As biodiversity on Earth faces rapid decline, scientists are advocating for a new conservation approach: Save habitat for primates and protect countless other species along with them. For long, conservation efforts and funding have prioritized umbrella species such as tigers and giant pandas on the basis that protecting the vast areas they depend on can help protect other wildlife that live in the same ecosystems. A 2025 study found that monkeys, apes and other charismatic primates are potential “umbrella species” as well. They, too, often require large tracts of healthy habitat to survive. And by safeguarding the vast territories these animals need, countless other wildlife that share their ecosystem would also be protected, researchers say. The researchers analyzed the habitats of 16 primate species across China’s biodiverse Yunnan province. They also examined the ranges of 601 species of threatened and endemic mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles, as well as 4,010 species of seed plants found in Yunnan. Their analysis showed that if just 30% of Yunnan were designated a primate conservation priority area, 86% of the animals and 72% of the seed plants would have about a third of their habitats protected. Protecting that area would also protect for more than half of the provinces’ annual carbon storage, the study found. Conservation groups elsewhere, too, have advocated for protecting the habitats of charismatic primate species as a way to extend protection to several other species. For example, the nonprofit Rainforest Trust has sought to protect habitats of the critically endangered…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago. To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to expand so quickly, often outbidding private landowners and environmental groups trying to protect the rainforest, a Mongabay investigation conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records. The investigation found a unique system of strategic land titling and pooled financial resources, with communities consolidating numerous properties under a single corporation or church entity. “[Mennonite communities] pride themselves on being more autonomous,” Elma Kay, chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit Maya Forest Corridor Trust, told Mongabay during the investigation. “They’re very efficient at managing their finances, harnessing those to acquire more land as a community, as a collective.” Many Mennonite communities live without modern technology, rejecting electricity and other conveniences. At the same time, some have adopted heavy machinery for agriculture, helping them become one of the leading national producers of crops and poultry. In the process, they’ve consolidated hundreds of thousands of hectares of land under single corporations and church entities. Individual Mennonites and their families are issued certificates to occupy the land by community leadership, rather than a traditional title. With the certificate, the land can be transferred within the community without being legally bought or sold, leaving development largely off…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A harpy eagle needs large trees for nesting and enough surrounding forest for its young to learn to fly. The Amazon also depends on the eagle. By controlling populations of monkeys, sloths, and other animals, the predator helps limit damage to the forest canopy. Its decline can therefore indicate broader changes in the ecosystem. Governments often assess biodiversity by counting species. These figures are useful, although they don’t show whether an ecosystem is still functioning. A recent paper in Frontiers in Science argues that conservation policy should also track ecological processes, including predation, migration, pollination, and the movement of water and nutrients, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. The authors propose using the Three Global Conditions Framework, developed in 2019, to decide what different landscapes require. It divides the planet according to the degree of human influence. Large, relatively intact areas need protection from new development. Landscapes where farming and settlements coexist with nature require management that maintains ecological functions. Heavily altered areas need restoration. The approach could help countries meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the loss of nature to be halted and reversed by 2030. Progress varies widely among countries. The agreement is not legally binding, and national governments determine how its targets are applied. The paper uses the term “nature positive” to describe an outcome in which ecosystems are healthier at the end of the decade than they were…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A mountainous reserve near Manila, the Philippine capital, is a critical ecological refuge, harboring high levels of plant diversity despite its proximity to the highly urbanized city, according to a recent study. The findings come from surveys done 10 years earlier, however, and mounting pressures on the area’s forests since then may have had an impact, the authors say. As the last remaining natural lowland forest in Cavite province, on the southern shores of Manila Bay, Mounts Palay-palay-Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape serves as a vital stronghold for Philippine biodiversity, researchers say. In July 2016, they surveyed plants within the landscape, known as MPPMGPL. At the time, they documented 294 species of plants across the landscape’s varied habitats, from grasslands and secondary forests to old-growth stands. They found that 42 species, or 16%, are found only in the Philippines, while 31 species are classified as threatened on national or international red lists. “The most remarkable finding is that this landscape … harbors an incredibly high concentration of biodiversity despite being so close to highly urbanized zones,” study lead author Enrico Replan, an assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM) at the University of the Philippines Diliman, told Mongabay by email. The study also identified 43 species that likely represent new records for Cavite province, “filling major geographic knowledge gaps,” Replan said. Among the most significant findings was the dominance of guijo (Shorea guiso), a critically endangered tree species, in the forest’s interior core. This highlights the role of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

On the morning of June 27, a 7.6-meter (25-foot) blue whale calf washed ashore on a busy beach in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state. Whale strandings are rare along the Maharashtra coast, so Mongabay spoke with experts to find out what happened next. “Each stranding incident is a totally unexpected event,” N. Vasudevan, former head of Maharashtra government’s Mangrove Cell, an administrative unit that manages coastal ecosystems, told Mongabay. “You can prepare for years, but then it may not happen for years. And one fine morning, it is there on the beach.” According to the Mangrove Foundation, a registered society established by the Maharashtra government, only six of the 109 recorded stranding incidents in 2020-21 involved whales. Under national guidelines, the first step in any stranding involving a protected species, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), is alerting the local stranding network, whose coordinator notifies the forest department, according to Shaunak Modi, director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, which is also part of the Mumbai Stranding Response Network. Modi said that on June 27, a lifeguard notified him about the whale calf around 9 a.m. By the time he reached the site in the Bandra coastline 30 minutes later, the young cetacean had suffered severe injuries from crashing against exposed rocks. Ultimately, police and fire department authorities at the site confirmed it had died. Fishers and local people told Modi they had first spotted the stranded whale around 6 a.m. First responders, primarily local…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Photos of a striking, iridescent wasp posted on social media by wasp enthusiasts in Japan have led to an unexpected discovery: The images are the first record of the species in Japan. The footage also helped scientists describe a male of the species for the first time. The images and a video of the wasps were posted by two citizen scientists on Twitter (now X) in 2018 and 2021. The video showed a female wasp depositing her eggs onto a hard egg case of a praying mantis. Taisuke Kawano, a wasp expert at the Kyushu University Museum, Japan, noticed the footage and contacted the wasp enthusiasts who then sent him a few specimens of the wasp. The citizen scientists are also co-authors of a study, published in June, that details the scientists’ findings. Kawano and his colleagues identified the wasp as Eupelmus curvator. It’s a parasitoid wasp that lays its eggs in the egg cases of mantises. The larvae of the wasps feed on the mantis eggs as they develop. The researchers said the photos posted on social media are the first known record of Eupelmus curvator in Japan. The species was previously known only from China. The researchers were also able to scientifically describe the E. curvator male for the first time. Only the female of the species was previously described. The wasp was, for the first time, recorded targeting the eggs of the narrow-winged mantis (Tenodera angustipennis). In one mantis egg case, the scientists found 77 wasps and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Roads through Brazil’s forests divide primate habitat and sometimes force animals that normally remain in the canopy onto the ground. Researchers in the Amazon are testing rope bridges that allow them to cross above traffic. Eight bridges were installed in 2024 in Alta Floresta, in northern Mato Grosso state, reports contributor Suzana Camargo for Mongabay. Camera traps recorded 15,000 crossings by arboreal animals over the next 15 months. No roadkill was reported at the monitored sites. Six primate species used the structures, among them black-faced black spider monkeys (Ateles chamek), Schneider’s marmosets (Mico schneideri), and the critically endangered Alta Floresta titi monkey (Plecturocebus grovesi). The bridges contain several layers of rope for species with different forms of movement. Some walk across them, while others swing by their arms or use their prehensile tails. Cameras record successful crossings as well as animals that approach and retreat. The footage suggests that some species need time to become accustomed to the structures. Tufted capuchins took seven months to use one of the bridges. The work follows a project started in 2021 along the BR-174 highway, which passes through the Waimiri-Atroari Indigenous Territory. Members of the Waimiri-Atroari community helped select sites for 32 bridges. Cameras have recorded about 1,250 primate crossings there over the past five years, giving researchers information on which designs work best. Roads can also separate wildlife populations and reduce gene flow. This is…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Andean leaf-eared mouse thrives at extreme elevations where most other mammals wouldn’t survive. At these altitudes, oxygen levels are low; temperatures are permanently below freezing; and humans can’t survive for long without oxygen masks and insulated clothing. Yet, the mighty mouse is right at home, and scientists have now figured out the biological adaptations that allow it to live there, according to a new study. The small, brown Andean leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis vaccarum) occupies a wide range of altitudes. Some populations live on the summits of volcanoes in the central Andes Mountains at elevations above 6,700 meters (22,000 feet); others live at sea level along the desert coast of northern Chile. To find out how the rodent lives in conditions uninhabitable to other vertebrates, the researchers collected 167 leaf-eared mice, from sea level to their highest elevation homes in the Andes. This allowed them to test the physiology of lowland Andean leaf-eared with their highland relatives. In the laboratory, the researchers exposed the mice to simulated conditions of elevations up to 7,000 m (22,966 ft). They found that the highland Andean leaf-eared mice from the volcano summits were able to use oxygen more efficiently in their skeletal muscle and generate more body heat than lowland individuals. The researchers also sequenced the genomes of the leaf-eared mice and found that the rodents have genetic adaptations for metabolizing toxins in plants. “The discovery that the mice have evolved the ability to metabolize dietary toxins was unexpected,” study co-author Jay Storz, an…This article was originally published on Mongabay