Steve Smit, South Africa’s “Monkey Man,” has died (August 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/steve-smit-south-africas-monkey-man-has-died/
- Steve Smit, known in KwaZulu-Natal as the “Monkey Man,” spent three decades rescuing and rehabilitating vervet monkeys and other urban wildlife.
- Before becoming a full-time rescuer, he spent roughly 25 years in South Africa’s intelligence services and helped build the country’s early animal-rights movement.
- Through FALCON, Justice for Animals, and later Monkey Helpline, he challenged elephant culling, wildlife trade, vivisection, and other practices he believed sacrificed individual animals.
- Smit, who died on August 12 at 70, became known for an uncompromising defense of animals that many people regarded as common, troublesome, or expendable.
John Salehe helped shape Tanzania’s community conservation movement (August 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/john-salehe-helped-shape-tanzanias-community-conservation-movement/
For wildlife moving between Lake Manyara and Tarangire, a line on a map was never enough. Elephants, wildebeest, and other animals crossed land used by pastoralists and farmers, where roads, cultivation, and settlements were expanding. Keeping such routes open meant persuading people who lived there that wildlife had a place in their future. It meant […]
The king of the Andes: How a village learned to coexist with condors (August 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/08/the-king-of-the-andes-how-a-village-learned-to-coexist-with-condors/
PÁRAMO EL ALMORZADERO, Colombia — Doris Torres is a sheepherder who grew up seeing Andean condors as enemies. In this remote village high in the Colombian Andes, the birds were blamed for livestock losses and often killed through poisoning or shooting — persecution that helped push their population to the brink. But as Torres learned […]
Global marine protected areas fail to safeguard most sharks and rays: Study (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-marine-protected-areas-fail-to-safeguard-most-sharks-and-rays-study/
- Marine protected areas (MPAs) cover less than 10% of the ranges of most species of sharks and rays, with significant shortfalls for threatened and critically endangered species, a new study finds.
- The analysis also reveals major gaps in reporting on the extent of fishing and harvesting re-strictions in these preserves.
- The study’s authors recommend including biodiversity targets as part of the 30×30 framework and encourage policymakers to consider aligning MPAs with important shark and ray areas to maximize conservation and biodiversity benefits.
- However, some researchers disagree that blanket MPAs would meaningfully benefit shark and ray conservation.
Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/08/among-the-sacred-hills-of-colombias-guainia/
I had been struck by photographs of the Cerros de Mavicure rising above the forest and the Inírida River in eastern Colombia. The dark rock, exposed against an almost unbroken expanse of green, seemed unlike anywhere else I had visited in the Amazon. Last month, ahead of Mongabay Latam’s PUMA FEST in Bogotá, I finally […]
Caught on camera: Sand cats may have a ‘sizable population’ in Qatar (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/
- The tiny, seldom-studied sand cat is the only feline adapted to survive in harsh deserts: It lives across Southwest and Central Asia, northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
- Because of its large geographic range, this cat isn’t classified as threatened by the IUCN, but data is difficult to come by. Some scientists want to uplist the species to near-threatened status.
- The sand cat is difficult to see, day or night. After scattered anecdotal reports, scientists used camera traps to document the first systematic record of the sand cat in Qatar. Their findings offer valuable glimpses into this elusive species’ distribution and preferred habitat.
New studies portray Amazon as surprisingly resilient, but tipping point looms (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-studies-portray-amazon-as-surprisingly-resilient-but-tipping-point-looms/
- Three 2026 studies reveal that the Amazon can regrow quickly, but deforestation and warming could trigger a system-wide tipping point in the next 15 years.
- Research also shows that repeated wildfires are replacing fire-resistant specialist trees with generalist species, halving biodiversity at forest edges despite a closing canopy.
- According to research, extreme conditions have increased tree mortality due to hydraulic failure, which is key to understanding the forest’s shrinking carbon sinks.
- Ending deforestation is necessary and achievable, but must be combined with global actions to curb climate change, say experts.
How women farmers are helping elephants and forests in a Sumatran national park (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/
- Tesso Nilo National Park on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is notorious for human-wildlife conflicts, but women farmers living in its buffer zone are working to protect the park.
- Members of the Batang Nilo Women’s Forest Farmer Group, known as Perbani, plant citrus trees, which elephants avoid, around their farms, while also growing fruits that the animals can feed on.
- Perbani also empowers its more than 30 members through monthly gender equality classes, covering skills such as leadership and public speaking, as well as a savings-and-loans scheme.
- In 2024, the forestry ministry granted the women’s group Wanawiyata Widyakarya status, awarded to community organizations that successfully run conservation and forestry-related enterprises and provide training to residents.
Sand mining plans spark opposition from fishers in Indonesia’s Riau Islands (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/sand-mining-plans-spark-opposition-from-fishers-in-indonesias-riau-islands/
- Plans to mine marine sand off Indonesia’s Numbing Island have sparked opposition from fishers, environmental groups, and some lawmakers who warn of damage to fishing grounds and marine tourism.
- Although the government describes the project as marine sediment management and no company has begun operations, the proposal has divided local communities over the promised compensation.
- Critics warn the dredging could increase water turbidity, damage coral reefs, alter coastal currents, and weaken natural coastal defenses.
- The dispute has also raised legal and geopolitical concerns, with researchers arguing the Riau Islands’ strategic location makes the environmental risks a national security matter.
How AI helps gather remote biodiversity data: Interview with Microsoft’s Juan Lavista Ferres (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-ai-helps-gather-remote-biodiversity-data-interview-with-microsofts-juan-lavista-ferres/
- An AI-powered tool is helping keep an eye on the world’s most remote forests.
- Named SPARROW, the biodiversity monitoring tool continuously gathers and analyzes images and audio from forests over a long time period without human intervention.
- Developed by Microsoft, it aims to make data gathering and analysis from remote forests easier for scientists and conservationists.
- SPARROW has been deployed in five continents and, according to Microsoft, tests on location show it can function for more than a year without interruption.
‘To speak of agroecology is to speak of farmers’ autonomy’: Interview with Olga Muthambe (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/to-speak-of-agroecology-is-to-speak-of-farmers-autonomy-interview-with-olga-muthambe/
- In an interview with Mongabay, Mozambican social activist Olga Muthambe advocates agroecology as a response to the challenges confronting rural women affected by extractive industries and armed conflict.
- Muthambe is a co-founder of NGO Hikone Moçambique, a civil society organization that has been active in the African nation for over a decade. Since its inception, the organization has connected more than 5,000 women to socioeconomic training initiatives.
- According to Muthambe — who currently serves as the NGO’s executive director — agroecology enables women to produce pesticide-free food for both family consumption and trade, thereby improving food security and generating income.
Infrastructure and land use behind devastating India monsoon floods (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/infrastructure-and-land-use-behind-devastating-india-monsoon-floods/
Widespread flooding in northeastern India that affected more than 500,000 people and claimed at least 99 lives between June and August 2026 was primarily driven by human factors like rapid urbanization, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands, new research says. It also points to structural failures rather than climate change. The findings were published by World […]
100 species on the brink get a $200m conservation lifeline (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/100-species-on-the-brink-get-a-200m-conservation-lifeline/
Recovery projects for 100 critically endangered and extinct-in-the-wild species across the world are set to receive new funding under a conservation initiative announced Aug. 4. Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, both U.S.-based environmental organizations, created the Phoenix Species Project and committed $100 million each, for a total of $200 million, to the project. The […]
Rescued from traffickers, reintroduced orangutan becomes mother in the wild (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescued-from-traffickers-reintroduced-orangutan-becomes-mother-in-the-wild/
- Fieldworkers at the Jantho orangutan release forest in Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost region, have recorded the 10th birth by orangutans successfully released back into the wild from a charity-run rehabilitation center.
- Indonesia’s forestry minister named the baby Badar, which means a full moon, and highlighted the need for consistent protection of orangutan habitats in Borneo and Sumatra islands, which are home to Indonesia’s three species of orangutan.
- However, a new study on Sumatran orangutan populations published in the September issue of “Global Ecology and Conservation” concluded that surviving populations likely declined by nearly 20% between 2011 and 2023.
South Africa school uses cattle dung to generate biogas for cooking meals (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/south-africa-school-uses-cattle-dung-to-generate-biogas-for-cooking-meals/
Women preparing meals for more than 1,000 students at Tiyani Secondary School in South Africa’s Limpopo province no longer rely only on firewood. Instead, much of the cooking is powered by biogas generated from cattle dung collected from Tiyani village. This community-led project could reduce pressure on forests while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. […]
More people, farms, and drought could mean more elephant conflict in Southern Africa (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/more-people-farms-and-drought-could-mean-more-elephant-conflict-in-southern-africa/
A growing human population, expanding croplands, and drier conditions driven by climate change within protected areas could significantly intensify human-elephant conflict in Southern Africa, a recent study finds. Southern Africa is home to almost 300,000 African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), with many populations rebounding after decades of poaching. The region is also seeing rapidly expanding […]
From one deer’s DNA, a road map emerges to save an endangered Philippine species (August 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/from-one-deers-dna-a-road-map-emerges-to-save-an-endangered-philippine-species/
- Scientists in the Philippines have produced a draft genome of the Visayan spotted deer, an endangered mammal endemic to the island nation.
- The draft genome, the first of its kind for any of the Philippines’ endangered mammals, has already revealed information that can be used for conservation planning, including confirmation that captive populations are dangerously inbred.
- While the captive population shows low genetic diversity overall, researchers are working to identify individuals that still carry unique variants, and to shape captive breeding programs around genetic findings.
- Efforts in the lab are paired with efforts to confirm the locations of wild populations, plan future release sites for captive-bred animals, and build community support for conservation.
UK firefighters out in force to tackle fires on hottest day of the year (August 13, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/uk-firefighters-out-in-force-to-tackle-fires-on-hottest-day-of-the-year/
LONDON (AP) — Firefighters are tackling multiple fires in central England on a day that the U.K. recorded its hottest day of the year as an intense stretch of hot weather continued to grip Europe. Thursday’s fire outbreak across the West Midlands, which saw several houses burned to the ground, have been “one of the […]
Big Bear Valley’s beloved bald eagle Jackie is dead (August 13, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/big-bear-valleys-beloved-bald-eagle-jackie-is-dead/
- A popular bald eagle from California’s Big Bear Valley, watched by millions around the world through a livestream nest camera, has died.
- Jackie, as the bird was known, was admitted to the Ojai Raptor Center after rescuers found her grounded and fighting with two juvenile bald eagles in the Big Bear Valley.
- Dehydrated and anemic when she was found, Jackie developed blood clots in her wing and kidney, leading to her declining health and eventual death despite three weeks of intensive veterinary care.
- Jackie’s and her mate Shadow’s popularity spurred a $10 million donation for a land trust to purchase parts of their habitat slated for a luxury housing development.
Timor green pigeon nears extinction after decades of inaction, study warns (August 13, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/timor-green-pigeon-nears-extinction-after-decades-of-inaction-study-warns/
- A new study warns the Timor green pigeon is on the brink of extinction after decades of neglect, despite being listed as endangered since 2000.
- Researchers estimate just 100-500 birds remain, with Timor-Leste now the species’ last viable stronghold after it has all but disappeared from Indonesia.
- Scientists say hunting has been the biggest driver of the bird’s collapse, while the absence of a recovery program, regular monitoring and sustained funding have allowed its decline to continue.
- Conservationists argue the species can still be saved, but only through urgent action that combines stronger enforcement with community-led protection rooted in Timorese customary conservation.