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.
Photo: oil spill hits endangered penguins
Northern rockhopper penguins covered in oil. Photo by: Tristan Conservation Team of Simon Glass, Wayne Swain and Matthew Green. Courtesy of: The Tristan da Cunha Website. Northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi) hit hard by an oil spill from a wrecked cargo ship on Nightingale Island in the Southern Atlantic. Already listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List, the oil spill threatens nearly half of the northern rockhopper...
Photos: raptor launch!
Raptor in Yucatan, Mexico. We have been unable to identify this species, if you know please contact us. Photo by Rhett A. Butler,...
Photo: caterpillar invasion
Caterpillars in Manu National Park, Peru. We have been unable to identify this species, if you know please contact us. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Grasshoppers use Apple products apparently [pic]
Grasshopper apparently doing a little blogging in Borneo.
Photos: Irish scenes (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)
The west Irish coast. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs and Jeremy Hance. Gallarus Oratory, a 1,200-year old Irish stone church. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs and Jeremy Hance. Typical scene in Ireland: the sun is far away. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs and Jeremy Hance. Driving along the western Irish coast line, notice sheep. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs and Jeremy Hance. Lakes dot peatland. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs and Jeremy Hance. Cliffs of Moher. Photo by:...
Photo: what species am I?
A rarely seen bird in the nightjar family is photographed in Brazil’s Pantanal. But which nightjar species is this? If you know please contact us. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Rainforest stream in Borneo
A rainforest stream in Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo. Photo taken by Rhett A. Butler in March 2011.
