Palm Oil Detectives

The Coronavirus Crisis: How has Lockdown Impacted Nature?

Brown-cheeked Hornbill Bycanistes cylindricus

I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a very strange year. Thanks to coronavirus, modern life as we know it has been put on hold. International borders have been shut, governments have ordered businesses to close their doors, and most families have been under lockdown.

For anyone wondering where this infectious virus probably came from, I recommend reading Part 1 of this series, where I present a brief overview. In this post, though, I’ll be looking at how nature has potentially been affected by the pandemic. After all, although people have been placed under varying degrees of lockdown the world over, such restrictions do not apply to nature. So has the natural world benefited from our sudden absence?

In the past six months or so, we’ve seen rapid and extensive international action deployed to tackle coronavirus. Why can’t we see the same action for the climate crisis? by Jason @thenaturenook
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Good: More space for animals

Across the world, many creatures seem to have become emboldened by our ongoing lack of activity. In the Welsh town of Llandudno, during the height of lockdown, a herd of Kashmiri goats ventured down from the hills into the deserted town centre and started eating hedges and flowers from people’s gardens. In Barcelona, wild boar were spotted along the city’s normally bustling streets. And in Japan, sika deer began nosing their way around the deserted metro stations of Nara.

Sika deer in the Japanese city of Nara started wandering the streets during lockdown — _{^{The Japanese park that these sika deer normally inhabit became devoid of tourists during lockdown. As a result, the food handouts from visitors that they have become accustomed to relying on dried up, and the deer moved onto the streets of Nara instead.
Image Source: Dariusz Jemielniak}}

Here in the UK, the brief respite afforded to the nation’s wildlife certainly allowed plants and animals to take advantage of a quieter, cleaner world. Peregrine falcons nested in the ancient ruins of Corfe Castle in Dorset for the first time since the 1980s. A cuckoo was heard calling at Osterley Park in west London, having not been heard there for 20 years. Sightings of moles above ground near usually well-walked pathways have increased. Wildflowers have been blooming in much greater numbers than usual because of councils cutting back on mowing services, which is good news for bees and other pollinating insects. And the number of hedgehogs killed on Britain’s roads is believed to have halved during the lockdown.

brown wooden pathway in the middle of green grass and trees — _{^{Many people during lockdown began appreciating green spaces and reconnecting with nature, either through gardening or outdoor walks, much more than usual, which is great for our mental health.
Image Source: James Wheeler on Pexels.com}}

Wildlife seems to be enjoying this new breathing space. Across the world, coronavirus-related lockdowns are demonstrating just how quickly the natural world around us can adapt and thrive in our absence. But as lockdowns have eased and people have returned to the countryside in greater numbers, we must be careful to ensure that this wildlife remains as undisturbed as possible.

Bad: Conservation projects have been paused

Due to depleted funds, staff being furloughed, and the difficulty of working amid social distancing guidelines, many vital conservation and surveying projects across the globe have been put on hold. The wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has warned that wildlife conservation ‘is in danger of being forgotten during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that decades of conservation work could be undone through neglect’. During lockdown in the UK, wildlife shooting increased, with culprits probably reassured by a lack of witnesses and protection by conservation staff. Birds of prey, in particular, are thought to have suffered the most due to illegal persecution during this time.

Good: Less pollution

As governments around the world attempted to curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, much of the world came to a halt. With people spending less time in vehicles, offices and factories, and much more time at home, pollution levels plummeted. In northern India, the citizens of Jalandhar in the state of Punjab have been able to see views of the Himalayan mountain range 200 km away, which some residents say have been hidden by pollution for the past 30 years.

It was a similar story here in the UK. According to Defra, nitrogen dioxide pollution dropped by 40% and particulate matter by 10% compared with the same period last year. In fact, it’s been estimated that the air quality here during peak lockdown was as clean as in the early 20th century. In addition, the British Geological Survey discovered that background noise generated by human activity dropped by up to 50%.

Venice’s canals, meanwhile, are said to be the clearest they have been in 60 years. With less boat traffic stirring up the canals, sediment can remain at the bottom, undisturbed. This has welcomed birds and fish back to the waterways (though not dolphins, as was reported a few months ago; they were filmed at a port in Sardinia, in the Mediterranean Sea, hundreds of miles away).

As global travel restrictions were put in place, there was also a huge drop in the number of commercial flights, with many airlines grounding most of their fleets. Fewer planes in the sky, coupled with fewer cars on the road and industry grinding to a halt, resulted in what has been hailed as the biggest carbon crash ever recorded, in just a few short months. In the first few months of lockdown, China produced approximately 200 million fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide than the same period in 2019. Analyses project that global carbon emissions this year will fall by 4 – 8%, somewhere between 2 and 3 billion tonnes.

An aeroplane — _{^{International air travel is one of the fastest-growing sources of climate change. Aviation releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to the acceleration of global warming. These emissions have more than doubled in the past 20 years, simply due to more people travelling by air.}}

Bad: Increase in poaching

However, the same decline in air travel has caused a sharp drop in Africa’s tourism revenue. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, tourism was worth $168 billion to the African continent in 2019. Eighty per cent of tourists’ visits are dedicated to wildlife watching, which generates over $29 billion annually. This revenue helps sustain wildlife reserves and habitats across the entire continent. When international flights were grounded earlier this year, tourism across Africa collapsed, and the fallout from this led to widespread budget cuts, salary reductions and job losses. Without money to support local rangers’ salaries and aeroplane patrols, nature reserves became vulnerable to poachers. They have effectively been given free rein to hunt, encroaching on land that is now devoid of visitors, rangers and safari guides – land that they wouldn’t normally visit.

Damaged economies as a result of tourism collapse have also had a huge negative impact on local employment, with people desperate for income pursuing poaching to make a living. Even former rangers and guides are being forced to kill animals for bushmeat, just to put food on the table, since it is cheaper than buying it.

This seems to me like a horrible vicious cycle. More poaching makes future pandemics more likely, since three out of four emerging infectious diseases, like COVID-19, come from wild animals. This, in turn, makes future lockdowns more likely, which means more poaching. And so on.

Very Bad: The long-term impact doesn’t look great

Although cleaner skies and waterways have been considered by many to be a silver lining of the pandemic, the long-term news is probably nothing to celebrate. History has taught us that when emissions have fallen sharply in the past, as they tend to do after recessions or major conflicts, there’s usually a rocketing rebound that wipes out any short-term cuts. During the 2007-08 financial crisis, for example, carbon emissions fell by around 450 million tonnes, but then bounced back rapidly, soon surpassing pre-crisis levels.

Factories emitting gases such as carbon dioxide. — _{^{Global emissions of carbon dioxide have increased from 2 billion tonnes a year in 1900 to over 36 billion tonnes a year today.
Image Source: Pixabay}}

If we fast-forward to the current pandemic, data suggests that air quality is quickly declining again as lockdowns are eased. In many Chinese cities, air pollution has climbed back to pre-pandemic levels as restrictions have lifted, and it has even started to exceed last year’s levels. In early April, with shutdowns widespread, daily global carbon emissions were down by 17% compared to last year. But by June 11, new data showed that emissions were only about 5% lower than the same time in 2019, even though by that point normal activity had not yet fully resumed. Some forecasters have optimistically speculated that behavioural changes brought about by the pandemic, such as teleconferencing and working from home, could translate to a reduction of emissions from transport. Others, however, predict a shift away from public transport, driven by a fear of contagion, resulting in a reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, which would significantly increase emissions.

‘A pandemic is the worst possible way to reduce emissions. […] Technological, behavioural, and structural change is the best and only way to reduce emissions.’
_{Constantine Samaras, Energy and Climate Expert}

Lockdown was also touted by many as a chance for wildlife here in the UK to make something of a resurgence – to bounce back in our absence. And the stories and anecdotal evidence of animals reclaiming former haunts and appearing in greater numbers seemed to support that idea. But a very sad fact remains: the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the entire world. It will take a lot more than a few months in lockdown for our wildlife to recover. One good spring cannot reverse years of decline.

And there is another issue here. Climate change, not so long ago, was headline news, even if a startling number of our world leaders were unconcerned by it or even sceptical of its existence. But now, with the world preoccupied with a new, more visible, slightly more immediate crisis, the discussion surrounding climate change has largely fallen by the wayside. Has the momentum been lost? Will we be able to get it back again?

In the past six months or so, we’ve seen rapid and extensive international action deployed to tackle coronavirus. Why can’t we see the same deployed to tackle the climate crisis?

By Nature Nook

Discover more on Nature Nook

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus

IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

Location: Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Island)

The Drill is one of the most visually arresting, emotionally complex, and endangered #monkeys on Earth. Endemic to a narrow slice of rainforest in #Nigeria, #Cameroon, and Bioko Island, these intelligent primates have lost over 50% of their population in just three decades. They face a terrifying gauntlet of threats: #palmoil plantations, #hunting for the #bushmeat trade, #timber logging, and a tidal wave of new #infrastructure creation. Though rarely seen, Drills are capable of extraordinary behaviour—forming multi-species foraging alliances, mourning their dead, and navigating their crumbling world with grace and resilience. Only a few thousand of these precious #primates remain alive. Take action every time you shop, be #Vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

#Drills are colourful and shy #primates 🐒🤎 who are endangered directly by #palmoil #deforestation in #Cameroon 🇨🇲 and #Nigeria 🇳🇬 Help save them each time you #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🛢️🤮🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/10/drill-mandrillus-leucophaeus-2/

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Colourful #Drills are shy #primates 🐒🤎 who just want to be left alone! They’re endangered directly by #palmoil #deforestation and hunting in #Cameroon 🇨🇲 and #Nigeria 🇳🇬 Help save them #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🛢️🤮🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/10/drill-mandrillus-leucophaeus-2/

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Appearance and Behaviour

The Drill is an extraordinary primate, often described as a living mosaic of colour and power. Adult males are especially striking: their dark, velvet-black faces are bordered by rippling, cobalt-blue cheek pads and a crimson midline that runs down the nose like a painted flame. These facial colours deepen with sexual maturity and dominance. Males also exhibit large, richly hued rumps in shades of lilac, mauve and indigo, which serve as visual signals in social communication. Their massive canines and robust skulls hint at their physical strength—males can weigh up to three times more than females.

Drills have muscular, barrel-chested bodies with long, sturdy limbs adapted to both terrestrial travel and arboreal sleeping. Their movements on the forest floor are purposeful and heavy-footed, but they climb gracefully at night to sleep in trees, often 10–20 metres above ground. Despite their strength and bold colouration, Drills are shy and cryptic, vanishing silently into the understorey when disturbed.

Recent research has revealed that Drills regularly form polyspecific associations with other monkeys in Cameroon’s Korup National Park. They are most often seen in loose foraging alliances with red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus)—despite competing for similar foods. This unusual cooperation may help them reduce predation risks or navigate foraging landscapes more efficiently, with each species using different forest layers and movement strategies to avoid direct conflict while benefitting from group vigilance (Astaras et al., 2011). These associations with other monkey species suggest a level of behavioural flexibility and ecological intelligence previously underestimated in Drills.

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus close up of face

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, boycott palm oil to help them!

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, mouth open looking down

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, juvenile monkey

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus standing near to a tree

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, older male close up of face

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, intense eyes

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus in a burning forest

Diet

Drills are primarily frugivores in lowland forests, where up to 90% of their diet is made up of fruit. However, on Bioko Island and in montane regions, they shift to a more folivorous diet, consuming herbaceous stems, leaves, and fungi due to lower fruit availability (Owens et al., 2015). This ability to adjust their feeding strategies to suit local conditions reveals their remarkable adaptability. They are also known to consume seeds, insects, and small vertebrates opportunistically. Their robust jaws and thick enamelled teeth are well suited to cracking hard seeds and tough vegetation.

Reproduction and Mating

Drills live in complex, fission–fusion societies comprising multi-male, multi-female groups of 15–75 individuals. Mating is dominated by intensely colourful, high-ranking males, who gain the greatest access to fertile females. Sexual dimorphism in Drills is extreme: males possess vividly pigmented faces and rumps that function both as dominance signals and sexual ornaments. These visual cues are correlated with testosterone levels and social status rather than individual attractiveness alone (Marty et al., 2009). Females give birth to a single infant after a gestation of around 5–6 months, and maternal care is extensive and sensitive.

A remarkable insight into Drill social bonds comes from a 2023 thanatology study, which documented a mother caring for her deceased infant over several days. She groomed the dead infant intensively, carried them gently, and made repeated efforts to engage their eyes—behaviours indicating profound emotional attachment. Group members also showed interest, inspecting the infant and sometimes sitting near the mother in what appeared to be mourning-like behaviour. Two days later, the mother began to eat the corpse—a phenomenon seen in some other primates as a response to extreme stress or to recover nutrients after stillbirth. The act was not shared with others and appeared deliberate and solitary (Casetta et al., 2023).

These observations reveal that Drills are not only intelligent but deeply emotional animals capable of complex grief responses. Their inner lives—once invisible to science—are now starting to emerge through careful observation. Combined with their intricate dominance hierarchies, cooperative alliances, and nuanced communication, these findings make clear that the Drill is a primate of both immense ecological importance and profound emotional depth.

Drills are threatened by deforestation, particularly in Cameroon where multiple oil palm plantation projects are already underway or proposed (Morgan et al. 2013).
IUCN red list

Geographic Range

Drills are found only in the rainforests of southeastern Nigeria (Cross River region), southwestern Cameroon (Korup and Ebo regions), and Bioko Island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. Their total range is estimated at just over 63,000 km², with an area of occupancy below 20,000 km²—much of it fragmented by plantations and roads (Morgan et al., 2013). Cameroon is home to roughly 75% of the global population, with estimates suggesting 3,000–5,000 Drills remain there. Nigeria supports fewer than 1,200 individuals, while Bioko’s population has declined by over 70% and may now number fewer than 1,000 (Cronin, pers. comm., 2016).

Threats

Habitat Loss from Palm Oil, Rubber and Tea Agriculture and Logging

Across Cameroon and Nigeria, massive tracts of rainforest have been razed to make way for oil palm, rubber, banana, and tea plantations. Logging concessions—even those supposedly regulated—continue to expand into primary Drill habitat. In the Mount Cameroon region and the Ebo corridor, these activities have erased once-continuous tracts of forest, leaving only small, isolated fragments where Drills are barely surviving (Morgan et al., 2013; Astaras, 2009).

Road, Mining and Infrastructure Projects Opening Up Poaching Opportunities

New roads—often tied to plantation and mining expansion—now dissect once-pristine Drill habitat. These roads do more than fragment forests: they act as conduits for hunters and settlers, opening up remote areas to poaching and development. Planned road networks in Cross River State, the Ebo region, and Bioko threaten to divide the last strongholds of this species permanently (Linder & Oates, 2011).

Hunting and the Bushmeat Trade

Drills are one of the most sought-after primates in the bushmeat trade. Adult males are especially prized for their fatty flesh. When a group is spotted, hunters with dogs may target the entire troop, killing multiple individuals in one hunt. Though once hunted opportunistically, Drills are now commercially targeted for sale in urban markets, further escalating population decline (Gadsby, 1990; Astaras, 2009).

Genetic Fragmentation and Isolation

The species is now fragmented into at least 10 isolated populations, with no natural corridors linking them. Bioko’s subspecies is completely cut off. Genetic isolation increases vulnerability to disease, reduces fertility, and limits the adaptability of remaining groups, accelerating the extinction spiral (Morgan et al., 2013).

Weak Law Enforcement and Corruption in the Illegal Wildlife Trade

While legal protections exist in all range countries, enforcement is virtually absent. Protected areas are rarely patrolled, corruption is rampant, and economic pressures often drive local communities to encroach on wildlife zones. Without empowered, well-funded, and community-supported conservation efforts, these laws remain words on paper (Linder & Oates, 2011).

Take Action!

The gentle and misunderstood Drill is a primate symbol of rainforest vitality, social intelligence, and emotional complexity. The extinction of these precious primates would be a moral and ecological tragedy. Take action every time you shop and Boycott palm oil. Support indigenous-led forest protection in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Bioko. Demand that roads and plantations be halted before more forest is lost. The time to act is now. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife, be #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

How many Drills are left in the wild?

It is estimated that only 4,000–6,000 Drills remain in total: about 1,000 in Nigeria, up to 5,000 in Cameroon, and fewer than 1,000 on Bioko Island. Most populations are isolated and in decline (Morgan et al., 2013; Cronin, pers. comm., 2016).

Do Drills form alliances with other species?

Yes. In Korup National Park, Cameroon, Drills have been observed forming polyspecific foraging groups with red-capped mangabeys and other monkeys. These temporary alliances may help reduce predation risk and improve foraging efficiency by sharing lookout roles and occupying different layers of the forest (Astaras et al., 2011).

What is known about their emotional or social intelligence?

A 2023 study documented a Drill mother grooming and attempting to revive her deceased infant for several days before eventually consuming the body. Group members also engaged in quiet observation. These behaviours suggest a profound capacity for grief, emotional bonds, and possibly stress-related coping strategies (Casetta et al., 2023).

Why are Drills hunted?

Drills are highly sought in the bushmeat trade, especially large males for their meat. Hunting methods include dogs and firearms, often decimating entire groups in one raid. Most of this hunting is for commercial sale in cities rather than for subsistence (Astaras, 2009).

What do the colours of Drills signify?

Male Drills display intense facial and rump colouration that becomes more vibrant with dominance and testosterone levels. These visual traits are used in social signalling and mate competition, though studies suggest rank is more important than colour alone in determining reproductive success (Marty et al., 2009).

Do Drills grieve their dead?

A 2023 scientific study indicates that yes they do grieve their loved ones. The study documented a Drill mother gently carrying and intensively grooming her dead infant for two days, refusing to let go. Other Drills gathered around, quietly observing and touching the mother. On the third day, in an act both shocking and intimate, the mother began to eat the infant’s body in private. Researchers believe this behaviour may help the mother cope emotionally or recover nutrients after a traumatic loss. This rare observation shows that Drills, like other primates and humans, experience grief, maternal love, and perhaps even an awareness of death itself (Casetta et al., 2023). They are emotional beings—and they are vanishing. Help them to survive and #BoycottPalmOil.

Support the conservation of this species

The Drill Project

WCS Nigeria

Further Information

Gadsby, E.L., Cronin, D.T., Astaras, C. & Imong, I. 2020. Mandrillus leucophaeus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T12753A17952490. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T12753A17952490.en. Downloaded on 12 March 2021.

Astaras, C., Krause, S., Mattner, L., Rehse, C., & Waltert, M. (2011). Associations between the Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) and sympatric monkeys in Korup National Park, Cameroon. American Journal of Primatology, 73(2), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20877

Casetta, G., Nolfo, A. P., & Palagi, E. (2023). Record of thanatology and cannibalism in drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus). Primates, 64, 475–481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-023-01075-8

Marty, J. S., Higham, J. P., Gadsby, E. L., & Ross, C. (2009). Dominance, coloration, and sexual behaviour in male Drills. International Journal of Primatology, 30(6), 807–823. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-009-9382-x

Morgan, B. J., Abwe, E. E., Dixson, A. F., & Astaras, C. (2013). The distribution, status, and conservation outlook of the Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) in Cameroon. International Journal of Primatology, 34, 281–302. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-013-9661-4

National Geographic – Drills

Owens, J. R., Honarvar, S., Nessel, M., & Hearn, G. W. (2015). From frugivore to folivore: Altitudinal variation in the diet of the Bioko Island Drill. American Journal of Primatology, 77(11), 1263–1275. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22479

Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
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If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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Explainer: What is a tipping point, and why should we care?

Lately, you may have heard someone say that we have reached a “tipping point.” Recently, we have witnessed dramatic shifts in our social and economic states of being. Our ability to understand and act thoughtfully around this single concept could determine the fate of life on Earth. Help reverse the upheavals and tipping points every time you shop #Boycott4Wildlife

What is a #tippingpoint, and why should we care? #Ecosystems are subject to disturbances and major shifts. #Pesticide run off from #palmoil pollutes local rivers, depleting the oxygen fish need to survive #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife 🌴🪔🔥🧐⛔️ https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/07/explainer-what-is-a-tipping-point-and-why-should-i-care/

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These events may even have resulted in you or someone you know reaching a personal tipping point, such as the loss of a job or a large rift in a family regarding social perspectives. Big or small, these shifts — spurred by disruptions — indicate that in some way a point between the way things were in the past and the way they’ll be in the future has been met and passed.

Ecosystems are also subject to disturbances and major shifts. A wildfire clears a forest, creating conditions for new tree species. Agricultural runoff pollutes local waters, depleting the oxygen fish need to thrive.

Sometimes the change that is taking place is relatively small and reversible. But sometimes the change is large and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. It’s as though the entire system has taken a plunge over the edge of a precipice to a new place. That, in essence, is what a tipping point is.

Greenwashing stock image - globe on fire

Being aware of when systems are headed toward this kind of change is the first step to being able to avoid undesirable plunges, encourage desirable ones or nudge systems that are in an undesirable state toward a desirable one.

Visualising Tipping Points

In Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World, Brian Walker, a resilience researcher with Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, and science writer David Salt offer a mental picture to help visualize a tipping point: They describe a system’s state of being as a ball rolling around in a basin where the depth and diameter is constantly changing and the ball is adjusting its movements accordingly.

The basin is a regime, a set of patterns and occurrences. The edge of the basin is the tipping point — the point at which the ball can leave the basin entirely and enters an entirely new state. The deeper and wider the basin, the more likely the ball will stay in it, even though it’s in constant motion.

A basin’s width and depth are always changing due to variables such as events (such as demonstrations), levels of something (such as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) or public sentiment (such as attitudes toward wearing masks). These variables interact with feedback loops, in which the effects of a change in a system themselves affect the system.

Feedback loops come in two types. Balancing feedback loops help temper the rate of change in a system. Reinforcing feedback loops speed up the change. If reinforcing loops outweigh balancing loops, the system may flip over the edge of the basin and into a new regime.

Planetary Points

In 2009, Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, and colleagues introduced nine “planetary boundaries” — identifying what they call the “safe operating space for humanity” in areas of climate change, biogeochemical nitrogen and stratospheric ozone, among other critical ecological systems humans depend on. The team assigned specific boundaries for seven of these.

Originally they wrote that we had passed three of them (nitrogen biochemical flows, biodiversity loss and climate change) and were approaching others at an increasing pace. In a 2015 update, they included land-system change and phosphorus biochemical flows boundaries among those being passed. While they don’t say we’ve gone over any tipping points, exceeding these boundaries weakens balancing feedback loops and could indicate that the system is headed toward the edge of the basin.

Focusing on climate change, there is some temperature at which ecosystems reach tipping points. Estimates of what that is change as scientists collect more data. Last year in the scientific journal Nature, Timothy Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and colleagues provided evidence that myriad ecological systems will undergo regime shifts if planetary warming exceeds the tipping point of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). This number is lower than goals set to limit warming at 2 °C and current projections of 3 °C.

“In our view, the evidence from tipping points alone suggests that we are in a state of planetary emergency: both the risk and urgency of the situation are acute,” they wrote. Although acquiescing that we already may be past the point of no return on climate-related regime changes, they observe the reinforcing feedback loops can still be slowed, reducing planetary harm. They call for international action, noting that “the rate at which damage accumulates from tipping — and hence the risk posed — could still be under our control to some extent.”

Why Think About Tipping Points?

Thinking in terms of tipping points is a worthy endeavor because it provides a clear picture of variables and risks that decision makers can use to craft policies.

To start, decision makers need to decide whether we should stay in a particular situation or flip the system into a new basin and adopt a new regime. In the case of climate change, wanting things to stay the same would involve heeding identified greenhouse gas thresholds.

Once that decision is made, the next step is to figure out how to achieve the goal set in the first step. As policy makers debate how to mitigate climate change, options include reducing reinforcing feedback loops (for example, by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced) or increasing balancing feedback loops (for example, by reducing deforestation and actively restoring carbon sinks).

With limited resources to do both, Donella Meadows, in her landmark work Thinking in Systems,says the more effective decision is to reduce reinforcing feedback loops before increasing balancing feedback loops.

Lenton and his colleagues, for their part, suggested that it might be possible to avoid the regime shifts they describe by stabilising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere within 30 years. At the same time, they admitted that there’s a chance we may have already gone over the edge.

One example of wanting to flip to a new regime is currently unfolding, as seen in the global protests in response to police killing unarmed black people. It could be said the killing of George Floyd was the tipping point, though his killing is one of many in a long succession.

Right now we appear to be in the cascading effects of entering a new regime, be it protests, social media discord or city council resolutions regarding police funding. Crafting law and policies that foster social justice, along with reforms to police budgeting, would keep the system in this new regime of racial equality. If not enacted, the system can flip back to the old regime.

Once we cross a tipping point, the new basin may be too large to escape. And even if we want to go back, the original basin may now be so altered that the regime we once knew, with its familiar patterns and behaviors, is no more.

In the age of Covid-19 and talk about when things will go back to “normal,” those who argue we cannot go back to what once was for various reasons — be it ecological harm, economic inequality and/or social injustice — may be right simply because what was normal may no longer exist. Time will tell what visiting restaurants, salons and movie theaters will be like a year from now — but there’s good chance it won’t be like a year ago.

Ecologically, we see this when a forest recovers after a fire. Vegetation returns, but it’s mostly new tree species better suited for damaged soil.

Similarly, as our planet warms, efforts to return to the world we knew before climate change may be beyond our capacity. To the extent this is the case, our job becomes, not avoiding change — which may be impossible — but figuring out and adapting to the new circumstances.

Editor’s note: In line with Ensia’s ethics statement, we disclose that Ensia editor in chief Mary Hoff met Andrew Bernier while she was a journalism fellow at Arizona State University.

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Artist and Indigenous Rights Advocate Barbara Crane Navarro

Zoologist and TV Presenter Dr George McGavin

The Orangutan with the golden hair by Setia Budhi

Dayak Indigenous Ethnographer Dr Setia Budhi

Wildlife Vet Dr Richard K Ssuna

Primatologist Cleve Hicks on Chimpanzee cultures, Palm Oil deforestation

More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Rainbow Cliffs: Why Parrots in the Amazon Eat Clay

Our world holds a whole host of glorious natural spectacles, from great starling murmurations to the ethereal display of coral reef spawning. But none is more thrilling than catching a glimpse of a majestic #macaw.

Screeching their way through the #Amazon rainforest, leaving scattered fruit, broken branches, and a considerable quantity of parrot poop in their wake, #parrots are simply animals like no other. But high in the treetops, flying far above the dense, dark foliage below, how can you ensure that you see their bright colours? A safe bet is to find a clay lick.

Of all nature’s spectacles: murmurations of starlings, a coral reef spawning, nothing is more thrilling than seeing the majestic #macaw of the #Amazon #jungle 🦜💚 who enjoy eating clay! #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🩸☠️🧐⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/05/rainbow-cliffs-why-parrots-in-the-amazon-eat-clay/

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This is a cliffside or riverbank covered in natural clay that is dense in salt and other minerals. Here, the diverse species of the rainforest actually eat the clay. And here is where you will find enormous flocks of squawking beauties, from the diminutive dusky-headed parakeet to the glorious scarlet macaw.

Rainbow Cliffs_ Why Parrots in the Amazon Eat Clay, macaw adult bird on a tree branch

These enormous gatherings, sometimes consisting of hundreds of birds and dozens of species, may be stunning but beyond the dazzling beauty of flapping rainbow wings, there is a scientific enigma at work. Nobody is yet entirely sure why the birds actually eat the clay. This is such a phenomenon that it’s even been given its own name: geophagy. And it isn’t just parrots that do it – David Attenborough fans may have seen in a few of his documentaries a great gathering of elephants digging through shallow river beds in forest clearings in Africa to plunder the mineral-rich clay from below the silt. But what could be so tasty that so many animals from the grand elephant to petite parakeets would all be so inexplicably drawn to it?

The most prevalent theory is that the Amazon, sitting far away from the ocean, has a lack of sodium, in the air, in the food, and in the water. Though these parrots eat a diverse range of juicy jungle fruits and foliage, there is very little salt content to be found. The cliffs and banks found near Amazonian rivers may provide this vital dietary supplement, leading to this extraordinary and bizarre behaviour. While going from a ripe mango to a chunk of soggy clay may not sound all that appealing to you or me, those of us lucky enough to have a parrot in our home will know that they will not hesitate to turn their nose up at a sub-par meal. So it’s fair to assume their enthusiastic chomping is because this clay is far tastier than it looks. Much like a pregnant human may suddenly crave foods they previously found repulsive, your body has a natural drive to eat whatever is presently most beneficial for you. If the parrots are seriously lacking in salt, their biology may ‘trick’ them into finding the clay just as delicious as fresh fruit and veggies.

Rainbow Cliffs_ Why Parrots in the Amazon Eat Clay baby macaw

Another reason the clay may attract parrots is its high pH level. The rainforest ecosystem is delicate and diverse, and one of its main components is fungus. Although fungi are vital for breaking down the leaf litter that sits in the darkest areas of the forest, unpenetrated by sunshine, just like every relationship in nature there is give and take. The high acidity of the fungus can affect fruiting plants, and thus the main food source of the parrots. A high level of acid can cause liver damage, weaken the immune system, and impact egg development. To counteract these problems, the high pH – or alkaline – clay can be eaten to neutralise the overall pH within the parrot’s body and mitigate some of the potential health risks. It’s possible that both of these theories are contributing factors, but what is known is that these colourful birds relish this unusual meal. So if you want to spot parades of parrots out in the open, starting with a clay lick is the way to go.

Rainbow Cliffs: Why Parrots in the Amazon Eat Clay

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Palm Oil is a vegetable oil found in many products
It is responsible for destroying many millions acres of rain forests chasing species after species to extinction levels especially awesome Orangutan
Demand full Palm Oil labeling and stop buying their products before too late pic.twitter.com/3gDSF25YnL
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Please opt for #palmoilfree products! #environment #deforestation #climatechange #humanrights pic.twitter.com/MLCVGrfSpb
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Sustainable palm oil does not exist! Palm oil companies clear parts of the world’s most biodiverse forests! Now there’s hardly anything alive. Orangutans Are Starving In #Borneo 😢#Lieferkettengesetz @PalmOilDetect @_AnimalAdvocate #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/H9Zlvx4I7d
— netzfrauen☮️ (@netzfrauen) June 26, 2024

Oh dear. It’s really good. I mean really really good. #vegan #palmoilfree pic.twitter.com/bdzmYK1A1r
— Mįsty Målvęrnēr 🌱Ⓥ (@JosieAllan4) October 23, 2023

@WWF founder of @RSPOtweets supports the bogus “sustainable” palm oil lie, trophy hunting… and

Their CEO makes $1️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣+/yr💰😡#PalmOil=deforestation, human rights violations, species extinction..#BanPalmOil pic.twitter.com/jgogIJbOkg
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Four-horned Chameleon Trioceros quadricornis

Location: Cameroon and Nigeria

IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable

This montane species is confined to the Cameroon Highlands and southeastern Nigeria, with populations fragmented across high-altitude forests including Mount Manengouba, the Bamenda Highlands, and the Obudu Plateau.

The Four-Horned Chameleon Trioceros quadricornis, native to Cameroon’s rainforests, is an extraordinary reptile known for their distinct three facial horns and their legendary ability to blend into their environment. This #Chameleon Trioceros quadricornis is now listed as #Vulnerable due to their small and fragmented range, estimated at just 13,300 km², with an area of occupancy closer to 1,000 km². Endemic to the #Cameroon mountain chain and neighbouring #Nigeria, this remarkable chameleon is under immense pressure from habitat loss, along with the illegal pet trade. Their habitat faces imminent destruction due to palm oil, mining and cocoa deforestation. Protect this unique species by avoiding products linked to rainforest destruction. 🌴🐾Take action, every time you shop #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife 🌴🔥⛔️

Help the Four-horned #Chameleon 🦎🦎🦎 of #Cameroon 🇨🇲 and #Nigeria 🇳🇬. These beautiful #lizards are #vulnerable due to #deforestation 🔥🔥🔥 for #palmoil #cocoa and #mining. Help them to survive when you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife https://wp.me/pcFhgU-1iH

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Four-horned #Chameleons 🦎🦎🦎 of #Cameroon 🇨🇲 #Nigeria 🇳🇬 are nature’s camouflage experts. These stunning #lizards are #vulnerable due to #deforestation 🔥🔥🔥 for #palmoil #cocoa and #mining. Help them to survive! #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife https://wp.me/pcFhgU-1iH

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Appearance and Behaviour

Like something out of a fantasy novel, the Four-horned Chameleon sports a crown of dramatic horns, with males typically displaying two large forward-pointing horns above the eyes and another pair on the snout. Their colour can shift from vibrant emerald green to golden olive or dark brown, helping them blend perfectly with the montane forest foliage where they perch between one and five metres above the ground. Their prehensile tail and independently rotating eyes complete their marvellous camouflage.

Four-horned Chameleon Trioceros quadricornis2

Despite their alien-like appearance, they are shy and reclusive reptiles. During surveys, they are typically encountered in low densities—sometimes only one specimen per hour of walking through suitable habitat. Males tend to be more boldly ornamented and slightly larger than females, while subadult and female individuals can sometimes bear small horns. Like other chameleons, they are solitary, coming together only to mate. Each isolated population occupies a highland island of forest surrounded by inhospitable savannah or farmland, limiting their ability to disperse or recolonise lost habitats.

Diet

The Four-horned Chameleon feeds almost exclusively on arthropods, particularly insects like grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars. Their feeding style is typical of chameleons—relying on their lightning-fast projectile tongues to snatch prey mid-air. These ambush predators wait motionless for their target to come within range, blending into their environment with their cryptic colouration.

Reproduction and Mating

There is still limited scientific data on the breeding habits of this species, but like other chameleons, they are likely oviparous, laying eggs in moist soil or protected microhabitats in the forest understorey. Females give birth to between 10–35 live young, although the success of each reproductive event is highly dependent on habitat conditions and the absence of disturbance. With severely fragmented populations, genetic exchange is limited, and the future of these chameleons hinges on each isolated subpopulation surviving long enough to reproduce.

Geographic Range

This species is confined to the montane forests of the Cameroon Highlands, extending into southeastern Nigeria. Known locations include Mount Kupe, Mount Manengouba, the Bakossi Mountains, Mount Lefo, Mount Oku, the Mbulu Hills, and the Obudu Plateau. Each of the three subspecies—T. q. quadricornis, T. q. gracilior, and T. q. eisentrauti—has an extremely limited range, some occurring only in a single mountain region. These ranges are further constrained by elevation, with populations restricted to between 1,150 and 2,700 metres above sea level.

Threats

Deforestation for cultivation and burning of nearby grasslands to renew pasture for cattle grazing threatens this species in much of their range (Gonwouo et al. 2006).
IUCN red list

Palm oil expansion

The rapid expansion of palm oil plantations in Cameroon is one of the greatest threats to the Four-horned Chameleon. Industrial-scale palm oil projects have been established or proposed in the biodiverse montane regions of western Cameroon, including in areas close to Mount Manengouba and Mount Kupe. These developments often follow the same pattern seen in Southeast Asia—deforestation, land grabbing, and long-term ecosystem collapse. With their habitat already fragmented, any additional clearance for oil palm plantations will likely tip some chameleon populations into extinction.

Illegal pet trade

This chameleon is highly sought after in the international pet trade, despite being fully protected under Cameroonian law. Between 1998 and 2011, over 7,000 individuals were exported from Equatorial Guinea—a country where the species does not even occur—indicating widespread smuggling from Cameroon. Overcollection has been directly linked to severe declines in places like Mount Manengouba, where once-common populations have almost disappeared.

Habitat fragmentation and agriculture

Forest degradation from farming, logging, and cattle grazing continues to push the Four-horned Chameleon into smaller and more isolated pockets of forest. Slash-and-burn agriculture, as well as the deliberate setting of fires to regenerate pasture, now reaches as high as 1,700 metres elevation in some parts of their range. With each forest patch that disappears, the populations become more genetically isolated and more prone to collapse.

Climate change

These chameleons are montane specialists, confined to cool, humid conditions at high elevations. As temperatures rise and climatic zones shift uphill, the chameleons and other reptiles may be forced to climb beyond the tree line—into habitats that no longer exist. Climate change, when combined with habitat fragmentation, creates a trap for species that cannot move fast enough to track shifting conditions.

Take Action!

The Four-horned Chameleon is vanishing before our eyes. To help protect this extraordinary species of reptile:

Boycott palm oil and reject the greenwashing lie of “sustainable” palm oil.
Support indigenous-led forest protection in Cameroon and Nigeria.
Advocate for strong enforcement of anti-poaching laws and an end to the illegal pet trade. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

How many Four-horned Chameleons are left in the wild?

There is no definitive population estimate, but data from field surveys suggest that each subspecies now persists in very low densities. In some areas, abundance has declined drastically due to overcollection and habitat loss. On Mount Manengouba, for instance, the population of T. q. quadricornis has “very much dropped” due to overharvesting.

How long do four-horned chameleons live?

Like many chameleons, they are relatively short-lived. Wild individuals likely live 3–5 years, with longevity affected by environmental pressures and predation. In captivity, they can survive slightly longer, though this is rarely ethical or sustainable.

Why are four-horned chameleons disappearing?

The species is vanishing due to rampant deforestation, logging, palm oil plantations, and illegal trade. Habitat fragmentation has left isolated subpopulations unable to recover from even minor shocks. Forests are vanishing up the slopes of Cameroon’s mountains, bringing chameleons into closer contact with farms, fire, and human settlements.

Is palm oil affecting this species?

Yes. Cameroon is rapidly expanding its palm oil industry, including in previously undisturbed montane zones. Industrial plantations are being established near the chameleon’s last remaining refuges. According to updated data from the Nusantara Atlas, Cameroon’s deforestation rates—much of it driven by agroindustry like palm oil—have risen dramatically over the past decade. These plantations destroy critical rainforest habitat that chameleons and other reptiles depend on.

Is the pet trade still a threat?

Absolutely. Despite being listed as a Class A species in Cameroon and banned from international trade, illegal exports continue. Smuggling routes often pass through Equatorial Guinea, which reports exporting thousands of individuals despite not being part of the chameleon’s natural range.

Do Four-horned Chameleons make good pets?

No. Keeping these wild chameleons as pets is unethical and fuels their extinction. Captivity cannot replicate their cool, misty montane habitat, and the trade is almost entirely supplied by wild-caught individuals. If you love chameleons, advocate against exotic pet ownership.

Further Information

Anderson, C.V. & Gonwouo, N.L. 2015. Trioceros quadricornis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T172571A1345774. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T172571A1345774.en. Downloaded on 12 March 2021.

Ineich, I. (2007). Biodiversity and conservation of the reptiles of the mount Cameroon area. African Journal of Herpetology. https://www.academia.edu/53633543/Biodiversity_and_conservation_of_the_reptiles_of_the_mount_Cameroon_area

Jenkins, R. K. B., et al. (2014). An overview of the trade in chameleons. Biodiversity and Conservation, 23, 1497–1511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2004.03.002

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Four-horned chameleon. Retrieved 19 April 2025 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-horned_chameleon

Four-horned Chameleon Trioceros quadricornis

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

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Wildlife Photographer Craig Jones

Wildlife Photojournalist and Animal Advocate Dalida Innes

Animal Rights Advocate and Artist Jo Frederiks

Nicole McLaren

Wildlife Artist Szabolcs Kókay

Wildlife and Environmental Advocate Winnie Cheche

More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

What would happen if we lost all wildlife?

Have you ever thought about what would happen if we lost all our wildlife? Thoughts on what our planet will turn into, always make my stomach hurt. Can you imagine having no wildlife anywhere?

The scary rate that extinction is taking away our wildlife

The rate is crazily high and we seem not to really understand how bad it has affected our ecosystem.

Species have been experiencing extinction and we almost started to get used to it, or even tend to think it as of little harm. Which is the very opposite. It gives us vivid reasons why we should be worried.

From the smallest species to the very huge ones. We rarely get to understand how they affect our living.

Have you ever thought about what would happen if we lost all our wildlife? Thoughts on what our planet will turn into, always make my stomach hurt A blog post by @winniecheche Comms Lead for @kean_network
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African Elephant Loxodonta africana — West African Oyan Poiana leightoni

But now that we have people being used to pollinating flowers in our farms since bees started disappearing. We are trying to normalize their disappearance, the same way we did when computers replace human labor.

What happens to activities that humans cannot jump into and replace? What will we do about it?

Apart from listing and qualifying species to be endangered/ threatened/ extinct, what are we doing?

I think its time IUCN also highlights how we can save our species. Parameters and responsibilities that should be taken seriously to ensure the endangered and threatened species don’t get extinct.

Not as a suggestion to the involved parties, but more of an action plan that should be implemented.

Anybody responsible for the welfare of both wildlife and flora. Should come up with preventive measures that ensure all species are safe from extinction.

We should not wait until when we have only one or two members of a species getting extinct, is when we apply scientific methods that can be used to revival it. Such methods should be applied early enough.

Just like computers still need human touch to be effective, so our planet needs wildlife

Computers managed to reduce human labor, but never managed to completely replace humans. They do what we program them to do. Our ecosystem operates close to that. But in this case, humans don’t have an upper hand as we may assume. We need other species more than they need us.

Let us not think that we don’t need wildlife and flora. They are crucial!

Do you best to learn on how you can be able to contribute to saving our species, as oppossed to killing them.

May every activity you get involved in, be eco-friendly and respectiful to our planet.

Our developments should not take a tole on the natural resources and areas occupied by both flora and fauna.

By Cheche Winnie

Read more on Cheche Winnie’s blog

Ariel Toucan Ramphastos ariel

Near Threatened

Location: South America, primarily in Brazil, with occurrences in Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Argentina

No conservation

The Ariel Toucan (Ramphastos ariel) is a vibrant and charismatic bird native to South America, celebrated for their multi-coloured bill and ecological importance as seed dispersers. Found in tropical and subtropical forests, these toucans contribute significantly to forest regeneration, ensuring the survival of diverse plant species.

However, habitat loss due to deforestation for gold mining, soy and meat agriculture, and palm oil plantations has led to population declines, resulting in their classification as Near Threatened. Protect these iconic rainforest birds by boycotting palm oil, go vegan for them and support indigenous-led agroecology. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #BoycottGold4Yanomami and be #vegan

The magnificent Ariel Toucan’s glossy black plumage 🌈🦜✨ contrasts with a fiery orange 🧡 throat. #Palmoil #soy and #meat #deforestation in #Brazil are threats. Help them to survive! Be #vegan #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🪔🚫#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/01/ariel-toucan-ramphastos-ariel/

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An iconic #bird 🦜💚of the #Amazon #rainforest #SouthAmerica the Ariel #Toucan is endangered from #hunting #beef and #soy #palmoil #deforestation. Support this icon and be #vegan 🌱🍉 #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🪔☠️🤮⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/04/01/ariel-toucan-ramphastos-ariel/

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Appearance and Behaviour

Ariel Toucans are medium-sized birds, measuring 40–50 cm in length, with a strikingly large bill accounting for up to one-third of their body length. Their glossy black plumage contrasts with a fiery orange to red throat and chest. This vibrant coloration makes the Ariel Toucan visually stunning.

These toucans are highly social and live in pairs or small flocks. They communicate using a variety of croaks and yelps and are often seen hopping between branches in the forest canopy. Their large, lightweight bills are perfectly adapted for plucking fruits from hard-to-reach branches, showcasing their evolutionary specialisation for frugivory.

Geographic Range

The Ariel Toucan inhabits tropical rainforests, lowland forests, and fragmented secondary forests across South America. Their range includes regions south of the Amazon in Brazil, extending to parts of Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Argentina.

While their range remains relatively broad, habitat destruction and fragmentation, particularly in the Atlantic Forest and Amazon Basin, have isolated populations and reduced their available habitat.

Diet

Ariel Toucans are predominantly frugivorous, relying on fruits such as figs, guavas, and berries. They also consume small invertebrates, eggs, and nestlings when fruit is scarce.

Their role as seed dispersers is critical for forest regeneration. By consuming fruits and dispersing seeds over large areas, they support biodiversity and the growth of numerous tree species. However, deforestation disrupts their access to diverse food sources, threatening their ecological function.

Reproduction and Mating

During the breeding season, Ariel Toucans nest in tree cavities, often repurposing old woodpecker holes. Females lay 2–4 eggs, which are incubated by both parents over a period of 16–18 days.

The chicks remain in the nest for several weeks after hatching, with both parents actively feeding and protecting them. Juveniles develop their vibrant plumage and distinctive bills as they mature, gaining full independence after several months.

Threats

Although the Ariel Toucan is currently classified as Near Threatened, population declines are ongoing. Conservation priorities include protecting and restoring rainforest habitats, particularly in regions like the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. Strengthening anti-deforestation measures are critical for their survival.

Efforts to combat the illegal pet trade and raise awareness of their ecological importance are also vital. Continued monitoring and research are necessary to track population trends and threats effectively.

IUCN Status: Near Threatened

Habitat Destruction:

Large-scale deforestation in the Amazon Basin and Atlantic Forest for soy and palm oil agriculture, logging, and cattle ranching significantly reduces their habitat.

Palm Oil Plantations:

The conversion of forested areas into palm oil plantations further accelerates habitat loss.

Illegal Pet Trade:

Ariel Toucans are captured for the pet trade, which disrupts local populations.

Habitat fragmentation and isolation:

Fragmented habitats restrict movement and genetic exchange, increasing the risk of local extinctions.

Climate Change:

Altered rainfall patterns and rising temperatures affect fruiting cycles and habitat suitability, adding further pressure on populations.

Take Action!

Help protect the Ariel Toucan by boycotting palm oil and supporting reforestation projects. Advocate for stricter wildlife protections and raise awareness about their plight. Together, we can ensure a future for this iconic species. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

The primary threat to this species is accelerating deforestation in the Amazon basin as land is cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, facilitated by expansion of the road network (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011).
IUCN red list

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

BirdLife International. 2023. Ramphastos ariel. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T22726233A221624536. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22726233A221624536.en. Accessed on 28 December 2024.

BirdLife International. (2024). Ariel Toucan (Ramphastos ariel).

Birds of the World. (2024). Ariel Toucan introduction.

Merazonia wildlife rescue and sanctuary rehabilitate parrots and toucans, some of the most trafficked animals in the world. Donate to them here

Ariel Toucan Ramphastos ariel

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

Take Action in Five Ways

Join 3,176 other subscribers

More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

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Can we feed the world and stop deforestation? Depends what’s for dinner

It’s a tricky thing to grow enough #food for a ballooning population without destroying the natural world. And when I say a tricky thing, I mean it’s one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. Luckily for us, it is theoretically possible, and the easiest way to get there is by drastically cutting down on meat. We deforest an area the size of Panama every single year. Across the world, food is the number one cause of #deforestation, especially our taste for meat. If we all woke up #vegan in 2050, we would need less land than in 2000. We could reforest an area the size of the Amazon. 80% of deforestation is from #meat” Take action every time you shop and go plant-based #Boycott4Wildlife

Can we feed the world, stop deforestation? YES According to Humboldt Uni. “If we all woke up #vegan in 2050, we would need less land than in 2000. We could reforest an area the size of the Amazon. 80% of deforestation is from #meat” #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/31/can-we-feed-the-world-and-stop-deforestation-depends-whats-for-dinner/

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But it doesn’t have to be this way. Researchers recently modelled how the world could feed itself in 2050 without converting any current forests into agriculture. They tested the outcome under 500 different scenarios that varied according to realistic assumptions on future yields, the area needed for farming, livestock feed and human diets. They found that “deforestation is not a biophysical necessity”.

“While a wide range of feasible options to feed a no-deforestation world were found, many only worked under certain circumstances,” said Karl-Heinz Erb, lead author of the study, published in Nature Communications.

For example, meat-heavy diets were not compatible with lower yields similar to those under organic farming, or under the potential negative effects of climate change. Of all the variables involved, the feasibility of feeding the world with no deforestation is more dependent on what we are eating, than on how well we farm.

“The only diet found to work with all future possible scenarios of yield and cropland area, including 100% organic agriculture, was a plant-based one,” Erb said.

Even better: if we all woke up vegan in 2050, we would require less cropland than we did in the year 2000. This could allow us to “reforest” an area around the size of the entire Amazon rainforest – somehow fitting considering 70-80% of deforestation in the Amazon is due to the livestock industry.

In second place, the vegetarian diet was compatible with 94% of future no-deforestation scenarios. Going veggie would also save on cropland, allowing for an area around the size of India to return to nature.

This land-saving makes sense when considering the conversion rate between the grain that we could have directly consumed but instead feed to livestock. For example, in the US, it takes an astounding 25kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef, pigs require a grain to meat ratio of 9:1 and chickens, relatively less wasteful, are 3:1. As renowned ecologist Hugh Possingham put it: “Just stop feeding grain to animals – don’t eat something that ate something that you could have eaten.”

Plant-based diets are particularly impressive when compared to those that are rich in meat, which would require a 50% increase in global cropland area by 2050. In order to achieve this with a chance of no-deforestation, we’d have to convert lots of pasture to cropland and substantially increase yields, likely through using chemicals. But both conversion and intensification generally degrade ecosystems and lead to less biodiversity.

Overall the new study found that a meat-eater requires at least double the resources of a vegan or vegetarian.

The study also links to the basic availability of food, one of the main pillars of food security. As people, especially in the Western world, eat less meat, the global demand for grain is reduced – for example, the US could feed 800m people with the grain currently fed to livestock. Less meat consumption would mean more food is available in poorer countries which could enjoy becoming more self-sufficient.

With other recent research showing that reducing our meat intake could result in two thirds less food-related CO₂ emissions, and save millions of lives there are few excuses left to justify having meat at every meal.

Most of all, this study brings some much needed good news. In a world where environmental issues are often overwhelmingly depressing, where it seems monopolies that are out of our grasp run the show, here we have a pathway to a healthier, greener and more equitable world. And it’s quite literally handed to us on a plate. As the researchers of the study noted: “We are cutting back on meat, mainly as a result of this study.” And that’s the beauty of this approach, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, vegan or carnivore. Eating sparse amounts of meat, the path of the “carnesparsian”, can have a huge impact – on your own health and that of the planet.

This article was updated on April 26, 2016, to include more recent data on livestock deforestation in the Amazon.

Laura Kehoe, 400trees.org founder & PhD researcher in wildlife conservation and land use , Humboldt University of Berlin

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

African Greys: How politics killed the parrot

The African Grey Parrot of the Congo is an understated beauty sporting ash-grey plumage, which partially conceals the red flash of their short tails – not to be confused with the smaller and darker Timneh grey parrot. This species is found, as their name suggests, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), along with Kenya, Tanzania and parts of Angola. Already globally threatened, any self-described bird lover must understand jus how the political environment in the DRC is threatening this gorgeous parrot. One of the most pervasive threats for these rare birds is poaching for the illegal pet trade, which, in the past 40 years alone, has resulted in almost three million birds being snatched from their homes. That’s three million birds who will never reproduce in the wild and ensure continuity of this species. Help these birds every time you shop and be #Vegan, #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.

African Grey #Parrots are supremely intelligent #birds 🦜 In one study, a #bird named Alex was shown a mirror to see himself. He responded with an existential question ‘What colour?’ to researchers. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife 🌴🩸⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/30/african-greys-how-politics-killed-the-parrot/

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Conflict in the Congo

The DRC has a history riddled with colonial rule, oppression, and civil war. Sadly, the turbulence within this divided nation is far from over. It is estimated that since 1998, conflict, famine and disease have claimed the lives of around 5.4 million people. Though it is debatable as to how many of these deaths can be directly attributed to the war itself, this figure has caused many to cite the Second Congolese Civil War as the deadliest conflict since World War II. And yet the loss of life does not start or end with the troops and citizens of the DRC and its surrounding nations. War anywhere in the world is horrific, but in a nation with species as diverse as those in the DRC, the ecological effects can be profound. Many animals great and small, from the lesser-known okapi to the iconic gorilla, have suffered the devastating consequences of human politics.

The DRC has been victim to multifaceted attacks of circumstances. While many ex-colonies struggled to unite after colonial rulers withdrew or were overthrown, the DRC has still had a journey more fraught than most. The tactic of divide and conquer is a militaristic method as old as time, and one that the DRC’s colonial rulers were not ignorant of. Politically dividing nations keeps them unstable and thus easy to control. It follows, therefore, that the first thing that must be done upon the defeat of a colonial oppressor is to mend the rifts carved in society. This, however, is far easier said than done. In the DRC, it presented an unstable climate ripe for international exploitation, which attracted many unsavoury organisations after the precious resource buried in the DRC’s very soil: coltan, a black metallic ore from which the mineral tantalum is extracted.

The conflict within the DRC is one that is far too complicated to even begin to explain in an article such as this, but I hope that the brief overview I have given will provide context as to why the plight of wildlife within the country’s borders has reached such an egregious level. Of course, war of any kind will always have an associated death toll. Landmines, after all, don’t discriminate between species, and little can survive in the devastation of a battlefield. The violence has pushed animals from their homes, scared birds from their nests, decimated habitats, and forced locals to exploit their own environment. But the extent of the damage goes even deeper.

To see the damage done to the wildlife in this region, let’s look at the mountain gorilla. These huge apes seek refuge and valuable feeding ground in the lush forests of the DRC, but these once-safe green spaces are being carved into. Huge illegal mining operations to excavate the valuable coltan have pockmarked the animals’ homes, with explosives making light work of what precious little habitat remains. Vast areas of forest have already been cleared, going right through mountain gorilla territory, in order to create pathways for transporting coltan from the DRC to neighbouring Rwanda, where it can be laundered into international markets.

The brutal illegal mines that run on slave labour do nothing to protect the wildlife caught up in their endless pursuit of profit, but even the legal operations cause immeasurable damage to the natural world. There is simply no way to carve such enormous caverns into the soil without disrupting the species that call it home, turning peaceful habitats into busy workplaces. Miners also bring fresh diseases into untouched areas of forest, affecting the gorillas further. And to cap off the brutality of the quarries themselves, thousands of starving miners must be kept fit to work, which means food … lots of it. So what do they eat?

The gorillas.

Bushmeat is the cheapest and most reliable source of food that can be acquired without drawing attention to the illicit activities hidden in the depth of the forest. Because of this, gorillas are often shot and killed to be eaten. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), just over 1,000 mountain gorillas now live in the wild, a staggeringly low population. Yet that is still an increase (due to extensive conservation efforts and ecotourism) from the 650 individuals recorded when comprehensive monitoring of this species began in the 1950s.

A mountain gorilla in the rain — ^{_{The mountain gorilla is a subspecies of eastern gorilla that is found only in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Image Source: Emmanuelkwizera}}

While the gorilla is the perfect face for the plight of wildlife in the DRC, I have chosen to focus today on the Congo African grey parrot. This is because, even today, few people are aware of the extent of the perils that this species faces. The African grey is one of the most fascinating animals on this Earth. One famous individual known as Alex (short for Avian Learning Experiment) was the first non-human animal believed to have asked an existential question – he reportedly asked ‘What colour?’ in reference to his own reflection, a command that he was taught to ask of objects that his handler presented him with. Though the extent of Alex’s real understanding is still unknown, the fact remains that his talents at object identification and verbalisation demonstrate the mind-blowing intelligence of these parrots.

This intelligence is perhaps what makes their struggle all the more heartbreaking. The desolation of any animal species is nothing short of a tragedy, but the concept of harming an animal capable of such emotional depth presents an even more alarming sense of injustice. The physical and emotional torment faced by the Congo African grey is mirrored by the also extremely intelligent mountain gorillas, making the entire situation within the DRC one that represents a real depth of human and animal suffering – one that simply must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Parrots in Peril

African grey parrots unfortunate enough to nest in areas of forest obliterated by the coltan trade find themselves displaced and homeless, but this troubling issue is overshadowed by the horrors of the illegal pet trade. This is primarily an issue for the smaller, easier-to-smuggle parrots, but it would be ignorant to assert that the pet trade does not affect gorilla populations as well. Despite a gorilla’s immense size, the corruption within the DRC allows smugglers to get away with trading such large mammals. The pet trade flourishes for the very same reasons coltan mining has been allowed to wreak such immeasurable havoc upon the once-diverse fauna of the DRC – necessity.

With politicians distracted from conservation efforts and strapped for access to resources, international trafficking organisations are free to take full advantage of a starving population and a nation rich in resources. But it would be unfair to imply that the politicians of the DRC are powerless. Indeed, accusations of corruption in the nation are rife and wide-spreading. Nearly every prominent figure within the relevant governing bodies has been accused of turning a deliberate blind eye to the continuous persecution of the natural world within their jurisdictions. This willful ignorance on the part of those meant to defend the DRC’s wildlife is almost certainly one bought with the use of blood money. Large criminal syndicates responsible for illegal mining or animal trafficking have the funds to pay off corrupt officials or organisations.

Many charities have sought a solution by training rangers to physically protect the habitats of African grey parrots. A growing awareness of groups that are operating in the area, raiding parrot nests and taking large numbers of chicks for the pet trade, has aroused a move to defend these birds. However, simply victimising the perpetrators of animal trapping and trafficking may not be fair. More often than not, those who orchestrate the trapping operations, the individuals who risk their lives to abduct these parrots, are people with no other choice available to them. They are simply people who have been preyed upon by those with more money and power.

Towards the beginning of the Second Congolese Civil War, the growing need for coltan in the international community gave rise to children dropping out of schools to instead hunt for this precious ore, which they could then sell, leaving them able to support their families from very young ages. However, the knock-on effect has been an entire generation of uneducated workers ripe for exploitation from the powerful criminal organisations operating within the region. With no other options to feed themselves and their families, many people are forced to perform the dirty work for those who stand to make the real profit from these poaching operations.

There are huge financial gains to be made from the illegal pet trade. This is because parrots are relatively prolific breeders. Each year, parrots will have clutches of one to three eggs. However, being such social birds, the parrots will stay in large, often multigenerational flocks. This allows poachers to pursue two lucrative avenues. The first is to trap huge numbers of chicks. That process starts with the trapper waiting for the parents to leave the nest, then climbing the tree to abduct the chicks within. The second is to set out glue-based traps. Though this method will largely capture adult birds that will never fully adjust to the life of being a pet, they are still profitable for the pet trade as they are capable of being bred from to produce offspring that can be hand-reared and sold on. The birds will have their feathers chopped to prevent escape and then packed into crates.

Congo African greys are afforded the highest level of protection under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), meaning any international trade of the animals is completely prohibited. However, high-level criminals are able to use a number of methods to smuggle the birds across the border. The level of corruption within the DRC means officials can often be paid to sign off on shipments, turn a blind eye to their contents, issue faulty permits, or even allow unregistered flights to take off from international airports. It seems that the most common method used is that of acquiring a permit meant for a separate species and then simply transporting the birds via a commercial flight, banking on flight attendants being unable to differentiate between types of parrot. The adult birds are most often sent to South Africa, where they can then be laundered into legal bird breeding farms.

This illegitimate business is so successful because the risk versus reward is heavily weighted in their favour. Even at the point where illegal shipments might arouse suspicion, many authorities have a vested interest in turning a blind eye. Parrots, especially African greys, are loud, destructive and messy. Often, any governmental body that seizes a shipment of parrots will then be responsible for it to a degree. With the birds’ origins unknown, release is not as simple as merely opening the box. Introducing new parrots to existing flocks can spread disease and disrupt breeding, making it imperative that the correct release location is chosen. Moreover, re-release permits must be acquired that involve rigorous health checks and monitoring of the birds. This may leave organisations with huge numbers of unruly birds on their hands that they struggle to get rid of. Therefore, it is easier to simply pretend you never saw them in the first place and allow them to move on.

Timneh Parrot Psittacus timneh palm oil is a threat

With nearly all risk mitigated, the traffickers are free to take the profit. A single African grey parrot can sell for around $1,000 USD, a price tag that justifies the high mortality rate associated with shipping the birds. An even larger profit stands to be made if the poacher is lucky enough to stumble upon a rare colour mutation whereby the glorious red of the tail feathers has spread to the rest of the bird. Some chicks are hatched, even in the wild, with more red feathers than expected, and, if bred, these individuals can sometimes produce entirely red offspring – rare specimens that fetch obscene prices.

Protecting Parrots

The gruesome reality in the DRC combines a humanitarian crisis and a heartbreaking threat to some of the most spectacular species on this Earth. But it is not completely without hope. Environmental agencies have already made progress in providing greater career opportunities in the DRC, to the mutual benefit of wildlife and local communities. Poachers know the areas and tactics of animal trappers better than anyone else, and when provided with the opportunity for legitimate work, many are all too happy to get involved. This means there is a wealth of strong, experienced and hardworking individuals willing and able to be recruited as rangers to protect the wildlife they once attacked.

This has been immensely successful in the case of the mountain gorillas. Rangers work closely with these apes, monitoring them day and night to protect them from poachers. With such an intimate knowledge of the gorillas, both individually and as a species, some rangers have been able to lead hugely successful wildlife spotting trips. Tourists from all over the world pay large sums to see wild gorillas on tours guided by these rangers. The money from this tourism is able to directly fund the rangers’ work and other conservation efforts in the area. Local communities that once hunted the gorilla for bushmeat now recognise them as the greatest source of income to their area and take great pride in learning about them.

Though it is not yet happening on the same scale, a similar tactic is being applied to parrots all over the world. There have been major successes with macaws in Bolivia, aided by the World Parrot Trust, and we can only hope that in the future a similar recovery will be seen in the numbers of African grey parrots in the wild.

The role that the international community has played can also be tackled. Raising awareness of where our beloved parrots may have come from can promote better shopping habits and a more responsible consumer market. If the demand for African greys is diminished enough, the monetary gain will no longer justify the risk of poaching, and criminal organisations will be forced to turn their attention away from our precious wildlife. In addition, the commercial airlines flying cargo from the DRC are being increasingly pressured to provide the relevant training to their staff to recognise illegal shipments and stop them before they can cross the border, whereupon they become much harder to track down. And on top of this, charitable organisations are building facilities to take on seized African grey parrots, reducing the burden on legal authorities.

All in all, we are a long way from a perfect situation, but glimmers of hope reinforce the importance of raising awareness for the African grey, and how politics pushed it to the brink.

If you have more money and time to dedicate to this cause, eco-tourism in the area is doing massive amounts of good for the mountain gorilla. Gorilla trekking through the lush forests of the Congo basin makes for a unique and exciting holiday, while your money and time support the efforts of the rangers. While you’re in the area, ensure you go and buy arts and crafts made by local people, as well as supporting local eateries and travel services. The more your tourism supports the economy, the better local people and communities will be able to protect the natural world around them.

By Nature Nook

Discover more on Nature Nook

Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus

Red List: Critically Endangered

Location: Kenya

This species is found only along a fragmented 60 km stretch of floodplain forest near the lower Tana River in south-eastern Kenya.

The Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus is a long-faced and slender old world monkey of #Kenya listed as Critically Endangered due to ongoing habitat destruction, dam construction, logging, and the degradation of floodplain forest ecosystems. Once protected by the Tana River #Primate Reserve, these #monkeys despite being key seed dispersers in their ecosystem are now more vulnerable than ever after the legal de-gazetting of their habitat. With only around 1,000 individuals remaining, this highly social and adaptable primate faces a devastating future unless urgent action is taken. Use your wallet as a weapon to end the destruction of their home. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat

Tana River Mangabeys🐒 are an icon of #Kenya 🇰🇪. These svelte, intelligent #primates are critically endangered in #Kenyan #forests due to dams, forest #fires and #agriculture. Help them and 🌴🔥🧐⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife at the supermarket @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/29/tana-river-mangabey-cercocebus-galeritus/

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Male Tana River #Mangabey #monkeys perform ‘whoop-gobble’ vocalisations at dawn. They’re critically #endangered by #agriculture #deforestation, hunting and hydroelectric #dams. Fight back for them and 🌴🔥🤮☠️🚜🧐🚫#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/29/tana-river-mangabey-cercocebus-galeritus/

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Appearance and Behaviour

Tana River Mangabeys are medium-sized monkeys with long, light grey fur and cream-coloured underparts. Their forearms and hands are darker, and their dark grey face is framed by a prominent crest of fur parted down the centre. Their distinctive white eyelids contrast against their darker skin, playing a key role in their complex communication.

Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus

These monkeys are diurnal and semi-terrestrial, often seen foraging on the ground, though they sleep high in tree canopies for safety. Social groups are large and structured, with up to 36 individuals living together in mixed-sex groups. Males often perform territorial calls in the early morning, and loud “whoop-gobble” vocalisations can carry over a kilometre, helping to space out neighbouring groups. Their behaviour is deeply affected by food availability: in times of plenty, groups interact peacefully, while in lean months, they grow more territorial.

Diet

Tana River Mangabeys are primarily frugivorous monkeys but display great dietary flexibility. Around 46% of their annual diet consists of seeds, with another 25% made up of fruit. They also consume stems, young leaves, fungi, and insects. During the dry season, when food is scarce, they range further and diversify their diet.

They rely heavily on trees like Ficus sycomorus and Phoenix reclinata for food, both of which fruit at times when other resources are limited. Their powerful jaws and thick molar enamel allow them to crack tough seeds and nuts, and their shortened faces provide increased bite force—an adaptation that suits their opportunistic feeding strategy.

Reproduction and Mating

Tana River Mangabeys live in polygynous groups of monkeys, where one dominant male typically has access to multiple females. Females display conspicuous monthly estrous swellings to signal fertility, and many also exhibit post-conception swellings. These false signals may confuse males and encourage multiple males to invest in infant care, increasing the infant’s survival chances.

Gestation for these monkeys lasts around 180 days, with births most common between August and April. A single infant is born, and the mother is initially left undisturbed by the group. After two months, infants begin to explore and socialise with others. Females likely reach sexual maturity around age three and begin breeding between six and seven, while males mature slightly later.

Geographic Range

Tana River Mangabeys are endemic to Kenya, confined to around 27 forest fragments along a narrow corridor of floodplain forest near the lower Tana River. This range spans from Nkanjonja in the north to Hewani in the south, across an altitudinal range of just 20–40 metres above sea level.

Historically, this species may have had a broader distribution. However, fragmentation due to deforestation, dam construction, and agriculture has severely restricted their movement and isolated populations. Forest corridors are no longer structurally connected, although some functional connectivity remains through limited travel between fragments.

Threats

Tana River Mangabeys live in the flood-plain forest, riverine gallery forest, and the adjacent woodland and bushland of Kenya (Wieczkowski and Butynski 2013). Their abundance is highly correlated with the spatial characteristics of the forests. They are semi-terrestrial monkeys that can travel up to 1 km through non-forested habitat between forest patches (Wieczkowski 2010).

The rapid decline of Tana River Mangabeys has several causes including: Forest clearance for agriculture.
IUCN red list

Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus threats

• Dam construction and water diversion: The building of hydroelectric dams has altered natural flood cycles and disrupted groundwater levels vital to the mangabeys’ habitat. The upcoming High Grand Falls Dam, one of Africa’s largest, threatens to irreparably damage the ecosystem.

• Deforestation and agriculture: Large swathes of gallery forest have been cleared for farming, drastically reducing the species’ habitat. An estimated 50% of the original forest has been lost in the last 20 years.

• Palm exploitation: Phoenix reclinata, a key food tree, is overharvested by local communities for palm wine, thatching, and mats, threatening both food security and habitat structure for the mangabeys.

• Logging and wildfires: Unregulated cutting of canopy and sub-canopy trees for housing and fuelwood, alongside uncontrolled fires, further degrades the forest and isolates populations.

• Human Persecution: As natural resources diminish, some mangabeys are are seen as pests and are persecuted and hunted for raiding crops—a threat expected to grow with increasing human-wildlife conflict.

The Tana river in Kenya home of the Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus is being destroyed for agriculture

• Political instability and poor law enforcement: The de-gazetting of the Tana River Primate Reserve in 2007 removed legal protections, exacerbating habitat destruction and reducing conservation oversight.

Take Action!

The Tana River Mangabey is on the brink. If their fragmented forests are lost, so too is this charismatic and intelligent monkey. Support indigenous-led conservation and agroecology efforts in East Africa. Demand the full reinstatement of protected habitat in Kenya. Boycott palm oil and refuse to support the industries driving deforestation and dam construction in critical floodplain ecosystems. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

Why are Tana River Mangabeys endangered?

Their biggest threats are habitat loss and fragmentation, largely due to dam construction, logging, agriculture, and palm exploitation. Political instability and poor conservation enforcement have worsened their chances of survival (Butynski & Mwangi, 1994; Wieczkowski & Butynski, 2013).

What are the predators of the Tana River Mangabey?

Natural predators include African rock pythons (Python sebae), crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus), martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus), and Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) (Wikipedia, n.d.).

In which country are Tana River Mangabeys found?

They are found exclusively in Kenya.

What do Tana River Mangabeys eat?

Their diet includes fruits, seeds, leaves, insects, stems, and fungi. They rely heavily on species like Ficus sycomorus and Phoenix reclinata (Homewood, 1978; Maingi, 2019).

Do Tana River Mangabeys make good pets?

Tana River Mangabeys are highly social and intelligent primates. Keeping them as pets is cruel and contributes to their extinction. Trapping them destroys wild populations, causes immense suffering, and breaks apart family groups. If you care about these animals, never support the exotic pet trade—advocate for habitat protection instead.

Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus boycott

Support the conservation of this species

Further Information

Butynski, T.M., de Jong, Y.A., Wieczkowski, J. & King, J. 2020. Cercocebus galeritus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T4200A17956330. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T4200A17956330.en. Downloaded on 26 March 2021.

Homewood, K. M. (1978). Feeding strategy of the Tana mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus galeritus) (Mammalia: Primates). Journal of Zoology, 186(3), 375–391. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1978.tb03926.x

Kimuyu, D. M., Wahungu, G. M., & Otieno, D. O. (2012). Seed dispersal by Tana River mangabeys in fragmented gallery forests. Open Journal of Ecology, 2(1), 6–11. https://doi.org/10.4236/oje.2012.21002

Maingi, C. K. (2019). Forest fragmentation and anthropogenic disturbance: Implications on plant foods and behaviour of the Tana River mangabey. University of Nairobi. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/107320

Maingi, C. K., Githaiga, J. M., Kanya, J. I., & Kivai, S. M. (2020). Anthropogenic activities and influence on behaviour of the Tana River mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus) in two forest fragments in Lower Tana River, Kenya. African Primates, 14(1), 1–16. Retrieved from https://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1200343/28385233/1608487219480/AP+Vol+14+-+Maingi+et+al.pdf

Wieczkowski, J. (2010). Tana River mangabey use of nonforest areas: Functional connectivity in a fragmented landscape in Kenya. Biotropica, 42(5), 598–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00627.x

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Tana River Mangabey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tana_River_mangabey

Tana River Mangabey Cercocebus galeritus

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
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If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Wildlife Photojournalist and Animal Advocate Dalida Innes

Dalida Innes

Wildlife Photographer and Portrait Photographer

“If I could tell animal activists and conservationists something, I would say: Never give up! Once a species is gone that is a terrible loss to us all! #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil” #Wildlife Photographer @dainnes67
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Dalida Innes @dainnes67 specialises in #wildlifephotography and #portrait #photography. She captures rare intimate moments with animals in all of their emotional complexity. Read more about her and her incredible photos
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“I am against all supermarket brands that have deforestation in their supply chain. I am a vegan for the animals and I #boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife” Wildlife Photographer Dalida Innes @dainnes67
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My name is Dalida Innes, I am from France originally and I live in Sydney, Australia. I love wildlife, landscape, travel photography and everything between. I travel as often as I can and try to make the most of it. Encounters with nature have taken me to incredible places and I have met fantastic people.

I am self-taught with a sincere passion for all things photographic

Adventurous spirit with camera in hand, I try to capture moments of wonder and serenity. For me, capturing images is like freezing the time and I can go back to it whenever I want. Trying to get that precise moment that your eye doesn’t have time to memorise or to remember.

I love witnessing special moments between animals

You never know what’s going to happen. Everyday is a new adventure when you’re photographing wildlife. No two days are exactly the same.

We can learn so much just from watching animals

I have always worked with animals. I just love watching them, observing their behaviour is something I am fascinated by. I have learnt so much from them and I want to share all of the beauty that I have witnessed with the world.

One of the three brothers from Bandhavgarh National Park, India.

Ungulates in Bandhavgarh National Park, India. By Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

The Dreamer, a polar bear in Svalbard by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park, India. By Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Zebra by Tiger inZebras by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Morning Glory by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography lion

Mountain Gorilla by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

On Their Way by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography whale

Beyond the Light by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

She by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography Leopard

Dalida and her husband traveled to Kibber, Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh in India in February 2020. They managed to capture a female snow leopard and her cubs trekking through the snow. By Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Tiger by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Whale by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Golden Jackal , Bandhavgarh National Park, by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Gorilla by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

A lonely giraffe in the Serenget byi Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

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When I was a child, I used to play with a broken camera

I dreamt that as an adult I would become a filmmaker and make animal documentaries, as I loved watching these shows as a child. Later when I started to work, initially I bought my first video camera but I quickly realised that this wasn’t for me. So instead I started doing photography and it all accelerated from there.

Never give up the fight to save wild animals!

If I could tell animal activists and conservationists something, I would say: Never give up! Once a species is gone that is a terrible loss to us all!

Always respect a wild animal’s personal space

To wildlife photographers just starting out, I would say that it’s important to respect the animals’ personal space. Don’t try and encroach on the animals too much, as they will feel uncomfortable and won’t behave naturally. Always be prepared for the unexpected, it may not happen, but if it does, be ready for it.

Morning Glory by Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

I am against all supermarket brands that have deforestation in their supply chain

Less trees means less habitat for wild animals. Not only this, today with so much advanced research and technology there should be other ways, other methods of producing palm oil and other commodities. They have the technology to make anything they want. So I still don’t understand why they don’t just do that instead of destroying forests!

Visit my website

Eastern Gorilla Gorilla beringei

Critically Endangered

Location: Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda

The Eastern gorilla, the largest living primate, is a symbol of strength, intelligence, and resilience. Divided into two subspecies—the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) and Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri)—this critically endangered great ape inhabits the montane and lowland forests of East and Central Africa. Despite their ecological significance as seed dispersers and their cultural importance, Eastern gorillas face imminent threats from habitat destruction, poaching, and disease.

Between the two subspecies, there are estimated to be fewer than 5,000 individuals remaining in the wild. According to IUCN, there are 1,063 Mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei and an estimated 3,800 Grauer’s gorilla Gorilla beringei graueri.

Their survival hinges on swift and strong protections for their habitat and enforcement of the illegal wildlife trade. Join the fight for these gentle giants—boycott palm oil and support efforts to protect their habitats. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Eastern #Gorillas 🦍🦍 are powerful yet gentle. They’re critically endangered in #Uganda 🇺🇬 #Congo 🇨🇩 #Rwanda due to complex threats incl. #poaching and #palmoil #deforestation. Protect them! #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🪔🔥🩸🤢⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/27/eastern-gorilla-gorilla-beringei/

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Eastern #Gorillas 🦍🦍 are large! Males weigh up to 200kg. They use vocalisations, facial expressions, and body language to communicate. #Critically #endangered by #mining #palmoil #deforestation and #poaching. 🌴🪔🔥🩸🤢⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/27/eastern-gorilla-gorilla-beringei/

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A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida Innes

Baby gorilla. Eastern Gorilla Gorilla beringei

Appearance and Behaviour

Eastern gorillas are the largest of all gorilla species, with adult males (silverbacks) weighing up to 200 kg and standing 1.7 metres tall when upright. Females are smaller, weighing around 90–100 kg. They are characterised by their robust build, long black hair, and pronounced sagittal crests in males, which support their massive jaw muscles.

Mountain gorillas have thicker, longer fur, adapted for the cold, high-altitude climates of the Virunga Mountains, while Grauer’s gorillas have shorter fur suited to the tropical lowland and mid-altitude forests of the DRC. These gorillas are highly intelligent, with advanced tool-use capabilities and complex social structures.

They live in groups of 5–30 individuals led by a dominant silverback, who protects the group, mediates conflicts, and determines movement patterns. Eastern gorillas communicate using an extensive repertoire of vocalisations, facial expressions, and body language, including chest-beating displays to signal dominance or ward off threats.

Geographic Range

Eastern gorillas are endemic to the forests of East and Central Africa. The mountain gorilla is confined to the Virunga Massif, spanning Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Fewer than 1,100 mountain gorillas remain (IUCN, 2020).

Grauer’s gorilla, the largest gorilla subspecies, resides exclusively in the lowland and mid-altitude forests of eastern DRC. Their population has declined by 80% in recent decades, with fewer than 3,800 individuals estimated to survive in fragmented habitats (Fauna & Flora International, 2024).

Previously estimated to number around 16,900 individuals, recent surveys show that Grauer’s Gorilla numbers have dropped to only 3,800 individuals – a 77% reduction in just one generation (ibid.) This rate of population loss is almost three times above that which qualifies a species as Critically Endangered.
IUCN red list

Diet

Diets of Eastern Gorillas vary greatly with elevation and the availability of food. Mountain Gorillas are largely herbivorous and feed on stems, pith, leaves, bark, and occasionally ants. Their favouritge food items are wild celery, thistles, nettles, bedstraw, wood and roots. Both subspecies feed almost exclusively on young bamboo shoots when they are in season twice a year. Gorillas at lower elevations have a more diverse and seasonal diet. Both Grauer’s Gorillas in lowland forest and Bwindi Gorillas are frugivorous.

Eastern Gorillas are diurnal and semi-terrestrial. After waking, they feed intensively and then alternate rest, travelling and feeding until night-time. All Gorillas build nests to sleep in, some in trees, but the majority of their nests are on the ground. Gorillas are not territorial, and there is extensive overlap between the annual home ranges of different groups, which vary in size from 6–40 km².

Reproduction and Mating

Eastern gorillas have slow reproductive rates, with females reaching sexual maturity at around 10 years of age and giving birth to a single infant every 4–6 years. The gestation period lasts approximately 8.5 months. Infant mortality is high, with only about 50% surviving to adulthood.

Infants are entirely dependent on their mothers for the first three years, clinging to their fur and nursing. Male silverbacks play a protective role, guarding young gorillas from predators or rival males. However, habitat fragmentation and stress caused by human disturbances have disrupted these delicate reproductive cycles, exacerbating population decline (National Geographic, 2024).

Take Action!

Virunga National Park works tirelessly to protect gorilla habitats, combat poaching, and engage local communities in conservation. Long-term survival requires scaling these efforts and addressing habitat destruction at its root causes.

You can make a difference for Eastern gorillas. Boycott palm oil, support organisations involved in ecosystem and gorilla protection such as Virunga National Park and advocate for stricter wildlife protection laws. Share their story and help secure a future for these majestic primates. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Threats

Conservation efforts have yielded some success for mountain gorillas, whose numbers have slowly increased due to intensive monitoring, anti-poaching patrols, and ecotourism initiatives in protected areas like Volcanoes National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. However, Grauer’s gorillas remain critically endangered, with declining populations.

Poaching: Despite the fact that all killing, capture or consumption of great apes is illegal, hunting represents the greatest threat to Grauer’s Gorillas and laws against the illegal wildlife trade are poorly enforced.
Habitat loss and degradation: Corporate agricultural activities for tobacco, palm oil plantations, cocoa and coffee cause continuing loss and fragmentation of Gorilla habitat in DRC. Over 70% of Grauer’s gorilla habitat has been degraded or lost since the 1990s (IUCN, 2020). Illegal mining has decimated the lowlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a Grauer’s Gorilla stronghold. Destruction of forest for timber, charcoal production along with palm oil, tobacco and cocoa agriculture continues to threaten the isolated Gorilla populations that persist in North Kivu and the Itombwe Massif. Eastern Gorillas as forced into smaller patches of fragmented forests.
Human diseases: Due to their close genetic relationship to humans and physiological similarities, Gorillas are highly susceptible to many human diseases such as respiratory infections and Ebola, which have caused significant population declines.
Armed conflict and civil war: For two decades, refugees, internally-displaced people and numerous armed groups have placed enormous pressure on DRC’s forests through uncontrolled habitat conversion for farmland, harvesting of firewood, timber extraction and mining. Armed conflict has exacerbated poaching and hunting for bushmeat, traditional medicine, and trophies.
Small Population Size: Genetic bottlenecks due to population fragmentation increase the risk of inbreeding and reduce resilience to environmental changes.

Eastern Gorillas (Gorilla beringei) live in the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda. This region was the epicentre of Africa’s “world war”, to which Gorillas have also fallen victim.
IUCN Red LIST

Climate change: Climate change is predicted to impact the forests of the Albertine Rift escarpment, leading to the upslope migration of species and key Gorilla habitat, notably montane forest (Ayebare et al. 2013). Increased temperatures and modified rainfall patterns are also likely to result in changes in food availability and habitat quality (McGahey et al. 2013).

The Mountain Gorilla subspecies (Gorilla beringei beringei), was listed as Critically Endangered since 1996. Although a drastic reduction of the Grauer’s Gorilla subspecies (Gorilla beringei graueri), has long been suspected, quantitative evidence of the decline has been lacking (Robbins and Williamson 2008). During the past 20 years, Grauer’s Gorillas have been severely affected by human activities, most notably poaching for bushmeat associated with artisanal mining camps and for commercial trade (Plumptre et al. 2016). This illegal hunting has been facilitated by a proliferation of firearms resulting from widespread insecurity in the region. Previously estimated to number around 16,900 individuals, recent surveys show that Grauer’s Gorilla numbers have dropped to only 3,800 individuals – a 77% reduction in just one generation (ibid.) This rate of population loss is almost three times above that which qualifies a species as Critically Endangered.

Mountain Gorillas have been faring substantially better; one of the two subpopulations is recovering from an all-time low in the 1980s, making Mountain Gorillas the only great ape taxon that has been increasing in number (Gray et al. 2013). A 2015–2016, survey of the Virunga population has confirmed that it is still growing and has now increased to over 600 individuals, bringing the total population to roughly 1,000 (Hickey et al. 2018).

Grauer’s Gorillas continue to decline at an average rate of 5% per year (Plumptre et al. 2016). Even with the growth of the Mountain Gorilla subspecies, the overall decline of the Eastern Gorilla species is expected to exceed 80% over three generations due to the high levels of poaching, loss of habitat as human populations expand, and civil unrest and lawlessness in parts of this species’ geographic range. If unabated, in 2054, only 14% of the 1994 population will remain. Therefore, Eastern Gorillas qualify as Critically Endangered under criterion A (A4bcd).

Support the conservation of this species

Uganda Wildlife Authority

Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN)

Virunga National Park

Further Information

Earth.org. (2024). Eastern gorilla.

Fauna & Flora International. (2024). Grauer’s gorilla.

Jones, P. et al. (2024). Genetic diversity in Gorilla beringei populations.

International Fund for Animal Welfare. (2024). Eastern gorillas.

Photography by Dalida Innes Wildlife photography

Plumptre, A., Robbins, M.M. & Williamson, E.A. 2019. Gorilla beringei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T39994A115576640. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T39994A115576640.en. Downloaded on 11 March 2021.

National Geographic. (2024). Mountain gorilla.

Smith, J. et al. (2024). Role of Gorilla beringei in seed dispersal in Central African forests.

Eastern Gorilla Gorilla beringei

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

Take Action in Five Ways

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Animal Rights Advocate and Artist Jo Frederiks

Jo Frederiks

Artist and Animal Rights Activist

Jo Frederiks is a passionate animal rights advocate, speaking through her art to create awareness and inspire change to a vegan way of life. She is a full-time practising artist, exposing the well-hidden plight of animals we enslave, exploit and needlessly use for food, clothing, entertainment and research. Working in varying mediums, Frederiks favours graphite and oil paint. She has previously studied at The Arts Academy in Brisbane, graduating with Honours.

She has had many solo, joint, and group exhibitions throughout the years, and her work is in private collections in numerous countries across the world. Her drawings are sensitive, exquisite and beautifully detailed, portraying the unique character of each individual being.

Frederiks grew up on a million-acre cattle station in central Queensland, Australia. It was this environment that not only nurtured her connection to nonhuman animals but highlighted their immense vulnerability at the hands of humankind.

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Jo Frederiks @JoFrederiks is a passionate animal rights advocate and vegan #artivist from #Australia making provocative and haunting #art about animals endangered by meat #agriculture See more #art on my website #Boycott4Wildlife
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We didn't even make it this far by Jo Frederiks

Irony of the enlightened by Jo Frederiks

All Desire Peace and Goodwill by Jo Frederiks

How does COVID-19 affect Wildlife Conservation?

How does COVID 19 affect Wildlife Conservation? This pandemic has affected several continents, and everyone seems to be at its mercies. It’s sad to see people lose lives, property, jobs, among others. It’s crippling the economy and results to be a pandemic pushing us to a very difficult corner.

How does COVID-19 affect Wildlife Conservation? “Don’t cancel the dates for your #safari #tour #hike in #Africa but rather postpone. If you can manage to keep supporting genuine NGOs fighting for wildlife, please do so.” by @winniecheche
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No Money = No Tourism

Apart from the duty to observe social distancing, not many can be able to risk what they have for a quick visit to the national parks. This is a moment where everyone is only concentrating on the basics, and how to survive this pandemic.

We have families that fully depend on funds obtained through tourism activities, from offering tour guide services, selling curios, getting help from NGOs in the conservation field, etc. With whatever is happening around the world, this is becoming almost impossible for these families.

What will happen to them? How will they support their livelihoods? Were they lucky enough not to contaminate the virus before the borders started to be closed? Is there any plan for them by any organization out there?

What about wildlife?

Most of the wildlife rescue and treatment is mainly done by these NGOs. And they have been contributing towards wildlife welfare in a great way, especially for the endangered species. Through the funds, they have been able to support both the wildlife and local communities in those areas.

I am afraid of what will happen to them once the funds stop coming through. And borders continue to be closed. Our wildlife that may need medication attention may be in a difficult place.

Luckily, aside from primates, most wildlife are safe from the virus

So far, only a few of the primates have been noted to be vulnerable to the coronavirus. Hence making the other wildlife safe from any infections through interactions with infected humans.

Being a zoonotic disease, this was prone to happen since the disease was from animals to humans.

The wildlife are also having a good time away from humans for once. Most tourists ain’t visiting the conservation areas as before hence human traffic has extremely reduced. Our wildlife can now enjoy reduced interference and can be wild. With this, it will not be a surprise for their population to increase, as well as for increased vegetation growth.

With everything we are currently going through, it will be healing being able to visit healthy nature parks.

Keep supporting wildlife NGOs and don’t cancel your safari!

Don’t cancel the dates for your safaris, game drives, hikes, etc, but rather postpone. If you can manage to keep supporting the genuine NGOs fighting for wildlife and local communities’ welfare, please do so.

We are in this together, and together we will get through it safely.

Wildlife and environment need you to be their voice and caretakers, please corporate.

Dispose of the gloves, masks, sanitizers’ bottles and any the packaging correctly. Let’s not create more problems for mother nature as we fight this pandemic.

Let this pandemic be our turning point when it comes to any kind of live wildlife trade, no life has a price tag on it.

Our pockets will have less cash, but we will eventually survive

Mother nature needs that even after this pandemic. Whatever that can be considered and done at a slower pace to avoid global warming lets embrace that option. We no longer have the luxury to allow us time for more developments so as to lower our emissions.

We are one, and that’s why the coronavirus only started in one place and gradually moving to other places. Showing us how deeply connected we are. We need each other in saving our only planet. and it needs our collective efforts. Stay safe and have hope.

By Cheche Winnie

Read more on Cheche Winnie’s blog

Ten Tactics of Sustainable Palm Oil Greenwashing - Palm Oil Detectives background image deforestation

For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of new species is that species extinctions have also always been part of the evolutionary life cycle.

A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a “short” geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, “short” is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years. Right now loss of species on earth is being driven by a mix of direct and indirect human activities, such as the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, direct exploitation like fishing and hunting, chemical pollution, invasive species, and human-caused global warming. Help species survive #BoycottPalmOil be #Vegan and #Boycott4Wildlife

#Humans have wrecked havoc on the natural world by exploiting all other species. What is a mass #extinction event and are we in one now? The sooner we realise we are all connected the better! #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/24/what-is-a-mass-extinction-and-are-we-in-one-now/

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Since at least the Cambrian period that began around 540 million years ago when the diversity of life first exploded into a vast array of forms, only five extinction events have definitively met these mass-extinction criteria.

These so-called “Big Five” have become part of the scientific benchmark to determine whether human beings have today created the conditions for a sixth mass extinction.

Humans are probably causing what ice ages and asteroids caused before them. Keith Roper/Flickr, CC BY-SA

An ammonite fossil found on the Jurassic Coast in Devon. The fossil record can help us estimate prehistoric extinction rates. Corey Bradshaw, Author provided

The Big Five

These five mass extinctions have happened on average every 100 million years or so since the Cambrian, although there is no detectable pattern in their particular timing. Each event itself lasted between 50 thousand and 2.76 million years. The first mass extinction happened at the end of the Ordovician period about 443 million years ago and wiped out over 85% of all species.

The Ordovician event seems to have been the result of two climate phenomena. First, a planetary-scale period of glaciation (a global-scale “ice age”), then a rapid warming period.

The second mass extinction occurred during the Late Devonian period around 374 million years ago. This affected around 75% of all species, most of which were bottom-dwelling invertebrates in tropical seas at that time.

This period in Earth’s past was characterised by high variation in sea levels, and rapidly alternating conditions of global cooling and warming. It was also the time when plants were starting to take over dry land, and there was a drop in global CO₂ concentration; all this was accompanied by soil transformation and periods of low oxygen.

To establish a ‘mass extinction’, we first need to know what a normal rate of species loss is. from http://www.shutterstock.com

The third and most devastating of the Big Five occurred at the end of the Permian period around 250 million years ago. This wiped out more than 95% of all species in existence at the time.

Some of the suggested causes include an asteroid impact that filled the air with pulverised particle, creating unfavourable climate conditions for many species. These could have blocked the sun and generated intense acid rains. Some other possible causes are still debated, such as massive volcanic activity in what is today Siberia, increasing ocean toxicity caused by an increase in atmospheric CO₂, or the spread of oxygen-poor water in the deep ocean.

Fifty million years after the great Permian extinction, about 80% of the world’s species again went extinct during the Triassic event. This was possibly caused by some colossal geological activity in what is today the Atlantic Ocean that would have elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, increased global temperatures, and acidified oceans.

The last and probably most well-known of the mass-extinction events happened during the Cretaceous period, when an estimated 76% of all species went extinct, including the non-avian dinosaurs. The demise of the dinosaur super predators gave mammals a new opportunity to diversify and occupy new habitats, from which human beings eventually evolved.

The most likely cause of the Cretaceous mass extinction was an extraterrestrial impact in the Yucatán of modern-day Mexico, a massive volcanic eruption in the Deccan Province of modern-day west-central India, or both in combination.

Is today’s biodiversity crisis a sixth mass extinction?

The Earth is currently experiencing an extinction crisis largely due to the exploitation of the planet by people. But whether this constitutes a sixth mass extinction depends on whether today’s extinction rate is greater than the “normal” or “background” rate that occurs between mass extinctions.

This background rate indicates how fast species would be expected to disappear in absence of human endeavour, and it’s mostly measured using the fossil record to count how many species died out between mass extinction events.

The Christmas Island Pipistrelle was announced to be extinct in 2009, years after conservationists raised concerns about its future. Lindy Lumsden

The most accepted background rate estimated from the fossil record gives an average lifespan of about one million years for a species, or one species extinction per million species-years. But this estimated rate is highly uncertain, ranging between 0.1 and 2.0 extinctions per million species-years. Whether we are now indeed in a sixth mass extinction depends to some extent on the true value of this rate. Otherwise, it’s difficult to compare Earth’s situation today with the past.

In contrast to the the Big Five, today’s species losses are driven by a mix of direct and indirect human activities, such as the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, direct exploitation like fishing and hunting, chemical pollution, invasive species, and human-caused global warming.

If we use the same approach to estimate today’s extinctions per million species-years, we come up with a rate that is between ten and 10,000 times higher than the background rate.

Even considering a conservative background rate of two extinctions per million species-years, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have otherwise taken between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear if they were merely succumbing to the expected extinctions that happen at random. This alone supports the notion that the Earth is at least experiencing many more extinctions than expected from the background rate.

An endangered Indian wild dog, or Dhole. Before extinction comes a period of dwindling numbers and spread. from www.shutterstock.com

It would likely take several millions of years of normal evolutionary diversification to “restore” the Earth’s species to what they were prior to human beings rapidly changing the planet. Among land vertebrates (species with an internal skeleton), 322 species have been recorded going extinct since the year 1500, or about 1.2 species going extinction every two years.

If this doesn’t sound like much, it’s important to remember extinction is always preceded by a loss in population abundance and shrinking distributions. Based on the number of decreasing vertebrate species listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, 32% of all known species across all ecosystems and groups are decreasing in abundance and range. In fact, the Earth has lost about 60% of all vertebrate individuals since 1970.

Australia has one of the worst recent extinction records of any continent, with more than 100 species of vertebrates going extinct since the first people arrived over 50 thousand years ago. And more than 300 animal and 1,000 plant species are now considered threatened with imminent extinction.

Although biologists are still debating how much the current extinction rate exceeds the background rate, even the most conservative estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity typical of a mass extinction event.

In fact, some studies show that the interacting conditions experienced today, such as accelerated climate change, changing atmospheric composition caused by human industry, and abnormal ecological stresses arising from human consumption of resources, define a perfect storm for extinctions. All these conditions together indicate that a sixth mass extinction is already well under way.

Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology & Associate Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University and Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

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Nicole McLaren

Artist and Animal Rights Activist

Through art you can instill a new feeling in a stranger’s heart

I never knew I wanted to be an artist, until art found me

First through dance; I performed in over 10 countries worldwide and earned a Guinness World Record in my style of dance called Whirling. I achieved 3,500 turns in 1 hour.

Then I became vegan and I felt the urge to create something meaningful in a new way, something not just for myself, but for others; the animals. ARTivism. I draw Caligrammes and I do street art in chalk.

Through art, one can strive to instill new thoughts and feelings in a stranger’s heart. There is a hope that this grows and blooms into a firm conviction and altered behaviour. This in the end may lead to a kinder world.

Nicole McLaren is a Creatives for Cool Creatures contributor, dancer, visual artist and #vegan #activist from Switzerland/USA. Join our arts collective #Boycott4Wildlife #artivism
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I hope with my art to change someone’s heart and mind. To welcome a new vegan into our community

I love the satisfaction of having created something, and the sharply contrasting feelings of doubt and dismissal that have led to it.

Moho Braccatus – or ʻōʻōʻāʻā

The bird Moho Braccatus, named by the native Hawaiians ʻōʻō ʻāʻā, went extinct through manmade causes in 1987. His species is one of many that we have lost forever. The last of his kind, a male, sang his mating song to a female who would never come. His song was recorded and it’s eerily touching. This is for you, ʻōʻō ʻāʻā

Many say that animals are like us, I disagree. We are like them!

As they have been here long before humanity joined in. They are awe-inspiring in their knowledge and abilities. That is the little we know about them.

To animal activists and conservationists, I say ‘Don’t despair’

There are many of us who have woken up already… and we grow more and more numerous every day.

Dare to address the elephant in the room with animal cruelty. Stand up!

See something – say something. Make it a topic amongst friends. I firmly believe in a vegan world to come. But we have to work indefatigably in order to achieve it.

Baiji Yangtze River Dolphin

This depicts the story of the Baiji Yangtze River Dolphin, a large mammal that recently went extinct due to human interference. The fragmentary text highlights the 2006 expedition of a global team of marine scientists from six nations. The team searched the Yangtze river, covering 3,500km over 6 weeks – in vain. They did not find a single dolphin and, tragically, had to declare the Baiji Yangtze River Dolphin extinct. I created this piece for a fundraiser of The Creative Earth Projects. All auction funds went to The Dolphin Project.

I boycott brands with deforestation in them, as any human with humanity within should…

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Yucatán Black Howler Monkey Alouatta pigra

Endangered

Belize; Guatemala; Mexico (Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán)

Yucatán Black Howler Monkeys are best known for their overpowering howl which can be heard up to 3 miles away. Morning and evening howling sessions can go on for over an hour. They are the largest #monkey in Latin America and keep a watchful presence in densely forested primary and secondary forest, mangroves and other human disturbed landscapes.

Their range is being rapidly destroyed for palm oil and sugar cane deforestation and mining. They are also facing human persecution and hunting pressures. Yucatán Black Howler Monkeys have been classified as endangered since 2004. Help them every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Yucatán Black Howler #Monkeys 🐵🐒🩷 are endangered from #palmoil #deforestation in #Guatamala 🇬🇹#Mexico 🇲🇽 Their loud communal howling can be heard 5km away 🎶 Help them to survive when you #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/22/yucatan-black-howler-monkey-alouatta-pigra/

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The Yucatán Black Howler #Monkey is endangered by #palmoil #deforestation and mining in #Guatamala, #Mexico. Their loud communal howling can be heard for up to 5km away. Don’t let the forests go silent! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/22/yucatan-black-howler-monkey-alouatta-pigra/ via @palmoildetect

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Yucatán Black Howler Monkey Alouatta pigra #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Yucatán Black Howler Monkeys prefer to live in a variety of forests and spend their days high up in the boughs of trees in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, deciduous and semi-deciduous broad-leaved forests, mangroves, swamps eucalyptus plantations and agricultural plantations.

The main threats for black howler monkeys are accelerated deforestation rate across its distribution and the direct extraction of individuals for pet trade. In Guatemala a high rate of deforestation has been associated with the rapid expansion of the agriculture frontier due to megaprojects such as African palm oil and sugar cane, and the destruction of forest due to open mining (Foucart 2011).
IUCN red list

Behaviour

The howling of these monkeys is loud enough to be heard three miles away. A study in 2014 revealed just why Alouatta pigra and other howlers call out so loudly.

Our findings suggest that loud calls in black howler monkeys are multifunctional, but most frequently occur in the defense of major feeding sites. These calls also may function in the defense of infants and mates during encounters with extragroup males.

Van Belle, S., Estrada, A., & Garber, P. A. (2014). The function of loud calls in black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra): Food, mate, or infant defense? American Journal of Primatology, 76(12), 1196–1206. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22304

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Wild Tracks

Further Information

Cortes-Ortíz, L., Rosales-Meda, M., Marsh, L.K. & Mittermeier, R.A. 2020. Alouatta pigra. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T914A17926000. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T914A17926000.en. Downloaded on 05 March 2021.

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus

Critically endangered

Locations: Found in humid lowland forests of Central and South America, particularly in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua.

The Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus are the largest macaw species and in flight they are dazzling symbol of Central and South America’s vanishing rainforests. Draped in shimmering green plumage with a fiery red forehead and striking blue-tipped feathers, these parrots are key players in their ecosystem. With their powerful beaks, they crack open tough nuts, dispersing seeds that sustain the forest’s delicate balance. Yet, these vibrant giants are under siege.

The magnificent Great Green #Macaw has had 90% of their rainforest home destroyed for #palmoil #soy #meat #gold #mining. They are now critically #endangered! Fight for them every time you shop, be #vegan and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-183

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Great green #macaws are supremely intelligent can live to up to 70 years old. They are critically endangered from #palmoil #meat and #soy #deforestation in #SouthAmerica. Help them by being #vegan and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-183

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Deforestation—driven by palm oil plantations, illegal logging, and agriculture—has decimated the old-growth forests they call home. Their lifeline, the mountain almond tree, is vanishing, taking with it vital macaw nesting sites. Alarmingly, Great Green Macaw populations in Costa Rica and Ecuador have dwindled to critical levels, leaving fewer than 3,500 individuals to soar freely the skies.

Fight for their survival every time you shop. Support indigenous-led conservation and use your wallet as a weapon: #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.

The historical range of the Great Green Macaw was reduced by ~90 % over the past 100 years (Chassot et al. 2002; O. Jahn in litt. 2004, 2005). Large areas of western Ecuador are being purchased, denuded of forest and converted to industrial oil palm plantations (Sharpe 1999).
IUCN red list

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus shiny beak

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus in flight

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus eating fruit

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus in amongst foliage

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus sitting in sunlight

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus on branch

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus nesting pair

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus in shadows

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus — Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguu

Appearance and Behaviour

Great Green Macaws are spectacular birds, one of the largest macaws in the world measuring up to 90 cm in length, with a wingspan of approximately 110–120 cm. In flight, they are flurry of light green wings and are a special sight to behold. The Great Green Macaw qualifies as Critically Endangered because extensive habitat destruction for palm oil, soy, meat and gold mining; along with capture for the cagebird trade are causing extremely rapid and continuing population declines. These threats have had such a significant impact that the total population is now very small.

These macaws can live until around 70 years old and are highly social and intelligent, often travelling in pairs or small groups. Known for their loud, raucous calls, they use vocalisations to communicate with each other across the dense rainforest canopy.

Great Green Macaws are highly agile flyers, capable of navigating through thick forests with impressive speed and precision. They exhibit strong pair bonds, with mated pairs engaging in mutual preening and close companionship.

Threats

IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

The Great Green Macaw faces numerous threats across their range:

Deforestation for palm oil, meat and mining: Deforestation for agriculture, palm oil plantations, and cattle ranching has devastated much of their natural habitat. Forests of the Atlantic lowlands, once their stronghold, have been reduced to fragments, especially in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Illegal Logging: The macaw depends on large trees like the mountain almond (Dipteryx panamensis) for nesting and feeding. These trees are highly targeted for timber, further limiting their reproductive success.
Poaching and the illegal pet trade: Capture for the illegal pet trade is a persistent issue, with chicks and adults taken from nests to meet demand.
Climate Change: Rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns threaten the viability of their already fragmented habitats.

These combined pressures have led to a steep population decline, with fewer than 3,500 individuals estimated to remain in the wild.

Diet

The Great Green Macaw primarily feeds on fruits, seeds, and nuts. A key component of their diet is the fruit of the mountain almond tree (Dipteryx panamensis), which also serves as a crucial nesting site. During the fruiting season, macaws can often be seen feasting high in the canopy. Their strong beaks are adept at cracking open tough nuts and seeds.

Reproduction and Mating

Great Green Macaws are monogamous, forming lifelong pair bonds. Breeding usually occurs between December and August, with females laying 2–3 eggs in tree hollows. These hollows are typically found in large, mature trees such as mountain almonds. The incubation period lasts around 26 days, with both parents taking part in feeding and protecting the chicks until they fledge at about 3 months of age.

Geographic Range

The Great Green Macaw is native to Central and South America, with populations found in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador. They inhabit humid lowland forests, especially near forest edges and along rivers. While historically widespread, their range has shrunk dramatically due to habitat destruction.

In Costa Rica, they are mostly found in the northern lowlands, particularly within the Maquenque Wildlife Refuge. In Ecuador, small populations persist in the Chocó region.

FAQ

What does the name Ara mean?

The genus name Ara is derived from the Tupi word ará, an onomatopoeia mimicking the macaw’s loud and resonant calls. These calls are essential for communication in the dense rainforest.

What are the Great Green Macaw’s main characteristics?

Great Green Macaws are large parrots with emerald green plumage, a red forehead, and blue flight feathers. Their long tails and strong beaks are distinctive, and their expressive bright red faces and icy blue eyes give them a unique appearance.

Where do Great Green Macaws live?

They inhabit humid lowland forests in Central and South America, including regions in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Nicaragua. They rely on old-growth forests, particularly those with mountain almond trees, for food and nesting.

What do Great Green Macaws eat?

Their diet consists of fruits, seeds, and nuts, with the mountain almond (Dipteryx panamensis) being a primary food source. Their strong beaks enable them to crack tough nuts with ease.

How do Great Green Macaws reproduce?

They lay up to 3 eggs in tree hollows, with an incubation period of approximately 26 days. Both parents are involved in raising the chicks, these young birds fledge after 12 weeks.

What are the Great Green Macaw’s conservation status and efforts?

The species is globally Critically Endangered, with fewer than 3,500 individuals remaining. Conservation initiatives include habitat restoration, reintroduction programs, and community-led efforts to protect nesting sites in regions like Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Take Action!

Support indigenous-led conservation to save the Great Green Macaw. Use your wallet as a weapon and #BoycottGold #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife. Fight for their survival every time you shop.

Let me know if you’d like additional tweaks or enhancements!

Support the conservation of this species

Merazonia wildlife rescue and sanctuary rehabilitate parrots and toucans, some of the most trafficked animals in the world. Donate to them here

Further Information

BirdLife International. 2020. Ara ambiguus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22685553A172908289. https://d x.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22685553 A 172908289.en. Downloaded on 16 February 2021.

Berg, K. S., Socola, J., & Angel, R. R. (2007). Great Green Macaws and the annual cycle of their food plants in Ecuador. Journal of Field Ornithology, 78(1), 1–10.

BirdLife International. (2020). Ara ambiguus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22685553A172908289. Retrieved from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22685553/172908289

Lewis, T. C., Gutiérrez Vargas, I., Vredenbregt, C., Jimenez, M., Hatchwell, B., Beckerman, A. P., & Childs, D. Z. (2023). Nest-site selection and reproductive success of a critically endangered parrot, the Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus), in an anthropogenic landscape. Ibis. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13262

Macaw Recovery Network. (2024). Great Green Macaw Census Report 2022–2023. Retrieved from https://macawrecoverynetwork.org/great-green-macaw-census-report-2022-2023-2/

World Parrot Trust. (n.d.). Great Green Macaw. Parrots Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.parrots.org/encyclopedia/great-green-macaw

Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguus

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

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Wildlife Artist Szabolcs Kókay

Szabolcs Kókay

Hungarian conservationist and wildlife artist

Szabolcs Kókay @kokayart is a talented, respected and award-winning wildlife artist with a passion for animal conservation. Find out more about him and submit your #wildlife #art #artivism to Creatives 4 Cool Creatures #Boycott4Wildlife
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Szabolcs Kókay was born in Hungary in 1976, and has been interested in nature, especially birds, since childhood. Although he has been drawing for as long as he can remember, it was only later on in his life, around the age of 20, when these two interests merged. For Szabolcs, watching and sketching nature go hand in hand, so much so that he cannot imagine doing one without the other. When potraying wildlife he is trying to have a vision of the animal within its natural habitat. That’s why he travels in search of new inspirations (like Snow Leopards in Ladakh, Birds of Paradise in Papua New Guinea, Spoon-billed Sandpiper in China).

Szabolcs Kókay

Vogelkop Superb Bird of Paradise by Szabolcs Kókay

Magnificent Bird of Paradise Pair by Szabolcs Kókay

Magnificent Bird of Paradise by Szabolcs Kókay

Chimpanzee Pan Troglodates by Szabolcs Kókay

After working in nature conservation, Szabolcs became a full-time artist and illustrator in 2001. He has won many international art competitions including the former British Birds ‘Bird Illustrator of the Year’ award, and Birdwatch ‘Artist of the Year’.

Study trips have taken him to various places around the world, including Trinidad, China, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Morocco, Uganda and Japan.

Over the years, Szabolcs’ technique when approaching painting wildlife has radically changed, as he used to work solely from photographs. He feels that the revolution in digital photography and the invention of digiscoping attributed much to this approach. He now feels lucky to have realised over time the importance of working directly from life, and in recent years he has tried to spend as much time in the field as possible.

Society Memberships

Society of Wildlife Artists

Scholarships, Awards, Prizes

2000. British Birds ‘Bird Illustrator of the Year’ PJC Award
2001-02. British Birds ‘Bird Illustrator of the Year’ 3rd place
2002. Birdwatch Artist of the Year, identification category winner
2008. Birdwatch Artist of the Year 1st prize
2010. Don Eckelberry Scholarship Award from the Society of Animal Artists
2014. Langford Press Field Sketches Award
2015. Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural illustration competition 2nd prize

Exhibitions

The Natural Eye 2016

Publications

Birds of New Guinea, Princeton University Press
Woodpeckers of Europe, Bruce Coleman Publishers
The Black Woodpeckers, Lynx Edicions
Le Requin, Delachaux et Niestlé Publishers
Protected birds of Hungary poster series, Ministry for the Environment

Buy art, puzzles, stickers and clothing by Szabolcs Kókay

Harlequin Poison Frog Oophaga histrionica

IUCN Status: Critically Endangered (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2019)

Location: Colombia.
Endemic to the Chocó rainforest of Colombia, the Harlequin Poison Frog (Oophaga histrionica) inhabits humid lowland and foothill forests. These frogs thrive in leaf litter and near small water sources, where they reproduce and communicate using distinct vocalisations.

A dazzling splash of colour against the deep greens of Colombia’s Chocó rainforests, the harlequin poison frog is as deadly as it is beautiful. Cloaked in hypnotic shades of orange, yellow, green and black, this tiny amphibian is a master of chemical warfare—their skin is infused with powerful alkaloid toxins that can paralyse or kill predators. But despite their formidable defences, they are completely helpless against human destruction.

Once thriving in the dense, misty forests of western #Colombia, this critically endangered frog is now on the brink of extinction. Illegal mining, rampant deforestation for #palmoil plantations, and the relentless #wildlifetrade have devastated their fragile rainforest home. The same vibrant colours that warn predators away have made them a prime target for #poachers supplying the exotic #pettrade.

This extraordinary species is a vital part of its ecosystem, controlling insect populations and contributing to the rainforest’s delicate balance. But unless urgent action is taken, the harlequin poison frog could vanish forever.

Protect their rainforest home. Say no to palm oil, reject the illegal pet trade, and demand stronger protections for Colombia’s amphibians. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Harlequin Poisonous #Frogs 🐸🐸have vivid shades of 💛💚🧡. Unlike other frogs both males and females fiercely guard eggs. #PalmOil #Soy #Meat and #GoldMining are threats in #Colombia. Help them when you #BoycottGold 🥇☠️⛔️ be #vegan #BoycottPalmOil 🌴☠️⛔️https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/20/harlequin-poison-frog-oophaga-histrionica/

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Dazzling Harlequin Poisonous #Frogs 🐸💚 of #Colombia 🇨🇴 are sensitive to noise 🎶📢 Their rainbow colours 🌈 make them #rainforest works of art! ✨🎨Critically Endangered by #mining and #palmoil #BoycottGold 🥇🩸⛔️ #BoycottPalmOil 🌴☠️⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/20/harlequin-poison-frog-oophaga-histrionica/

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Appearance and Behaviour

Few creatures rival the harlequin poison frog in sheer visual spectacle. No two individuals look alike—each frog sports a unique pattern of vivid colours, a living work of rainforest art. These colours serve as a bold warning to predators: “Eat me and regret it.” Unlike other frogs that rely on camouflage, this species flaunts their toxicity in the open.

Growing to just 32.9 mm in length, these frogs are tiny but fiercely territorial. Males perch on fallen logs or leaves, calling loudly to attract mates and defend their domain. Their vocalisations shift depending on their surroundings—frogs near noisy streams produce higher-pitched calls to cut through the background noise.

Unlike most #amphibians, they do not lay their eggs in water. Instead, the female carefully deposits them on the forest floor. Once the tadpoles hatch, she carries them one by one on her back, climbing high into the canopy to deposit them in the tiny water pools inside bromeliads. She returns regularly to feed them unfertilised eggs, ensuring they receive the nutrients needed to grow. Without this dedicated parental care, the tadpoles would not survive (Medina et al., 2013).

Geographic Range

The harlequin poison frog is found only in the Chocó region of western Colombia, a biodiversity hotspot teeming with rare and endemic species. But its habitat is shrinking fast. Once covering vast swathes of rainforest, this species is now confined to small, isolated patches between 300 and 730 metres above sea level. This extreme habitat fragmentation is pushing the species closer to extinction (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2019).

Diet

Harlequin poison frogs are insectivores, feasting primarily on ants, mites, and termites. Their diet is directly linked to their toxicity—these frogs do not produce their own poison but instead absorb toxic alkaloids from the insects they consume. In captivity, where their diet is different, they lose their toxicity entirely, proving just how essential their rainforest ecosystem is to their survival.

Reproduction and Mating

This species’ reproductive strategy is one of the most fascinating in the animal kingdom. Unlike most frogs that lay hundreds of eggs in water, the harlequin poison frog invests heavily in just a few offspring. The Harlequin Poison Frog demonstrates remarkable parental care.

Males attract females through distinct vocal calls, often influenced by environmental factors such as stream noise. After the female lays her eggs on the forest floor, the male guards them until they hatch. Then, the mother carries each tadpole on her back, one at a time, up into the trees. She carefully places them in separate bromeliads—tiny pools of water trapped in the plant’s leaves. To ensure their survival, she periodically returns to each tadpole and lays unfertilised eggs for them to eat. Without this specialised care, they would not survive (Medina et al., 2013).

This highly specialised reproductive strategy ensures tadpole survival in an ecosystem with limited standing water.

Threats

The major threats to the Harlequin Poison Frog are deforestation caused by small-scale agriculture, including livestock, mining activities, and logging, resulting in degraded and fragmented forest at the only known locality (M. Pareja pers. comm. February 2019). However, some patches are still in good condition (M. Pareja pers. comm. February 2019). Pollution associated with mining also represents a threat to the species.
IUCN RED LIST

The harlequin poison frog is critically endangered due to a perfect storm of human-driven threats:

Illegal pet trade

These frogs are highly sought after in the exotic pet trade, with many dying in transit or being removed from wild populations at unsustainable rates.

Noise pollution

Increased human activity and deforestation near water sources are affecting their ability to communicate and reproduce.

Deforestation and Palm Oil Expansion

• Colombia’s rainforests are being rapidly cleared for palm oil plantations and cattle ranching. Illegal logging and land conversion have fragmented the frog’s habitat, leaving it nowhere to go.

Illegal Wildlife Trade

This species is highly sought after by collectors in the exotic pet trade. Despite international protections, poachers continue to smuggle these frogs out of Colombia.

Gold Mining and Mercury Contamination

Illegal gold mining pollutes water sources with mercury, poisoning amphibians at all life stages. Deforestation caused by mining activities is wiping out breeding and foraging habitats.

Climate Change

Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns threaten the species’ delicate reproductive cycle. Extreme weather events may impact the availability of bromeliads for tadpole development.

Take Action!

The harlequin poison frog is on the edge of extinction, but there’s still time to help:

Boycott palm oil. The destruction of rainforests for palm oil plantations is wiping out amphibian habitats. Choose products that are 100% palm oil-free.
Reject the illegal pet trade. Never buy wild-caught poison frogs. Support only reputable captive breeding programs.
Support rainforest conservation. Donate to organisations protecting Colombia’s rainforests and wildlife.
Demand stronger protections. Contact policymakers to advocate for stricter enforcement against wildlife trafficking and habitat destruction.

Every action counts. Resist and fight back before it’s too late. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

FAQs

How toxic is the harlequin poison frog?

The harlequin poison frog produces powerful alkaloid toxins known as histrionicotoxins, which block neural receptors and can cause paralysis or death in predators. The toxins are acquired from their diet—frogs raised in captivity without their natural diet are completely non-toxic (Medina et al., 2013).

What makes Harlequin Poison Frogs toxic?

Their toxicity comes from consuming alkaloid-rich ants and mites. When deprived of this diet, such as in captivity, they lose their poison.

Why do Harlequin Poison Frogs have different calls?

Research by Vargas-Salinas and Amézquita (2013) found that their calls adapt to environmental noise levels. Frogs living near noisy streams produce higher-frequency calls to ensure their signals are heard, while those in quieter areas use lower-frequency calls. This shows how environmental conditions shape evolution in real time.

Why is the harlequin poison frog critically endangered?

Deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat, illegal wildlife trade, gold mining, and habitat fragmentation have driven this species to the brink. With an extremely limited range, any further habitat loss could mean extinction (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2019).

What is unique about the harlequin poison frog’s reproduction?

This species exhibits exceptional parental care. Unlike most frogs, they do not lay eggs in water. Instead, females transport newly hatched tadpoles on their backs to water-filled bromeliads, where they are fed unfertilised eggs until they mature (Medina et al., 2013).

Do harlequin poison frogs make good pets?

No. While some poison dart frogs are legally bred in captivity, wild-caught harlequin poison frogs are often smuggled illegally, contributing to population decline. Captive frogs also lose their toxicity, making them less vibrant and potentially unhealthy (Zamora et al., 1999).

How many Harlequin Poison Frogs are left in the wild?

Exact numbers remain unknown, but population declines due to habitat loss and illegal trade are well-documented. Their Endangered status indicates a high risk of extinction if conservation efforts are not strengthened.

How long do Harlequin Poison Frogs live?

They typically live 5–8 years in the wild.

Are Harlequin Poison Frogs good pets?

No. Keeping these frogs as pets is a selfish act that contributes to their extinction. Many individuals in the pet trade are illegally captured, harming wild populations and destroying delicate ecosystems. If you care about these animals, advocate for their conservation instead of supporting the illegal pet trade.

How can I help protect Harlequin Poison Frogs?

Avoid and boycott palm oil, support conservation efforts, and speak out against the illegal pet trade. Protecting their rainforest home is the key to their survival.

Support the conservation of this species

Poison Dart Frogs

Manchester Museum captive breeding programme

Further Information

IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2019. Oophaga histrionica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T144231367A144443857. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T144231367A144443857.en. Downloaded on 16 February 2021.

Vargas-Salinas, F., & Amézquita, A. (2013). Stream noise, hybridization, and uncoupled evolution of call traits in two lineages of poison frogs: Oophaga histrionica and Oophaga lehmanni. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e77545. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077545

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d). Harlequin poison frog. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin_poison_frog

Harlequin Poison Frog Oophaga histrionica

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

Take Action in Five Ways

Join 3,176 other subscribers

More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

On Overcoming Activism Exhaustion and Burn-Out

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, But Not Okay to Remain That Way

We all go through stuff that makes us feel no okay, maybe a phase/season/period/stage, etc. It’s okay for this to happen, and our feelings are totally valid. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just allow yourself to outgrow the situations.

“On Overcoming #Activism Exhaustion: Social media is not a place to go when your emotions are everywhere, because whatever is trending there makes things worse”. A blog post by @winniecheche Comms Lead for @kean_network
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Remember, you are the sole director of your life

When you are working hard for a better tomorrow, best trips, or even peace of mind. Making it happen entirely depends on you. You are the sole director of your life, hence make the most important decisions of your life

What happens when you are fighting and advocating for a greater goal that involves the outside world?

When you are doing your best to help others understand the importance of eliminating waste, pollution, growing trees, embracing minimalism, respecting wildlife space, or even being accountable t our environment. Especially to a population that for a very long time saw nothing wrong with everything wrong that has brought us where we are as a planet.

So far it has been progressing plus fails, or even creation of more problems.

Feelings of powerlessness and heartbreak are par for the course

Most of the time you may feel powerless and even afraid of facing another new day, as it always comes with its own challenges. Adding more problems to the list.

I remember mourning the clearing of trees along Mombasa road, despite all efforts put in place. The action still went ahead.

One sad afternoon, after participating in a strike #AfricaisNotADumpster on my way home I was shattered. Waiyaki way too had fallen victim to the clearing of trees. We almost got tear-gassed for striking, and the sadness in me had yet found a solution. Here we were with other problems and defeat was laughing at us.
CHECHE winnie

It was heartbreaking and all kinds of thoughts flooded my brains. I was numb for a moment, and couldn’t hold myself from crying. For a minute I wondered if it was worth it, whatever I was doing as an activist.

On Overcoming Activism Exhaustion and Burn-Out

Avoid social media if you feel vulnerable

Social media is not a place to go when your emotions are everywhere, because whatever was trending there made things worst. The last nail on the coffin was the online Zoom where the tunnels gained more darkness.

For a few days, I was lost. I didn’t really understand or even have slight hopes that for the sure the environment will be given a front seat in our country.

Then I asked myself, what are my fellow activists going through? Are they letting it ut in any way? Do they have a listening ear?

We have seen their social media accounts being blocked due to their activism, and their friends continue to plead for them. On top of still fighting for nature, wildlife, people, and climate action.

They are young people who feel like adults no wrong care about their future. How do they get help?

Be kind to yourself, but don’t stay stuck

You still have a fight and course to complete, be your best friend. It’s important to understand that it may take a while before anything positive is done. Or even for leaders to finally understand your quest. Allow yourself to digest and recover, to be able to fight another day.

Conservationists In Their Own Words: Cheche Winnie — Me at a protest

You have to understand that they may take a while, they may mock you, they may frustrate you, or even kill your hopes. But you need to remain strong. If you need a time out, go for a trip and forget all these problems for a minute. Avoid places that remind you of the problems, and for a minute. Allow yourself to heal and forget everything going on.

Just because they continue ignoring you, they will eventually accept facts.

Climate change is no longer a future problem or a given part of the world. It’s everywhere and people are feeling it.

It will be an honor one day to enjoy milestones made from your activism. We need you to continue fighting and taking good care of your selves, both mentally and physically.

Tears clean a lot of bad stuff facing our peace, do utilize it. If you have to scream it out, go to the field or beach and scream. Let it out.

By Cheche Winnie

Read more on Cheche Winnie’s blog

Orinoco Crocodile Crocodylus intermedius

IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered

Location: Colombia, Venezuela

Endemic to the Orinoco River Basin in #Colombia and #Venezuela, the majestic Orinoco Crocodile is one of the rarest and most threatened reptiles on Earth. These intelligent, powerful apex predators once ruled vast waterways across northern South America, but today, their numbers have plummeted by more than 80% due to hunting, habitat loss, pollution, and deforestation. They are now restricted to tiny, fragmented populations across fewer than 34 rivers. #Goldmining and #palmoil #pollution pose a massive risk, imperiling these magnificent crocodiles. Urgent conservation efforts are essential to safeguard the Orinoco Crocodile from the brink of extinction. Boycott #palmoil, #soy, and #beef products contributing to deforestation. #BoycottGold4Yanomami Reject crocodile skin and be #vegan, and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Ancient Orinoco #Crocodiles 🐊😻live in #Venezuela 🇻🇪 #Colombia 🇨🇴. They are critically endangered from #river #pollution from #gold mining, #palmoil 🌴 #meat 🥩 #deforestation. Support them! #BoycottGold #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/18/orinoco-crocodile-crocodylus-intermedius/

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Appearance and Behaviour

The Orinoco Crocodile is a magnificent and commanding presence in the waterways of the llanos. Reaching lengths of up to 6.6 metres, they are among the largest crocodilian species alive today. Their long, narrow snout is lined with sharp, conical teeth perfect for catching fish, and their olive-green skin is flecked with dark spots that help them blend into the muddy rivers. Their tails are muscular, their limbs powerful, and their eyes capable of seeing both above and below water.

These crocodiles are not mindless predators—they are deeply intelligent and play an essential role in their ecosystems. They bask in family groups, communicate through vocalisations, and mothers fiercely guard their nests. During dry seasons, they dig burrows into riverbanks and aestivate, waiting for rains to return. They are curious and resourceful, knowing their environment intimately and relying on it to raise their young.

Diet

Carnivorous and opportunistic, Orinoco Crocodiles primarily hunt fish, but will also take turtles, birds, and mammals that venture near the water’s edge. Young crocodiles eat insects and frogs until they grow large enough to tackle bigger prey. Their ambush style of hunting—silent and still—means they often go unnoticed until it is too late for their target. Their powerful bite and rapid acceleration make them highly efficient hunters.

Reproduction and Mating

Breeding occurs in the dry season between January and February. Female crocodiles dig nests on sandy riverbanks and lay between 32 and 44 eggs. After about 90 days, the hatchlings emerge, usually coinciding with the start of the wet season. Mothers are intensely protective, often staying near the nest to defend it from predators and assisting hatchlings as they enter the water.

These crocodiles are devoted to their young. Mothers have been observed communicating with their babies through calls and guarding them well beyond hatching. They are caring and resilient parents—traits rarely associated with reptiles but clearly evident in this extraordinary species.

Geographic Range

The Orinoco Crocodile is now restricted to scattered populations in Colombia and Venezuela, inhabiting rivers such as the Cojedes, Capanaparo, Meta, Arauca, Cravo Norte, Guaviare, and Vichada. Once widespread across the entire Orinoco River system, they are now extinct in more than half of their former range.

In Venezuela, the Cojedes and Capanaparo Rivers are the most important remaining strongholds. In Colombia, remnant populations cling on in the Ele, Lipa, and Cravo Norte River systems. Many rivers now report no sightings at all, with zero individuals found in surveys over decades.

Threats

Historical Overhunting for Skins:

From the 1920s to the 1950s, more than 254,000 crocodile skins were exported from Colombia alone. This brutal trade decimated wild populations across the species’ entire range (Medem, 1981).

Gold Mining and Mercury Pollution:

Illegal and industrial gold mining continues to poison rivers with mercury, a deadly neurotoxin that contaminates crocodile nesting areas and kills aquatic prey species they rely on.

Palm Oil, Soy and Cattle Ranching:

Massive deforestation for palm oil, soy monocultures, and cattle ranching is destroying riparian habitats. These industries pollute rivers, compact soil, and dry out the riverbanks where crocodiles nest, leading to widespread nest failure and loss of young.

River Development and Dams:

Hydroelectric dams and canal construction have altered the natural flow of rivers, reducing habitat availability and isolating populations. Some nesting beaches have been permanently flooded or destroyed.

Low-Scale Poaching and Fear-Based Persecution

Despite legal protections, crocodiles are still hunted or killed out of fear in some areas. Their eggs are also collected for local consumption. This low-level persecution remains a barrier to recovery.

Genetic Isolation and Fragmentation:

Most populations are now cut off from one another, with no chance of genetic exchange. This makes them vulnerable to inbreeding and local extinction.

Take Action!

The Orinoco Crocodile is a sentient and vital being—an ancient protector of South America’s rivers who deserves not just to survive, but to thrive. They care for their young, shape the waterways they inhabit, and have lived in balance with their ecosystems for millions of years.

But gold mining is poisoning their waters with mercury. Palm oil, soy, and cattle industries are bulldozing their nesting beaches and flooding their rivers with pesticides and faecal waste. Roads and dams are cutting them off from each other, forcing them into smaller and smaller refuges. These pressures are pushing them closer to extinction every year.

Support indigenous-led conservation efforts. Boycott palm oil, soy, and beef linked to deforestation. Never buy crocodile leather. Advocate for river protections and rewilding programmes. The Orinoco Crocodile needs our help—before their ancient voice is silenced forever. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

How many Orinoco Crocodiles are left in the wild?

Fewer than 250 mature individuals are estimated to remain across Colombia and Venezuela. Most are confined to a few shrinking river systems. Some rivers now report zero sightings.

How long do Orinoco Crocodiles live?

They can live up to 60–70 years in the wild if they survive past juvenile threats. However, most do not reach maturity due to habitat destruction and hunting.

What are the main threats to Orinoco Crocodiles’ survival?

Historic skin hunting wiped out most of the population. Today, gold mining, palm oil deforestation, soy plantations, cattle ranching, pollution, dams, and genetic isolation threaten their survival.

Is there hope for recovery for the critically endangered Orinoco Crocodile?

Yes—but only with urgent action. Venezuela has released over 9,800 captive-bred crocodiles, and Colombia has begun smaller-scale reintroductions. A 2023 genetic study found captive populations still have high diversity and are suitable for wild release (Saldarriaga-Gómez et al., 2023).

Are Orinoco Crocodiles dangerous to humans?

Like all apex predators, they must be respected, but human attacks are extremely rare. Most killings of crocodiles are driven by fear, not fact.

The Orinoco Crocodile Crocodylus intermedius is distributed in the northern part of South America, occurring in both Colombia and Venezuela (Medem 1983). The Orinoco Crocodile is one of the largest crocodylian species extant in the world (largest individual recorded 669 cm total length; Humboldt 1860 in Medem 1983). This species dwells a variety of habitats including rivers in tropical evergreen forest, piedmont streams in the foothills of the Andes, and seasonal rivers in savannas (Medem 1983).

Support the conservation of this species

Crocodile Specialist Group

Further Information

Balaguera-Reina, S.A., Espinosa-Blanco, A., Antelo, R., Morales-Betancourt, M. & Seijas, A. 2018. Crocodylus intermedius (errata version published in 2020). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T5661A181089024. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T5661A181089024.en. Downloaded on 16 February 2021.

Moreno-Arias, R.A., Ardila-Robayo, M.C. Journeying to freedom: the spatial ecology of a reintroduced population of Orinoco crocodiles (Crocodylus intermedius) in Colombia. Anim Biotelemetry 8, 15 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-020-00202-2

Saldarriaga-Gómez, A. M., Ardila-Robayo, M. C., Medem, F., & Vargas-Ramírez, M. (2023). Hope is the last thing lost: Colombian captive-bred population of the Critically Endangered Orinoco Crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) is a genetic reservoir that could help to save the species from extinction. Nature Conservation, 53, 85–103. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.104000

Seijas, A., Espinosa-Blanco, A., & Chávez, B. (2010). Population status of Crocodylus intermedius in Venezuela. Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter, 29(1), 7–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(99)00184-6

Orinoco Crocodile Crocodylus intermedius

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Inside the colourful world of animal vision

Want to hear something trippy? Unlike other aspects of an object such as its size or mass, colour is not an inherent property. Perceiving colour is a function of an organism’s sensory system. In other words, colour is a construct of the mind. But whose minds? Aside from various human experiences of colour, other-than-human eyes perceive colour in radically different ways.

Seeing the world through the eyes of #shrimp 🍤#bees 🐝🪲 #apes 🦧🦍 #dogs 🐶🐕 is a deep-dive into wonder. It generates a humble understanding of diverse ways of seeing the world #communication #behaviour #vision #animals #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/17/inside-the-colourful-world-of-animal-vision/

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The eye’s retina contains specialised cells called photoreceptors, which convert light that bounces off objects into signals that the brain processes into visual images. Two types of photoreceptors are rods and cones.

Inside the colourful world of animal vision - chameleon eye

Inside the colourful world of animal vision - jaguar eyes

In humans, there are three types of cone cell that are responsible for the early stages of colour vision. Each type of cone cell is maximally absorbent in a different part of the spectrum – short, medium and long wavelengths of light. These are typically named blue, green and red cones, respectively, to describe how humans perceive light at each cone’s peak absorbency.

Inside the colourful world of animal vision

When light hits the eye, the cones are stimulated differentially according to their type, and the relative excitation of each type underlies colour sensations. In a process known as colour opponency, the outputs are then compared against each other in various permutations. This information is then sent to and interpreted by the brain, which provides the final sensation of colour.

How do other animals see colour?

Animals vary in the number and sensitivity of cones present, so visual processing can result in very different colour sensations, even before differences in brain processing are taken into account.

An example of how the world looks to a dichromatic (left) and trichromatic (right) primate. PLOS ONE, CC BY

Most mammals are dichromatic – they have only two cone types (blue and green sensitive). Humans have three types of interacting cones and so are trichromatic, although there is at least one documented case of a female having four cones.

Apes and Old World monkeys also have trichromatic vision, but New World monkeys have variable colour vision that is also sex-linked, meaning that males and females of the same species can have different numbers of cone type. Generally, females are trichromats whereas males are dichromats as they lack the photoreceptor that is sensitive to red wavelengths of light.

In several species of New World monkeys, such as marmosets and tamarins, all males are dichromatic but females may be either dichromatic or trichromatic. Trichromacy may offer a foraging advantage by enabling green and red food items to be easily distinguished, but may also be useful in signalling amongst individuals of the same species, whereas dichromacy may be advantageous when foraging for camouflaged food or in low light levels.

Bees are also trichromatic, but they can see ultraviolet (UV) light as they have a UV sensitive receptor, as well as blue and green sensitive receptors. In contrast, most birds, fish, and some insects and reptiles are tetrachromatic, having four (but sometimes even five or more) types of cone cell. In many cases in tetrachromats, the fourth photoreceptor allows the animal to perceive UV light.

Spectral sensitivity curves for a typical tetrachromat (such as a bird). L. Shyamal/Wikipedia

Despite not having a specific UV receptor, it was recently discovered that reindeer in the Arctic Circle see UV light. While the mechanism of this ability is still under investigation, it is thought that UV vision evolved due to the UV rich snowy conditions that the reindeer live in.

Lichens, which are a major source of food for reindeer, absorb UV light, as does urine – a good indicator of the presence of predators or potential mates. These appear black against the UV reflecting snow and are likely easier to see.

Do more photoreceptors result in better colour vision?

Theory predicts that a visual system comprised of around five photoreceptor types is plenty for encoding colours of the visual spectrum in day-to-day life.

The mantis shrimp (Haptosquilla trispinosa) by far exceeds this, with 12 photoreceptors. It was thought that the 12 types of photoreceptor in this marine crustacean allowed them to see a spectacular array of colours that we, as humans, could not imagine.

A recent study examining this hypothesis tested the limits of the mantis shrimp’s ability to discriminate between two colours. If more photoreceptors enable heightened colour perception, then the shrimp should be excellent at distinguishing between similar colours. Surprisingly, however, the mantis shrimp performed worse than humans.

The shrimp seem to have evolved a novel way of encoding colour, as the photoreceptor outputs do not undergo any opponent processing. The outputs appear to be sent directly to the brain where they may be compared to a “mental template” of colours. This type of vision may be advantageous as light requires less processing in the eye and is therefore likely to be more rapid. However, nothing is yet known about how the brain processes these inputs.

In truth, we can probably never know how a shrimp, or any kind of animal, perceives colour. Not only is it difficult for us to imagine colour vision more with more dimensions than our own, but we also need to account for how the brain interprets such information. That being said, there is still much left to learn about the colourful world of animal vision.

Laura Kelley, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Golden-headed Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus chrysomelas

Golden Maned Lion Tamarin - South America

Golden-headed Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus chrysomelas

Endangered

Brazil

Red List Status: Endangered — Red List criteria confirm continued decline linked to the near-total destruction of Brazil’s Atlantic coastal forests.

Locations: Restricted to fragmented forest remnants in southern Bahia state, Brazil. Most populations persist in lowland mesophytic and semideciduous forest patches near Una Biological Reserve, Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, and Itabuna, occasionally in cabruca (shade-cacao agroforestry landscapes).

Appearance & Behaviour

Golden-headed Lion Tamarins radiate brilliance in the form of fiery red manes giving them a leonine appearance. Once a common sight in Brazil’s endangered Atlantic Forest and Bahian lowlands, their world has shrunk enormously to become scattered forest islands besieged by palm oil, cocoa, and cattle. Resourceful, social, and fiercely territorial, these primates nurture group cohesion through communal care and complex calls. Support indigenous sovereignty and safeguarding of ecosystems — use your wallet as a weapon and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.

Known for their vivid fiery mane of gold and red, Golden Headed Lion #Tamarins are endangered in #Brazil due to #deforestation for gold #mining, #palmoil, soy and #meat. Help them survive #BoycottGold #Boycottpalmoil, be #vegan for them #Boycott4Wildlife https://wp.me/pcFhgU-17z

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Known as fire-faced small #primates, Golden Headed Lion Tamarins are #endangered from forest #ecocide for #meat #cocoa and #palmoil! Help them every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife and remember – all gold is blood gold https://wp.me/pcFhgU-17z

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Appearance and behaviour

The Golden-Maned Lion Tamarin, a fascinating creature, is distinguished by their striking golden-orange mane, which encircles their faces and extends down their backs, reminiscent of a lion’s mane. This mane not only serves as a majestic feature but also plays a crucial role in social communication among these primates. Inhabiting the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, this species leads an arboreal lifestyle, navigating the tree canopies with grace and agility.

Their striking golden-orange manes framing solid black bodies, with both males and females measuring 26–30cm in body length, and tails of up to 35cm. Weighing 500–700g, they epitomise agility: leaping, dashing, and threading through high canopies with dextrous, clawed digits. Family groups range from 2–8, forging strong bonds through communal grooming, play, and food sharing. Their calls, including long-distance territorial whoops and soft foraging trills, maintain group unity and mark territory. Tree hollows and, occasionally, giant bromeliads serve as sleeping refuges — reused for several nights before abandonment, a strategy to avoid predators. Adaptable yet cautious, Golden-headed Lion Tamarins sometimes share upper canopy hunting grounds with Wied’s black-tufted-ear marmosets, undisturbed due to different microhabitat preferences.

They exhibit remarkable social habits, living in tightly-knit family groups that communicate through a rich repertoire of vocalisations, facial expressions, and body postures. Their diet is varied, including fruits, insects, and small invertebrates, demonstrating their adaptability in foraging within the dense foliage.

Golden-maned lion tamarins are active during the day and are known for their agile movements and dexterity, which are essential for their survival in the complex ecosystem of the tropical forest. Conservation efforts are crucial for this species, as habitat loss poses a significant threat to their survival, highlighting the need to protect the vibrant biodiversity of their environment.

Threats

Palm oil, cocoa, and cattle deforestation

Golden-headed Lion Tamarins are confronted by catastrophic loss of primary forest, with over 92% of original habitat destroyed for palm oil, cocoa, and cattle expansion. Logging and burning of mature forest, especially for monoculture crops and pasture, fragments populations and reduces vital connections between habitat patches. Palm oil is particularly unsustainable, as conversion follows the collapse of the cocoa economy, leaving only degraded or regrown land for wildlife. Genetic isolation and decreased group sizes are now recognised in formerly robust zones.

The Illegal pet trade

These visually striking animals are often captured and sold illegally as exotic pets, which not only diminishes wild populations but also subjects individuals to stress, disease, and mortality during capture and transportation. Illegal capture disrupts group social structures, often leading to high mortality rates.

Population isolation

Small, isolated groups are especially vulnerable to predation, disease outbreaks, and environmental stress, amplified by irregular rainfall, temperature extremes, and human pressure.

Urban expansion

The primary threat to the Golden-Maned Lion Tamarin is the destruction of their natural habitat, primarily due to urban expansion, agricultural development, and especially the logging of forests for timber.

Palm oil deforestation

A significant and growing threat, palm oil plantations are leading to the deforestation of vast areas of the Atlantic coastal forests in Brazil. The expansion of palm oil cultivation results in the loss of critical habitat for the tamarins, reducing their living spaces and food sources.

Predation

While natural predation is a normal ecological pressure, habitat fragmentation makes tamarins more vulnerable to predators. Smaller, isolated patches of forest allow predators easier access to the tamarins’ territories.

Disease

Fragmented populations are more susceptible to the spread of diseases, which can have devastating effects on small, isolated groups of tamarins.

Climate Change

Alterations in climate change patterns can affect the availability of food resources and the quality of the tamarins’ habitat, potentially leading to further population declines.

Diet

Fruit forms the bulk of the Golden-headed Lion Tamarin’s diet; over 70% of foraging time is spent seeking and consuming ripe, soft fruits, mainly in the morning. Insects, spiders, snails, small lizards, and the occasional frog or bird egg supplement the diet, especially in the dry season or in more degraded forests. Long, dexterous fingers extract animal prey concealed in bromeliads, tree bark, and rotting wood. Unlike some callitrichines, tamarins consume tree gums and exudates only occasionally, relying instead on the stability of fruit and animal prey resources year-round in forest refuges. Bromeliads, as microhabitats, provide key sources of both fruit and invertebrate prey during seasonal scarcity.

Mating & Reproduction

Breeding synchronises with the wet season, between October and April, when food is most abundant. After a gestation period of approximately 4.2 months (125 days), females usually give birth to twins, occasionally triplets or singletons. Each infant receives intensive alloparental care — fathers and older siblings actively help carry and protect the young. Males increase vigilance and proximity during the female’s fertile phase, often displaying mounting behaviour and mate-guarding. In the wild, group flexibility and cooperation directly enhance infant survival and allow small groups to persist despite fragmentation.

Geographic Range

Golden Lion Tamarins occupy remnants of Atlantic lowland forest in southern Bahia, including core strongholds in Una Biological Reserve and several fragmented cabruca mosaics. Most groups inhabit elevations below 400m, where contiguous canopy persists. Only 8% of remaining habitat is officially protected, and occurrence is highest in the eastern edge of their range, where forests are larger and more connected. The species’ range has contracted by 42% over the past three decades; creation of ecological corridors through reforestation is urgently needed to prevent further genetic and demographic collapse.

FAQs

Are Golden Lion Tamarins extinct?

Golden Lion Tamarins are not extinct, but they remain at extreme risk of localised extinction in several regions. Recent field surveys confirm approximately 2,500 mature individuals in fragmented forest patches. Continued palm oil, cocoa, and cattle expansion could force entire populations to disappear.

What makes Golden-headed Lion Tamarins ecologically important?

As primary seed dispersers and insect predators, Golden-headed Lion Tamarins sustain forest regeneration and complexity. Their foraging shapes the composition of native tree species, influencing broader ecosystem health. Loss of these tamarins can reduce plant diversity, harm canopy structure, and threaten other dependent wildlife.

How do Golden-headed Lion Tamarins adapt to fragmented forests?

Exceptional ecological flexibility characterises this species. Tamarins use a mosaic of old-growth, regrowth, and agroforestry forest, adjusting diet and activity to locally available resources. Bromeliads and cabruca landscapes offer crucial foraging and movement corridors. However, without sufficient canopy connections and forest core, genetic isolation remains a persistent risk.

What are the main threats to Golden-headed Lion Tamarins’ survival?

The greatest threats are rapid expansion of palm oil, cocoa, and cattle deforestation, the illegal pet trade, population isolation, and genetic erosion. Fragmentation exposes small groups to greater predation and disease, imperilling long-term survival.

Take Action!

Use your wallet as a weapon and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife. Demand transparency and support indigenous-led agroecology, reforestation, and land rights movements. Protect and restore the Atlantic Forest for future generations of tamarins, other animals, plants and people.

Support the conservation of this species

Smithsonian National Zoo

Merazonia wildlife rescue and sanctuary rehabilitate tamarins and marmosets some of the most trafficked animals in the world. Donate to them here

Further Information

Aliaga-Samanez, G.G., Lima, D.P., de Carvalho, F.S., & Bueno, J.C.C. (2023). Genetic diversity in ex situ populations of the endangered Leontopithecus chrysomelas and implications for its conservation. American Journal of Primatology, 85(9), e23670. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23670

Guidorizzi, C.E. (n.d.). Ecology and Behaviour of Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) in a Mesophytic Forest in Southern Bahia, Brazil. Final Report. https://media.rufford.org/media/project_reports/128.07.04%20Detailed%20Final%20Report.pdf

Kierulff, M.C.M., Mendes, S.L., Rylands, A.B. & de Oliveira, M.M. 2020. Leontopithecus chrysomelas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T40643A17935020. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T40643A17935020.en. Downloaded on 05 March 2021.

Raboy, B. E., & Dietz, J. M. (2004). Diet, foraging, and use of space in wild golden-headed lion tamarins. American Journal of Primatology, 63(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20032

Teixeira, J.V.S., Bonfim, F.C.G., Vancine, M.H., Ribeiro, M.C., & Oliveira, L.C. (2023). Effect of landscape attributes on the occurrence of the endangered golden-headed lion tamarin in southern Bahia, Brazil. American Journal of Primatology, 86(1), e23588. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23588

Golden-headed Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus chrysomelas

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The Rarest Rhino: The Two Last Northern White Rhinos of Kenya

The rarest rhino in the world can be found wallowing in the mud at the Ol Pejeta Nature Conservancy in Kenya. Constantly guarded by vigilant rifle-clad guards, these two animals have no idea that they are the last members of their kind. They are northern white rhinos – the very last northern white rhinos anywhere on Earth. They have been poached to the very edge of extinction, with virtually no hope for recovery. Could this be the saddest story ever told? Likely! Vehemently and strongly oppose all forms of trophy hunting and poaching wherever you see it and #Boycott4Wildlife

Under constant guard are the last two Northern white #rhinos alive. Evidence of the insanity of #poaching and #trophy #hunting – soon to be lost forever. Mourn for them, fight for them forever! ☠️🦏 END TROPHY HUNTING! #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/15/the-rarest-rhino-the-two-last-northern-white-rhinos-of-kenya

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The white rhino, paradoxically, is simultaneously both the rarest and commonest of all the world’s rhinos. If you consider the species as a whole, it is the only one that isn’t considered endangered (the IUCN classifies it as ‘Near Threatened’). However, all but two members of this species belong to the southern subspecies, of which roughly 20,000 individuals remain – far more than all the other four rhino species combined. The southern and northern white rhinos look remarkably similar, even if you stood them next to each other – although very trained eyes and scientific literature will tell you that their body proportions are slightly different and the northern white tends to hold its head a little higher.

The Rarest Rhino_ The Two Last Northern White Rhinos of Kenya

The northern subspecies once roamed Africa in their thousands. But by the 1980s, intensive poaching had massively reduced their numbers, to the point that only around 15 wild individuals remained. In 2005, a survey found only four remaining animals, in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Considering that the national park is in the middle of a seemingly relentless war zone, it’s unsurprising that only a few years later even these last individuals were gone.

A very small captive population remained but they rarely reproduced. In a last-ditch attempt to save the subspecies, four rhinos from Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic (the only reproductive animals of their kind left) were transported to Ol Pejeta Nature Conservancy in 2009, where they were monitored and protected round-the-clock by armed guards. It was hoped that being back in their natural habitat might stimulate these rhinos into breeding. Sadly, they never did. One of the four, a male, died in 2014 from natural causes. A year later, in 2015, the last two remaining northern white rhinos in captivity (one at Dvůr Králové Zoo; the other in San Diego Zoo), which were both elderly and unable to breed, also died, leaving the three living at Ol Pejeta Nature Conservancy – Sudan, Najin and Fatu – as the final representatives of their kind. But even these surviving animals – grandfather, mother and daughter – were too old, too ill, and too related to breed naturally.

In 2017, Ol Pejeta Conservancy teamed up with Tinder and Ogilvy Africa to launch a fundraising campaign in order to try and save the subspecies. They created a Tinder account for Sudan, the last remaining northern white rhino male. ‘I’m one of a kind,’ Sudan said on his profile. ‘No, seriously, I’m the last male white rhino on planet earth. I don’t mean to be too forward, but the fate of my species literally depends on us getting together. I like to eat grass and chill in the mud. No problems performing under pressure. 6ft tall and 5,000lbs if it matters.’ Tinder users could swipe right to make their donations for the development of new fertility treatment for the rhinos since all attempts to get them to mate naturally had failed.

But sadly, on 19 March 2018, Sudan was euthanised after suffering from age-related health issues, leaving only two ageing females left alive. Barring the existence of unknown or misclassified male northern white rhinos elsewhere in Africa, the subspecies is functionally already extinct.

But there is one possible means of salvation.

Egg cells have been taken from both Najin and Fatu and, in August 2019, were artificially inseminated using the frozen sperm that had been extracted from the last northern white rhino males, before they had died. Two of the resulting embryos were viable. In January 2020, another embryo was created using the same technique. All three embryos have been placed in liquid nitrogen until they can be placed in a surrogate mother, almost certainly the closely related southern white rhino.

Is the northern white rhino too far gone? Is it simply in limbo, waiting for the inevitable confirmation that the species has become yet another casualty in the extinction event that is threatening biodiversity around the world? Or will advanced reproductive technologies allow for one of the greatest comebacks of all time?

By Nature Nook

Discover more on Nature Nook

Javan Rhinos Not Safe from Poachers

Testimony of Illegal poachers in Indonesia finds 26 of the estimated remaining 72 living Javan #Rhinos were slaughtered over the past five years. Shame!

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by Palm Oil Detectives

Indian Rhinoceros (Greater One-horned Rhino) Rhinoceros unicornis

The largest of the three rhino species in Asia, the Indian Rhino has a distinctive and unique armour-plated look which lends them a fairytale quality that has captivated admirers for aeons. Although Indian rhino numbers have climbed over the past decades due to conservation, they are under imminent threat from the expansion of palm oil…

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A Broken Record on Repeat – Animal Extinction Likely if Palm Oil Expands in North East India

As with the forest kingdoms of Borneo and the Amazon rainforest, the Indian forest kingdom of the Golden Langurs and Pygmy Hogs is under siege by palm oil in the north east of India. The region is home to some of the most endangered wildlife in the world. Situated in the foothills of the Himalayas,…

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Celebrate #WorldRhinoDay by leaving the forests alone and #Boycottpalmoil in the supermarket to save Rhinos

Indonesia is home to two of the world’s five rhinoceros species. Both the Javan rhino Rhinoceros sondaicus and the Sumatran rhino Dicerorhinus sumatrensis still exist today, uniquely only in the country. In India’s north east, the Indian Rhino hangs on to survival. Yet their existence has become increasingly fragile due to the unrelenting growth of…

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How do we protect the rapidly disappearing Javan Rhino?

With only 74 individuals left, the remarkable and beautiful Javan Rhino is on the brink of extinction and can be found on one of the most densely populated islands in the world – Java. Boycotting palm oil is how you can help them. Sunarto, Universitas Indonesia The Javan rhino was once found throughout many parts…

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Baird’s Tapir Tapirus bairdii

Baird’s tapirs may look like they are relatives of elephants, but they’re actually closer kin to horses, donkeys, zebras, and rhinoceroses. Also known as the Central American tapir, they are the largest land mammals in Central America and a living relic of an ancient lineage.

Their robust, stocky bodies and distinctive trunk-like snout make…

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by Palm Oil Detectives

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇮🇱🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

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Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara

IUCN Status: Critically Endangered

Location: Brazil (Paraná, São Paulo)

Found only in a narrow strip of lowland Atlantic coastal forest in south-eastern Brazil, specifically on Superagüi Island and adjacent mainland areas in Paraná and southern São Paulo.

The black-faced lion #tamarin Leontopithecus caissara, also known as the Superagüi lion tamarin, is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. With a total population of fewer than 400 individuals and a fragmented, low-lying coastal habitat of #Brazil, this species is on the edge of extinction. Threats include logging, the illegal #pettrade, palm oil, #soy and #meat deforestation and urban expansion. Conservation efforts have begun, but there is still enormous work to do to protect these irreplaceable #primates. Protect this rare and charismatic #primate by taking urgent action. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan

With brilliant bright golden fur 🐵🐒🌞 contrasting to black faces and expressive eyes, Black-Faced Lion #Tamarins are forgotten #monkeys of #Brazil’s Atlantic #Forest. Help them survive #Vegan #BoycottMeat 🥩⛔️🙊 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/14/black-faced-lion-tamarin-leontopithecus-caissara/

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Black-faced Lion #Tamarins 🐵🐒🤎 are critically #endangered #primates on a narrow strip of Brazil’s Atlantic coast 🇧🇷🌳🚜🔥 #ClimateChange, low population and the illegal #pet trade are threats. Fight for them when you #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/14/black-faced-lion-tamarin-leontopithecus-caissara/

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Appearance and Behaviour

A striking little primate, the black-faced lion tamarin is covered in brilliant golden-orange fur, contrasted by a deep black face, hands, feet, and tail. Their expressive features, long limbs, and silky manes make them one of the most eye-catching members of the lion tamarin family. They move with agility through the canopy and are almost entirely arboreal, spending their days foraging, grooming, and playing in close-knit family groups of 2–8 individuals. Social bonding is strong, with grooming between breeding pairs being particularly important.

Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara Threats

Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara by Paolo Valadao via iNaturalist

Diet

The black-faced lion tamarin has a varied diet consisting mainly of fruits and invertebrates such as insects, spiders, and snails. They also feed on nectar, fungi, and the tender leaves of bromeliads. During the dry season, when other food sources are scarce, they rely more heavily on mushrooms—a rare trait among primates.

Reproduction and Mating

Breeding usually occurs between September and March, with a single dominant female giving birth to twins each year. Their social structure is cooperative, with all group members helping to care for the young. Life expectancy in the wild is unknown but is estimated to be around 15 years, similar to other lion tamarins. A lack of genetic diversity due to population fragmentation increases the risk of inbreeding depression, threatening the species’ long-term survival.

Geographic Range

This species is found only in coastal Brazil, specifically in the Superagüi National Park on Superagüi Island and adjacent mainland in Paraná, and the Jacupiranga State Park in southern São Paulo. They inhabit lowland forest types including arboreal restinga and swampy secondary forests below 40 metres in elevation. A historical canal construction physically separated the island population from mainland groups, severely limiting gene flow.

Threats

The Black-faced Lion Tamarin is Critically Endangered and lives in several fragmented small populations that are still subject to loss of suitable habitat. Despite being present in a half-dozen protected areas the estimated number of mature individuals is less than 250, the average number of mature individuals is less than 50, and populations are projected to continue declining due to ongoing loss of suitable habitat in the states of Sao Paulo and Parana.
IUCN RED LIST

Habitat loss and fragmentation:

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most devastated biomes on Earth, and the black-faced lion tamarin’s range has been reduced to a few fragmented patches. Urban sprawl, agriculture, infrastructure development, and unplanned ecotourism have carved up their habitat. Heart-of-palm extraction is a particular threat, removing vital palm trees from which they feed and find shelter.

Illegal pet trade and poaching:

Despite their rarity, black-faced lion tamarins are targeted for the illegal pet trade due to their striking appearance and small size. Many are captured from the wild, leading to the collapse of already fragile family groups. Hunting and poaching for bushmeat, though less common, still occurs in some areas.

Inbreeding and isolation:

The separation of island and mainland populations has led to a severe lack of genetic exchange for Black-faced Lion Tamarins. With just a few isolated groups, the species is experiencing inbreeding depression, weakening its ability to adapt to diseases and environmental changes.

Climate change and extreme weather:

Extreme storms, intensified by climate change, have already destroyed large tracts of tamarin habitat. A 2018 hurricane flattened over 2,000 hectares of forest used by several groups. As a tree-dwelling species with no captive safety population, they are dangerously exposed.

Take Action!

Support indigenous-led conservation projects in the Atlantic Forest. Advocate for the protection and reconnection of forest patches through ecological corridors. Reject the out-of-control palm oil industry that contributes to habitat destruction and fragmentation across Brazil. Never buy or keep exotic primates as pets—it’s a death sentence for wild populations. Choose products that are 100% palm oil-free and commit to a #Vegan lifestyle to protect forests and the beings who call them home. Make sure that you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife go #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

How many black-faced lion tamarins are left in the wild?

A decades old population study in 2011 found that population estimates were under 400 individuals across both mainland and island groups (Nascimento et al., 2011). Ongoing research using camera traps and tracking collars is helping to refine this estimate and urgent action is needed to protect these irreplaceable primates.

How long do black-faced lion tamarins live?

Though specific data is limited, these tamarins are believed to live up to 15 years in the wild, similar to their close relatives in the Leontopithecus genus (Amaral Nascimento et al., 2011).

Why is habitat fragmentation so dangerous for them?

Fragmented forests isolate tamarin populations, preventing genetic exchange and leading to inbreeding. Without large, connected areas of forest, young tamarins cannot disperse safely, often being forced to the ground where they are vulnerable to predation or being struck by vehicles (Mongabay, 2022).

What role does palm oil play in the decline of the Black-Faced Lion Tamarin?

Palm oil plantations continue to replace vital forest ecosystems in Brazil. These are often grown illegally, destroying the native trees these tamarins (and many other species) depend on. There is no such thing as ‘sustainable’ palm oil—these green labels are a dangerous form of greenwashing.

Can I keep a black-faced lion tamarin as a pet?

Absolutely not. Keeping tamarins as pets drives illegal trade, tears apart families in the wild, and pushes this Critically Endangered species closer to extinction. If you truly care about them, you must fight against the exotic pet trade and protect their wild homes.

Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara boycott

Support the conservation of this species

IPE Brazil

Fondation Ensemble

Merazonia wildlife rescue and sanctuary rehabilitate tamarins and marmosets some of the most trafficked animals in the world.

Further Information

Jerusalinsky, L., Mittermeier, R.A., Martins, M., Nascimento, A.T., Ludwig, G. & Miranda, J. 2020. Leontopithecus caissara. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T11503A17934846. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T1 1503A17934846.en. Downloaded on 15 February 2021.

Amaral Nascimento, A. T., Schmidlin, L. A. J., Prado, F., Valladares-Padua, C. B., & De Marco Júnior, P. (2011). Population density of black-faced lion tamarin (Leontopithecus caissara). Neotropical Primates, 18(1), 17–21. https://doi.org/10.1896/044.018.0103

Bragança, D and Menegassi, D. (2022). How Brazil is working to save the rare lion tamarins of the Atlantic Forest. Mongabay. Retrieved from https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-brazil-is-working-to-save-the-rare-lion-tamarins-of-the-atlantic-forest/

Nascimento, A. T. A., & Schmidlin, L. A. J. (2011). Habitat selection by, and carrying capacity for, the Critically Endangered black-faced lion tamarin Leontopithecus caissara (Primates: Callitrichidae). Oryx, 45(2), 288–295. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605310000943

Nascimento, A. T. A., Schmidlin, L. A. J., Valladares-Padua, C. B., Matushima, E. R., & Verdade, L. M. (2011). A comparison of the home range sizes of mainland and island populations of black-faced lion tamarins (Leontopithecus caissara) using different spatial analysis. American Journal of Primatology, 73(11), 1114–1126. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20977

Padua, C., & Prado, F. (1996). Notes on the natural history of the black-faced lion tamarin Leontopithecus caissara. Dodo, 32. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270819754_Notes_on_the_natural_history_of_the_black-faced_lion_tamarin_Leontopithecus_caissara

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d). Superagüi lion tamarin. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superag%C3%BCi_lion_tamarin

Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
— Phill Dixon (@PhillDixon1) January 21, 2024

If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
— Tschinmai🇮🇳🇩🇪 (@mugabe139) July 9, 2023

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

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Palm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small: study

A Sumatran Orangutan clings to a broken tree. Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

#Palmoil plantations have an overall negative impact on #biodiversity, according to research released this week. The #study, published in Nature Communications, found palm oil plantations are home to fewer insect species than even intensive rubber tree plantations. A forests expert at James Cook University, Bill Laurance, said of the research: “The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.” Make sure you take action every time you shop and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife!

The study, conducted in Sumatra – an Indonesian island famous for its tiger and orangutan populations – found that palm oil plantations contain half the number of insect species that natural forests do.

#Research from @uniGoettingen shows #palmoil plantations are bad for #wildlife great and small. Help endangered #elephants 🐘 #orangutans 🦧 #rhinos 🦏#birds 🦆🦉 native #plants 🌿 TAKE ACTION #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🩸🔥❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/13/palm-oil-plantations-are-bad-for-wildlife-great-and-small-study/

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We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351

Worldwide, palm oil is one of the most rapidly expanding crops, with the total area of land devoted to palm oil production tripling in the last 25 years. This expansion has been blamed for the rapid deforestation seen in both Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years.

Craig Jones Wildlife Photography - Sumatran virgin rainforests

Craig Jones Wildlife Photography - Sumatran Orangutan baby

Craig Jones Wildlife Photography - Sumatran Orangutan mother and baby

In Sumatra, roughly 25% of palm oil plantations have been directly converted from forest. Still, Indonesia – one of the world’s leading palm oil producers — plans to double palm oil production by 2020.

The environmental and social consequences of palm oil production have been hotly debated over the past decade, particularly due to the industry’s impact on orangutans.

Losing predators

A decline in predatory insects — which help keep other species under control — was particularly worrying.

Laurance explained:

“This is analogous to the kinds of changes we see in larger animals, such as birds and mammals. The specialists and bigger predators tend to be highly vulnerable, and they’re often replaced by generalist omnivores in disturbed environments.

“For example, you lose tigers and specialised understory birds and gain ‘trash’ species—such as generalist rats—that can live almost anywhere.”

Read about the disappearing creatures of palm oil deforestation

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Ecosystem damage

Insects are important in ecosystems because they help recycle nutrients, and are a food source for other species.

The new research shows a clear link between the reduced numbers of species in palm oil plantations, and lower energy transfer and ecosystem function in these regions.

This is bad news for other species that live in the region, such as the orang-utan: if the environment is producing less energy, it will be harder to survive.

Head of the Conservation Biology department at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and one of the paper’s authors, Ulrich Brose, said there could be several reasons for the loss of insects.

“Two potential explanations are the pesticides or insecticides applied at higher levels in oil palm plantations or differences in energy (litter or nutrients) input.”

He said their data couldn’t yet disentangle these causes, however the research team at the University of Göttingen were working towards an answer.

Samantha Walker, Editor, The Conversation

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

Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes

IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

Location: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Possibly Extinct: Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo

Habitat: Primary and secondary moist lowland forests, swamp forests, montane and submontane forests, dry forests, woodland savannahs, fallow-agriculture mosaics, and oil palm-dominated landscapes

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are one of humanity’s closest living relatives and the most widespread of all great apes, with a vast historical range stretching across 21 African countries. Research from Uganda’s Budongo Forest has revealed remarkable prosocial behaviours: chimpanzees treat each other’s wounds, remove human snares, and apply chewed medicinal leaves to injuries. These extraordinary acts of empathy and healing show us just how intelligent, sensitive and socially complex these primates are. We must act now to protect them before it’s too late. Despite this, they are now classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List due to catastrophic declines of more than 50% over a 75-year period, from 1975 to a projected 2050. These losses are driven by a lethal cocktail of threats: rampant poaching, habitat destruction for palm oil and logging, industrial mining, disease outbreaks like Ebola, and illegal trafficking. Subspecies such as P. t. ellioti have been reduced to only a few thousand individuals, while the once widespread P. t. verus is now Critically Endangered. Protecting them means dismantling the extractive industries that are ripping Africa’s forests apart such as the meat industry and palm oil industry. Help them when you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife and be #Vegan #BoycottMeat

#Chimpanzees 🦍🐵🤎 are directly threatened by #palmoil and #poaching 🏹 42% of their range is great #palmoil land 🤮 SAY NO to #deforestation in #Congo 🇨🇩 #Liberia 🇱🇷 #Uganda 🇺🇬 when u #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🚜🔥☠️⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/13/chimpanzee-pan-troglodytes/

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#Chimpanzees 🐒🐵 once made Congo and #Uganda’s #forests grow 🇨🇩🌱 Now they’re threatened by #palmoil, #poaching and human conflict. Fight for their survival! When you shop check the label and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🧐🤢❌💀 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/03/13/chimpanzee-pan-troglodytes/

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Appearance and Behaviour

Chimpanzees are robust, long-limbed primates covered in coarse black or dark brown hair, with expressive bare faces and opposable thumbs and toes. Sexual dimorphism is subtle but present, with males slightly larger than females. They are renowned for their intelligence, strong familial bonds, and use of tools—a behaviour once thought uniquely human. Stone and wooden tools are crafted to crack nuts; stripped plant stems are used to fish for termites, ants, and honey; and in some populations, percussive techniques are used to break open tortoise shells, suggesting a form of proto-technology (Pika et al., 2019).

They live in large, complex, fission-fusion communities averaging 35 individuals but sometimes reaching up to 150. These societies are shaped by intricate social hierarchies, alliances, and cooperation. Male chimpanzees defend territories collectively, while females focus on maternal care and food acquisition. Power dynamics fluctuate within groups, influenced by both aggression and cooperation, and recent research shows that intersexual power is far more fluid than previously believed, shifting according to ecological and social contexts (Davidian et al., 2022).

Recent findings from the Budongo Forest in Uganda have revealed just how empathetic and knowledgeable these primates are. Chimpanzees there have been recorded treating wounds not only on themselves, but on others in their group. They apply chewed leaves from medicinal plants directly to cuts, remove wire snares, and even lick the wounds of unrelated individuals—a groundbreaking demonstration of care and prosocial concern with no immediate personal gain. These behaviours, including post-mating hygiene using leaves, suggest chimpanzees possess deep-rooted emotional awareness and a sophisticated understanding of their natural pharmacy. They are not just survivors in a threatened forest—they are healers, caretakers, and guardians of a cultural legacy we barely understand.

Diet

Chimpanzees are omnivorous and opportunistic, with fruit making up approximately 50% of their diet. They also consume terrestrial herbaceous vegetation, bark, stems, flowers, seeds, pith, mushrooms, honey, eggs, and even small to medium-sized mammals, making them the most carnivorous of the great apes. In Guinea and Gabon, for example, chimpanzees have been observed hunting monkeys, exploiting tortoises using percussive tools, and sharing meat with group members—behaviours that demonstrate advanced cognition and complex social rules around food distribution (Pika et al., 2019).

They are the most carnivorous of the great apes. Chimpanzees are also proficient tool users. Tools made from plant parts are used to extract bees, ants and termites from their nests (e.g., Fowler and Sommer 2007), and stone and wooden hammers are used to crack nuts (e.g., Boesch and Boesch 1984, Matsuzawa et al. 2011).

Chimpanzees living in anthropogenic landscapes, such as the agriculture-swamp mosaics of Sierra Leone, have adapted their diets to include cultivated fruits, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), and swamp-dwelling plant species (Garriga et al., 2019). This ability to adjust to human-altered environments showcases their remarkable resilience, but also places them in direct conflict with farmers.

Reproduction and Mating

Females reach sexual maturity around 7 to 8 years, with first births typically occurring between 13 and 14 years, though births as early as 9 have been recorded in P. t. verus. The reproductive cycle is approximately 35 days, and gestation lasts 230 days. Offspring are typically weaned by age 4 or 5, and the interbirth interval—averaging between 4.6 and 7.2 years—reflects their slow reproductive rate. Females may continue reproducing into their late forties and give birth to up to nine infants across their lifespan, though infant mortality is high and only one-third typically survive beyond infancy (Williamson et al., 2013).

These slow life histories make chimpanzee populations particularly vulnerable to even moderate increases in mortality, whether from poaching, disease, or habitat loss. Communities rely heavily on the experience of older individuals for group stability, knowledge transfer, and parenting—meaning that every loss is acutely felt.

Geographic Range

Chimpanzees once roamed much of sub-Saharan Africa but now survive in fragmented populations across 21 countries. Their current range extends over 2.6 million km² but is increasingly broken by logging roads, mines, and agricultural development.

The four subspecies include:

P. t. verus: Found in West Africa from Senegal to Ghana. Now Critically Endangered and possibly extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo.
P. t. ellioti: Endemic to Nigeria and Cameroon north of the Sanaga River, with fewer than 9,000 individuals.
P. t. troglodytes: Occupies parts of Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and DRC.
P. t. schweinfurthii: Inhabits East and Central Africa, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and western Tanzania.

Recent studies show that over half the chimpanzee population in Sierra Leone lives outside protected areas, adapting to swamp-agriculture mosaics where swamps and abandoned settlements offer critical refuge (Garriga et al., 2019).

Threats

As tropical Asia nears its capacity for oil-palm plantations, Africa has become the new frontier for this crop, which offers excellent economic prospects in countries with appropriate rainfall, soil and temperature conditions (Rival and Lavang 2014). Unfortunately, these areas coincide with good great ape habitat: 42.3% of the African apes’ range is suitable for oil palm (Wich et al. 2014), so the spread of plantations is likely to hit Chimpanzee populations hard in coming years.
IUCN red list

Poaching for Bushmeat and Pet Trade

Despite national and international protections, illegal poaching remains the most immediate and deadly threat to chimpanzees. They are hunted for bushmeat in both rural and urban markets, especially near resource extraction camps. Infants captured from slain mothers often end up in the exotic pet trade. Wire snares set for other animals often maim or kill chimpanzees indiscriminately. This hunting pressure is amplified by road access into previously untouched forests, allowing easier transport of weapons, meat, and live animals (Quiatt et al., 2002; Hicks et al., 2010).

Habitat Loss from Logging and Mining

Extractive industries are razing African forests with shocking speed. Logging concessions, especially in the Congo Basin, degrade habitat by removing key food trees and fragmenting territories. Mining for gold, cobalt, and other minerals permanently destroys habitat through open-pit mining, pollution, and worker migration. The construction of roads, railways, and camps introduces further disturbance and dramatically increases hunting risk (Morgan et al., 2007; Laurance et al., 2015).

Palm Oil and Industrial Agriculture

With Southeast Asia reaching capacity, multinational companies have turned to Africa as the next frontier for palm oil. Up to 42% of chimpanzee habitat overlaps with regions ideal for oil palm. Forest is cleared on a massive scale to make way for plantations. This transformation not only removes food trees and nesting sites but also introduces human-wildlife conflict as chimpanzees raid crops out of desperation. They are often killed in retaliation, poisoned, or captured during such encounters (Wich et al., 2014; Garriga et al., 2019).

Disease and Zoonotic Transmission

Chimpanzees are genetically similar to humans and therefore vulnerable to many of the same diseases. Outbreaks of Ebola virus disease have decimated populations in Uganda, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. The virus spreads rapidly and has wiped out entire communities in a matter of weeks. Respiratory illnesses, anthrax, and other infections also spread from humans during tourism, research, and contact in forest-edge settlements (Walsh et al., 2005; Köndgen et al., 2008; Gilardi et al., 2015).

Habitat Encroachment and Fragmentation

Outside protected areas, chimpanzees increasingly live in “agriculture-swamp matrices”—landscapes shaped by slash-and-burn farming, abandoned villages, and scattered oil palms. In Sierra Leone, these degraded landscapes are dominated by roads and settlements. Chimpanzees prefer swamps, avoid roads, and often nest near abandoned villages where wild fruits grow. But such areas are also hotspots for conflict and poaching (Garriga et al., 2019). Their continued existence in these landscapes depends on human tolerance, often rooted in cultural taboos or religion.

Take Action!

The survival of chimpanzees hinges on dismantling the industries that exploit Africa’s forests. Boycott palm oil, demand ethical investment policies from your bank, and support local and indigenous communities fighting for land sovereignty. Advocate for bans on forest clearance and stronger enforcement of wildlife protections. Never support the exotic pet trade or zoos that profit from captivity. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat

FAQs

How many chimpanzees are left in the wild?

Estimates vary, but the total population is believed to be between 172,000 and 300,000 individuals across all four subspecies. P. t. verus and P. t. ellioti are the most endangered, with populations under 65,000 and 9,000 respectively. The strongest populations are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Guinea (IUCN, 2021; Plumptre et al., 2010).

How do chimpanzees use tools?

Chimpanzees have been observed crafting and using a wide range of tools—sticks to fish for termites, stones to crack nuts, and even using rocks to break open tortoise shells (Pika et al., 2019). These behaviours vary by region and community, suggesting cultural transmission of knowledge across generations.

Do chimpanzees eat meat?

Yes. They are the most carnivorous of all great apes. While fruit forms the basis of their diet, they also hunt monkeys, birds, and small mammals. Meat is often shared socially, reinforcing bonds within groups.

Are chimpanzees affected by palm oil?

Industrial agriculture is expanding across the chimpanzee’s range, particularly oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), which is transforming the West African landscape. In places like Sierra Leone, more than half of all chimpanzees now survive in fallow-agriculture mosaics dominated by oil palms and swamps. These semi-domesticated oil palms—originally planted by people—have become fallback nesting sites and food sources for chimpanzees (Garriga et al., 2019). However, reliance on these plants places them directly in conflict with farmers, leading to more crop-raiding incidents and retaliatory killings. As noted in studies of chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, swamps and mangroves may offer some refuge due to being less disturbed, but these marginal areas are also vulnerable to fire, agricultural drainage, and infrastructure development. The expansion of palm oil agriculture not only destroys critical forest but introduces new risks of zoonotic disease and food insecurity for chimpanzees already on the edge.

Can chimpanzees survive outside protected areas?

Studies in Sierra Leone show that chimpanzees are adapting to anthropogenic landscapes such as swamps and farmland mosaics, but this is no substitute for intact forest ecosystems. Their survival depends on local tolerance, and even that is being eroded as competition for space intensifies (Garriga et al., 2019).

Despite the fact that all killing, capture or consumption of great apes is illegal, poaching is the greatest threat to most Chimpanzees. The second major driver of decline in central Chimpanzee populations is infectious disease, especially Ebola virus disease (EVD).

Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes by Szabolcs Kókay @kokayart

The conversion of forest to farmland across Africa has severely reduced the availability of Chimpanzee habitat. Such habitat loss is especially acute in West Africa, where it is estimated that more than 80% of the region’s original forest cover had been lost by the early 2000s (Kormos et al. 2003).

Effective, coordinated land-use planning is required across the geographic range of chimpanzees to avoid the clearing of large areas of Chimpanzee habitat to establish large-scale agriculture, especially oil-palm plantations (IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group 2014, Wich et al. 2014, Ruysschaert and Rainer 2015).
IUCN Red list

Support the conservation of this species

Liberia Chimps Rescue

Africa Conservation Foundation

African Wildlife Foundation

Jane Goodall Conservation Foundation

WCS Uganda

Further Information

Davidian, E., Surbeck, M., Lukas, D., Kappeler, P. M., & Huchard, E. (2022). The eco-evolutionary landscape of power relationships between males and females. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 37(8), 706–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.004

Freymann, E., Hobaiter, C., Huffman, M. A., Klein, H., Muhumuza, G., Reynolds, V., Slania, N. E., Soldati, A., Yikii, E. R., Zuberbühler, K., & Carvalho, S. (2025). Self-directed and prosocial wound care, snare removal, and hygiene behaviors amongst the Budongo chimpanzees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 13, Article 1540922. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2025.1540922

Garriga, R. M., Marco, I., Casas-Díaz, E., Acevedo, P., Amarasekaran, B., Cuadrado, L., & Humle, T. (2019). Factors influencing wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) relative abundance in an agriculture-swamp matrix outside protected areas. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0215545. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215545

Humle, T., Maisels, F., Oates, J.F., Plumptre, A. & Williamson, E.A. 2016. Pan troglodytes (errata version published in 2018). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T15933A129038584. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T15933A17964454.en. Downloaded on 12 March 2021.

Musgrave, S., Koni, D., Morgan, D., & Sanz, C. (2024). Planning abilities of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in tool-using contexts. Primates, 65, 525–539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-023-01106-4

Pika, S., Klein, H., Bunel, S., Baas, P., Théleste, E., & Deschner, T. (2019). Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) exploit tortoises via percussive technology. Scientific Reports, 9, 7661. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43301-8

van Dijk, K., Cibot, M., & McLennan, M. R. (2021). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) adapt their nesting behavior after large-scale forest clearance and community decline. American Journal of Primatology, 83(10), e23323. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23323

Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes

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More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlife pic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
— Curious Ape 🦧🌏💚🇦🇺🇺🇦 (@CuriousApe4) May 16, 2022

The marketing message that makes me choose one product over another time and again. Palm oil free pic.twitter.com/rMqeun9uFH
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If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: Let’s Sort the Plastic Menace

Smoke is a clear sign of something brewing up. The decision taken afterward determines the outcomes. If ignored, the fire may destroy everything. But if we bother to check out, we may save the day.

It has been more than a month now since we heard the rumors of Kenya being used as a hub (read that as a dumpster), for recycling and waste exportation. This is to be included in the Trade deal with the USA. Sadly, none of the concerned authorities have bothered to come out and tell Kenyans what is happening. The youths have asked so many questions, but they are yet to get answers.

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: “By destroying one another, we end up destroying ourselves. We don’t have planet B and we are not secondary citizens. We deserve a clean healthy nation!” #Kenya #Africa by @chechewinnie
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Just wondering…

If the rumor (smoke ) was on something else, would we have gotten this same silence?

COVID millionaires exposé made people questioned, and we even witnessed a reduction in the numbers of the affected people within the shortest time possible.

What we tend to forget is that whatever affects our environment, affects us too. Its time we offered our planet’s health the seriousness it deserves.

We have homes flooded everywhere on our planet. People are losing lives and denied the very basic human needs. Things like education have become a luxury, not forgetting the access to clean water.

But this is not well presented, as the people who have been trusted to voice their concerns live comfortably in the cities. And dropped with choppers to stage charity events. Not necessarily to help the affected but for politic’s sake. Until when will we allow us?

If a developed country can’t handle their waste, why would they pass it to developing ones in Africa?

Recycling is no longer a plan to be depended on when it comes to handling the waste. It’s expensive and in some products fail to make any business sense.

The plastic business has made it clear that they don’t care about our environment.

Laws have been regulated, and guidelines around handling plastic products are outlined. But this only exists on papers. They may be busy supporting the cleanup events or tree planting ones, but what we most need from them. Is to stop suffocating our planet with plastics.

The creatives have done awesome jobs around turning waste into treasure. And we recommend them for that. But, we have to understand that the upcycled/downcycled /recycled products will eventually end up somewhere. It’s a postponed problem, but it will eventually happen. Now that’s where we should be thinking from.

We are humans, who need to be treated like any other humans around the world. We deserve good healthy deals that build all of us, and not one side.
CHECHE WINNIE

We should use this opportunity to find a permanent replacement for the plastics. Our decisions should consider our environment and sustainable use of the available natural resources.

It’s time we recognized that life empowerment surpasses all greed. Life before profits, not vice versa.

By destroying one another, we end up destroying ourselves

To those who think that the climate change or plastic menace fight is for some people, its time you opened your souls to reality. Look around and evaluate if you are happy with what you see. From the smelly landfills, treeless cities, not supportive local media, division amongst, among others.

By destroying one another, we end up destroying ourselves. We don’t have planet B and we are not secondary citizens. We deserve a clean healthy nation.

Let’s take this smoke seriously and do what is right for the common mwananchi. We may be poor but we don’t need to be treated poorly.

By Cheche Winnie

Read more on Cheche Winnie’s blog

Leopard Panthera pardus

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Of all the big cats prowling the wild, few inspire as much awe and fascination as the leopard Panthera pardus. Sleek, powerful, and enigmatic, leopards are found across a staggering range—from sub-Saharan Africa, forests of West Africa and the Middle East to Central Asia and the forests of Southeast Asia. Yet this extraordinary adaptability masks a disturbing truth. The leopard is currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with some subspecies such as the Amur, Arabian, and Javan leopard are on the very brink of extinction. Across their range, these elusive big cats are being driven into ever-shrinking patches of habitat, with populations decimated by deforestation, rampant poaching, prey depletion, and the relentless spread of palm oil plantations and other monoculture. Help leopards every time you shop and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Sleek and splendid jungle royalty – #leopards 🐆💛 are adaptable, yet are now #extinct in places due to #palmoil #deforestation, #poaching and other threats. Fight for them in the supermarket and be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-199

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Majestic #leopards are adaptable and a range over several continents, yet they’re #extinct in places due to #palmoil #deforestation, #poaching and other threats. Help them every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🚫#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-199

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Living: (Parts of) Central and Southern Africa, The Middle East, Southern Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia.

Possibly Extinct: Gambia; Israel; Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Lesotho; Tajikistan; Viet Nam

Extinct: Hong Kong; Jordan; Korea, Republic of; Kuwait; Lebanon; Mauritania; Morocco; Singapore; Syrian Arab Republic; Togo; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Uzbekistan

The primary threats to Leopards are anthropogenic. Deforestation for agriculture and mining, reduced prey base and human conflict have reduced Leopard populations throughout most of their range (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Ray et al. 2005, Hunter et al. 2013).

Leopard Panthera pardus sitting in a tree

Leopard Panthera pardus close up in the darkness

Leopard Panthera pardus - boycott palm oil to protect them

Leopard Panthera pardus sitting under a tree

Leopard Panthera pardus eviscerating prey

Appearance and Behaviour

Every leopard wears a coat unlike any other— with their rosettes and spots forming a one-of-a-kind constellation across golden, ochre, or charcoal fur. The beauty of these big cats is captivating, their gaze watchful and calculating.

Built to blend in

Their golden-yellow to pale ochre fur blends seamlessly into grasslands and forests, while leopards in colder or wetter habitats often appear darker or more greyish. This camouflage is key to their stealthy hunting behaviour. Melanistic leopards—commonly called black leopards or erroneously called black panthers—also occur, especially in rainforest regions.

Built for explosive predatory power

Built for stealth, leopards possess a combination of muscular grace and explosive power that allows them to leap six metres horizontally or drag prey twice their weight into the boughs of trees. Males are typically larger, weighing between 60 to 90 kilograms, while females range from 35 to 45 kilograms. Their bodies are compact and athletic, crowned with a long tail that helps with balance when climbing or navigating rough terrain.

Highly complex social communities are important

Though often described as solitary, recent research reveals a surprisingly complex social life behind the scenes. A 2023 study by Verschueren et al. uncovered evidence of structured social networks in leopards, suggesting that even these famously aloof cats form stable social units. Within these, same-sex and opposite-sex interactions occur regularly, and individuals appear to engage in temporal segregation—essentially taking turns using the same spaces at different times. Some leopards, known as ‘central individuals,’ maintain connections within and outside of their group, playing a key role in keeping their small communities stable. When such individuals are killed—often by trophy hunters or in retaliation for livestock losses—the social fabric of an entire local population can unravel.

Solitary yet highly social

Territorial by nature, leopards scent-mark and vocalise with a characteristic sawing call to define and defend their domains. Females maintain smaller, overlapping ranges often adjacent to their mothers’, while males tend to roam over much larger areas that may overlap with several female territories. Mating encounters can be prolonged and intense—filled with dramatic vocalisations, flirtatious circling, and frequent couplings over several days.

Hoisting prey into trees helps them avoid scavengers

Highly solitary and territorial, leopards are typically nocturnal but can be active at any time of day. They are agile climbers, often hoisting their prey into trees to avoid scavengers. They communicate through scent-marking, vocalisations like sawing calls, and claw scraping. Remarkably adaptive, leopards can survive in urban fringes, deserts, alpine zones, and tropical forests.

Leopard Photography below by Dalida Innes

Diet

Leopards are opportunistic carnivores with the broadest diet among large cats, consuming over 100 prey species. These include medium-sized ungulates such as impala, bushbuck, chital, wild boar, and livestock. They also eat primates, birds, reptiles, small mammals, and even insects. In human-dominated areas, dogs and goats become common prey, often exacerbating conflict.

Caching kills in trees or dense vegetation is common, particularly in regions where competition with lions, hyenas, or tigers is high. This strategy allows leopards to return to large carcasses over several days, safe from scavengers. Their hunting relies on stealth and powerful ambush attacks.

Reproduction and Mating

Leopards are polygynous, with mating possible year-round in most regions. Gestation lasts 90–105 days, after which females give birth to 2–4 cubs in secluded dens. Cubs stay with their mother for up to two years, learning to hunt and survive.

Infanticide by rival males is a major cause of cub mortality, along with predation by lions, hyenas, and other carnivores. Reproductive age begins around 2.5 years, and the average generation length is estimated at 9.3 years. In captivity, leopards can live over 20 years, though the average wild lifespan is 12–17 years.

black-leopard-by-freder-for-getty-images-signature-asia

Geographic Range

Leopards once roamed across nearly all of Africa and much of Asia, but now occupy only 25–37% of their historic range. Subspecies distributions vary:

African leopard (P. p. pardus) – Found across Sub-Saharan Africa; declining due to prey depletion and conflict.
Indian leopard (P. p. fusca) – Widely spread in India; frequent conflict with humans and poaching.
Javan leopard (P. p. melas) – Endemic to Java; fewer than 250 breeding adults remain.
Amur leopard (P. p. orientalis) – Russian Far East; under 60 individuals remain.
Arabian leopard (P. p. nimr) – Oman and Yemen; 100–120 individuals remain.
Persian leopard (P. p. saxicolor) – Iran, Turkey, Caucasus; <1,000 individuals.
Sri Lankan leopard (P. p. kotiya) – 700–950 estimated.
Indochinese leopard (P. p. delacouri) – Southeast Asia; heavily impacted by poaching.
North Chinese leopard (P. p. japonensis) – Fewer than 500 individuals remain.

Populations are highly fragmented and often isolated, with extirpations in North Africa, Singapore, much of the Middle East, and large parts of Southeast Asia.

Threats

Deforestation in South-east Asia has increased for palm oil and rubber plantations (Sodhi et al. 2010, Miettinen et al. 2011). These factors were not incorporated in the previous assessment and likely have a substantial impact on suitable Leopard range.
IUCN red LIst

Habitat Loss and Fragmentation

Leopard habitats are being rapidly converted to agriculture, livestock grazing, roads, and urban expansion. From 1975 to 2000, potential leopard habitat declined by 57% in Africa, particularly in West Africa and North Africa. In Southeast Asia, palm oil and rubber plantations have erased vast tracts of forest. Leopards in India, though still widespread, are often confined to forest islands amid human settlements.

Prey Depletion

Bushmeat hunting has decimated prey populations. Between 1970 and 2005, prey species declined by 59% in 78 African protected areas (Craigie et al., 2010). West and East Africa have seen the worst collapses. In Asia, wild ungulates like Sambar deer are disappearing across tropical forest systems, further threatening leopard survival.

Illegal Wildlife Trade

Leopards are poached for their skins and body parts, often for traditional ceremonies or as tiger substitutes in traditional medicine. In India, at least four leopards per week were poached between 2002 and 2012. In southern Africa, up to 7,000 leopards may be killed annually to supply leopard skins to the Shembe Church (Balme, unpub. data). In Morocco, dozens of skins were found in just two surveys.

Trophy Hunting

Though regulated under CITES, trophy hunting quotas are often based on outdated models. In Zimbabwe, poorly managed trophy hunting, bushmeat snares, and high lion densities (>6/100km2) significantly lowered leopard densities to as few as 0.7 leopards/100km2 in some areas (Loveridge et al., 2022). South Africa temporarily banned leopard trophy hunting in 2016 due to poor population data.

Conflict with Humans

Leopards are frequently killed in retaliation for livestock attacks. Conflict is especially high in India, where leopards often venture into human settlements. In northern Iraq and parts of Iran, unsustainable leopard killing continues in retribution for livestock depredation (Raza et al., 2012).

Subspecies-Specific Threats

Amur leopard: <60 individuals, impacted by forest fragmentation, poaching, and low genetic diversity.
Arabian leopard: Endemic to Oman and Yemen; threatened by poaching and habitat degradation.
Indochinese leopard: Functionally extinct in Laos and Vietnam due to poaching and deforestation.
Javan leopard: Critically Endangered; primary threats are habitat loss and illegal trade.
North Chinese leopard: <500 individuals remain, fragmented across reserves.

Take Action!

The leopard’s survival depends on our choices. Avoid products linked to deforestation—especially palm oil. Support indigenous-led conservation and efforts to protect habitat and prey species. Oppose trophy hunting and illegal wildlife trade and actively campaign online against this. Advocate for wildlife corridors and coexistence strategies.

Use your wallet as a weapon for vulnerable leopards and for big cats all over the world. Every time you shop make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife adopt a #Vegan lifestyle and actively join the online campaign to #BanTrophyHunting

FAQs

How many leopards are left in the wild?

No global population estimate exists for leopards due to significant data gaps and their elusive natures. However, detailed studies of specific subspecies highlight an alarming trend. The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), for example, is critically endangered with fewer than 60 individuals left in the wild. The Arabian leopard (P. p. nimr) has only 100 to 120 individuals in isolated populations across Oman and Yemen. The Javan leopard (P. p. melas), endemic to Indonesia, is estimated to have fewer than 250 wild individuals remaining. In contrast, the Indian leopard (P. p. fusca) has a relatively larger population of around 12,000 to 14,000 individuals, yet even they are under constant threat. Overall, leopards now occupy just 25% of their historical range, and localised extinctions are accelerating across Africa and Asia.

How long do leopards live?

Leopards generally live between 12 and 17 years in the wild, depending on factors such as prey availability, conflict with humans, and the presence of rival predators. In captivity, where threats are minimised, leopards can live up to 24 years. However, captivity cannot replicate the ecological complexity or the freedom of their wild habitats, which are vital for their well-being and natural behaviours.

Why are leopards disappearing?

Leopards are vanishing due to a toxic mix of human pressures. Habitat loss from deforestation, agriculture, and urban expansion is the single most significant threat. Leopards also suffer from prey depletion caused by unsustainable bushmeat hunting, especially in Africa where prey species in protected areas have declined by an average of 59%. Poaching for the illegal wildlife trade is rampant—leopards are killed for their skins, bones, and teeth. In India, an average of four leopards are poached each week. In Africa, ceremonial skin use, particularly among the Shembe Church in southern Africa, results in the deaths of thousands annually (Balme et al., unpublished data). Poorly managed trophy hunting has also devastated local populations, especially where outdated population models continue to inform CITES quotas.

Are leopards affected by palm oil plantations?

Yes, and the impact is devastating. The rapid spread of palm oil and rubber plantations in Southeast Asia has destroyed vast tracts of primary rainforest—habitats critical to the survival of Javan and Indochinese leopards. These forest-specialist subspecies rely on dense, biodiverse ecosystems for hunting, breeding, and shelter. Studies have shown that over 70% of native forests in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have been cleared, largely to make way for monoculture plantations. With their habitat fragmented and prey vanishing, these leopards face extinction. #BoycottPalmOil and support indigenous-led conservation to protect what remains.

Is leopard poaching still happening?

Yes—on a staggering scale. Despite CITES Appendix I protections, illegal trafficking continues unabated. Skins are sold for ceremonial use, particularly in parts of southern Africa and Asia. Bones and claws are used in traditional medicine or as trophies. According to studies, India loses at least four leopards a week to poaching (Raza et al., 2012), while surveys in Morocco have documented leopard skins openly sold in urban markets (Kumar et al., 2017). Seizures of leopard parts are common across Asia, and online trade remains widespread. In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, the trade in leopard skins for cultural regalia contributes heavily to the pressure on already-declining populations. With few deterrents and weak enforcement, poaching remains a major threat across the leopard’s global range.

Do leopards make good pets?

No. Leopards are wild apex predators, not domesticated animals. They have complex behavioural needs, vast territorial ranges, and require solitude. Keeping a leopard as a pet not only leads to severe psychological and physical distress for the animal but also fuels the illegal pet trade and pushes wild populations further toward extinction. Many so-called ‘pet’ leopards are stolen as cubs after their mothers are killed. These cubs are then sold into the exotic animal trade, where they are confined, abused, and deprived of everything natural to them. Keeping leopards as pets is a form of cruelty and exploitation—one that contributes directly to the collapse of wild populations. Advocate against exotic pet ownership and support efforts to keep wild animals in the wild where they belong.

There is no global population estimate due to data gaps, but some subspecies are critically endangered with populations under 100. The Indian leopard is estimated at 12,000–14,000 individuals (Bhattacharya, 2015). Amur leopards number fewer than 60.

Support the conservation of this species

Leopard Conservation

African Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife SOS

Stein, A.B., Athreya, V., Gerngross, P., Balme, G., Henschel, P., Karanth, U., Miquelle, D., Rostro-Garcia, S., Kamler, J.F., Laguardia, A., Khorozyan, I. & Ghoddousi, A. 2020. Panthera pardus (amended version of 2019 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T15954A163991139. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T15954A163991139.en. Downloaded on 09 March 2021.

Further Information

Africa Geographic. (n.d.). Leopards – Silent, secretive and full of surprises. Africa Geographic. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from

https://africageographic.com/stories/leopards-silent-secretive-and-full-of-surprises/

Dalida Innes Wildlife Photography

Jacobson, A. P., et al. (2016). Leopard (Panthera pardus) status, distribution, and the research efforts across its range. PeerJ, 4, e1974. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1974

Mitchell, C., Bolam, J., Bertola, L. D., Naude, V. N., Gonçalves da Silva, L., & Razgour, O. (2024). Leopard subspecies conservation under climate and land‐use change. Ecology and Evolution, 14(5), e11391. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11391

Loveridge, A. J., et al. (2022). Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of African leopard Panthera pardus population density. Biological Conservation, 272, 109641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109641

Raza, R. H., et al. (2012). Illuminating the blind spot: A study on illegal trade in leopard parts in India. TRAFFIC India Report. https://www.traffic.org/publications/reports/illuminating-the-blind-spot-a-study-on-illegal-trade-in-leopard-parts-in-india/

Verschueren, S., Fabiano, E. C., Nghipunya, E. N., Cristescu, B., & Marker, L. (2023). Social organization of a solitary carnivore, the leopard, inferred from behavioural interactions at marking sites. Animal Behaviour, 200, 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.03.019

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Leopard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard

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