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...
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...
Polar bear family wakes up in oil construction site (video)
A polar bear mother and her cub wake from hibernation to find an oil construction site has been built around them as they slept. Built by the Italian oil company, Eni, the firm says they had no idea the animals were there. Work stopped and a biologist visited the site taking this footage. Once the mother and cub left, work returned on the site. Polar bears are threatened by declining sea ice due to anthropogenic climate change. Recent...
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...
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...
Young sun bear takes to the trees (video)
A five-month old orphaned sun bear, Natalie, at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center explores the trees. The sun bear (Ursus malayanus) is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. It is threatened by deforestation, the illegal pet trade, poaching, and the trade for traditional Chinese...
Activism: petition targets Chinese officials regarding African poaching “due to the demand of ivory and rhino horns by Chinese citizens”
Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. African elephant (Acinonyx jubatus) infant in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The organization SOS Elephants of Chad has released a petition urging the Chinese government to tackle the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade as a new article in the Global Post reports: “The growing...
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...
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: black-and-white colobus hanging out
A black-and-white colobus (Colobus angolensis) in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Video: saving cape fur seals from fisheries’ trash
Innovative program by Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa to save wild fur seals from dangerous, and in some cases deadly, trash from local fisheries.
Photos: the gentle lemur
The world’s bamboo lemurs are also known by the more evocative name, the gentle lemurs. Currently these lemurs are separated into five species, all of which are threatened with extinction. These photos are of the Eastern Lesser Bamboo Lemur which is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. More photos of bamboo...
Video: Australia’s banteng question
Conservation problem or opportunity? Australia tries to decide what to do with its population of invasive wild cattle, known as banteng. The problem is that this invasive species has almost gone extinct in its native Southeast Asia. Does Australia protect a globally endangered species even if it’s not their own? Credit:...
Photo: Critically Endangered Mexican spider monkey with baby
The Mexican spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi vellerosus), a subspecies of Geoffroy’s spider monkey, is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Surviving in Mexico and parts of Central America, the species has been decimated by habitat loss. These shots were taken in Mexico. Photos by: Rhett A....
Video: National Geographic donates 10 cents to lions for every viewing of The Last Lions trailer
Watch the new trailer for the film The Last Lions and National Geographic will donate 10 cents to help conserve lions in the wild. Watch it again, and another dime goes to conservation efforts. Plus, it’s a beautiful trailer! To find out more information about the film : The Last Lions. To read an interview with the film-makers: A lion’s story, an interview with the filmmakers of The Last...
Activism: titanium mine approved in Cambodia
Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. Asian elephants in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Wildlife Alliance. Cambodia has approved a controversial titanium mine in the heart of the Cardamom Mountain forests. Home to many endangered species, critics say the open-pit mine will pollute waterways, destroy over 20,000 hectares of...
Video: bizarre tenrecs communicating through ‘stridulation’
Footage from the BBC’s new program Madagascar. Native only to the island of Madagascar, the bizarre tenrec communicate in a way no other mammal in the world does: stridulation. This is the scientific term for communication by rubbing body parts together, such as crickets producing sounds by rubbing their legs against one another. In this case, tenrecs are capable of communicating by rubbing special spines on their back. To read...
Photos: baby gorilla takes first steps
Nicknamed ‘Tiny’, a three-month old baby male gorilla took his first steps a the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Zoo. Tiny had not left his mother since birth, but the 12-year-old mom, named Mjukuu, encouraged him to begin exploring his home. While Tiny is beginning to get his first teeth, keepers say he has awhile to go before reaching a full-sized silverback male. Photos courtesy of...
