Conservation

The Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon rainforest. (Image credit: C. Pöhlker, MPI for Chemistry)

Conservation is a major issue around the world with the impacts that humans have on natural ecosystems through activities from mining, building new cities and global warming. There are many conservation groups and efforts that lobby for the conservation of particular species (for example, the polar bear) or groups of animals (for example, tigers), while others are aimed at entire habitats, such as the Amazon rainforest. Conservation efforts can also aim to protect natural resources. Some conservation is done by setting aside national parks and wildlife preserves, while other conservation works targets specific threats to particular species. Read about various conservation efforts and issues below.

Latest about conservation

A juvenile male brush-tailed bettong sits in the hands of one of the researchers.

'Mini kangaroos on steroids' make comeback in South Australia after disappearing for 100 years

By Sascha Pare published

The tiny marsupials have a penchant for peanut butter, which researchers have used to help them monitor and conduct health checks on the population.

An all white anteater walking through grass with a GPS vest n its back.

World's only known albino giant anteater appears to be thriving in the wild, photos show

By Harry Baker published

The white anteater, known as Alvin, was first spotted late last year clinging to his mother's back.

A black and white picture of the last known thylacine at Hobart Zoo, in Tasmania, shows the distinctive stripes on its lower back.

Long-extinct Tasmanian tiger may still be alive and prowling the wilderness, scientists claim

By Sascha Pare published

Based on reported sightings, some scientists say the iconic creature probably survived until the late 1980s or 1990s, but others are skeptical.

This close-up of the Rafetus swinhoei turtle shows its head and patterned skin.

Largest freshwater turtle species doomed to extinction after last female washes up dead

By Harry Baker published

The known population of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is now just two males. Experts said that if the female had survived, she could have "laid a hundred eggs or more a year."

A crocodile which has had its head torn off is displays gruesome injuries lies dead on a sandy beach.

Gigantic, 13-foot crocodile found with its head torn off on Australian beach

By Sascha Pare published

The beheading, which may have been motivated by a recent spate of crocodile attacks on humans, could spell trouble for the local ecosystem.

Brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) have caused population declines among several black widow species in the U.S.

Black widows are being slaughtered by their brown widow cousins, and we don't know why

By Harry Baker published

Brown widow spiders, which are invasive to North America, are wiping out black widow populations in the U.S. by aggressively attacking them for no clear reason, a new study shows.

An X-ray image shows a GPS-collar, that once sat around the neck of a possum, inside a dead Burmese python that swallowed it.

GPS-tagged possums and raccoons could be sacrificed to capture Florida's invasive pythons

By Harry Baker published

Researchers accidentally discovered that GPS-tagged mammals can help locate Florida's invasive Burmese pythons, which are destroying local ecosystems.

A red wold sitting in the snow.

More than a third of US wildlife at risk of extinction, 'grim' new report shows

By Harry Baker published

A report from the conservation group NatureServe warns that 40% of animals and 34% of plants in the U.S. are "at risk" of extinction.

A polar bear on melting ice in Svalbard, Norway.

Which animals are most likely to survive climate change?

By Emma Bryce published

What animal species will survive projected future droughts, rising temperatures and habitat loss?

A Devils Hole pupfish looks directly into the camera, against a black background.

The Devils Hole pupfish is so inbred that it shouldn’t be alive

By Joanna Thompson published

New research reveals exactly how inbred the Devils Hole pupfish is.

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