By performing a DNA analysis of elephant tusks nabbed at ivory busts, scientists have successfully backtracked the contraband to three major African cartels. This application of genetics presents a powerful new tool in the ongoing struggle to stop elephant poachers.
In news that can only be described as horrific, the BBC reports that some 90 elephants have been killed in Botswana over the past several weeks, the result of a mass poaching spree that conservationists say is the worst ever recorded in Africa. The government of Botswana is disputing that claim.
I think we can all agree that hunting rhinos is a bad idea, but at least two suspected poachers learned that the hard way earlier this week. In a showcase of nature’s brutality, the BBC reports rangers at the Shibuya game reserve in South Africa stumbled on a pretty gruesome find on Tuesday: the mangled remains of at…
The health of the world’s last male northern white rhino, Sudan, is rapidly declining, bringing the subspecies’ inevitable extinction closer to a reality. Even as scientists and conservationists work on an ambitious in vitro fertilization effort, there’s little reason for hope that the 45-year-old Sudan and his two…
Sometimes, a photograph expresses something more powerful than any number of words. That’s the case with this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner, a brutal shot of a rhino that was murdered and left intact except for its horn.
In a true sign of desperate times requiring desperate measures, four U.S. Navy search dolphins will be deployed on Thursday in the Gulf of California—the sea separating Baja from mainland Mexico—to help locate a critically endangered type of porpoise known as the vaquita. It’s part of a last-ditch effort to save the…
A Czech zoo has decided to remove the horns of 18 white rhinos after a deadly attack last week at a French zoo where poachers shot a rhino and used a chainsaw to cut off its horns. Welcome to the new normal, where even zoo animals have to be mutilated to protect them from poaching.
Last night, poachers broke into a French zoo, shot a rare white rhinoceros, and used a chainsaw to saw off its prized horn. Officials say it’s the first attack of its kind in a European zoo.
The population of forest elephants in Gabon’s Minkébé National Park—one of Central Africa’s largest and most important nature preserves—has declined by a whopping 81.5 percent since 2004 due to poaching. It’s considered a major setback for the preservation of this endangered species, of which less than 100,000 remain…
Illegal ivory comes from dead elephants. It comes from elephants that were killed recently, and if you try to argue otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time. Hidden ivory stockpiles are not the problem. Freshly slaughtered elephants are, and now, science can prove it.
The world’s smallest porpoise, the vaquita, is on the verge of extinction, with only around 60 members surviving off the coast of Mexico. Their decline, driven by illegal fishing, could eliminate the species in just a few years.
Africa is one of the last great holdouts for charismatic megafauna. But as the human population continues to grow and industrialize, lions, zebras, and elephants are being edged out of existence. A harrowing new series by photographer Nick Brandt makes this transformation visceral.
Tracking the movement of ivory through the nebulous, international black market is extraordinarily difficult. But we need to start doing a better job of it if we want to stamp out the illegal trade that claims 100 elephant lives every day. One journalist’s solution? Build the world’s most convincing fake tusk, and…
Craiglist’s infamous “missed connections” section is a great place to write a love ballad to that special someone you made fleeting eye contact with at the grocery store. Or, you know, that African elephant that was slaughtered by poachers last week.
Lion murderer Walt Palmer is an asshole. But, he’s also an asshole who’s contributed more money to animal conservation in Africa than pretty much anyone else. In fact, trophy hunters like him are a large part of the reason we still have animals like lions at all.
This rhino is loaded with technology: it has a camera embedded in its horn, a GPS transmitter around its neck and a heartrate monitor tracking its pulse. But it’s not just some weird wearables experiment—it’s an attempt to stop poaching.
Rhino horn is more precious than gold on the black market, and our insatiable demand for the stuff has driven rhinos to the brink of extinction. Now a Seattle-based startup has a radical plan to save these incredible animals: Using synthetic biology to manufacture rhino horns in the lab.
We tend to think of the ivory trade as an elusive black market of hardened criminals and shadowy elites, operating in the darkest recesses of the Internet. But as it turns out, there are plenty more ordinary ivory buyers and sellers, including just about anyone on Craigslist.
Meet Fara — an Eastern black rhino that was born in Britain's Chester Zoo this past weekend. Here are some amazing pics, along with remarkable footage taken of her birth.
Wildlife-related crimes comprise the fourth largest category of international crimes, after drugs and trafficking in humans and arms. A new, anonymous reporting tool helps whistleblowers fight back.
