How palm oil contributes to deforestation in Indonesia Mongabay 2026-09-21 | How palm oil contributes to deforestation in Indonesia
First jaguar cub born in Argentina’s Chaco in 35 years Mongabay 2025-09-24 | In Argentina’s Dry Chaco, a jaguar cub has been born in the wild for the first time in nearly four decades. Meet Nalá — once a playful cub herself, now a pioneering mother. Released in 2024 into El Impenetrable National Park, Nalá has become a symbol of hope for one of South America’s most threatened ecosystems. Camera traps, GPS collars, and local guides confirmed what conservationists had dreamed of: Nalá raising her own cub. This historic birth marks a turning point for jaguar recovery in the Chaco, proving that with protection and patience, the apex predator is back.Footage courtesy: Rewilding Argentina Foundation and Argentina’s National Parks Administration (APN)
How to spy on wildlife: Camera trapping in the Amazon Mongabay 2025-09-20 | Join Mongabay for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at camera trapping in Peru’s Amazon rainforest. Filmed in the heart of Tambopata National Reserve, this short video follows host Romi Castagnino alongside Wired Amazon’s field coordinator, Aracely Yarasca, as they set up camera traps to study elusive jungle mammals. Viewers are taken through every step — from scouting the perfect locations to configuring the cameras — with filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves also joining in the field. The adventure culminates in a first look at the stunning images captured by these hidden lenses, offering rare glimpses into the rainforest’s secret wildlife world.Camera trap footage courtesy of Wired Amazon / Rainforest ExpeditionsSpecial thanks to Aracely Yarasca, Kartiki Gonsalves and Marlon Del Aguila.
How one man turns poop to power in Indonesia Mongabay 2025-09-19 | Suyono, a former chauffeur, raised a few eyebrows when he claimed the animal waste he was collecting could power his home. But as he showed people what biogas could do, and the benefits it could bring to the village, the doubters became believers.Today, he has helped install more than 600 biogas digesters across rural Indonesia, turning waste into clean energy and creating a more sustainable future for entire communities.
What Republic of Congo’s gold rush is leaving behind Mongabay 2025-09-17 | Gold mining by the Chinese company City SARL inside the Dimonika Biosphere Reserve in the Republic of Congo has devastated 5 hectares (12 acres) of forest. Artisanal gold miners and some local community members have had to leave the area, depriving them of food and drinking water. Water samples taken in the area and analyzed in a laboratory revealed dangerously high levels of mercury, which threaten the health of the inhabitants. NGOs have denounced what they call an ecological and human disaster. The Congolese government banned the activities of the Chinese mining company in November 2024, but the damage done has never been remediated.---We want to hear from you. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to YOU. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here: form.jotform.com/242135364438052 ---Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.Check out mongabay.com Watch more of Mongabay's videos: youtube.com/c/MongabayTVSubscribe to Mongabay’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cyyIH9Follow Mongabay on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/mongabayFollow Mongabay on Instagram: instagram.com/mongabayFollow Mongabay on Threads: threads.net/@mongabay?hl=enFollow Mongabay on Mastodon: https://mastodon.green/@mongabayFollow Mongabay on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mongabay.com
Thai women prevent forest fires Mongabay 2025-09-16 | Each year, northern Thailand struggles with thick haze caused by crop burning and forest fires. This air pollution doesn’t just harm the environment – it takes a serious toll on human health too.Carolyn Cowan, a Mongabay reporter, travels to Lampang province to meet a group of women who have restored their local community forest and learned valuable lessons on preventing forest fires and building sustainable livelihoods along the way. Their approach to managing the community forest and reducing fire risks is catching on across the region, potentially improving environmental health for many others.Images by Seksun Daengsai and Carolyn CowanRead the full story: news.mongabay.com/2025/09/women-led-patrols-and-fire-prevention-restore-forests-in-northern-thailand
How to Cover the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) | Mongabay Webinars Mongabay 2025-09-16 | The European Union Deforestation Regulation is set to take effect at the end of 2025. It will require companies importing specific commodities into the European Union to track the origins of their products throughout their entire supply chain. The goal is to ensure that products are deforestation-free. However, the once-delayed legislation could face additional hurdles. Industry argues that compliance will be costly for them. Experts and NGO data show otherwise. If you're a reporter, join this discussion to learn what questions to ask and what threads to pull on when covering this developing topic. Our panel includes:Karla Mendes, features writer, MongabayLeah Samberg, lead scientist (AFi), Rainforest AllianceFyfe Strachan, policy and communications, EarthsightResources:Earthsight.org: earthsight.org.ukFPIC: news.mongabay.com/list/fpicEUDR: news.mongabay.com/tag/eudrRainforest Alliance: rainforest-alliance.org/for-business/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=10674989961&gbraid=0AAAAADJ4ZlihbkJB-iDIf3r4QBKaQIupT&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8p7GBhCjARIsAEhghZ0RUbFZjAMgYIOPGGFIAi5KS79HmYwz9AWZC25n-F1H62WBNPO_TSoaAoBfEALw_wcB----Timestamps(00:00:00) Introduction(00:04:20) What is the EUDR?(00:10:14) Enforcement(00:16:40) Compliance(00:24:10) Industry costs(00:30:50) Human rights(00:39:46) Smallholder challenges(00:46:45) Data gaps(00:52:15) Delays(01:00:12) Lobbying(01:03:28) Risk classification(01:08:27) "Trade wars"(01:14:04) Story ideas(01:16:14) Credits
Too hot? Food might be part of the solution Mongabay 2025-09-13 | Today, we use an area roughly the size of South America to grow crops, and an even larger area, about the size of Africa, for grazing animals. Together, these areas cover 38% of Earth's land surface — greater than Asia and Europe combined. Agriculture dominates Earth’s surface like nothing else. It occupies more land than forests (31%), deserts and barren land (19%), or wetlands (6%).It has a massive environmental impact. Agriculture is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss and water pollution. It also plays a major role in climate change: 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, comparable to emissions from industry or energy production, the leading sectors driving climate change.So how can we cut these emissions? We can start by reducing food waste. Between 30% and 40% of the food we produce is never eaten or ends up thrown away. We can also shifting to more plant-based diets and adopt more environmentally friendly farming methods, such as agroforestry or agroecology.
How to save the world’s rarest crocodile Mongabay 2025-09-10 | The Philippine crocodile is the rarest in the world — with fewer than 100 left in the wild. But in the Philippines’ Sierra Madre rainforest, the Indigenous Agta people have coexisted with these reptiles for generations. Their deep knowledge of the land and the crocodile’s behavior is now guiding modern conservation efforts. And in May 2024, a major breakthrough: for the first time, two Philippine crocodiles successfully reproduced in captivity — a hopeful step toward rebuilding a population on the brink.Read the full story: news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indigenous-elders-push-for-comeback-of-the-revered-philippine-crocodile-photosFootage courtesy: Chiara Negrello
Saving ourselves and nature means tackling inequality Mongabay 2025-09-08 | Wealth inequality is a primary culprit behind the ecological and environmental collapse of societies over the past 12,000 years, which have come to be dominated by a small circle of elites hoarding resources like land, research shows. Today, instead of an isolated collapse, we face a global one, says Luke Kemp, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.On this episode of Mongabay’s Newscast, Kemp explains how wealth inequality is not just tied to, but may be the very cause of the ecological destruction we are witnessing today, and how tackling that is key to how we solve all these challenges, as he recently told The Guardian.“Imperial overexpansion, depleting the natural environment, having elite competition and popular immiseration, all [are] just simply the natural effect of inequality. All is driven by growing concentrations of power and wealth inequality,” he says.Humans are not naturally like this, Kemp explains. Rather, for the vast majority of their existence, they have coexisted in nomadic, interconnected societies, functioning in a largely egalitarian fashion. Until the discovery that grain could be harvested — and therefore also stolen and hoarded with violence — humans did not dominate one another, as we do today.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.
Recording to the loudest mammal Mongabay 2025-09-05 | A team of scientists in the Amazon rainforest is on a mission to capture the loudest voices of the jungle: howler monkeys. Using custom parabolic microphones and tablets to visualize sound waves, Mark and Jackie are building an acoustic library of the reserve’s wildlife. Their work reveals not only why howler monkeys are so powerful, but also how bioacoustics can track primates, monitor ecosystems, and give conservation a new way to listen.Special thanks to Rainforest Expeditions (@rainforestexpeditions), @wiredamazon, Mark Bowler (@mark_bowler), Jackeline Mendoza (@cienciaconbotas), Kartiki Gonsalves (@kartikigonsalves) and Marlon del Aguila (@Marlondag).
Meet the prehistoric horses rewilding Spain Mongabay 2025-09-03 | Przewalski’s horses are the last truly wild horses, once roaming across Eurasia and North America. They went extinct in the wild in the 1950s–60s due to hunting, but a small number had been brought to zoos in Europe and North America. Thanks to these zoo populations, the species has been successfully recovered and is now being reintroduced to the wild.
Why are wild horses returning to Spain? Mongabay 2025-09-03 | The impact of human beings on different ecosystems is huge. Throughout our history, we have changed ecosystems in ways that have led to biodiversity loss, increased the chances of natural disasters such as fires or disconnected humankind from nature. Diego and Manuel, enthusiastic conservationists, are going to show us a new conservation approach to restore the damage and prepare our ecosystem for a future where climate change is more present. They will guide us through the Alto Tajo Natural Park and its surroundings, introducing us to their work, which is regenerating the region thanks to the introduction of wild horses. This also revitalizes a rural area—one of the most sparsely populated in the world, with a population density similar to some regions of Siberia—a territory heavily affected by rural exodus.
These fish are climbing UP a waterfall Mongabay 2025-09-02 | Thousands of bumblebee catfish were spotted climbing the Sossego waterfall by Brazil’s environmental military police near their headquarters in Mato Grosso do Sul State in November 2024. Researchers they contacted about the unique sighting said they are likely making their way upstream to spawn. The scientists said little is known about the behavior of small migratory fish, making it important to better study such species and phenomena.
Caught on cam: Snacking Animals Mongabay 2025-08-29 | Camera trap footage deployed in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo have revealed what animals there like to snack on the most: figs. Among the 10,000 images captured by 16 camera traps, scientists found visuals of a wide variety of species feeding on fruiting fig trees. They even found three different species of primates feeding on figs at the same time. The team plans to use the data to show policy-makers and conservationists the crucial importance of fig trees. Watch this video to learn more.
Giant otters released in Argentina Mongabay 2025-08-22 | A family of giant river otters was released into the Iberá National Park in northeast Argentina in July, 2025. The endangered species, with no known breeding populations in Argentina over the past 40 years, was considered probably extinct in the country.The release was led by conservation nonprofit Rewilding Argentina. The family of four now swim freely in Laguna Paraná, a lake in the Iberá wetlands located in the province of Corrientes.
Rewilding England and the world, one acre at a time Mongabay 2025-08-21 | Rewilding advocate, financier and host of the popular podcast Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss nature restoration in his home country of England, where a significant cultural change is taking hold toward reviving biodiversity, such as beavers. Once seen as a nuisance there, many farmers and planners now embrace the rebound of the huge rodent, thanks to its impressive ability to mitigate flooding events that the island nation now experiences with regularity, due to climate change.“If you stop a random person on the street now, in the city or in the countryside, they know that beavers are back, that [they] are native species, that they play a vital role in managing our rivers,” he says.However, he argues that while there has been some rewilding momentum in England, it’s not happening fast enough, particularly for larger carnivores like wolves.“The idea of reintroducing them is considered madness. Even though there are news reports of swelling populations of deer and growing incidents of Lyme disease and road traffic collisions and a disequilibrium in our forests,” Goldsmith says.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Chrome Hill in Yorkshire, England. Image by Tim Hill via Pixabay (Pixabay free content license).Timecodes------(00:00) “We don’t have wildlife here”To hear the full hour-long conversation, find it on Mongabay: news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/08/englands-rewilding-movement-is-gaining-steam-ben-goldsmith-says
Why do orangutans take naps? Mongabay 2025-08-21 | If you thought only you needed power naps after a sleepless night, you couldn’t be more wrong. A new study has found that wild orangutans in Sumatra took daytime naps to make up for lost sleep in the night. The research underscores the importance of studying the sleep patterns of animals in the wild to gain a better understanding of how sleep, including human sleep, evolved over time. Researchers also observed that weather, daytime travel and proximity to other orangutans affected the sleep of these animals. Watch this video to learn more.
Hope dies last Mongabay 2025-08-19 | On this week’s episode of Mongabay’s podcast, best-selling author Alan Weisman details the people and places he visited in reporting his new book, Hope Dies Last, a chronicle of miraculous accomplishments and resilience of the book’s protagonists, many of whom are working to solve humanity’s most intractable ecological problems.The book’s impetus was an accumulation of despair at the state of the world and how humanity treats it. “I started this book because I was really, really, really depressed about how I saw systems breaking down,” Weisman says.But as he uncovered each story, Weisman’s tune changed. He explains the ingenuity and bravery of the people and projects he visited that altered his perspective on what is possible.“By the end of this book, I was so uplifted by all these people — and by the variety of people — that I found, in the most extraordinarily different circumstances, each of them daring to hope and oftentimes succeeding, that I'm there with them. This ain't over.”Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.
Alan Weisman’s ‘Hope Dies Last’ weaves stories of environmental hope Mongabay 2025-08-15 | On this week’s episode of Mongabay’s podcast, best-selling author Alan Weisman details the people and places he visited in reporting his new book, Hope Dies Last, a chronicle of miraculous accomplishments and resilience of the book’s protagonists, many of whom are working to solve humanity’s most intractable ecological problems.The book’s impetus was an accumulation of despair at the state of the world and how humanity treats it. “I started this book because I was really, really, really depressed about how I saw systems breaking down,” Weisman says.But as he uncovered each story, Weisman’s tune changed. He explains the ingenuity and bravery of the people and projects he visited that altered his perspective on what is possible.“By the end of this book, I was so uplifted by all these people — and by the variety of people — that I found, in the most extraordinarily different circumstances, each of them daring to hope and oftentimes succeeding, that I'm there with them. This ain't over.”Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Kicker Rock in the Galápagos, Ecuador. den-belitsky/Envato.
Why thousands of belugas come here every summer Mongabay 2025-08-14 | Every summer, thousands of beluga whales gather in the shallow waters of Canada’s Churchill River. These Arctic whales go there to feed, molt and safely give birth — away from the orcas that prey on them. And thanks to a citizen science project, Beluga Bits, anyone can help scientists study these whales by classifying snapshots taken from underwater cameras.Footage courtesy: Polar Bears International, Explore.org and Beluga Bits project.
Rejecting dominant narratives Mongabay 2025-08-13 | Narratives help shape our society, culture and environment, entrenching beliefs that can help — or harm — our planet and human rights. Tsering Yangzom Lama, story manager at Greenpeace International, joins Mongabay's podcast to explain how dominant narratives — stories shaped by existing power structures and institutions — often undergird destructive industries and favor the powerful and the wealthy, and to discuss what people can do to counter such narratives.In this interview, she expands upon thoughts shared in the essay “How to Reject Dominant Narratives,” from the new book Tools to Save Our Home Planet, published by Patagonia Books. "A dominant narrative in reality would be anything that supports the status quo … what we have right now is a system in which we're trashing the world in which a small minority is profiting off of that destruction, and in which the vast majority of humanity does not have the basic necessities for a dignified human existence," she says.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Mongabay. Image by TasiPas/Envato.
eDNA to capture biodiversity snapshots Mongabay 2025-08-12 | Getting a sense of all the species that live in a river or a forest is a challenge. In-person expeditions, camera traps and drones help to an extent, but they won’t help detect elusive species. Plus there is a limit on the area they can survey at the same time. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, sampling and analysis is now being increasingly used to get a snapshot of all the animals that live in a river or a forest. While eDNA analysis has been used for a long time, scientists are increasingly using innovative methods to collect samples from remote rivers and forests. Watch the latest episode of Then vs Now to learn more.
Healing humans relationship with nature Mongabay 2025-08-07 | The Nature Of is a new podcast series from the nonprofit nature and culture magazine Atmos (@atmos) that speaks with prominent figures in conservation and culture about how humans relate to the natural world, and how they might heal and strengthen that relationship.On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, its host and Atmos editor-in-chief Willow Defebaugh (@willowonearth) details the series’ resulting revelations and why her publication covers the environment through the lens of community, identity, arts and culture.“From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to invite creative storytellers and artists into this conversation alongside scientists and journalists,” she explains.Storytelling and the arts, she says, house rarely tapped potential for helping people place themselves in the context of nature: “I think that what we need is to be changing people's hearts, not just minds.”Defebaugh also highlights how little individual action is actually needed to inspire greater collective action among the public, a fact that Harvard researchers revealed: only 3.5% of the public needs to be engaged in non-violent resistance for a movement to succeed.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.
How empathy and spiritual ecology can heal humanity’s rift with nature Mongabay 2025-08-07 | The Nature Of is a new podcast series from the nonprofit nature and culture magazine Atmos that speaks with prominent figures in conservation and culture about how humans relate to the natural world, and how they might heal and strengthen that relationship.On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, its host and Atmos editor-in-chief Willow Defebaugh details the series’ resulting revelations and why her publication covers the environment through the lens of community, identity, arts and culture.“From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to invite creative storytellers and artists into this conversation alongside scientists and journalists,” she explains.Storytelling and the arts, she says, house rarely tapped potential for helping people place themselves in the context of nature: “I think that what we need is to be changing people's hearts, not just minds.”Defebaugh also highlights how little individual action is actually needed to inspire greater collective action among the public, a fact that Harvard researchers revealed: only 3.5% of the public needs to be engaged in non-violent resistance for a movement to succeed.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Forest, Bainbridge, Washington, United States. Image by Rhett Image-Source/Envato.---Timecodes(00:00) The nature of relationshipsSubscribe on any podcast platform for the full interview(11:24) Why science and empathy go together(16:23) On ‘spiritual ecology’(20:43) Meditations on how humans see nature(23:41) Willow’s inspiration(26:10) Identity, community & nature(28:43) Art & culture(31:10) Biomimicry(36:38) Collective vs individual action(43:14) Speaking of solutions
Keeping tortoises cool Mongabay 2025-08-06 | How hot are the tortoises getting? Getting an answer to that question is crucial to understanding how climate change is impacting the habitats of Mojave desert tortoises which are native to Southern California. With this information, scientists understand how the tortoises choose their habitats in order to best conserve energy and water levels.Scientists are now using iButtons, small button-shaped devices that could be attached to their shells as well inside their burrows. This sensor-filled device gives them a sense of how the tortoises move and what temperature and humidity levels they prefer. Watch the latest episode of Then Vs Now to learn more about how scientists are racing to keep these critically endangered tortoises cool.
Rare monkeys cross new sky bridges Mongabay 2025-08-04 | Hundreds of monkeys can now safely cross roads in Alta Floresta, a city in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Seven canopy bridges have reconnected rainforest fragments that were separated by urban roads. Camera traps have recorded more than 3,000 crossings by canopy-dwelling wildlife, an average of more than 12 a day, since October 2024, when the bridges were installed by the Reconecta (Reconnect in English) Project in partnership with the city council. Before the bridges, local firefighters reported an average of one primate collision a day within the city’s perimeter.
How Singapore leads the way in urban-wildlife coexistence Mongabay 2025-08-03 | Singapore has come a long way since the 1880s, when only roughly 7% of its native forests remained. Since the 1960s, when the city-state gained independence, it has implemented a number of urban regreening initiatives, and today, nearly 47% of the city is considered green space, providing numerous benefits to human residents and wildlife, like heat mitigation, freshwater conservation and cleanliness, carbon sequestration, coastal climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, and public enjoyment.To discuss his city’s regreening efforts — from the philosophical to the practical applications of methods and mindset shifts that have allowed the city to revitalize its urban wildlife interface — Anuj Jain, director and principal ecologist at the biomimicry consultancy bioSEA and an adviser to BirdLife International, joins Mongabay’s latest podcast.“ Through the greening initiatives in Singapore, it's attracted a lot of species, many of which actually had declined before, some even had gone extinct, or locally extinct,” Jain says.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Supertree grove is part of the Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) urban park in Singapore, covering 105 hectares (260 acres). Image by Tien Tran (tientran0019) via Pixabay (Pixabay Content License).--Timecodes(00:00) Making the ‘city in a garden’(10:01) What Singapore looks like todayTo listen to the full interview, subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get podcasts from.(13:51) The many benefits of urban greenery(20:53) Ecology and biomimicry design(24:30) Cleaner, more plentiful water(25:55) Urban regreening in the Middle East(29:16) To densify, or not to densify?(33:04) Where Singapore still struggles(36:33) Living more harmoniously with wildlife
The sea took over this village Mongabay 2025-07-31 | Flooding caused by rapid sea-level rise and increasingly intense storms has decimated the coastal town of El Bosque in Tabasco, Mexico. Between 2019 to June 2024, at least 70 homes in the community were destroyed by the sea.Most of its residents have been relocated to a site further inland by the government—but starting a new life comes with a catch. Most of their livelihoods depend on fishing, but the new site is 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) away from the sea and residents cannot as easily fish. This video follows members of the climate-displaced community as they grapple with an increasingly common question: how do you rebuild a future when your past has been erased?
This village was swallowed by the sea. What happened after? Mongabay 2025-07-31 | Flooding caused by rapid sea-level rise and increasingly intense storms has decimated the coastal town of El Bosque in Tabasco, Mexico. Between 2019 to June 2024, at least 70 homes in the community were destroyed by the sea.Most of its residents have been relocated to a site further inland by the government—but starting a new life comes with a catch. Most of their livelihoods depend on fishing, but the new site is 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) away from the sea and residents cannot as easily fish. This video follows members of the climate-displaced community as they grapple with an increasingly common question: how do you rebuild a future when your past has been erased?00:00 The flooding 01:12 The relocation 02:54 Fishing life at El Bosque03:42 A fisherman revisits his ruined home 05:02 Lost memories and looking to the future ---We want to hear from you. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to YOU. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here: form.jotform.com/242135364438052 ---Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.Check out mongabay.com Watch more of Mongabay's videos: / mongabaytv Subscribe to Mongabay’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cyyIH9Follow Mongabay on LinkedIn: / mongabay Follow Mongabay on Instagram: / mongabay Follow Mongabay on Threads: threads.net/@mongabay?hl=enFollow Mongabay on Mastodon: https://mastodon.green/@mongabayFollow Mongabay on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mongabay.com
Investigation reveals shark meat served in schools, hospitals and prisons Mongabay 2025-07-29 | Did you know Brazil consumes more shark meat than any other country? What's more, most people don’t even know they’re eating it. Labeled simply as “cação”, shark is quietly being put on the menu in schools, hospitals, and prisons across Brazil. A new investigation by Mongabay uncovers the driving force behind a booming shark trade and the hidden cost for both people and the planet.Find the full investigation here - news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/07/that-fish-on-the-menu-in-brazils-schools-and-prisons-its-often-shark
Okapi: The animal you’ve never seen Mongabay 2025-07-28 | The okapi, also known as the "forest giraffe," is one of the oldest known mammals, but it was only formally described by scientists in the early 20th century. Found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this shy and mysterious animal has been a protected cultural and national symbol since 1933. However, the okapi faces serious threats. Deforestation, poaching and mining have caused its population to decline by more than 50% in just 15 years. Today, it’s classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List.Footage courtesy: Okapi Conservation Project
Protecting Panama’s jaguar Mongabay 2025-07-25 | In Panama, the jaguar is a very special species — but also a very destructive one.This endangered animal often kills and eats livestock, which creates significant conflict with local farmers. In the community of Pijibasal, an Emberá Indigenous village, people are working with Fundación Yaguará Panamá to monitor the forests and maintain camera traps. Their goal is to reduce conflict with farmers and protect the jaguar.
Extreme Amazon droughts lead to historic nut loss Mongabay 2025-07-25 | In 2025, the Brazil nut harvest in the Brazilian Amazon collapsed, with some Indigenous communities collecting 80% less than the previous year — and others nothing at all. Centuries-old Brazil nut trees were devastated by extreme droughts fueled by climate change and El Niño. Prices soared, but forest peoples like the Karipuna saw no benefit. A vicious cycle now threatens their survival. Despite global demand, only 4% of revenue from the Brazil nut industry reaches the people who collect the nuts, and by extension safeguard the forest. Experts warn that without reforestation and fair trade, the Brazil nut — and its stewards — may disappear.Footage credit: Karla Mendes and Adriano Karipuna.
Illegal wildlife trade surges in Laos with Chinese package tours Mongabay 2025-07-22 | Elephants, rhinos, tigers, bears and pangolins, all threatened species, are among those hunted, killed and trafficked to supply roughly 20 illegal wildlife shops that have opened across Laos in the past 18 months.Catering exclusively to Chinese tourists on budget tours, these shops are notoriously secretive. Yet a joint investigation by Mongabay and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime gained rare access to these stores, documenting the vast volume and range of illegal wildlife products on sale.Violating international wildlife trade regulations, misrepresenting the legality of their products, and preying on elderly Chinese tourists, these traffickers have operated with impunity in Laos — until now.Read the full story at Mongabay.
Wind turbines kill whales... says Big Oil Mongabay 2025-07-21 | The fossil fuel industry's new disinformation tactic is... wildlife conservation. The last few years has seen a rise in online disinformation, including a viral claim that offshore wind projects are killing whales. But if we dig further, we can see that these claims aren't always... true. In some cases, they're actually backed by Big Oil players, trying to delay the transition. This is the final episode of our 4-part series, Conservation Entangled. We'd love to know what you think!
Saving green turtles from plastic Mongabay 2025-07-19 | Green turtles end up eating plastic because they mistake it for jellyfish. And once in their digestive system, plastic can obstruct their digestion and eventually kill them. A 2024 study in Brazil found that almost 70% of turtles assessed in the Rio de Janeiro area had evidence of plastic inside them.In this rehab center in Rio's Costa Verde, turtles are rehabilitated and returned to the wild. To treat them, the team does blood and biochemical tests, X-rays and in some cases performs surgery.
How to change harmful narratives about nature and society Mongabay 2025-07-18 | Narratives help shape our society, culture and environment, entrenching beliefs that can help — or harm — our planet and human rights. Tsering Yangzom Lama, story manager at Greenpeace International, joins Mongabay's podcast to explain how dominant narratives — stories shaped by existing power structures and institutions — often undergird destructive industries and favor the powerful and the wealthy, and to discuss what people can do to counter such narratives.In this interview, she expands upon thoughts shared in the essay “How to Reject Dominant Narratives,” from the new book Tools to Save Our Home Planet, published by Patagonia Books. "A dominant narrative in reality would be anything that supports the status quo … what we have right now is a system in which we're trashing the world in which a small minority is profiting off of that destruction, and in which the vast majority of humanity does not have the basic necessities for a dignified human existence," she says.Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Image Credit: Mongabay. Image by TasiPas/Envato.
Earths largest land mammal migration Mongabay 2025-07-17 | Researchers have released new maps documenting the “Great Nile Migration,” the Earth’s largest-known land mammal migration across South Sudan and Ethiopia.The maps chart the seasonal movements of two antelope species, the white-eared kob and the tiang. Every year, around 5 million kob and 400,000 tiang migrate across 100,000 square kilometers of South Sudan’s wetlands and Ethiopia’s Gambella National Park.According to researchers, these maps can help protect both antelope species, which face threats such as illegal harvesting, habitat fragmentation and increased human access to their core seasonal ranges.
3D scanning animals to save them Mongabay 2025-07-15 | Collecting wildlife specimens for scientific research, especially in remote understudied forests, is an ethically tricky task. For one, scientists wouldn’t know if they are euthanizing a yet-to-be described endangered species. Or if they are taking away one of the last remaining individuals from the ecosystem. Scientists are now creating 3D scans of animals in the wild, in a bid to collect digital specimens instead of physical ones. Watch this episode of Then Vs Now to learn more. Read more: news.mongabay.com/2023/11/wildlife-specimen-collection-goes-digital-in-3d
Viral videos of exotic pets: whats the cost? Mongabay 2025-07-14 | Viral videos of exotic pets are all the rage... but what's the real cost?Behind the millions of likes and shares is a booming illegal wildlife trade which is pushing wild species to the brink.Join Mongabay contributor @izzysasada as she investigates the link between exotic pet videos and global trafficking networks.Reporter & Producer: @IzzySasadaExecutive Producer: @samanthaleewqEditor: @tomforsey.filmArt Direction: Josephine Choy (@loverkoi)Camera: @MylesStoreyMusic: @Tom Fox
The comeback story of these rare parrots Mongabay 2025-07-10 | Once nearly wiped out by habitat loss and the illegal pet trade, the rare red-tailed amazon parrot is making a big return. Thanks to artificial nests, community action, and round-the-clock protection, their numbers have nearly doubled in just 20 years.Watch how conservation efforts brought this beautiful bird - and thousands like him — back to the skies.Footage: Gabriel Marchi / Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental (SPVS)
Living side by side with Bengal tigers Mongabay 2025-07-09 | In Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, human-tiger conflict is escalating, with fatal attacks becoming increasingly common. A mix of factors—including the effects of climate change—is driving tigers out of their natural habitats and into closer contact with people. For those living on the frontlines, the toll goes beyond physical danger: fear, anxiety, and unprocessed grief weigh heavily on families who have lost loved ones or survived tiger encounters.This video was produced by the Mongabay India team; find more environmental stories from India on their YouTube channel: @MongabayIndia ---We want to hear from you. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to YOU. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here: form.jotform.com/242135364438052 ---Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.Check out mongabay.com Watch more of Mongabay's videos: youtube.com/c/MongabayTVSubscribe to Mongabay’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cyyIH9Follow Mongabay on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/mongabayFollow Mongabay on Instagram: instagram.com/mongabayFollow Mongabay on Threads: threads.net/@mongabay?hl=enFollow Mongabay on Mastodon: https://mastodon.green/@mongabayFollow Mongabay on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mongabay.com
Tracking polar bears Mongabay 2025-07-08 | Tracking polar bears native to the Arctic is a task — thanks to the remote location, rugged terrain and the elusive nature of the animals. However, with rapid growth of infrastructure projects in the region and fast-melting sea ice, it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on polar bears and their habitats. Scientists are now deploying fur tags to keep track of the location of these bears. These tags, which can be attached to their fur, are non-invasive and can be used regardless of the bear’s age and sex. Watch this episode of Then vs Now to learn how these fur tags are helping researchers understand more about polar bears.
Hunter…. or poacher? Mongabay 2025-07-07 | Do you know the difference between a hunter and a poacher? In certain parts of the world, some communities are banned from hunting animals, while others are glorified for doing so. Why? Join Mongabay contributor @izzysasada as she looks at how money and power impacts who gets to decide how wildlife is managed.
Cash for community-led conservation is tight, but this nonprofit unlocks it Mongabay 2025-07-06 | Jean-Gaël "JG" Collomb says community-based conservation organizations know best how to tackle the complex conservation challenges unique to their ecosystems. However, they’re also among the most underserved in terms of funding of all stripes. On this week's episode of Mongabay's podcast, Collomb explains how his nonprofit, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), is working to change that.When it comes to funding conservation," it's really difficult to know who to give your money to besides a handful of organizations that a lot of people are familiar with," Collomb says.WCN facilitates partnerships between community-based conservation groups, primarily in Global South nations with funders, in what has previously been described as “‘venture capital for conservation,” or as Collomb says, “people invest in people.”They are “the first actors,” he says. “We're huge fans of being able to encourage people to give unrestricted [funding] … those organizations who are based on the ground in the field know best how to use that money.”Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast[at]mongabay[dot]com.Banner image: Beach on Mioskon Island in Raja Ampat. Photo by Rhett Bulter/Mongabay.------Timecodes(00:00) Why community-based conservation?Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to hear the rest(09:54) How WCN works(14:10) The importance of unrestricted funding(16:48) Transparency & ethics in philanthropy(19:59) 30x30 and Indigenous sovereignty(27:08) Scientific advancements(31:16) Either/or(35:33) USAID funding cuts(40:29) Connecting with WCN
Fungi are our climate allies Mongabay 2025-07-06 | Fungi play a crucial role in balancing ecosystems, and keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Innovative researchers are also investigating ways fungi can replace plastic, keep toxins out of our soils, and even make building materials. In this episode of Against All Odds, Gabriela D'Elia, Director of the Fungal Diversity Survey and fungi enthusiast, tells us the many ways fungi are our climate allies—and why it's so important to protect them and their habitats in return.
Is a River Alive? Mongabay 2025-07-05 | This week on Mongabay's podcast, celebrated author and repeat Nobel Prize in Literature candidate Robert Macfarlane (@robgmacfarlane) speaks with Rachel Donald (@planetcritical) about his fascinating new book, Is a River Alive?, which both asks and provides answers to this compelling question, in his signature flowing prose.Its absorbing narrative takes the reader to the frontlines of some of Earth's most embattled waterways, from northern Ecuador to southern India and northeastern Quebec, where he explores what makes a river more than just a body of water, but rather a living organism upon which many humans and myriad species are irrevocably dependent — a fact that is often forgotten.Regardless of whether humans see rivers as useful resources or living beings, Macfarlane says their great ability to rebound from degradation is demonstrable and is something to strive for." When I think of how we have to imagine rivers otherwise, away from the pure resource model, I recognize that we can reverse the direction of 'shifting baseline’ syndrome. We can make it ‘lifting baseline’ syndrome. We can make our rivers touchable, then swimmable, then drinkable again. Drinkable rivers. Imagine that!"Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.Please send questions, feedback or comments to podcast@mongabay[.com.
Seaweed crisis hits Brazil’s shores Mongabay 2025-07-04 | Brazil’s northern beaches recently faced a massive sargassum invasion — floating seaweed blooms that have long plagued the Caribbean. A new study reveals these outbreaks aren’t fueled by river runoff, as was once believed, but by deep ocean mixing triggered by a 2009-2010 climate event. Since then, sargassum has surged, harming marine life, damaging tourism, and overwhelming coastal towns. In Mexico, turtles struggle to nest, and resorts across the Caribbean lose millions. In Brazil, scientists and communities are working together to monitor ocean changes and manage the blooms before they become a bigger crisis in the future.
Hope for Thailand’s fishing cats amid habitat loss Mongabay 2025-07-03 | Fishing cats have lost much of their habitat in Thailand due to a range of pressures on coastal wetlands. A suite of new pressures are now making matters worse – tax laws that incentivize conversion of abandoned land the cats use, increasing pollutants in their environment, and conflict with chicken farmers. Today, they’re known from only four locations in southern Thailand where between 120-150 individuals are thought to remain, but very little is known about them. The most well-studied population lives in and around Sam Roi Yot National Park in southern Thailand, where researchers are using radio collars, camera traps and scat surveys to learn how to best protect them. Read the full story: news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-thailands-fishing-cats-face-habitat-loss-conflict-experts-seek-resolutionCamera trap clips: Panthera Thailand/Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Thailand (DNP) Stills images: Sebastian Kennerknecht/Panthera
Risking it all to defend Cambodias environment Mongabay 2025-07-02 | One year ago, Cambodia imprisoned five activists from the award-winning environmental group Mother Nature, accusing them of plotting against the government after they raised concerns about river pollution and land reclamation. THE CLEARING follows Chandaravuth – the group’s most outspoken member – and his fellow activists in the months leading up to their arrest, as they stay on a collision course with Cambodia’s authorities and refuse to give in to pressure.
