Nest‑building chimpanzees seem to anticipate future weather

Fabiana Rizzi / Unsplash Hassan Al Razi, The University of Western Australia

Every evening, as they move from place to place through the forest, chimpanzees stop to build a nest – most often in a tree – to sleep in. Using a selection of branches, leaves and twigs, they create comfortable and safe spaces to get some shuteye.

Like human beds, these are places to rest – but they also help chimps stay warm or cool and protect themselves against the weather. As you might expect, how and where chimpanzees build their nests depends on things like temperature, humidity, wind and rainfall.

But how do they make these choices? Previous research has shown the construction is related to the conditions at the time when the creatures are building the nest.

In new research, published today in Current Biology, my colleagues and I show that chimps are a little bit cleverer than you might expect: they seem to build their nests in ways that anticipate what the overnight weather will be.

A year in Rwanda

We conducted a field study on eastern chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, a cool and humid mountain forest. Over a 12-month period, we collected detailed data on the structure of nests, the characteristics of their chosen sites, and the kinds of trees the chimps chose.

We also measured how well different kinds of nests insulate against cold and heat. At the same time, we made detailed records of weather conditions when the nests were being built and throughout the night.

This let us test whether chimpanzees respond primarily to immediate environmental conditions, or whether their nesting decisions are better explained by the conditions they experience later during the night.

Chimpanzees are always adjusting their behaviour

Our results show chimpanzees consistently adjust their nesting behaviour in relation to environmental conditions. They preferred to build nests in places that were warmer, more humid and less exposed to wind than surrounding areas.

Nest structure and insulation varied systematically with environmental conditions. In cooler and wetter conditions, nests were thicker and deeper – indicating the chimpanzees put more effort into insulation when conditions are tougher.

We also found that factors such as the width and depth of the nest influenced its insulating ability.

The chimpanzees tended to build more insulating nests when weather was colder and when it was more humid, both during nest-building and overnight.

In cooler and wetter conditions, the chimps also built their nests higher, in taller trees with denser leaf cover. This makes sense: it would be a more stable microclimate with more shelter from rain.

Are chimps thinking ahead?

Importantly, nesting decisions aligned more closely with overnight environmental conditions than with those at the time of construction. When we took overnight weather into account, we found we could explain the variation in nesting behaviour much better than if we used only the current conditions.

One possible explanation is that chimpanzees use environmental cues, such as shifts in temperature, humidity or atmospheric pressure, that are linked to upcoming weather.

These cues may allow them to adjust nest-building behaviour in advance. Does this mean they predict or forecast future weather? Not quite.

But it does show their behaviour is consistent with reacting to environmental signals that are associated with later conditions. Either way, the chimps display a remarkable sensitivity to their environment – and a grasp of how to live in it.

Hassan Al Razi, PhD Student, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→May 01, 2026

Mozambique ‘sky island’ expeditions found 4 new species of chameleon – already at risk from forest loss

Male sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia goodallae) from Mount Ribáuè, Mozambique. Krystal Tolley, CC BY Krystal Tolley, University of Johannesburg

Tropical rainforests are known for their unique biodiversity, with species found nowhere else on Earth. But nearly 30% of tropical rainforest has been destroyed or has become seriously degraded since 1990. Many of these forests have not been fully explored for their biodiversity. This means that the world may be losing species before they are even discovered by modern science.

In Africa, forest loss is rapid; about 25% of the continent’s tropical forest has been lost since 1990, against a backdrop of incomplete knowledge of where the biodiversity is located.

Greatly lagging in this respect are the “sky islands” of northern Mozambique: isolated granite mountains that rise sharply out of the savanna plains. They were left standing when softer rock around them gradually eroded, and can be as high as 3,000 metres elevation. Because they rise so steeply, the sky islands attract clouds and rainfall, feeding moisture to the tropical rainforests on their slopes within an otherwise arid terrain. Isolation has allowed unique species to evolve on each mountain, such as geckos, rodents, fishes, crabs, frogs, butterflies and bats.

Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

Small patch of remaining pristine rainforest at Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

From 2014 to 2018, a research team led by fellow herpetologist Werner Conradie and myself explored these sky island forests to catalogue the species of reptiles found there. We found that each sky island forest is home to a previously unknown species of chameleon within the genus Nadzikambia (forest-dwelling “sylvan chameleons”).

Unfortunately, these chameleons are already at risk of extinction due to the heavy slash-and-burn clearing of the forests, the only place they can call home.

We’ve described these new species, choosing four names to highlight pioneering women scientists whose work inspired us to strive towards new discoveries, but also to call attention to the losses of their forest habitat.

Hunting for chameleons

Over the course of several years, we explored four of Mozambique’s sky islands – Mount Namuli, Mount Inago, Mount Chiperone and Mount Ribáuè – with the aim of cataloguing all reptiles but also in the hopes of finding new species of chameleons. This was because a species of sylvan chameleon had been discovered on one of these mountains during the 1960s, but they were not known from any other mountains.

However, chameleons can be very difficult to find, given their ability to remain camouflaged against the background coupled with their slow movements. They are more easily spotted at night while they are sleeping, as they stand out against the vegetation when illuminated by a strong beam of light. Sylvan chameleons are even more difficult to spot than others, as they usually perch high in the thick forest canopy – tens of metres up.

The search meant dealing with some tough conditions: a long, arduous trek up the hot, arid slopes to reach the forest high up the mountain. Establishing a remote base camp was essential. All food, clothes and gear had to be packed into the camp, and we didn’t know how long it would take to find any animals.

At each of these mountains, we surveyed every night for chameleons – no trails to follow, no GPS signal to guide us, no cellphone signal to call for help.

Sometimes we were lucky and found chameleons on the first or second night. At other mountains we were not so lucky, with fruitless searches making it necessary to return another year.

Eventually these mountains revealed their secrets and we discovered four new species of sylvan chameleon, one on each of the four mountains.

Slash-and-burn clearing of rainforest at Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

We don’t know how big their populations are, but we assume they are in decline. Most of their habitat has been destroyed by forest clearing to make way for agriculture, with increasingly rapid losses in the last decade. We estimate that in some cases, 80%-90% of their habitat has been destroyed.

When parts of an ecosystem are lost, the whole becomes unstable and is eventually lost.

Choosing names for the new species

To highlight their predicament, we have described and named these chameleons and have forecast that three of these species are at high risk of extinction.

In particular, we highlight Nadzikambia goodallae from Mount Ribáuè. This species has been named in honour of the distinguished scientist Jane Goodall, whose own study species, the chimpanzee, is under similar pressures from loss of its rainforest habitat.

Female sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia goodallae) from Mount Ribáuè. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

We also honour the renowned discoverer of the structure of DNA, Rosalind Franklin, by naming the species from Mount Namuli as Nadzikambia franklinae. The use of DNA data from these chameleons was essential to confirm them as new species.

Nadzikambia franklinae from Mount Namuli. Werner Conradie, CC BY

We have dubbed the species from Mount Inago as Nadzikambia evanescens, meaning “vanishing” in Latin, acknowledging the state of the forest destruction.

Male sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia evanescens) from Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

The final species, Nadzikambia nubila, is named for the cloudy aspect of Mount Chiperone. This species has a lower risk of extinction given that the local community view the forest as sacred, and say it should be protected.

Female sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia nubila) from Mount Chiperone. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

This latter case is significant, as it demonstrates that wholesale destruction of these forests is not an essential trade-off for local people to thrive. If encouraged and supported, community support and buy-in can be a solution to protect biodiversity in these sensitive ecosystems.

Krystal Tolley, Principal Scientist, University of Johannesburg

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→April 27, 2026

Birds and monkeys in the Amazon share information via ‘internet of the forest’: new research

Ettore Camerlenghi, Deakin University and Ari Martínez, University of California, Santa Cruz

You might go for a walk in the forest to disconnect from work and calm your nerves after a busy week. The chirping and calls of birds in the canopy above might be exactly what allows you to relax.

But what sounds soothing to humans may signal danger to other animals – and trigger fear across the forest.

In our research, published today in Current Biology, we show that when some animals spot a predator they issue a warning cry that is picked up by others and spread through the rainforest canopy. For a time, different species are linked into a shared information network, and parts of the forest briefly fall silent.

Birds and monkeys

During an expedition to a remote area of the Peruvian Amazon, working with a falconer, we used trained raptors to trigger warning calls from birds and primates. We recorded the calls then played them back into the forest and monitored how the community responded.

We already knew that birds sometimes repeat the warnings of others – occasionally even those of different species, or of primates. What we wanted to know was how widespread this behaviour is across the animal community.

Researchers released birds of prey in the Amazon rainforest to study how the alarm calls of other animals travel through the ‘internet of the forest’.

We discovered that alarm calls produced by small bird species – those weighing less than 100 grams – were most often passed on. Other small birds living in the canopy were the most likely to relay the call, but other animals joined in too.

Larger species, including capuchin and spider monkeys, sometimes responded as well. Two canopy species in particular – the black-fronted and the white-fronted nunbirds – stood out as especially likely to repeat and propagate the warnings of their neighbours throughout the forest.

Sounds and silence

Alarm calls from species living in the forest understorey were far less likely to spread and be propagated by other birds or primates.

However, even when these alarm calls were not repeated, they changed the forest’s soundscape. Small canopy birds almost completely stopped singing after hearing a predator alert. At the same time, animals in lower forest layers often continued to make sounds despite the perceived threat.

Together, these findings suggest that the Amazonian canopy is not only the rainforest’s most mysterious layer – largely unexplored and home to much of its biodiversity – but also functions as an information highway, like a fibre-optic network through which animals rapidly share signals of danger.

A new layer of the ‘internet of the forest’

In the past decade, the idea of an “internet of the forest” has become popular through the concept of the “wood wide web”, where plants exchange resources and information via root systems and fungal networks. Our work points to another communication system, one operating high above the ground.

Suspended above our heads is a vast ecosystem where animals constantly listen to one another, forming an eavesdropping network that spreads critical information within seconds.

The vocal activity of birds is usually associated with finding mates and defending territories. However, we now know that sometimes this activity, or lack of it, may represent pulses of a soundscape of fear.

Next time you walk through a rainforest, look up and listen to the birds. A sudden silence may mean a raptor is gliding somewhere above the canopy.

Ettore Camerlenghi, Associate Research Fellow, Avian Behaviour, Deakin University and Ari Martínez, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→April 21, 2026

Spectacular New Species Found in Cambodia’s Limestone Caves–Asia's 'Little Laboratories'

A new species of pit viper found living in the caves – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

A breathtaking expedition high among limestone escarpments and deep in the cave systems they contain has revealed several new reptile species, including a dazzling pit viper you have to see to believe.

Exploring over 60 caves across 10 hills in the Battambang province, western Cambodia, the survey uncovered a treasure trove of extraordinary creatures besides, many found nowhere else on Earth.

The survey was led by Fauna & Flora International in collaboration with Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and field experts. The team identified 6 new geckos, 2 micro-snails, and 2 millipedes in addition to the viper.

They also confirmed the presence of many threatened species in the landscape surrounding the caves—such as the Sunda pangolin, Indochinese silvered langur, long-tailed macaque, and green peafowl, further highlighting the critical need to protect this habitat.

Karst covers 20% of the Earth’s landscape. This soluble bedrock made of limestone has created some of the most spectacular rocky landscapes on Earth—including the upturned egg cartons shapes along the great South China Karst, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Tsingy de Bemaraha in Madagascar, The Burren in western Ireland, the world’s largest wellspring in Vrelo Bune, Bosnia, the Cenotes of the Yucatan, in Mexico, and Mammoth Cave in the US.

The susceptibility of karst to erode from rainfall has seen it carved into a million beautiful and dramatic shapes that often play host to microclimates where threatened animals can thrive.

Landscapes along the Li River amid the South China Karst – credit, Sam Beasley via Unsplash

Dr. Lee Grismer, a professor of biology at La Sierra University in the US, was part of the expeditionary team, and spoke to F&F about the importance and uniqueness of the landscape.

“Each one of these isolated karst areas act as their own little laboratory where nature is performing the same experiment over and over and over independently. The results are species that exist nowhere else—not just nowhere else in the world, or that country—but in no other cave.”

The Shiva Gecko – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

Indeed, caves from easily in karst landscapes, and many of the world’s longest and largest—and least-explored—cave systems are found in East and Southeast Asia.

This is certainly the case in Battambang, where the survey team had first to ascend the steep forested slopes of the karst outcrops before scrambling and squeezing through crevices and crawlspaces to reach the cave systems.

Inside, they documented a rich array of life, both endemic to the caves and others—like a big reticulated python—who were just visiting. While the chatter of the Endangered silvered langur troupe, faded behind them, the team began encountering animal after animal that had never been described by science.

A spectacular new species of pit viper (from the Trimeresurus genus) was collected during the survey and is currently being described. Recognized by their triangular heads, these highly venomous snakes track down their warm-blooded prey using the heat-sensitive pits behind their nostrils.

4 populations of the striped Kamping Poi bent-toed gecko were found and identified as a new species: Cyrtodactylus kampingpoiensis. Despite being described as just one species, it is thought that, due to the geographic isolation of the karst formations, these 4 populations are on separate evolutionary trajectories, and further genetic analyses may reveal whether they are in fact 4 different species instead of 1.

Another new species of gecko was named after the Hindu god of destruction: Shiva.

In a statement, Fauna & Flora International said it is working with local partners to help conserve Cambodia’s karst landscapes, epitomized through the recent release of guidelines for sustainable development and management of cave ecosystems.

The Fauna & Flora International expeditionary team – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

The guidelines integrate international best practices with Cambodian context, providing practical measures to safeguard bat colonies, preserve rare and endemic cave biodiversity, promote sustainable guano harvesting and ensure responsible tourism development.

“Cambodia’s karst areas are a treasure trove of scientific secrets waiting to be uncovered,” said Sothearen Thi, Karst Biodiversity Coordinator at Fauna & Flora in the statement.“But, without sustainable management, we may never find out what these areas truly hold. Karst landscapes are facing many human-driven challenges, and biologically significant species could go extinct before they have even been discovered. We are working with the Cambodian government and local partners to increase protection of the landscapes, with sustainable management being the number one priority.” Spectacular New Species Found in Cambodia’s Limestone Caves–Asia's 'Little Laboratories'

Read More........→April 11, 2026

Endangered Cahow, One of the Rarest Seabirds in the World, Hatched on Nonsuch Island in Bermuda

A Bermuda petrel, or Cahow, on Nonsuch Island – credit, Cahow Recovery Project

Though an event neither singular nor inaugural, the hatching of an endangered seabird and national icon of Bermuda is still being celebrated wildly by a special group of conservationists who’ve created a “living museum” on Nonsuch Island.

Measuring just 14 acres and found in the northeast corner of the Bermuda island chain, Nonsuch Island is the only place the world’s 3rd-rarest seabird, known locally as the cahow, comes to breed.

The fact that it is breeding at all is nearly a miracle, as the cahow was believed to be extinct for a period of 300 years that started in the early days of British colonial governance and extended all the way to the second-half of the 20th century.

The animal, also known as a Bermuda, or gadfly petrel, bears all the quirks of an animal doomed to follow the dodo into history. It takes 3-6 years for adults to return to Nonsuch Island to breed, and if they do, the female may produce one egg.

That one egg may hatch, although it might not; some 50% of the eggs don’t hatch. Adults abandon that single chick one-week before it fledges, when instinct drives it to seek food out at sea while still learning how to fly. Between 28 and 35% of fledglings don’t survive their first year.

Nesting on the ground, they’re extremely vulnerable to predation from invasive animals, and in 1960, British ornithologist and Bermuda’s first conservation officer, David Wingate, identified just 18 breeding pairs on Nonsuch Island.

Wingate would go on to pioneer the Cahow Recovery Program, which today is recognized as one of the most successful restoration projects anywhere in the world for a Critically-Endangered species.

By the time Wingate’s successor as chief of the program, Jeremy Madeiros, took over, their numbers had grown to 55. Today, there are 450 birds of all ages on the island, a remarkable turnaround.

Part of that turnaround was making sure these birds had good nesting habitat. Cahows nest in underground burrows or deep rock crevices; only nests deep enough to be completely dark are chosen.

Today, 85% of all cahows nest in artificial concrete nest burrows constructed for them as part of the Recovery Program.

The recovery program gestated a transformation of Nonsuch Island into a complete wildlife sanctuary, wooded, and with a small freshwater marsh where access to the public is strictly limited to prevent invasive species introduction. The restoration of the once barren island into a ‘Living Museum of pre-colonial Bermuda’ was Wingate’s life’s work.

65 years into this rewilding experiment, key endemics have repopulated the island, including the yellow-crowned night heron, West Indian top shell, land hermit crabs, and the beautiful Bermuda skink.Expeditions there are organized by the environment ministry for educational and research purposes, while several live camera feeds allow those interested to observe the cahow in its natural habitat. Endangered Cahow, One of the Rarest Seabirds in the World, Hatched on Nonsuch Island in Bermuda

Read More........→April 05, 2026

24 New Species Including a New Family of Amphipods Identified in Deep Sea Survey

Collage of the 24 new Amphipod species identified in Clarion-Clipperton Zone – credit, National Oceanographic Center, Southampton

A recent international survey of a deep sea zone near Mexico turned up 24 species of shrimp-like animals called amphipods, including a whole new taxonomic family, called Mirabestiidae.

The survey took place in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) between Hawaii and Mexico, where a fractious seabed can range in depth from 10,000 to 20,000 feet.

Over 10,000 species of amphipods have been described by science, yet they’re such a diverse order of animals, an expedition such as this can still scoop out handfuls of new ones—and in all different colors too.

“To find a new superfamily is incredibly exciting, and very rarely happens so this is a discovery we will all remember,” said Dr. Tammy Horton of the UK’s National Oceanographic Center (NOC) in Southampton.

“With more than 90% of species in the CCZ still unnamed, each species described is a vital step towards improving our understanding of this fascinating ecosystem.”

The NOC was joined by partners and aspiring scientists from all across Europe, as well as New Zealand and Canada, for a weeks-long taxonomy workshop organized at the University of Lodz, Poland, led by Dr. Anna Jażdżewska.

Location of the Clarion Clipperton Zone – credit USGS

The expedition and workshop were organized under the International Seabed Authority’s Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative (SSKI) which aims to describe 1,000 new species by the end of the decade in order to possess a better understanding of deep-seabed biodiversity when making decisions about deep-sea mining.

“The team’s findings provide information that is crucial for future conservation and policy decisions, and it highlights how important it is for this work to continue,” Dr. Jażdżewska said in a statement.

Stretching 1.7 million square miles across the eastern Pacific Ocean, the CCZ was discovered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1954. It’s been an extremely well-surveyed area of the deep seabed, though that in itself isn’t saying much, and indeed 42% of all known deep sea species were first described in the CCZ.

The expedition uncovered a new family, called Mirabestiidae, and even a new superfamily Mirabestioidea, revealing completely new evolutionary branches. Two new genera were also discovered: Mirabestia and Pseudolepechinella.

For readers who lack a mental flowchart of taxonomy hierarchies, one famous family from above sea level is Felidae, containing all cats wild and domestic. Felidae is nested inside of the superorder Feliformia, which in addition to all the cats, contains civets, hyena, mongoose, and the curious fossa of Madagascar.

Two genera nested inside the family Felidae are Panthera, containing the tiger and the lion, and Lynx.

In the CCZ, students and professors alike reveled in pulling up one new species after another, before taking them back to a frigid Poland for analysis.Creatures were named in honor of both Horton and Jażdżewska, the organizers of the expedition and workshop, while others named species after relatives, impressions from the experience, and even a video game character that one of the amphipods resembled. 24 New Species Including a New Family of Amphipods Identified in Deep Sea Survey

Read More........→March 30, 2026

Surgeons Perform First-Ever Surgery for Critically-Endangered Monkey Weeks Before She Gave Birth

Chester Zoo via SWNS

GNN often stays abreast of births among the Chester Zoo’s incredibly diverse residents of rare and endangered species, but few have ever been cuter or rarer than this Roloway monkey.

Chester Zoo is one of only two places in the UK that Roloway monkeys can be found, a spokesman said, and the breeding population there supports the animal as conservationists ponder what to do to ensure it can survive in its West African home.

The mother is named Masaya, and before the 15-year-old primate gave birth to a daughter named Lagertha, she was the first ever Roloway monkey to undergo surgery in captivity—to remove a golf-ball sized abscess from her foot.

Masaya had to have one toe amputated during the procedure, which was done at the University of Liverpool’s Small Animal Teaching Hospital.

“Masaya is a very experienced mom and she’s parenting magnificently,” said

Zoe Edwards, primate keeper at Chester Zoo. “The fact Masaya’s foot has healed so well is a huge relief. If she’d had a [full] amputation, we’d have been left with real questions about whether she could hold her offspring or continue with her normal behaviors.”

Roloway monkeys originate from West Africa and are listed as Critically-Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Once common in the lush rainforests of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the Roloway monkey now survives only in isolated pockets of old-growth forest.

The baby’s name is Lagertha – credit, Chester Zoo via SWNS

Masaya at the Liverpool Vet. Hospital where she underwent surgery – credit, Chester Zoo via SWNS

Chester Zoo witnessed the first birth of a Roloway monkey in captivity in 2020, and Lagertha is the 3rd to be born since then. Edwards said it marked an important moment in the species’ conservation. There are only a few breeding females in zoos in Europe, and only one other in England at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

Masaya had experienced recurring problems with her foot since she came to the zoo in 2023. It was determined to be an abscess, and when the swelling worsened in 2025, the decision was made to take Masaya to Liverpool for a CT scan.

“It’s not every day you take a monkey to vet school,” said Charlotte Bentley, Veterinary Officer at the zoo’s Animal Health Center. “Following the scan, we decided an operation was the way forward.”

According to the New England Primate Conservancy, the Roloway monkey is now considered one of the most urgently threatened primates in the entire world. A big-bodied monkey, they have been hunted to such small populations that, ironically, they’re now considered too uneconomical to pursue anymore, and so have inadvertently gained a short respite from poaching.

he conservancy admits that the most likely chance for survival is for breeding programs like the one at Chester to continue the propagation of the species until such a time as their native forests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast can be appropriately and reliably protected from poachers and logging. Surgeons Perform First-Ever Surgery for Critically-Endangered Monkey Weeks Before She Gave Birt

Read More........→March 22, 2026

Elusive Nightjar Populations Doubled in 5 Years, a ‘Remarkable Comeback’ Conservationists Say

A Lesser Nighthawk in Costa Rica – credit, Jerry Oldenettel – originally posted to Flickr, via CC 2.0.

The population of one of England’s most-elusive birds is flourishing again thanks to conservation efforts in the south of the country.

The nightjar, sometimes called the nighthawk, becomes active at twilight, and they’re famous for their chortling calls and fantastic camouflage.

Their numbers declined some 51% between the 1970s and 2000s after substantial forest loss.

The UK’s South Downs National Park stretches across the areas of Hampshire, West Sussex, and East Sussex, and it’s among the lowland heath and forests that nightjars have staged a remarkable population recovery.

A nightjar survey in the park last year counted more than 70 birds, which is believed to mark a doubling over the last 5 years. The animals migrate 4,000 miles north from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to reside in the UK between April and August. Meanwhile, forest and heathland restoration efforts have raised the number of good nesting habitats to 109 across Britain.

The birds nest on the ground, so conservation work has specifically focused on communication with visitors to places like South Downs. They’re encouraged to keep their dogs on leashes, stay on marked trails, and avoid bushwhacking so as not to disturb or destroy the sensitive nesting areas.

“It’s wonderful to hear the nightjars churring away as dusk falls and we’re looking forward to continuing this incredibly positive conservation work alongside local communities and our partners,” South Downs ranger Kirsty Murray told the BBC.

Murray called good nightjar habitat “as rare as rainforest” in Britain, and thought it was the best thing in the world that the animal was repopulating the park.The nightjar is an extremely versatile and successful species. They inhabit all continents but Antarctica, and can live at virtually any elevation within reason. They steer clear of extremely arid regions, and can migrate long or short distances. Elusive Nightjar Populations Doubled in 5 Years, a ‘Remarkable Comeback’ Conservationists Say:

Read More........→March 21, 2026

Great Lakes Otters Are a Conservation Success Story with Populations Flourishing in US and Ontario

A river otter the moment it was released into the Rio Grande – Credit J.N. Stuart, CC 2.0.

In 1986, Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources began reintroducing North American river otters to the rivers, creeks, and shorelines of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

40 years later, these adorable apex predators have recolonized much of their former aquatic acreage in Ohio, New York, Michigan, and Ontario, fastening the food chain at the top while ecosystem restoration programs have anchored it at the bottom.

The Great Lakes region holds one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. It’s a massive ecosystem that supports tens of millions of people, tens of billions in industry, and thousands of animal and plant species.

Unfortunately for the otter, an apex predator needs a vast and intact ecosystem to thrive, and as industrialization ate away at its prey species and den habitat, hunters reduced their numbers in pursuit of their pelts.

In 1980, an examination conducted on US river otter populations determined they were locally extinct in 11 states, and lost significant population in 9 other states.

It’s a story all-too-familiar the world over, but one that seems now to have had a happy ending.

After the Ohio DNR began releasing river otters from southern states like Arkansas and Louisiana, New York state began a mirrored effort of relocating otters from the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley, and Catskills to the tributaries of the Great Lakes in the western part of the state.

“All of these efforts were bolstered by the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a landmark US–Canada treaty that pushed both countries toward reducing toxic discharges and restoring damaged habitats,” writes Timothy Mihocik at Rewilding Magazine.

Gradual waterfront revitalization and de-industrialization has allowed the otter to go beyond mere sheltered streams in protected areas back into the heart of the Great Lakes ecosystem, a return that also heralds cleaner, uncontaminated water, richer fish stocks, and more biodiverse riverbeds.

GNN has reported over the years that the character of several Midwest rivers, once so polluted they’d catch fire, has now changed. In Toronto, Ohio, and Chicago, rivers are now swimmable and fishable again, and otters stand hugely to benefit from that.Still, North American river otters have remained rare or absent in the southwestern United States. Water quality and development inhibit recovery of populations in some areas, but here too, otters are returning, with the New Mexican population tripling in the last few years. Great Lakes Otters Are a Conservation Success Story with Populations Flourishing in US and Ontario

Read More........→March 21, 2026

Chimps’ Love for Crystals Could Help Us Understand Our Own Ancestors’ Fascination with These Stones

A chimp named Toti observes the crystal – credit, García-Ruiz et al., 2026, according to CC 4.0. license

Scientists have found that chimpanzees are attracted to crystals, seem to value them, want to keep them where they sleep, and can easily distinguish any stone that shines or glitters from others that don’t.

The researchers were hoping to understand whether our own species’ long documented appreciation (bordering on obsession) with crystals, gems, and precious metals, extends even further back down our evolutionary timeline.

The findings must be taken with several grains of sodium chloride crystal, but may open up a fascinating field of study into the origins of value.

Maybe you’ve experienced this: news comes out about a large diamond or ruby selling at auction for the same price as a house, and you or a friend have a brief moment of wondering, “why?”

Similarly, maybe you subscribe, or at least sympathize, with Warren Buffet’s long-held views on gold—namely that it’s nothing but a shiny rock—”a barbarous relic,” as the Oracle of Omaha famously said.

But even so, there’s something about the appeal of shiny rocks that clearly transcends logic, and that’s been true not only for the 5,500 year history of gold’s use as money, but for likely our entire existence.

Crystals have repeatedly been found at archaeological sites alongside Homo remains. Evidence shows hominins have been collecting these stones for as long as 780,000 years. Yet, we know that our ancestors did not use them as weapons, tools, or even jewelry. So why did they collect them at all?

Something about these stones made them desirable, even when they weren’t used for anything, and hoping to understand why, Spanish scientists conducted an experiment with 9 encultured chimps at a primate rescue center.

Encultured means that the animals have had extensive contact with humans, and is the first reason to hold one’s horses regarding scientific conclusions, but the results of the experiment nevertheless left the scientists “amazed.”

“We were pleasantly surprised by how strong and seemingly natural the chimpanzees’ attraction to crystals was,” said lead author Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, a professor in San Sebastian in crystallography. “This suggests that sensitivity to such objects may have deep evolutionary roots.”

Modern humans diverged from chimps between 6 and 7 million years ago, so we share substantial genetic and behavioral similarities. To find out if fascination with crystals is one of them, the researchers provided two groups of chimpanzees (Manuela, Guillermo, Yvan, Yaki, and Toti in group one and Gombe, Lulú, Pascual, and Sandy in group two) with access to crystals.

A chimp named Yvan spent more than 15 minutes inspecting a small crystal – credit García-Ruiz et al., 2026, according to CC 4.0. license

In the first experiment, a large quartz crystal—called the monolith—was placed on a platform, along with a normal rock of similar size. While initially both objects caught the chimps’ attention, soon the crystal was preferred and the rock disregarded. Once they had removed it from the platform, all chimps inspected the crystal, rotating and tilting it so they could view it from specific angles. Yvan then picked up the crystal and decisively carried it to their hay-lined sleeping huts.

A second experiment showed that the chimps could identify and select smaller quartz crystals—similar in size to those found in hominin site excavations—from a pile of 20 rounded pebbles within seconds.

When pyrite (Fool’s Gold) and calcite crystals, which have different shapes than quartz crystals, were added to the pile, chimps still were able to pick out crystal-type stones.

“The chimpanzees began to study the crystals’ transparency with extreme curiosity, holding them up to eye level and looking through them,” García-Ruiz said. The animals then immediately, like the monolith experiment, took them back to their dormitories.

Chimps repeatedly examined the crystals for hours. Sandy, for example, carried pebbles and crystals in her mouth to a wooden platform where she separated them.

“She separated the 3 crystal types, which themselves differed in transparency, symmetry, and luster, from all the pebbles. This ability to recognize crystals despite their differences amazed us,” García-Ruiz said.

The authors pointed out that chimps don’t usually use their mouths to carry objects, so this could mean they were hiding them, a behavior consistent with treating the crystals as valuable, the team pointed out. It could, however, also mean they were testing to see if they were edible, but maybe not.

Another behavior by the chimps demonstrated the potential that they understood a value proposition in the crystals: that in order to get them back, the researchers had to barter for them, with substantially more pounds of food then the crystal. If indeed they were testing to see if it were edible, the amount of food they demanded in return seems strange.

Philosophically, the food trade experiment mirrors the classical value paradox of gems and precious metals.

One can’t eat a gemstone or gold coin, yet they cost far more than bread. Starving to death, one would trade every gemstone on Earth for a loaf of bread, so why do we assign them so much value? Based on how many bananas and how much yogurt García-Ruiz and his team had to offer, it could be that chimpanzees fall into that same paradox.

An interesting hypothesis as to why the chimps found the crystals interesting is their shape.

Crystals are the only natural polyhedral objects, meaning the only natural solids with many flat surfaces. When early humans tried to make sense of their environment, their cognitive processes might have been drawn to patterns that were unlike what they knew.

The clouds, trees, mountains, animals, and rivers of the natural world surrounding our ancestors were defined by curvature and ramification, so few items had straight lines and flat surfaces.

The combined observations from the experiments identified that both the transparency and the shape as alluring properties to the chimps. It might have been the same qualities attracting early humans to these rocks.

However, the fact that the chimps had long become accustomed to living with humans should, the researchers note, be considered a limiting factor in interpreting anything conclusively from the studies. Ideally, García-Ruiz said, the experiment should be replicated with wild apes, and preferably not only with Chimps, but also bonobos and gorillas.

Michael Haslam, an archaeologist with Historic Environment Scotland, told the New York Times that the great apes aren’t the only animals that value crystals: some birds have been known to collect them. Bowerbirds, fascinating birds that will decorate their nests with all sorts of objects, have been documented arranging quartz crystals around the perimeter of their nest to attract females.The gemstones of our marketplaces today are just certain kinds of scarcer crystals that are cut and polished, and there’s every reason to suspect that if the Hope Diamond were placed in front of Sandy, or the male bowerbird, they’d behave exactly the same. Chimps’ Love for Crystals Could Help Us Understand Our Own Ancestors’ Fascination with These Stones

Read More........→March 18, 2026

Animals can talk over huge distances – but humans might be changing their range

 

Ben JJ Walker / UNSW Sydney, CC BY-NC-ND Ben JJ Walker, UNSW Sydney

Animals are noisy. And their noises can travel a long way.

But making sounds can be a double-edged sword: it can help them communicate, sometimes over long distances, but it can also reveal them to predators.

In new research published in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution, my colleague and I studied how far the sounds of 103 different mammal species travel, and discovered some surprising patterns.

What’s more, these patterns hint at an overlooked impact humans may be having on our fellow creatures: not only changing their sonic landscapes through our own noise, but also changing the world their sounds are travelling through, with unknown effects.

What’s happening in the water?

In aquatic mammals, the relationship between the size of an animal and the farthest distance its call travels is simple. Bigger animals can be heard farther away.

On a perfect day in perfect conditions, the call of a blue whale (the largest animal in history) can travel up to 1,600 kilometres. Its (slightly smaller) cousin the fin whale can be heard over a similar distance.

These are the longest-travelling animal sounds ever reported.

What’s happening on land?

On land, the story is very different. Environmental factors are crucial to how far the sound of a terrestrial mammal travels.

Things that matter include the size of an animal’s home range (the area in which it lives and defends resources), whether a call is territorial (to defend against other animals), whether the environment is open versus densely vegetated, and if the animal is very social or solitary.

On a good day in the savannah, lions and elephants have sounds that travel 8km and 10km, respectively.

Lions call to announce their presence in the landscape and to defend territories. Ben JJ Walker / UNSW Sydney, CC BY-NC-ND

Lions Chorusing. Ben J.J. Walker, CC BY-SA422 KB (download)

How does this work?

Our research is centred around the idea that your sound reveals you to predators, and that revelation leads to a higher risk of injury and death (potentially before you pass on your genes, and hence reducing what evolutionary biologists call “fitness”). This would be because the predator can more quickly locate its calling prey.

There is a delicate balance between using sounds to communicate and using sounds in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

If sound is revealed at the wrong distance, it may mess up the reason an animal uses the sound in the first place.

Animals that cannot adapt to changes in the sound environment may reveal themselves and be eaten, or may be unable to find their friends.

Where does this fit?

In the midst of human-induced environmental and species change, understanding how animals use sounds to communicate and find each other has become valuable to conservation. Many ecosystems are being cleared on land to make way for development and agriculture.

Our finding that land mammals in closed habitats have evolved to have relatively farther sound distances is important because of what happens when the environment changes.

If a possum has evolved in a eucalyptus forest, for example, and the forest is cleared, its sounds will travel farther (because there are fewer trees to muffle it). As a result, the possum may reveal itself to a predator when it doesn’t mean to.

This in turn means the animal’s call leaves it more exposed than it “should” in evolutionary terms. The animal may not have the same tools to escape predators that animals evolved for open environments do, and so may be more easily eaten.

What are humans doing?

Many species have reduced in body size due to things like harvesting activities and climate change.

It’s a well documented fact that many whale species have been getting smaller as a result of human whaling activities and environmental impacts.

Since 1981, for example, the length of northern right whales has become about 7% smaller. Among gray whales, animals born in 2020 are estimated to be 1.65 metres shorter than animals born in the 1980s.

Given our finding that larger body sizes mean farther-travelling sounds in aquatic mammals, smaller whales may not be able to be heard as far away.

This means that when smaller whales call to their friends or family members, their calls may not reach these individuals over the enormous distances the species travel.

What can humans change?

Our findings add a new dimension to our understanding of how humans are affecting animals, and may help inform future conservation decisions.

Do they mean anything in our everyday lives?

For one thing, they remind us to take a moment to listen to the world around us.

Leopards’ sawing call. Ben J.J. Walker, CC BY-SA303 KB (download)

We might find out where an animal is. We might observe a new species.

We might even find a quiet space in the landscapes around us to sit and connect again with the world and ourselves.

Ben JJ Walker, Researcher, UNSW Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→March 14, 2026

Triceratops Had Huge Nose to Control its Body Temperature, Suggests Curious Scientist

Seishiro Tada with fossilized Triceratops – SWNS

Scientists wanted to know why the iconic triceratops had such an unusually large nose compared to most species—both past and present.

Their new study shows the triple-horned dinosaur had a huge nose to help control its body temperature.

The team used CT scans of fossilized Triceratops skulls and compared their structures with modern animals including birds and crocodiles.

Through direct observation and inference, the research team reconstructed how nerves, blood vessels and structures for airflow fit together in the skulls.

They concluded that horned dinosaurs probably used their noses not just for smelling but also to help control temperature and moisture. Project Research Associate Dr. Seishiro Tada, from the University of Tokyo Museum in Japan, wondered about moisture control while studying a fossilized triceratops.

“I have been working on the evolution of reptilian heads and noses since my master’s degree,” said Dr. Tada.

“Triceratops in particular had a very large and unusual nose, and I couldn’t figure out how the organs fit within it even though I remember the basic patterns of reptiles.

“That made me interested in their nasal anatomy and its function and evolution.”

Horned dinosaurs (or Ceratopsia) had some of the most elaborate skull types—and Triceratops was the most iconic and instantly recognizable.

But due to its relative uniqueness, the internal anatomy of Triceratops skulls has been poorly understood, until Dr. Tada explored the internal soft tissues using modern tools at their disposal.

SWNS

“Employing X-ray-based CT-scan data of a Triceratops, as well as knowledge on contemporary reptilian snout morphology, we found some unique characteristics in the nose and provide the first comprehensive hypothesis on the soft-tissue anatomy in horned dinosaurs.

“Triceratops had unusual ‘wiring’ in their noses.

“In most reptiles, nerves and blood vessels reach the nostrils from the jaw and the nose. But in Triceratops, the skull shape blocks the jaw route, so nerves and vessels take the nasal branch.

“Essentially, Triceratops tissues evolved this way to support its big nose.

“I came to realize this while piecing together some 3D-printed Triceratops skull pieces like a puzzle.”

The findings, published in the journal The Anatomical Record, also revealed a special structure in Triceratops’ nose called a respiratory turbinate, which almost no other dinosaurs are known to possess. Yet modern birds have them, as do modern mammals.

The structures are thin, curled surfaces within the nose that increase the surface area for blood and air to exchange heat.

Dr Tada says Triceratops probably wasn’t fully warm-blooded, but the researchers believe the structures helped keep temperature and moisture levels under control as its large skull would be difficult to cool down otherwise.“Although we’re not 100% sure Triceratops had a respiratory turbinate, as most other dinosaurs don’t, some birds have an attachment base (ridge) for the turbinate. Horned dinosaurs have a similar ridge at the similar location in their nose as well. Triceratops Had Huge Nose to Control its Body Temperature, Suggests Curious Scientis

Read More........→March 13, 2026

Dogs can detect trafficked wildlife hidden in shipping containers from tiny air samples

Georgia Moloney, Adelaide University and Anne-Lise Chaber, Adelaide University

Wildlife trafficking is a global crisis impacting at least 4,000 species of plants and animals, including mammals, reptiles, birds, corals and rare plants.

A shocking case from 2025 involved the seizure of 3.7 tonnes of pangolin scales in Nigeria. These scales were believed to be sourced from more than 1,900 individual pangolins.

While this case was uncovered, many more remain undetected. These crimes aren’t just pushing species toward extinction, they’re also putting people at risk. Hunting, trafficking and handling wild animals creates opportunities for diseases to jump from animals to humans. Wildlife trafficking is therefore not just a conservation crisis, but a serious threat to public health.

In our recent paper published in Conservation Biology, we present a new method for tackling this global crime. It uses a tiny sample of air extracted from a shipping container – and the incredible power of a dogs’ nose.

Traffickers exploit shipping routes

People buy and sell a wide range of wild animals and their parts for many reasons, such as pangolin scales for traditional medicines, monkeys for exotic pets, or even porcupines for bushmeat.

Traffickers exploit global transport routes to move their products, with shipping containers in particular being ideal targets.

Containers carry up to 90% of the world’s cargo, meaning products can be easily concealed and blend into the high volume of container traffic moving through ports.

Despite this, on average only about 2% of containers are physically inspected due to resource limitations.

There are few wildlife specific detection tools, and wildlife crime is often considered a low priority. Combined, this means most trafficking slips through undetected.

Bringing the scent to the dog

To bridge this gap, we investigated air sampling as a way to screen containers for wildlife without opening them, damaging cargo, or disrupting port operations.

This work was part of a four-year project, undertaken in collaboration with the world’s third largest shipping company CMA CGM.

We designed a portable air extraction device that fits onto a standard container vent and draws air through a filter to collect a sample. The sample is then presented to a trained detection dog which can indicate whether the scent of specific wildlife products is present.

In our study, we concealed pelts from five big cat species – lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard and cheetah – inside standard-sized shipping containers. The pelts were arranged to simulate smuggling scenarios, including being hidden inside cardboard boxes to increase concealment.

Our detection dog successfully detected the pelts with almost 98% accuracy when air was extracted from the shipping container. They did so even when the pelts were concealed, demonstrating that the scent can escape into the container airspace and be reliably captured.

Detection dogs are already widely used by customs and border agencies around the world, but their ability to screen sealed containers at scale is limited. Containers are often inaccessible, stacked high, or in environments that are unsafe for dogs.

Our approach brings the scent to the dog, allowing many more containers to be screened efficiently and safely.

While the study was conducted under controlled conditions, these early results are encouraging. Pairing detection dogs with air-sampling could dramatically improve the detection of illegally trafficked wildlife hidden inside shipping containers.

The air extraction device is low cost, portable and scalable, making it well suited for use in high-risk ports and border crossings worldwide. The method could also be readily adapted for detecting other forms of trafficking, such as drugs, increasing its appeal to border agencies.

Disrupting criminal networks

Further trials are planned to validate the effectiveness of this approach in operational port environments across a broader range of wildlife products.

We are also exploring machine-based detectors to analyse samples and support the future development of this project.

However, initial findings show the dogs still outperform these technologies, which currently remain our most effective approach.

Our goal is to give frontline agencies practical tools to fight wildlife trafficking.

Through applying science-based research in the field, we can bridge enforcement gaps and detect trafficked wildlife faster, allowing us to better protect threatened species and disrupt the criminal networks behind this devastating trade.

Georgia Moloney, Researcher, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Adelaide University and Anne-Lise Chaber, One Health Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, Adelaide University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→March 03, 2026

Wildlife Poachers to Be Targeted Using State of the Art AI Listening Technology

A photo of a male forest elephant captured near the site where some of the gunshot recordings were taken – credit, Anahita Verahrami / SWNS

Wildlife poachers can now be located and arrested across the central African forests thanks to state-of-the-art AI listening technology.

A network of microphones has been deployed across the rainforests to detect gunshots from illegal poaching of elephants and other animals, and American scientists are using AI to ensure the network can distinguish gunshots over the din of the jungle environment.

The web of acoustic sensors was deployed in Gabon, Congo, and Cameroon, creating the possibility of real-time alerts to the sounds of gun-based poaching.

But the belly of the rainforest is loud, and scientists say sorting through a constant influx of sound data is computationally demanding. Detectors can distinguish a loud bang from the whistles, chirps, and rasps of birds and bugs, but they often confuse the sounds of branches cracking or trees falling with gunshot noises, resulting in a high percentage of false positives.

Project leader Naveen Dhar at Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University aimed to develop a lightweight gunshot detection neural network that can accompany sensors and process signals in real-time to minimize false positives.

He worked alongside colleagues at the Elephant Listening Project to create a model that will work through autonomous recording units (ARUs), which are power-efficient microphones that capture continuous, long-term soundscapes.

“The proposed system utilizes a web of ARUs deployed across the forest, each performing real-time detection, with a central hub that handles more complex processing.”

An initial scan filters all audio for “gunshot likely” signals and sends them to the ARU’s microprocessor, where the lightweight gunshot detection model lives.

If confirmed as a gunshot by the microprocessor, the ARU passes the information to the central hub, initiating data collection from other devices in the web.

By determining if other sensors also hear a “gunshot likely” noise, the central hub then decides whether the event was a true gunshot or a potential false positive.

If it determines a true positive, the central hub collates audio files from each sensor, allowing it to pinpoint the location of the gunshot and alert rangers on the ground with coordinates for immediate poaching intervention.

“Down the road, the device can be used as a tool for rangers and conservation managers, providing accurate and verifiable alerts for on-the-ground intervention along with low-latency data on the spatiotemporal trends of poachers,” Dhar said.

He plans to expand the model to detect the type of gun that fires each gunshot and other human activities, such as chainsaws or trucks, before field-testing the system, which is currently under development.

“I hope the device can coalesce with Internet of Things infrastructure innovations and cost reduction of materials to produce a low-cost, open-source framework for real-time detection usable in any part of the globe.”He is due to present his findings at a joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wildlife Poachers to Be Targeted Using State of the Art AI Listening Technology:

Read More........→February 26, 2026

Southern right whales are having babies less often, but why?

Ivan Stecko/Pexels, CC BY-SA Claire Charlton, Flinders University

For decades, southern right whales have been celebrated as one of conservation’s success stories.

Once driven to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling, southern right whales slowly returned to Australian coastlines through the late 20th century. Their recovery reflected the power of international protection, marine sanctuaries and long-term science working together.

But our new research shows this success story is changing. We drew on more than 30 years of continuous shore-based monitoring of southern right whales in the Great Australian Bight, from within the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area in South Australia. We found clear evidence whales are having calves less often, with the average calving interval increasing for 3 to 4 years. This means the number of calves being born has slowed over the past decade.

This decline appears closely linked to climate-driven changes in the Southern Ocean — similar patterns are now being observed across the southern hemisphere.

More than 3 decades of photos

Our study analysed photo-identification data collected by researchers between 1991 and 2024 from a major calving area in the Great Australian Bight. Each whale is identified using its unique pattern of callosities — the hard patches of skin on its head that remain throughout its life.

This allows individual whales to be tracked across decades, providing rare insight into long-term population dynamics and how these change over time. Photo-identification is a globally accepted method used for whale population assessments. By tracking known individuals over time, researchers can directly measure their reproductive histories.

Long-term datasets like this are rare — and that is precisely what makes them so powerful. The Australian Right Whale Research Program at Flinders University is one of the longest continuous photo-identification studies of any whale species in the world. It has used the same methods over decades. In the context of climate change, where impacts often emerge slowly and unevenly, this long-term evidence is essential.

What we found

Since around 2015, female southern right whales have not given birth as often. These extended calving intervals mean fewer calves are being born overall, and this reduces population growth over time.

For a long-lived species that reproduces slowly, this matters. Small changes in reproductive rates impacts population growth. The slowdown in reproduction signals a shift away from the recovery seen in previous decades.

A signal from the south

The cause of this change is not immediately visible from Australia’s coastline. Southern right whales spend much of their lives feeding thousands of kilometres away in the Southern Ocean, where they rely on the cold, nutrient-rich waters created by Antarctic sea ice. These waters support krill and prey that are crucial for whales to build up the energy reserves they need for pregnancy and lactation.

Over the past decade, the ocean has warmed, the ice is melting and there have been dramatic shifts in food availability weather patterns. Our analysis shows longer calving intervals coincide with these environmental changes, suggesting the impacts of climate change on conditions in the Southern Ocean are linked to whales having fewer calves.

A global pattern emerges

Importantly, this is not just an Australian story.

Similar trends are being reported in southern right whale populations off South America and South Africa, where researchers have documented reduced calving rates, whales in poor condition and environmental changes.

Southern right whales are a sentinel species: animals whose health reflects broader changes in their environment. Our findings signal deeper disruption in ocean systems that also support fisheries, affect how the climate is regulated and influence marine plants, animals and other species.

Southern right whales are long-lived, reproduce slowly, and rely on energy-rich feeding grounds. This makes them particularly vulnerable to climate-driven changes in prey.

What needs to change?

Protecting the Southern Ocean and its increasingly vulnerable natural ecosystems demands urgent collective climate action. This must bridge disciplines, industries, governments and interconnected regions.

This action should include the expansion of sanctuaries across the migratory ranges of threatened species. It should also limit threats, such as whales being struck by ships, getting entangled in ropes and being exposed to noise pollution.

The future of southern right whales is likely to be closely tied to the management of krill harvesting and addressing climate change.

We need to listen — and act — while there is still time.

The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of research collaborators and all of the people involved in the long-term research program that make this work possible.

Claire Charlton, Leader of Australian Right Whale Research Program, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→February 17, 2026