As winter descends on the Northern hemisphere, the costal waters surrounding Florida begin to cool. Warm waters that see temperatures in the low 80s for most of the year drop to the mid 60s and below. For the West Indian manatee, or manatee for short, sustained water temperatures of 65° F and below can be incompatible with life. Luckily… Read more »
As 2016 draws to a close, it’s important to reflect upon the last 365 days. Just like the preceding years, 2016 had triumphs and failures in wildlife and habitat protection. Although we still have a lot of battles before us in the field of conservation, I feel that 2016 was the year of awareness. Global issues were brought to the… Read more »
2015 has seen a media frenzy centered on the African lion, mostly for the wrong reasons. Headlines condemning the illegal killing of a research lion, Cecil, started a global conversation on the lion hunting industry. A recent documentary, Blood Lions, solidified the fact that this type of exploitation is a contributing factor to the demise of this magnificent species. For… Read more »
Despite staunch conservation efforts, global big cat populations continue to decline. In just the last 30 years, data collected by conservation groups in Africa show that some big cat populations fell by at least 50% (table 1). Loss of habitat, human-wildlife conflicts, hunting, and poaching continue to threaten the long –term survival of these iconic creatures. Population 1985 2015… Read more »
Listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Area and one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands, the Pantanal covers 188,000 ha in western central Brazil. Bordering Bolivia and Paraguay, this freshwater ecosystem, fed by the Cuiabá and Paraguay rivers, is home to a variety of species found nowhere else on Earth. Modern pressures and an ever-growing human population continue to pose… Read more »
Five years ago, if you heard the words “human-wildlife conflict” (or HWC) the first thing that probably came to mind was the challenges agriculturalists in range countries face coexisting with native fauna. Maybe you thought about the struggle between Namibian goat herders and cheetahs or East African farmers protecting their crops from raiding elephants. In short, humans had what animals… Read more »