Conservation

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.

Related Topics: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species

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Scientific visualization of a blue whale’s movements in an area with a high level of boat traffic. The blue shape is a whale trying to feed while avoiding vessels in the Gulf of Ancud near Chile.

Stressful animation shows blue whale dodging hundreds of ships while trying to feed

By Mindy Weisberger

Scientists recently animated the hazards of being a blue whale that's trying to avoid collisions with ships at sea.

Najin the northern white rhino at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Embryos of Northern white rhino created. Will they save nearly extinct creature?

By Patrick Pester

More northern white rhino embryos have been created in a lab in the race to save the subspecies from extinction. There are now five in total.

A herd of elephants are photographed from above.

Elephants counted from space using satellites and AI

By Harry Baker

A combination of satellite images and deep learning computer algorithms can spot elephants from space as well as the human eye.

A west Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus).

Florida manatee with 'Trump' scraped into back spurs a federal investigation

By Stephanie Pappas

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are looking for the person who scratched the word "Trump" into the back of a manatee.

When the female Voeltzkow's chameleon gets stressed, she displays a pattern of red dots and a streak of purple against a background of black and white.

'Lost' chameleon rediscovered after a century in hiding. And it's spectacular.

By Stephanie Pappas

More than a century after it was last seen, a spectacularly colorful chameleon is back.

Three-year-old giant panda up a tree in the Wolong Panda Center, China.

1st-ever footage of giant pandas mating in the wild is not 'cute and cuddly'

By Mindy Weisberger

Filmmakers spent three years following pandas in China's Qinling Mountains, capturing never-before-seen footage of males competing over females.

This is part of the painting "The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial" by the Spanish Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. A copy of this painting, possibly by Murillo himself, was destroyed in a botched restoration attempt.

Famous 'immaculate conception' painting is unrecognizable after art restoration failure

By Rafi Letzter

A botched restoration of a Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painting in Spain has frustrated art conservators and recalled memories of an earlier, similar mistake involving a painting of Jesus.

A güiña, Leopardus guigna, photographed at Fauna Andina in Chile.

One of the world's smallest cats chirps like a wee bird, first-ever audio recording reveals

By Mindy Weisberger

The voice of a Chilean wild cat called a güiña, the smallest wild cat in the Western Hemisphere, was recently recorded for the first time — and it sounds like a cheeping bird.

A silver-backed chevrotain was caught on a camera trap as it wandered about the forest.

A Tiny Species That Looks Part-Deer, Part-Mouse Was Missing for Nearly 30 Years. Scientists Just Found It.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

With a series of camera traps, researchers have caught the silver-backed chevrotain meandering about its tree-filled home.

This Iron-Shelled Snail Is Totally Metal … And Now It’s Endangered

By Mindy Weisberger

Iron scales may not be enough to protect the scaly-foot snail from extinction.

Joe Wasilewski prepares to release two endangered American crocodiles into a freshwater pond near the Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant July 11, 2003, near Homestead, Florida.

Crocodiles Are Breeding Near a Nuclear Power Plant (No, They're Not Radioactive)

By Mindy Weisberger

Only in Florida.

Vaughan photographed his daughter posing with the heavy reptile.

This 12-Foot, 463-Lb. Alligator Went Head to Head with a Semitruck

By Rafi Letzter

The creature survived the crash and wandered dazed in circles around a highway exit in Tallahassee before a trapper turned up.

Conservation's Biggest Challenge? The Legacy of Colonialism (Op-Ed)

By Asia Murphy

Today’s most dire conservation crises have a bloody past.

How Does Google Earth Work?

By Mark Davis

Google Earth allows us to track our changing world. By providing powerful geomapping and tagging tools to everyone, anyone can explore and model the Earth like never before.