Pictures of baby animals with their mothers for Mother’s Day
Mother tarsier and baby on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Mother and baby orangutan in tree in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Mother Panamanian golden frog with green baby. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Southern Tree Hyrax with baby in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Baby crowned lemur clinging to its mother in Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Mother Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) with babies...
Pictures: Happy Cinco de Mayo
To Celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day (Cinco de Mayo), here are some photos of beach sunrises in and around...
Photos: ugly is the new adorable when it comes to saiga babies
A pair of saiga calves. Photo by: Igor Shpilenok. Few species have seen a worse decline in the past 15 years than the Asian antelope, the saiga. Once known for making up one of the world’s largest migrations, the saiga population has dropped from 1.25 million in the 1990s to 50,000 animals today, plunging over 90% and landing itself on the Critically Endangered species list. The Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA), which is...
Photo: emerald toucanet
An emerald toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) in Belize. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Fortunately the emerald toucanet is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. It is found throughout Central America and South America down to Bolivia. To see other photos of birds in Belize: click...
Photos: up close and personal with Sumatran elephants
Baby Sumatran elephant on the run. Photos of Sumatran elephants at Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park on the island of Sumatra. These Sumatran elephants are patrol elephants; they’ve been recently domesticated and are used to reduce human-wildlife conflict. All photos by Rhett A. Butler. Meeting of the minds. Sumatran elephant with mahout. Trunk tricks. Traveling. Big male. Fountain. Modern world. To see more photos of Sumatran...
Photo: abused cheetahs returned to the wild
An adult cheetah, which had been smuggled and abused for the illegal pet trade, returns to the wild in Tanzania. Photo by: Annette Simonson. Few people realize that cheetah’s, one of Africa’s great cats, are a target of the global wildlife trade. Yet these speedy predators are sought as exotic ‘pets’, especially in the Middle East. As apart of this illegal pet trade, three adult cheetahs were recently seized at...
Photo: zoo elephants enjoy spring
Three Asian elephants from the Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo take a spring stroll under blossoming Japanese miniature cherry trees. Photo by: Hannah Thompson. Mongabay.com recently conducted an interview on how wild Asian elephants, and their African counterparts, are vital to ‘gardening’ the continent’s tropical forests. To read more: Elephants: the gardeners of Asia’s and Africa’s...
Photos: Meerkats celebrating Easter
Keepers at ZSL London Zoo use Easter eggs as an enrichment activity for meerkats. The keepers filled a giant “egg” with mealworms — beetle larvae — and provided colored hard-boiled eggs to the group of eight meerkats. “Not only does the act of cracking open the eggs give the meerkats good enrichment but the hard-boiled eggs are a tasty and healthy treat,” said Caroline Westlake, a keeper at ZSL. Photos...
Photo: A giant tree
Me in front of a giant kapok or ceiba tree on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This is nowhere near the largest kapok tree I’ve ever seen — they get considerably bigger — but it is nonetheless gigantic. The same ceiba, which is called “The Big Tree”, seen from a distance. The same ceiba tree seen from a boat on Lake Gatun (e.g. Panama Canal). Looking up the trunk of the kapok tree Again, me for...
Photos: the end of the radiated tortoise?
Like the American bison or the passenger pigeon the radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) has gone from super-abundant to nearly extinct. The species could be gone by 2030 warn researchers. Photo by Robert Walker. Once one of the world’s most abundant tortoises, numbering in the millions, Madagascar’s radiated tortoise is on the very brink of extinction. Killed for their meat by one of the world’s most impoverished...
Pictures: Saving threatened frogs
Hand-feeding a sick Hyloscirtus colymba tree frog. The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is racing to save amphibians as the deadly chytrid fungus spreads down Central America. The disease is presently between Panama City and Colon. Juvenile Atelopus certus. Pristimantis species. Undescribed Pristimantis species. Juvenile Atelopus certus. Atelopus limosus. More photos to come. All photos by Rhett A....
Photo: big-eared endangered monkey born at zoo
A three-week old baby white-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus) has been named ‘Hope’ given that her species is vanishing from the wild. Photo by: James Godwin, ZSL. Born at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) London Zoo, this white-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus) represents one of the Africa’s most imperiled monkeys and is apart of the European Endangered species Programme (EEP). The...
Photos: tortoise dwarfed by grape, seriously
No, this is not photoshopped: this month-old Egyptian tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni) is actually dwarfed by a grape. A new resident of the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire, the tortoise is the offspring of a group of tortoises seized by customs last year as a sting on the illegal pet trade. The tiny tortoise pictured weighs 0.2 ounces (6 grams), but within a decade will weigh nearly hundred times...
Photo: caiman eye
A flashlight catches a camian’s eye in Brazil. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Photos: birds of Botswana
Malachite kingfisher (Alcedo cristata) in Chobe National Park. Photos by Tiffany Roufs. White-faced whistling duck (Dendrocygna viduata) and black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) on the Chobe River. Pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) in Chobe National Park. Yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) foraging in Chobe National Park. Brown-headed parrot (Poicephalus cryptoxanthus)...
Camera trap catches snow leopards in Mongolia
Video is from an ongoing study by Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust. It is the first comprehensive long-term study on snow leopards. This video was taken in August 2010 at the Tost Mountain study area in South Gobi, Mongolia where Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust are collaborating. This film clip is actually 61 images taken about a half second apart by one of our remote automated cameras. We believe it is a mother and her nearly...
Photos: illegal logging in Borneo
No pictures please: Illegal logger harvesting timber. On a recent trip to Borneo, Rhett Butler caught photographic evidence of illegal logging in Gunung Palung National Park. Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler, 2011. Illegally logged wood. Rainforest tree chopped down. Illegally logged timber in a pickup truck. Illegally logged...
Photos: Bornean gliding leopard tree frog
The Bornean gliding leopard tree frog (Rhacophorus pardalis). Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler,...
Photo: bear cubs woken from hibernation
Three wild black bear cubs were microchipped by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. For safety reason, the mother was tranquilized before researchers went to work. The cubs will be monitored throughout their lives for research. Photo by: Jon Beckmann (WCS).
Photo: the shadow cast by a tree frog
A tree frog photographed in Amacayacu National Park, Colombia, 2010. We have been unable to identify this species, if you know please contact us. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
