Former sea turtle hunters in Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa, have shifted to working in loggerhead turtle conservation along the archipelago nation’s main nesting beaches. The change was propelled by 2018 legislation that criminalized killing threatened turtle species, Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported for Mongabay. Rangers, around a dozen of which used to poach or hunt turtles, now patrol key beaches where turtles lay their eggs, walking several kilometers each night during the nesting season, which runs from June to October. Turtle meat is historically consumed in Cabo Verde and many other regions, which has created a conflict between conservation needs and local customs. However, awareness campaigns and employment opportunities are helping to bridge that gap. “I had turtle meat for personal consumption and never realized I could make a living out of conserving them,” Roni Nelson Batista Ramos, a ranger and camp coordinator at the Turtle Foundation, told Mongabay. “But now, I guard them against the poachers, and it’s motivating to see how these efforts have driven positive impacts for their conservation.” Ramos and others monitor around 31 kilometers (19 miles) of coastline, patrolling the beaches on foot, and using drones and dogs for added assistance. Roughly two-thirds of loggerhead turtle nesting activity in Cabo Verde happens on the eastern island of Boa Vista, which has seen a dramatic decline in illegal turtle hunting, according to the Turtle Foundation. In 2007, 1,253 female loggerheads were illegally caught on the island; by 2024 there were just 20. Over…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, U.S., photographed the moment in 2019 in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. The region is a biodiversity hotspot, home to native species including trogons and antelope jackrabbits (Lepus alleni). “These bats just go, like little kids on a sugar rush,” Hudson told Mongabay by phone. “They’re taking in so much of this rich sugar stuff that they’re flying about doing happy laps, as it were, in the sky.” The bats’ long tongues can extend nearly 8 centimeters (3 inches) from their body and are covered in hair-like protusions, papillae, that help it drink nectar from flowers. They primarily feed on agave nectar, cactus flowers, soft fruits and the occasional insect. Hudson used a movement trigger and flash to snap the moment. “It all happens so fast,” he said. “You have to get the bat as it’s coming into the plant and see if you can capture it as it hits the plant.” The agave plant is used to make tequila and mezcal, Mexico’s national spirit. As demand for export has increased, the country has experienced a more than 700% surge in mezcal production in the past decade. The jump in demand for Mexican…This article was originally published on Mongabay

On June 6, nine female white rhinos arrived in Mozambique’s Zinave National Park following a two-day translocation. Their arrival marks the culmination of nearly 10 years of rhino reintroduction efforts in the park, aimed at rebuilding a viable breeding population of the mammals in Zinave after decades of local extinction. The white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) were transferred from the Manketti Game Reserve in South Africa and join another 30 white rhinos and 22 black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) introduced to Zinave since 2022. “[The translocation] went fantastically well,” Antony Alexander, a regional manager for the conservation nonprofit Peace Parks Foundation, which manages Zinave and organized the translocation, told Mongabay by phone. “I’m sure they’re happy to be in the wild again.” Zinave, which covers around 4,090 square kilometers (1,580 square miles) in the southern province of Inhambane, has previously been called a “silent park” after decades of civil war wiped out much of its wildlife. “You could almost sense the very low levels of life with insects and birds and smells and sounds,” said Alexander, describing Zinave before wildlife restoration efforts began. “That’s changed dramatically over the last 10 years.” Among the species reintroduced since 2016 are the critically endangered black rhino and Selous’ zebra (Equus quagga selousi), as well as the endangered African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), vulnerable leopard (Panthera pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). The rhinos help maintain Zinave’s ecosystem as they are bulk grazers, eating a high volume of grass. This helps prevent fire risk, as overgrown…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The rumble of ship traffic is drowning out the calls of long-finned pilot whales and potentially other marine species in the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow strip of water between Morocco and Spain that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers who investigated this looked at near and long-distance communication between long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), which are actually a species of large dolphin. They found the mammals were able to increase the volume of their calls used for short distances, but long-distance calling was more challenging, according to their recently published study. The dolphins may not be able to overpower noise pollution in the Strait of Gibraltar when calling pod mates far away, raising concerns that they could become lost and isolated from the group, the researchers said. Roughly 60,000 ships pass through the Strait of Gibraltar each year. “If they cannot communicate with one another, they may need to stay much closer together, or all that communication may become ineffective,” study co-author Renaud de Stephanis, director at the Spain-based organization CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre Cetáceos), told Mongabay by phone. Researchers focused the study on a small resident population of roughly 250 pilot whales in the strait. The team attached suction-cup recorders to the backs of 23 individuals. Later, they categorized more than 1,400 calls into four different categories. They found that pilot whales were able to adjust to the noise pollution for two types of calls, the high-frequency and short-pulsed calls, by simply raising…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project. Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) of forested land was cut down in 2025, the report found. Of this, 289,478 hectares (715,315 acres) was deforested in the Amazon. The decline in deforestation likely reflects a combination of stronger environmental enforcement, improved satellite monitoring and growing market demands for sustainable production, Nathalia Crusco, a researcher with MapBiomas, wrote to Mongabay. Only 5% of deforested land overlapped with enforcement actions or clearing authorizations in 2019, compared with 65% over the 2019-2025 period, she added, based on MapBiomas data. Deforestation also fell by nearly 17% in the Cerrado savanna, where agriculture expansion is most aggressive. More than half of the Cerrado’s native vegetation has already been cleared. And while the rate of deforestation in the Cerrado declined, the majority of forest clearing in Brazil, 55%, took place in the Cerrado savanna, the report said. Much of the reduction in deforestation was within Indigenous territories. Clear-cut deforestation on Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 25% in 2025, according to a technical memo shared with Mongabay by Brazil’s Indigenous agency, Funai. Funai’s Remote Monitoring Center compiled the recent report. A total of 30,128 hectares (74,450 acres) of clear-cutting on Indigenous land was recorded last…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Common medications that billions of people take for ailments like pain, fever and infections were detected in several sites along Djibouti’s Gulf of Tadjourah in East Africa, according to a recent study. Researchers found that untreated urban wastewater contained dangerous concentrations of anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen, caffeine, and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, which were contaminating Djibouti’s coastal ecosystem. They also detected the presence of levofloxacin, an anti-tuberculosis antibiotic, and 12 other pharmaceutical and personal care compounds. The Gulf of Tadjourah is an important marine biodiversity hotspot that is home to coral reefs, mangroves and fish nurseries. Djibouti City, home to more than 70% of the country’s population, borders the gulf. “One particularly surprising finding was the relatively high ecological risk associated with some common everyday pharmaceuticals, especially ibuprofen and caffeine,” lead author of the study Abdillahi Elmi Adaneh, an environmental chemist at the regional Observatory for Research on the Environment and Climate (ORREC) in Djibouti, told Mongabay by email. “These compounds are often perceived as ‘ordinary’ substances, yet they were among the main contributors to ecological risk in the coastal waters we studied,” he added. Ibuprofen was among the most concerning substances detected, Adaneh said. At one sampling site, where urban and hospital wastewater are dumped in the water, the team found ibuprofen concentrations hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe for aquatic organisms. “[Ibuprofen] can disrupt several biological functions in marine organisms, including reproduction, growth, enzymatic activity, and physiological responses,” Adaneh said. “Invertebrates, fish, and algae are particularly…This article was originally published on Mongabay

World Oceans Day is celebrated every June 8 to raise awareness about the conservation of Earth’s oceans. In honor of World Oceans Day 2026, the United Nations is focused on marine protected areas (MPA), and the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. The world collectively reached a third of the goal in April 2026, MPAs now cover 10% of oceans. Another 20% will need to be protected over the next four years to reach the 30% goal. New Marine Protected Areas The latest additions of MPAs included 284 marine or coastal protected areas in Indonesia and Thailand. This year, Ghana also declared its first MPA, the Greater Cape Three Points MPA, after more than 15 years of efforts. And in September 2025, Pakistan protected the key biodiversity hotspot of Miani Hor Lagoon, home to dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) and great black-headed gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus). French Polynesia, a Pacific territory controlled by France, declared the world’s largest MPA in June 2025. It covers the archipelagos’ entire exclusive economic zone; 4.8 million square kilometers (roughly 1.9 million square miles) of ocean gained official protection with overwhelming local support. Some MPAs allow bottom trawling While there has been progress, experts have also highlighted that some MPAs do not have enough protection. Throughout Europe, many MPAs still allow bottom trawling, a damaging fishing practice that drags weighted nets across the seafloor. Though bottom trawling targets just a few commercially viable species, a recent study found such nets collect roughly 3,000 distinct…This article was originally published on Mongabay