Capturing the Wild: Jaguars in Belize
Oct31

Capturing the Wild: Jaguars in Belize

Commentary and photos by: Fabienne Lefeuvre The native inhabitants of Suriname referred to him as a God. He is the third largest cat in the world after the tiger and the lion. The Native American called him ‘yaguar’ which means ‘he who kills with one leap’: the jaguar. The jaguar (Panthera onca) can be found in 18 Latin American countries. Today they are mainly concentrated between Southern Arizona and New...

Read More
The allure of the Amazon: real or imagined?
May19

The allure of the Amazon: real or imagined?

Commentary by Nick Werber What is it about the Amazon that fires the imagination? For as long as I can recall it has been a symbol for the Earth as it wants to be; a flourishing paradise perhaps, a place of explosive variegation, the jungle in full bloom. Like the untamed areas outside of the cities in Brave New World, The Heart of Darkness and The Lost World, the jungle has formed an archetype for all that is natural and untouched by...

Read More
Bouba the (Andean) bear joins the WCS Queen’s Zoo
Nov21

Bouba the (Andean) bear joins the WCS Queen’s Zoo

The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only endemic bear on the continent of South America.  The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable to risk of extinction, with habitat loss and hunting as drivers behind its dwindling numbers.  This elegant species is sometimes referred to as the spectacled bear due to occasional markings around the eyes that resemble glasses. The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo has welcomed an...

Read More
A jungle day-trip: studying brazil nuts in the Peruvian Amazon
Oct30

A jungle day-trip: studying brazil nuts in the Peruvian Amazon

By Eleanor Warren-Thomas The day begins at around 5 a.m., when the sounds of motorbikes revving, dogs barking, wood being chopped and shouting men start to permeate the room. I haven’t needed to set my alarm for weeks. I am here to help run a project on Brazil nut harvesting from lowland rainforests in Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon. Brazil nut collection from these forests forms a huge part of many people’s livelihood in this...

Read More
Last chance for the Xingu River and its people?  (video)
Jun07

Last chance for the Xingu River and its people? (video)

Brazil recently announced it was going ahead with building the hugely controversial Belo Monte dam, although the construction is set to flood rainforest, change the character of the Xingu River, and displace at least 16,000 people, although transforming the lives of many tens-of-thousands more. Indigenous people along the Xingu have been fighting the dam for decades. Mongabay.com has been following the Belo Monte dam closely:...

Read More
T-rex leech discovered in a person’s nose just one of the top ten new species of 2010 (photos)
May23

T-rex leech discovered in a person’s nose just one of the top ten new species of 2010 (photos)

The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has selected its top ten new species from 2010. While all the species are extraordinary, one was discovered in a most baffling, manner: taken from the nasal mucous membrane of a person in a Peruvian clinic. This 2-inch leech is named Tyrannobdella rex, which means ‘tyrant leech king’, because of a resemblance to the extinct T-Rex: both share a...

Read More

Activism: save the cerrado, starting at your supermarket

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. Save the Cerrado from WWF-UK on Vimeo. South America’s great savanna the cerrado is under siege by agriculture and cattle ranching. Half of the ecosystem has vanished in the last 50 years. Now the first ‘green’ soy is being released by the International Round Table on...

Read More

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...

Read More

Bizarre: tadpoles seen wiggling inside daddy’s vocal sac (video)

Males gobbling babies. Wiggly tadpoles bulging beneath the skin. Yeah, okay, that’s bizarre, but it’s also the lifestyle of Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma darwinii), an endangered species that was found by Charles Darwin himself. While the females carry the eggs, the male Dawin frogs carry the young tadpoles in its vocal sac (of all places!) for a fortnight. The footage was filmed and produced by EDGE Fellow Claudio...

Read More

Photo: caiman eye

A flashlight catches a camian’s eye in Brazil. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.

Read More

Trailer: When Two World’s Collide (video)

When Two Worlds Collide (trailer) from Yachaywasi Films on Vimeo. The film follows the struggle of indigenous people to save their Amazonian home from the Peruvian government and industrial corporations, especially focusing on the role of Alberto Pizango, hero and leader to indigenous people, who was arrested last year in Peru for sedition and rebellion. According to the film’s website: “The hazardous journey of an...

Read More
Green dams in the Amazon? (video)
Apr03

Green dams in the Amazon? (video)

Video looks at how to save the Amazon in midst of rising pressure to build massive hydroelectric power in the region. WWF (with aid from Nature Conservancy) looks at what rivers must be preserved from hydroelectric power in order to keep the Amazon ecosystem thriving using ecosystem-wide modeling. For more information on dam projects in the Amazon: Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups...

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

Photos: some of our best rainforest shots

Sunset over Borneo rainforest . Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Fast-flowing creek forming the border of Bwindi park in Uganda. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Kapok tree towering over the forest in Costa Rica. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Giant dipterocarp tree on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Brownsberg reserve in Surianme. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Rainforest waterfall in Malaysian Borneo . Photo by Rhett A. Butler....

Read More
Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian Amazon
Mar06

Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian Amazon

Chanti waterfall. Photo courtesy of: The Amazon Waterfalls Association. Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Amazon? How about touring little-seen jungle waterfalls—one of which is three times taller than the Eiffel Tower and 17 times taller than Niagara Falls? The Amazon Waterfalls Association is looking for a few good volunteers to help develop walking paths passing by a series of astounding waterfalls in Peru. “The trek...

Read More
Photo: the lovely gray-necked wood rail
Mar03

Photo: the lovely gray-necked wood rail

The gray-necked wood rail (Aramides cajanea) can be found from Mexico south to Argentina. This individual was photographed in Costa Rica. The bird is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. Photo by Rhett A....

Read More
Find the poison frog!
Feb07

Find the poison frog!

Look closely to spot the Green and black poison dark frog (Dendrobates auratus in the rainforest canopy in Colombia. See more photos below of the frog in Colombia. Unlike many Neotropical frogs, this species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Click to see more photos of poison dart...

Read More
Pictures: Falling water on six continents
Jan27

Pictures: Falling water on six continents

NORTH AMERICA Waterfall in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Forest waterfall in Arenal, Costa Rica. Photo by Rhett A. Butler SOUTH AMERICA Waterfall on the summit of Auyantepui, Venezuela. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Jungle waterfall in Suriname. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. EUROPE Waterfall near Skogar in Iceland. Photo by Tina A. Butler. ASIA Tad Lo waterfall in Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler....

Read More

The view from the air

Angel Falls in Venezuela. Photo by Rhett A. Butler River in the lowlands of Gabon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Rice fields in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Mountains in Western China. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Flowering trees in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. African buffalo in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Photo by Jeremy...

Read More