Researchers have found that wolves brought to Isle Royale in 2018 are likely to survive but face challenges from inbreeding and isolation. The island had only two inbred wolves in 2016, so officials introduced 19 new wolves between 2018 and 2019. A study published in Conservation Science and Practice shows the wolf population has over an 80% chance of lasting 20 years. However, inbreeding remains a significant concern. The wolf population has increased since the study ended, but the moose population, a key food source, has sharply declined, raising additional concerns for the ecosystem. By Laura Herberg/Bridge Michigan via Associated Press Banner image:  A 4-year-old female gray wolf emerges from her cage as she is released at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. Image courtesy of the National Park Service. This article was originally published on Mongabay

Frog release days always start early, at about 4 a.m., so that staff can get up to the site before the day gets too hot, said Erin Lundy, manager of conservation initiatives at the Aquarium of the Pacific in the U.S. The first challenge is catching the frogs. A newly morphed southern mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) is about an inch long, fast, and very good at squeezing into cracks, Lundy said. It can take a couple of hours for staff to scoop them all up from the tanks. Lundy prefers grabbing them with gloved hands, though others use nets. The aquarium has been rearing southern mountain yellow-legged frogs since 2021, as part of a multi-agency, 20-plus-year conservation effort for the species, a Southern California amphibian listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Head-starting the frogs by ushering them through metamorphosis in captivity boosts their odds of survive, Lundy said. This year’s cohort arrived at the aquarium late last summer as 2-month-old tadpoles from the Los Angeles Zoo, where they were bred. Through winter and into spring, aquarium staff watched as their limbs erupted and tails slowly reabsorbed. By August, most were ready for life in the wild. (Metamorphosis for this species takes from one to five years in the wild, and is highly variable in captivity. Those that did not fully metamorphosize by the release date will be held back and released as larger adults next summer). Developing southern mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) embryos inside eggs at…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A new study mapping the likely nesting habitats of the iconic Philippine eagle in its main stronghold warns that the threat of habitat loss — a key driver of its disappearance across much of its range — still looms large for the critically endangered species. The study, published in Bird Conservation International, shows that approved mining concessions overlap with 41% of highly suitable nesting habitat and 65% of its core areas in eastern Mindanao, the Philippines’ southernmost and second-largest island. Only about 35% of the highly suitable habitat identified across the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor falls within protected areas. Indigenous ancestral domains separately overlap with 65% of core high-quality nesting habitat. (The figures do not necessarily represent the same areas, the study notes.) “This study turns nearly four decades of field observations, nest records, GPS tracking and satellite information into something people can actually use,” study co-author Christopher J.W. McClure, vice president for global science at U.S.-based NGO The Peregrine Fund, said in a Sept. 24 statement issued by the Philippine Eagle Foundation. “It helps us see where surveys and safeguards are needed most before important habitat is changed,” McClure added. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, an ornithologist and curator for birds at the Museum of Natural History at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, who wasn’t involved in the research, said the findings are concerning because Philippine eagles (Pithecophaga jefferyi) already have limited suitable habitat inside protected areas and also persist in Indigenous-managed forests. “Both represent the last stronghold for…This article was originally published on Mongabay

KANDY, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s cultural capital of Kandy will step into the global scientific spotlight from Oct. 1 to 4, 2026, as it hosts the inaugural World Congress on Snakes (WCS 2026). Taking place at the Grand Kandyan Hotel, the congress is a landmark event, marking the first international conference dedicated entirely to snake biology, conservation and public health. More than 400 delegates from 25 countries, including more than 300 international scientists, ophiologists — experts in the branch of zoology concerned with the study of snakes — and medical experts, are expected to attend the four-day event on the Indian Ocean island. They will be joined by more than 100 local researchers to address critical ecological challenges and the rising global crisis of snakebite envenomation. Sri Lanka was chosen as the host nation owing to its extraordinary and unique reptilian diversity. The island is home to 112 snake species, more than 63 of which are endemic and found nowhere else on Earth. “This congress establishes Sri Lanka as the epicenter of global snake research and conservation policy,” said Anslem de Silva, congress chairperson and a global authority on herpetology.   The World Congress on Snakes 2026 (WCS26) is the first of its kind and will host more than 500 delegates to discuss snake biology, evolution and conservation. Image courtesy of the WCS26. For decades, snake research has been marginalized within broader herpetological forums and the WCS 2026 aims to provide a dedicated, standalone platform for these ecologically vital…This article was originally published on Mongabay

It is far easier than one might expect to access the illegal wildlife trade in Canada. Chris Shepherd, a senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, knows this firsthand. On a recent call with Mongabay, he recounted attending a reptile fair in Canada and speaking to a seller who told him he regularly received shipments of “anything you want” from the U.S. “I asked him about a few illegal [Indonesian] animals … he said, ‘Oh, I just sold out of those. I’ll get more next weekend,’” Shepherd said. Globally, the black-market wildlife trade is driving many species toward extinction, and it’s extremely lucrative: Poaching and illegal sales of wildlife are valued at about $20 billion annually, according to a paper published last year in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Meanwhile, the legal trade is estimated at $220 billion a year, trading at least 70,000 species, that are often shipped or smuggled in vast numbers. Meanwhile, there’s little data on sustainability, according to a broad international study. Beyond the conservation concerns, this trade also poses a serious public health threat. Importing animals from around the globe without proper oversight can expose both humans and livestock to zoonotic diseases that jump between species. Examples include Ebola, tuberculosis, rabies, avian influenza and COVID-19, to name a few. The illegal wildlife trade is also a national security issue because of the perpetrators: International organized crime syndicates run these black-market operations, which can only function through bribes, fraud, complicity and corruption. Few realize…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Along a freshly repaved stretch of the BR-317 highway in Acre, a Brazilian state bordering Bolivia and Peru in the Western Amazon, pasture stretches out as far as the eye can see. Solitary Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa), a protected species, are the only reminder of the tropical forest that once stood there. The road is part of the Interoceanic Highway, inaugurated in 2011 as the first paved road in South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Built through the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon to help increase trade to Asia as well as between neighboring countries, the highway has been associated with deforestation on both sides of the border. “Roads are the main vector for deforestation and irregular [land] occupation,” says Sonaira Souza da Silva, a professor at the Federal University of Acre’s Floresta Campus and co-author of a recent paper on road expansion in Acre. The desolate landscape that now lines the BR-317 could be replicated elsewhere in Acre, environmentalists warn, if plans go ahead to build a second road connection with Peru. This is part of a renewed push to turn the state into a corridor to the Pacific for the export of Brazilian agricultural and mineral goods, following the 2024 inauguration of Chancay, a Chinese-built mega-port just north of Peru’s capital Lima. A new report from the NGO Amazon Conservation argues that expanding road infrastructure is incompatible with Acre’s deforestation commitments and that new corridors could add between 74,700 to 133,800 hectares (around 184,600 to 330,600…This article was originally published on Mongabay

12 critically endangered Nubian Giraffes were recently relocated from their home at Murchison Falls National Park to a reserve over 100km away. One of the reasons? Murchison Falls is now being opened up for oil extraction, as almost half of Uganda’s oil reserves are thought to lie there. National parks are home to some of the world’s most important biodiversity, and they are increasingly recognised as vital tools in tackling both biodiversity loss and climate change. But around the world, these protected areas are increasingly being undermined by political and economic priorities. So how protected are they, really? Join Conservation Entangled’s Izzy Sasada to learn more.This article was originally published on Mongabay

As a potentially historic El Niño builds in the Pacific, evidence suggests that climate change is ratcheting up the intensity of such events. And as temperatures rise in the future, the number and frequency of strong El Niños could increase even further, some experts say. “The evidence is accumulating that climate change makes for more powerful El Niños,” climate scientist Mark Cane with Columbia University in the U.S. told Mongabay in a video interview. His work was instrumental in enabling accurate forecasting of El Niño events in the late 1980s and early ’90s. This year’s El Niño is on the verge of breaking all records as it continues to build and is forecast to peak between October and December 2026, according to most models. A pre-print study found an event of this size is six times more likely due to climate change. The 2026-2027 event “is clearly going to be very large, up there with the handful of largest events that we’re aware of,” Cane said. A coral reef in the Galapagos Islands. In 1982, a marine heatwave triggered by a very strong El Niño killed off around 95% of the coral in the Galapagos. That left “death horizons” in the coral samples, evidence of the catastrophic impact of that event. Image by Julia Cole. A continuing debate Whether climate change is intensifying El Niños and altering their frequency — and crucially, whether it will continue to do so — remains an open question. Today’s El Niños can be forecast…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. On April 9, a farmer named Rupalal heard noises in a well at his field in Dhawadi village in the state of Rajasthan in India. He looked down and saw a leopard 21 meters (70 feet) below. A Rajasthan Forest Department team arrived at the scene and lowered a cage into the well, but the leopard would not enter. So Pratap Singh Chundawat, a ranger, descended into the shaft by rope. He tranquilized the animal with a dart gun, and the team was able to remove it safely. Before its release, the leopard was given a veterinary examination, which found that it was a healthy, one-and-a-half-year-old male. For Chundawat, while the event was particularly dramatic, it was in line with his work. Chundawat was well known for wildlife rescues and his work in tree nurseries, and had won awards at the district and division level. On the eve of this year’s World Environment Day, the Rajasthan Environment and Energy Conservation Centre honored Chundawat in Jaipur, the Rajasthan state capital, for “outstanding contributions to forest and wildlife conservation.” Suresh Agrawal, deputy conservator of forest in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district, called Chundawat “our best officer.” On Sept. 22, Chundawat died after he was run down by people allegedly involved in a local soil mining mafia. According to news accounts, at roughly 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, forest staff were notified that an earthmover and a truck…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Central Tokyo has experienced 35 consecutive days of rainfall, setting the longest continuous rainy streak since records began in 1886, reported local media citing Japan’s weather agency. Rains began on Aug. 27 and have continued daily as of Sept. 30. This spell breaks the previous record of 33 consecutive days of rainfall set in 2019, from June 27-July 29, according to Tokyo-based news site Japan Today. Tokyo typically sees its rainiest period in June-July. The nonstop rains in September are due to a combination of a stationary autumn rain front (known locally as akisame-zensen), intensified by approaching typhoons, including Typhoon Dujuan and low-pressure troughs. Rainfall in central Tokyo in September reached 629 millimeters (24.8 inches) by Sept. 28 — nearly three times the typical monthly average and approaching the September record of 670.9 mm (26.4 in) set in 1958, according to local media. Another typhoon is expected to affect Tokyo by Oct. 1. Meteorological officials attribute the abnormal weather pattern in part to global climate drivers, including El Niño, the warming of surface ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific. Masayuki Kyoda, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), told AFP that “the distinctive weather map during this month is in part because of El Niño.” “Autumn rain fronts are staying longer than usual,” Kyoda said, because an associated Pacific high-pressure system has remained prolonged over the region. While he noted that it’s difficult to attribute a single event directly to climate change, a JMA report, “Climate Change in Japan…This article was originally published on Mongabay

NYANGOMBE, Zimbabwe — In the first six months of 2026, the local council in Chiredzi recorded 317 cases of human-wildlife conflict in this district of southeastern Zimbabwe. In villages like Nyangombe, which is flanked by large game reserves such as Save Valley Conservancy and Nyangombe Community Conservancy, residents say wildlife frequently eat their crops and attack livestock or even people. “Buffaloes destroy crops and spread diseases, while wild dogs, jackals, leopards and even lions target livestock,” Edson Mabika, a farmer in Nyangombe, told Mongabay. Mabika said he lost four sheep and a calf to wild animals in less than 10 days despite having a secure kraal and an experienced herd boy with three dogs. The loss prompted Mabika to think outside the box to protect his livestock. He asked a friend, a former game-reserve ranger, for suggestions on how to scare away wild predators without getting in harm’s way. His friend’s advice caught him by surprise: “He just advised me to try drawing eyes on the butts of my animals,” Mabika said. One of Edson Mabika’s cows, with decoy eyes painted on its rump. Image by Cecil Dzwowa for Mongabay. Mabika thought the former ranger was joking, but says his friend kept insisting. In January 2025, he painted black and white eyes on the backsides of about a third of his livestock. The first victims of the fake “butt eyes” were a pack of local dogs who barked aggressively after being startled by the new “eyes” on the livestock. Mabika…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From the seafloor to turtle stomachs, scientists are finding plastic everywhere they look for it. Now, researchers in Japan have found plastic thermally adhered to coral rubble, an amalgamation they’ve termed “plasticoral,” according to a new study. The finding is raising concerns about potential ocean chemical leaching, habitat degradation and a new way for microplastics to enter the marine environment, they say. Ifenna Ilechukwu, first author of the study with the University of Ryukyus in Japan, and his colleagues found five pieces of “plasticoral” on three different beaches during a routine marine litter survey on Japan’s Okinawa Island in August 2024. “We did not set out to discover plasticoral,” Ilechukwu told Mongabay in an email.  Researchers have previously described plastiglomerates, melted plastic debris fused with rocks, wood or other natural materials. However, when the team found coral rubble with plastic not just stuck on the surface but permanently adhered to it, they knew they’d found something unusual. Plasticoral is a subset of plastiglomerates, however, “plasticorals represent something different,” Ilechukwu said. “The melted polymers literally liquidized and conformed to the intricate, porous skeleton of the coral rubble.” Researchers suspect the plastic was burned into the rubble by a beach fire, though further research is needed to confirm that, Ilechukwu said. Laboratory analysis found that four of the plastic samples were polyethylene, commonly used for single-use bottles. One sample was polypropylene, a more rigid plastic used in food containers and bottle caps. Both are among the most common types of plastic found…This article was originally published on Mongabay