturesque main destination, El Nido. This small fishing town of 50,000 residents is located within the larger El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area. Known…

A new study has found a dramatic increase in levels of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in human brains in recent years. MNPs have previously been detected in human lungs, intestine, bone marrow and placenta. In the new study, researchers took one tissue…

Ayuuk leader Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, a municipal commissioner of the Buena Vista ejido in San Juan Guichicovi, a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, was found dead Jan. 21. His body was discovered with several bullet wounds on a private…

On Jan. 28, the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 captured Goma, capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich North Kivu province. The fall of Goma marks a shocking chapter in a long-running conflict in the eastern DRC that has claimed…

January 2025 was the warmest January on record, surpassing the previous record set by January 2024, according to satellite data from the EU’s Copernicus program. The findings were unexpected as ongoing La Niña conditions in the Pacific typically cool down…

NAIROBI ― Introduced to East Africa in 1891, in Zanzibar, to deal with domestic food waste, Indian house crows are now wreaking havoc in Kenya: killing native small birds, likely spreading disease, damaging food crops, and generally being a nuisance at…

Vietnam and China, the two largest markets for traditional medicine (TM) that uses wild plants and animals, announced a new partnership in January to adopt practices that protect wildlife while preserving the countries’ cultural heritage. The…

Thirty-five members of the European Parliament are calling on the International Monetary Fund to renegotiate its funding to Madagascar that could support two highway projects expected to cut across the nation’s vital forests. The IMF in June 2024 announced…

JAKARTA — The Indonesian government is targeting protected forest areas as part of its plan to convert 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of forest into “food and energy estates,” a move that could result in the largest deforestation project in the…

LELILEF SAWAI, Indonesia — Hernemus Takuling’s life in this coastal village has changed ever since construction began on the Weda Bay Industrial Park, which borders Lelilef Sawai, home to around 5,000 people, on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island.…

CHICO MENDES EXTRACTIVE RESERVE, Brazil — After crossing the Acre River by ferry and driving 23 kilometers, about 14 miles, along a dirt road in a four-by-four, we arrived at a woodworking shop that’s repurposing what would otherwise be waste from the…

IQUITOS, Peru – The Plight of the Pink River Dolphin is a short documentary investigating the illegal exploitation of endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon, driven by a myth about their magical properties. The film reveals how pusangas—perfumes…

This month, Mexico’s two legislative houses are expected to approve an amendment that will prohibit the cultivation of transgenic corn in the country’s Constitution, a historic decision that farmers’ organizations and leaders of the national agricultural…

The last time Ecuador held elections, in 2023, the country’s national assembly had been dissolved and then-President Guillermo Lasso had faced potential impeachment for a corruption scandal involving embezzlement of public oil transport funds. It led to a…

Vietnam, a major hub for rhino horn trafficking, is in the spotlight at an international meeting this week for not adequately combating the illegal trade of the iconic animal. The annual meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global wildlife trade…

KATHMANDU — Scientists have for the first time in 185 years confirmed the presence of the Asian small-clawed otter in Nepal, thrilling conservationists and researchers looking for clues to its existence here. The last time the Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx…

How do you identify an animal in a photo? These days, a host of AI-driven apps are available that make this an easy task. But what if you have more questions? Is the animal looking healthy? Are its surroundings polluted? Does it look stressed because of the…

EL ÁNGEL, Ecuador — The view outside from this eco-hotel in northern Ecuador reveals vast hillsides still scarred by fires. In late January 2024, large flames roared past the wooden cabins that make up the Polylepis Lodge in the rural town of El Ángel in…

CORUMBAÍBA, Brazil — They appeared at dusk. The day was ending in a pink-and-yellow sky when a cub moved in the grass. Its mother appeared next, red as the earth, small, slender. Krahô-Kanela is an experienced mom, having had at least four litters in her…