Concerns Mount Over Palm Oil Expansion in Nagaland | The Nagaland Climate Change Adaptation Forum (NCCAF) has raised grave concerns about the environmental and social impacts of expanding palm oil plantations in the Indian region of Nagaland. They highlight potential deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and threats to indigenous livelihoods. Instead, they advocate for agroecological practices, less intensive crops and indigenous-led conservation in order to protect the Nagaland’s irreplacable ecosystems. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
The Nagaland Climate Change Adaptation Forum (NCCAF) has expressed significant concerns regarding the expansion of palm oil plantations in Nagaland, India. They warn that such developments could lead to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and adverse effects on indigenous communities’ livelihoods.
The forum highlights that large-scale palm oil plantations are often linked to widespread deforestation. Nagaland’s unique ecosystems, home to rare flora and fauna, face significant threats if forests are replaced with monoculture crops. Such deforestation could disrupt water cycles, increase soil erosion, and lead to habitat loss for local wildlife.
Additionally, the forum points to soil degradation and water depletion as critical issues. Palm oil farming is water-intensive, placing added pressure on local water resources already stretched by agricultural needs. The use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides further risks contaminating soil and harming nearby communities.
Social consequences are equally concerning. The acquisition of land for plantations could displace Indigenous communities that depend on traditional farming and forest-based livelihoods. This displacement threatens not only food security but also the cultural heritage tied to these lands.
The forum has also criticised the economic model behind palm oil expansion, describing it as exploitative. While corporate stakeholders profit, local farmers are often left in financial distress due to fluctuating palm oil prices and the long maturity period for crops.
As an alternative, the forum advocates for sustainable farming practices that align with Nagaland’s ecological and cultural heritage. It suggests exploring crops that are less resource-intensive and offer long-term environmental benefits.
The forum has emphasised the importance of involving Indigenous communities in land-use decisions. Transparent policymaking that respects local rights is crucial for achieving a balance between economic development and ecological preservation.
The Nagaland Climate Change Adaptation Forum calls on the government, environmentalists, and the public to critically evaluate the long-term consequences of palm oil expansion. By prioritising sustainable alternatives, Nagaland can safeguard its biodiversity while fostering economic growth.
For a detailed account, read the full article on Nagaland Post.
After wildfires, Belize’s indigenous people rebuild stronger based on “se’ komonil”: reciprocity, solidarity, gender equity, togetherness and community.
Investigation by Bloomberg exposes that despite being RSPO members, #SOCFIN plantations in #WestAfrica are the epicentre of #humanrights abuses, sexual coercion, environmental destruction, and #landgrabbing. Operating in #Liberia, #Ghana, #Nigeria, and beyond, SOCFIN’s…
Colonial palm oil and sugarcane causing the loss of West Papuans’ cultural identity. Land grabs force communities from forests, threatening Noken weaving
An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…
Indigenous Melanesian women in West Papua fight land seizures for palm oil and sugar plantations, protecting their ancestral rights. Join #BoycottPalmOil
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Extant (resident): Brunei Darussalam; Indonesia (Kalimantan); Malaysia (Sarawak, Sabah)
The #Borneo Forest Dragon, also known as the Borneo Anglehead #Lizard is a vividly coloured lizard native to Borneo. This arboreal #reptile is known for their prominent crest and beautifully camouflaged body, allowing them to blend seamlessly into their rainforest surroundings. Found primarily in undisturbed and secondary rainforests, the Borneo Forest Dragon thrives in humid environments, often near streams.
Although the latest assessment by IUCN Red List revealed that they are ‘least concern’, the plans to move the capital of Indonesia to Kalimantan is concerning to conservationists and animal lovers alike. Rampant habitat loss from #palmoil and #timber#deforestation on the island of Borneo posses a grave threat. Protect these striking animals and their rainforest home when you #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife!
Male Borneo Forest Dragons are bigger than females, with longer tails and a more prominent crest. They lay up to four eggs per clutch, which are deposited in a small burrow in the soil. Their colouration provides excellent camouflage from predators in the rainforest canopy, where they spend most of their time.
Males can grow to up to 13.6 cm long and with longer tails than females, who are slightly smaller. These lizards stand out thanks to the crest on their necks and backs, which looks like a sharp, lance-shaped ridge. Males and females show colour dimorphism, with males typically brown, olive, and green, with dark patterns. Meanwhile females have a striking rust-red colour with oval spots on their sides.
Found in the vines and tree trunks of primary and secondary rainforests, these lizards are tree-dwellers, spending most of their time in the forest canopy. When they feel threatened, they raise their bodies and flare the crest on their neck to look bigger.
Threats
Palm oil and timber deforestation
The primary threat to the Borneo Forest Dragon is habitat loss due to the clearing of forests for agriculture, including palm oil plantations, and logging activities. As rainforests are cut down, lizards lose access to the trees they depend on for shelter, food, and breeding sites. Fragmentation of their habitat isolates populations and increases their vulnerability to other threats. They are also threatened by agricultural run-off and toxic pesticides impacting their fragile ecosystem.
Habitat destruction
Selective logging and human encroachment have fundamentally changed the structure of the forest making it less suitable for arboreal species like the Borneo Forest Dragon and other reptiles. Secondary forests, while still viable habitats, do not offer the same quality of resources as primary forests.
Climate change
Extreme weather and changes to rainfall patterns due to climate change are likely to threaten their rainforest ecosystem. This shift in weather conditions may disrupt their breeding and food availability, forcing them to move to less suitable environments.
Borneo anglehead lizards reproduce by laying eggs. Females deposit up to four eggs in a small burrow dug in the soil. The eggs, which are around 22 mm in length, are laid at intervals of three months. The species’ arboreal nature means they rely on well-structured forests with plenty of trees and lianas for shelter and nesting sites.
Habitat
The Borneo Forest Dragon is endemic to the island of Borneo. Their range includes Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and Indonesia (Kalimantan), along with the Kingdom of Brunei. The Borneo Anglehead Lizard inhabits primary and secondary rainforests up to 700 metres above sea level. Preferring humid environments near streams where they can find abundant food and nesting sites.
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
A catastrophic storm in #Uganda’s Kalangala district left nearly 1,000 households homeless. The real culprit? Rampant #deforestation for #palmoil. Once rich in native forests that buffered storms, Kalangala is now a fragile landscape dominated by monoculture palm oil and #tobacco plantations that does not keep villages safe from climate induced flooding and severe storms. This human-caused disaster is a wake-up call: palm oil profits must never come before people and planet. Support #indigenous-led reforestation and demand corporate accountability for ecocide! #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife#HumanRights
On 15 March 2025, Kalangala district in Uganda was devastated by one of the worst storms in recent memory—nearly 1,000 households were left homeless. But behind this climate catastrophe lies a man-made environmental disaster: deforestation for commercial palm oil plantations.
Once covered in lush, native forests that shielded communities from extreme weather, Kalangala has been stripped bare in recent decades. The clearance of biodiverse forests to make way for monoculture oil palm has left the region exposed, vulnerable, and unable to withstand the escalating effects of climate change.
Palm oil trees, unlike indigenous forest cover, offer little resistance to powerful winds. As a result, communities that once thrived in harmony with their environment are now suffering repeated climate-related trauma.
Uganda’s National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has been heavily criticised for its failure to conduct robust environmental impact assessments before approving forest clearance for palm oil expansion. This lack of oversight—fuelled by a reckless pursuit of economic profit—has eroded not just forests, but also the safety, wellbeing, and futures of local communities.
This disaster is not isolated. Across Uganda, and indeed the entire tropical belt, commercial land grabs for palm oil and other export crops continue to displace communities, destroy ecosystems, and exacerbate climate collapse.
What happened in Kalangala is a brutal lesson in environmental injustice. Corporate profits were prioritised over ecological safety and the lives of ordinary people. This is a call to action for governments, regulators, and citizens alike: we must put an end to extractive industries that place short-term gain above human rights and environmental resilience.
A large-scale, community-led native reforestation programme is urgently needed. Indigenous forests must be restored to buffer future disasters and repair the broken link between people and the land. Kalangala’s tragedy is not the end—it must be the beginning of resistance.
A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…
Indonesian palm oil workers expose industry practices that mirror colonial exploitation: land grabbing, bad conditions, ecocide. Systemic change is needed!
Challenge a dangerous colonial myth that West Papua is an ’empty land’. This only serves the colonial domination of Indonesia not ancient tribes living there!
Although #deforestation rates in the Brazilian #Amazon have halved, this globally critical biome is still losing more than 5,000km² every year. That’s an area three times larger than Greater London. By combining satellite…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
The numbers and ranges of forest #elephants in #Nigeria have declined greatly over time. The main cause of this has been human activity, like logging, palm oil and cocoa #agriculture, which threaten their survival by reducing their natural habitat. Some elephant populations have been lost. Others exist only in small, fragmented areas. A new study looks at what can be done to protect one of Nigeria’s most treasured #animal icons, the African forest elephant.
Written by Rosemary Iriowen Egonmwan, Professor of Environmental Physiology of Animals, University of Lagos and Bola Oboh, Professor of Genetics, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The numbers and ranges of elephants in Nigeria have declined greatly over time. The main cause of this has been human activity, like logging, palm oil and cocoa agriculture, which threaten their survival by reducing their natural habitat. Some elephant populations have been lost. Others exist only in small, fragmented areas.
Nigeria is one of 37 African countries where elephants are found in the wild. Savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) can be found in the north and forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the south.
It’s not clear how many elephants there are in Nigeria. Eighteen years ago, the African Elephant Study Report estimated that there were just 94 elephants left in the country. In 2021, it was estimated that there could be about 400 elephants in areas not systematically surveyed.
What we do know, however, is that the numbers and ranges of elephants in Nigeria have declined greatly over time. The main cause of this has been human activity, like logging and agriculture, which threaten their survival by reducing their natural habitat. Some elephant populations have been lost. Others exist only in small, fragmented areas.
We carried out a study to establish their presence and determine the factors affecting their conservation.
We visited four protected areas in two national parks and one forest reserve in southern Nigeria. We did find small populations, totalling 40 forest elephants. This is not a viable population in the long run as it has been suggested that “viable” elephant populations may range from 400 to 6,000 individuals.
Their survival is being threatened for six reasons, in particular the impact of people’s activities.
Presence and distribution of elephants
We visited Okomu National Park; Omo Forest Reserve; and the Okwango and Oban Divisions of the Cross River National Park.
Forest Elephants were caught on camera traps in the Omo Forest Reserve and Okomu National Park. They were sighted in the Okomu National Park and the Oban Division of the Cross River National Park. In the Omo Forest reserve, we found the charred bones of a poached elephant.
Of the 40 identified using micro-satellite markers, seven were in Omo Forest Reserve, 14 from Okomu National Park, 11 from Oban Divison and eight from Okwango Division.
Firstly, our study found evidence that pressure from human activity and changes in land use were influencing elephant distribution in the study locations. These were also contributing to habitat fragmentation and forest degradation.
We found that land within and around the protected areas we studied had been converted to settlements. It is also used for farming and monoculture plantations, where elephant food is limited. This has resulted in habitat loss and forest fragmentation, restricting the ranges of the elephant populations.
Second, the presence of hunters’ sheds, spent cartridges, traps and hook snares showed that illegal hunting persisted in all the study locations. We found the carcass of an elephant during the study. Hunting, as a threat to biodiversity conservation, has already been proven in studies of Kainji National Park, Okomu National Park and the Cross River National Park. Arrests don’t always deter offenders because the punitive measures aren’t heavy enough.
Thirdly, human-elephant conflict is pervasive. Elephants raided crops and destroyed property in and around the study locations. Most farmers in the surrounding communities lacked alternative sources of livelihood. Even small losses were of economic importance and led to negative attitudes towards conservation.
In the Okomu National Park – which lacks a buffer zone – we detected elephant activity outside the protected areas.
Fourthly, the distribution of the elephants in small groups means that they face a high risk of local extinction. The populations in the Omo Forest Reserve and the Okomu National Park are completely isolated. The protected areas are surrounded by farmlands and human settlements and the elephants don’t intermingle with other populations.
Fifth is the issue of forest degradation and shrinking of forest space. The Omo Forest Reserve is a Strict Nature Reserve – meaning it’s not open to tourism – and is one of Nigeria’s four biosphere reserves. But most of the forest is degraded and has reduced in size.
The final threat to elephants is that farmers were not paid compensation for crop losses arising from elephant raids in the study locations. This contributed to a negative attitude towards conservation. The Federal Government of Nigeria has no policy provision for compensation to farmers. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets encourage incentives as a means of safeguarding biodiversity.
Improving the conservation of elephants
Ecologically, elephants are a keystone species which have a massive impact on the ecosystem. Their loss would have an impact on the environment. Economically, they are drivers of tourism, and culturally they are icons of the African continent.
Here’s how we protect them
Awareness programmes, livelihood opportunities and compensation should be introduced to farmers. Together with acoustic deterrents and other mitigation methods used around the world, they could check losses due to crop raids.
Community conservation education and awareness programmes work. They should be rolled out to help change negative attitudes and get people to cooperate in conservation efforts.
In our study we observed that elephants avoided harming cocoa farms. In cases where elephants passed through them, the cocoa was not eaten. This behaviour was also reported at the Bossematié Forest Reserve, Côte d’Ivoire. This observation needs to be investigated to test whether cultivation of these crops could mitigate conflict between people and elephants.
Finally, a species management and monitoring plan should be put in place to help conserve Nigeria’s forest elephant populations. A nationwide survey, to assess the population of elephants in all ranges in Nigeria, should be top priority.
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Research: Logged Forests Can Thrive, While Palm Oil Leaves Little Alive | A comprehensive study by the University of Oxford reveals that while selective logging alters tropical forest structures, converting these areas into oil palm plantations inflicts more severe and cumulative environmental damage, particularly to biodiversity. The landmark research underscores the importance of preserving and restoring logged forests instead of repurposing them for palm oil cultivation.
University of Oxford. (2025, January 9). Don’t write off logged tropical forests – converting to oil palm plantations has even wider effects on ecosystems. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250109141136.htm
A recent study led by the University of Oxford has provided the most extensive assessment to date of how logging and subsequent conversion to oil palm plantations impact tropical forest ecosystems. The findings, published on 10 January 2025 in Science, indicate that while selective logging primarily affects forest structure, the conversion to oil palm plantations leads to more profound and cumulative environmental consequences, especially concerning biodiversity.
The research team evaluated over 80 metrics encompassing various aspects of tropical forest ecosystems, including soil nutrients, carbon storage, photosynthesis rates, and species diversity among birds, bats, dung beetles, trees, vines, and soil microorganisms. The study sites, located in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, comprised undisturbed old-growth forests, moderately to heavily logged forests, and former logged forests now converted to oil palm plantations.
The analysis revealed that selective logging predominantly impacts factors related to forest structure and environment. In tropical regions, logging is typically selective, targeting specific commercially valuable trees. The removal of older, larger trees creates canopy gaps, allowing fast-growing species with different characteristics—such as less dense wood and thinner, more herbivore-susceptible leaves—to proliferate.
In contrast, converting logged forests into oil palm plantations has a more detrimental effect on biodiversity. The study observed significant reductions in the abundance and diversity of various species groups within plantations compared to logged forests. This decline is attributed to substantial changes in plant food resources and the transition to hotter, drier microclimates under the simplified canopy structure of oil palm plantations.
Professor Andrew Hector of Oxford’s Department of Biology, the study’s senior author, stated, “One of the key messages of the study is that selective logging and conversion differ in how they impact the forest ecosystem, meaning that conversion to plantations brings new impacts that add to those of logging alone.”
The researchers emphasise that logged forests still hold significant value for maintaining biodiversity and should not be hastily converted into oil palm plantations. Professor Ed Turner of the University of Cambridge, co-leader of the study, noted, “Old growth, intact forests are unique, but secondary logged forests are also valuable and important in terms of their biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relative to the much-reduced levels seen in oil palm plantations.”
Lead author Dr. Charlie Marsh, formerly of Oxford’s Department of Biology and now at the National University of Singapore, highlighted the variability in ecosystem responses, stating, “Our study demonstrates that focusing on any single component of the ecosystem may lead to an incomplete understanding of how the ecosystem responds as a whole.”
This research underscores the critical need for informed land-use decisions that prioritise the conservation and restoration of logged forests to preserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem functions.
For a detailed exploration of the study, read more.
University of Oxford. (2025, January 9). Don’t write off logged tropical forests – converting to oil palm plantations has even wider effects on ecosystems. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250109141136.htm
ENDS
Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry
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Songbirds communicate with different species during nocturnal flights sharing vital info about navigation and stopover habitats. Save their fascinating world!
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
The vibrant Orange-breasted #FalconFalco deiroleucus soars through the skies of Central and #SouthAmerica. With their striking orange and black plumage and powerful and agile hunting skills, these falcons are truly a marvel to behold. Sadly, these #birds face significant threats from #palmoil, #goldmining, #soy and #meat deforestation. You can help protect these magnificent birds every time you shop. Make sure that you #BoycottPalmOil#BoycottGold and #BoycottMeat to help them survive! It’s the #Boycott4Wildlife.
These falcons are known for their incredible hunting prowess. They are agile fliers, capable of high-speed pursuits and sudden, sharp turns to catch their prey. Their striking orange and black plumage not only serves as a visual treat but also plays a role in their courtship displays.
The Orange-breasted Falcon is a medium-sized bird of prey, measuring about 35-40 cm (14-16 inches) in length. Males weigh between 325-425 grams (11-15 ounces), while females are larger, weighing between 550-700 grams (19-25 ounces). Their distinctive plumage features a rich and vibrant coloured orange breast that contrasts to their black wings and back. Both sexes have similar plumage, but females are larger. These falcons are known for their robust and stocky build and large heads and talons, which make them powerful hunters stalking the skies.
Empower yourself to make a difference. Together, we can fight for the survival of the Orange-breasted Falcon by making mindful choices. #BoycottPalmOil and support wildlife-friendly products. Share this page and join the movement to protect our precious wildlife. #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife
Habitat
The Orange-breasted Falcon is found in tropical forests and savannas across Central and South America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They prefer habitats with tall trees and open spaces that allow for their high-speed hunting. They are most commonly found in Belize, Guatemala, and Panama, though their range has significantly reduced over time.
Diet
These falcons are carnivorous, primarily feeding on other birds and small mammals. They are skilled hunters, often capturing prey mid-flight with their sharp talons. Their diet includes a wide variety of birds and occasionally bats.
Mating and breeding
Orange-breasted Falcons typically nest in tall trees or on cliff ledges. They lay 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by the female for about 30-34 days. Both parents are involved in feeding and caring for the chicks until they are ready to fledge, approximately 40-45 days after hatching.
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
Of all the #monkey species around the world, one stands out with its large, bizarre nose. In male proboscis monkeys, their bulbous noses will often hang past their mouths.
But why did they evolve such a strange feature? Are they a visual sign of health and status to potential female mates, and to other males? Or did they evolve to help the monkeys make honks and other loud sounds? New groundbreaking #research has much to reveal about the mysterious large nose of the Proboscis Monkey!
Proboscis monkey side view with a large nose Slavianin/Shutterstock
In our new study, published in Scientific Reports, we have deepened our understanding of these enlarged nasal structures by investigating what lies beneath: the structures in the skull.
Our findings help to explain how these noses function as visual and acoustic signals of health and status. They also add to a growing body of evidence that shows researchers can use close examinations of skulls to glean information about primate social behaviour.
A battle of noses
One of the largest monkey species in Asia, proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) are endemic to the island of Borneo. They live in coastal mangroves, peat swamps and riverine forests, and have an unusual diet made up mostly of leaves.
They can swim quite well and have webbed fingers and toes. They typically live in harem groups, made up of a single adult male (who tends to have a large, bulbous nose), some adult females and their offspring.
Males don’t often get the opportunity to attract a harem until they reach middle age. These older, dominant and large-nosed males don’t easily tolerate other large-nosed males, often trying to ward them off aggressively with deep honks and “nasal roars” – loud calls they make using their noses.
Young adult males with smaller noses often live in all-male bachelor groups, and don’t tend to fight aggressively with each other. When these bachelor males get older and become large (and large-nosed) enough to compete with males that are part of a breeding group, they are in a position to overthrow the tenured male. Females then often choose to form a harem group with this new, high-status male.
The nose is considerably smaller in female proboscis monkeys. Milan Zygmunt/Shutterstock
What’s behind the nose?
We investigated the size and shape of the proboscis monkey nasal cavity. That’s the bony chamber of the skull that sits behind the fleshy nose. Our goal was to find out if the size and shape of the nasal aperture – the front part of the cavity, where the fleshy nose tissue attaches – can tell us more about why these peculiar appendages evolved.
Previous research that looked at the bulbous nose in males suggests it evolved to advertise status. In our new research, we wanted to better understand how this could be the case, this time using data taken from the skull.
Crab-eating macaques have tiny noses by comparison. Erik Klietsch/Shutterstock
We chose some measurements to quantify the nasal cavity, and others to quantify the nasal aperture in all the species. We also looked at tooth wear, since older adult monkeys have more worn teeth than younger adults. That would allow us to find out if older adult males had a larger nasal aperture than younger adult males.
Better honks
If male proboscis monkeys have a different nasal cavity shape to females, and a unique shape compared to the other monkey species, it would support the idea these enhanced nasal structures – both the fleshy nose and the cavity behind it – evolved to allow for more effective honks and nasal roars.
That was indeed what we found. The shape of the male nasal cavity was low and long compared to females. This allows males to build up resonance (sound vibration) in their nasal cavities, allowing them to emit deeper and louder calls through their noses.
The nasal aperture shape was also different between the sexes. In males, it looks a bit like an eggplant, while in females it looks more like an upside-down pear. This unique opening shape in males allows for higher intensity sounds to be emitted through the nose.
3D model screenshots of a male proboscis monkey (left) and a female proboscis monkey (right). Male nasal aperture size is 29% larger than that of females, and males and females differ in their nasal aperture shape. Katharine Balolia/Morphosource Media (USNM521841; ID 000345556 and USNM142224; ID 000345144)
The sex differences in cavity shape were also larger than what we found in other old world monkey species. This further supports the idea that the nasal cavity of male proboscis monkeys underwent an evolutionary change for the purpose of making certain sounds.
Lastly, the age. Older proboscis monkey males really do have larger nasal apertures than younger adult males, but the cavity itself didn’t increase with age. This supports the idea that the large noses act as a visual signal. It’s also consistent with the fleshy nose size increasing in middle-aged or older adult males, which we know from behavioural studies in the wild.
Making honks and nasal roars really does seem to be the evolutionary purpose of these fleshy noses. Nokuro/Shutterstock
Our evidence from the skull allows us to better understand how nasal structures in male proboscis monkeys evolved for both acoustic and visual signalling.
The more we know about how regions of the skull function as social signals, the better chance we have of reconstructing extinct primate social behaviour using fossilised skull remains.
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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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Cutesy or not: animals can be showcased on social media with the right storytelling and still gain big audience engagement
Remember the popularity contests of high school? Often our athletic, genetically gifted classmates got the most attention: the school captain, the footy team captain, the prom queen. But popularity contests don’t just exist in school. And in the world of conservation, it can be a matter of survival for the “winners” and “losers”.
If we asked you to list every animal species you can think of, chances are that list would be full of mammals and birds, with very few reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates. So why do we focus so much on some species and so little on others?
Our recent study challenges assumptions that people simply find mammals and birds much more engaging than other species. When these neglected species were posted to Instagram by wildlife organisations and researchers, there were no great differences in the likes they attracted.
This has implications for which species we focus on to enlist public support for conservation. A more complete picture of the wildlife around us would help reduce glaring imbalances in conservation outcomes.
Our cognitive bias towards the cutest and fluffiest
However, mammals and birds make up less than 10% of all animals on Earth. With the media we’re consuming, we’re just not getting an accurate picture of the world of wildlife that surrounds us. Where this gets worrying is in the fight for species survival. Our planet is in an extinction crisis, with species becoming extinct at extraordinary rates.
However, our focus on mammals and birds means cute and fluffy animals receive more research attention and funding. Conservation outcomes for these species are better than for reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Tellingly, 94% of all threatened species on the IUCN Red List are reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates.
Do people really prefer charismatic megafauna?
Our study suggests this issue may be more complex than first thought. Many Australian conservation organisations use social media platforms, such as Instagram, to share their work and connect communities with wildlife. But in the busy, ever-updating world of Instagram feeds, which images are the most effective at grabbing someone’s attention?
We set out to examine which Australian wildlife species were most often posted to Instagram and which had the highest levels of engagement. Based on the belief that people will engage more with charismatic megafauna, we expected mammals and birds to be shown more frequently and to elicit higher engagement than the “creepy crawlies” such as amphibians and insects.
We analysed 670 wildlife images posted to Instagram by wildlife organisations and research group accounts in 2020 and 2021. For each image, we noted the species posted in the image. As a measure of engagement, we recorded the number of “likes” the image received in proportion to each organisation’s follower count.
An example of the Instagram posts that were analysed, and the information collected. Meghan Shaw, CC BY
What did the study find?
Our results were surprising and provide hope for the future of underrepresented wildlife.
Although the majority of wildlife images posted to Instagram by these conservation organisations were of mammals and birds (73.7% to be precise), our analysis of image engagement uncovered a surprising and promising trend. Mammals were, indeed, more engaging than other species, but only by a tiny amount. We found birds, reptiles, invertebrates, amphibians and fish were all equally as engaging for Instagram users.
The amount of engagement posts featuring each group of animal (taxon) received. Categories that do not share letters are significantly different from each other, e.g. mammals (b) received higher engagement than invertebrates, birds and reptiles (a) but not molluscs, fish or amphibians (ab). All significant differences were relatively small (1-2%). Author provided, CC BY
Are we ready to sympathise with weird bugs?
Perhaps it is time to give our creepy crawlies more of the media limelight. The more we see a wide diversity of animals, the more likely we are to support their conservation.
The Theory of Repeated Messaging suggests when we are repeatedly exposed to something, we are more likely to become familiar with, engage with and support it. Research has shown when we put effort into promoting underrepresented species, we can improve their chances of receiving a public donation by 26%.
Will we come to love the hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus)? Magdalena_b/Flickr
Our findings suggest the media and conservation organisations can promote endangered species across all walks of life – from lizards to bugs and fish to frogs – without compromising viewer engagement. This will increase our knowledge of the amazing diversity of animals that we share this planet with. In turn, this will lead to underrepresented species receiving more of the conservation support they need to survive.
Zoos Victoria is already leading the way. The endangered native golden-rayed blue butterfly features in the new Totes for Wildlife campaign to conserve its natural habitat.
Perhaps we tend to prefer mammals and birds because we see them more, and not just because they look a certain way. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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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Location: Brunei Darussalam; Indonesia (Sumatera, Kalimantan); Malaysia (Sarawak, Sabah)
Gliding through the rainforest canopy like a phantom predator, the Sunda Clouded Leopard moves with unmatched grace, making them one of the least understood big cats in the world. Their spectacularly patterned coat, the longest canines relative to skull size of any feline, and astonishing agility in trees set these big cats apart as a truly unique species. Yet, despite these remarkable adaptations, these mysterious carnivores are now rapidly vanishing from the wild due to human-related threats.
Massive infrastructure projects, industrial-scale palm oil plantations, and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade have decimated their populations. Once thought to be a subspecies of the mainland clouded leopard, genetic studies in 2006 confirmed that they are a distinct species, found only in Borneo and Sumatra. Today, they are among the most threatened felines in the world, teetering on the edge of an uncertain future. Take action for them every time you shop and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sunda Clouded Leopards are expert climbers, possessing a long, thick tail (equal to their body length) for balance, rotating ankle joints that allow them to descend trees headfirst, and razor-sharp retractable claws for gripping bark. Their bodies are smaller and more compact than mainland clouded leopards, making them highly agile ambush predators.
They are solitary and nocturnal, moving silently through the forest to hunt primates, deer, and birds. Unlike most big cats, they purr rather than roar and rely on their extraordinarily developed senses to detect prey. Though they spend time on the forest floor, they are one of the most arboreal of all felines, capable of jumping several metres between branches.
Threats
1. Deforestation for infrastructure, timber and palm oil
More than 50% of Borneo’s forests and two-thirds of Sumatra’s forests have been destroyed, mainly for palm oil plantations and logging.
Mega infrastructure projects, including the Pan Borneo Highway, Trans-Sumatra Highway, and Indonesia’s new capital (Nusantara), are further severing vital forest corridors.
Illegal logging and forest conversion continue to reduce already fragmented populations, leaving them trapped in isolated forest patches.
2. Poaching and the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Highly valued for their skins, bones, and meat, they are frequently trapped in snares. Between 2011 and 2019, at least 30 individuals were seized in the illegal trade, with live animals smuggled internationally. The rise in commercial wildlife markets has put additional pressure on an already declining population.
3. Loss of Prey and Ecosystem Disruptions
Overhunting of deer, wild boar, and primates is drastically reducing their food supply. A 2024 study revealed that mesopredator release—where smaller carnivores like Sunda Leopard Cats increase in number—may be negatively impacting the number of clouded leopards.
4. Human-Wildlife Conflict and Retaliatory Killings
Farmers kill clouded leopards when they prey on livestock. With deforestation pushing them into human settlements, conflict is increasing.
5. Climate Change and Forest Fires
Longer dry seasons and extreme weather due to climate change are making rainforest habitats unstable and food sources scarcer. Fires, caused by land clearing for palm oil plantations, are destroying crucial remaining habitat.
Geographic Range
The Sunda Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi) is found only on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Known locally as rimau-dahan (“tree tiger” in Malay) and entulu in Sarawak, these elusive big cats thrive in dense rainforests, where their exceptional climbing skills and camouflage allow them to hunt undetected. They are particularly dependent on lowland primary forests but have been increasingly pushed into montane and secondary forests due to rampant deforestation.
Key Habitats:
Sumatra – Leuser Ecosystem, Kerinci Seblat National Park, Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park
Borneo – Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Sabah and Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), Brunei Darussalam
Heart of Borneo Landscape – This transboundary rainforest, spanning Brunei, Malaysian Borneo, and Indonesian Kalimantan, serves as one of the last strongholds for the species.
Diet
Sunda Clouded Leopards are apex rainforest predators, feeding on:
Their hunting strategy involves stealth and ambush, using their powerful jaws and canines to deliver a fatal bite to the neck. As their habitat shrinks, they are increasingly forced into human settlements, where they are often shot in retaliation.
Mating and Reproduction
Little is known about their breeding behaviour, however:
They reach sexual maturity at around two years old.
Cubs remain hidden in dense vegetation for the first five months.
Mothers raise cubs alone, teaching them to hunt before they become independent.
Their slow reproductive rate, combined with habitat destruction, makes population recovery extremely difficult.
FAQs
Are Sunda Clouded Leopards dangerous to humans?
No. Sunda Clouded Leopards are extremely elusive and prefer to avoid human contact. They only venture into human areas when forced by habitat loss.
How are they different from mainland Clouded Leopards?
Sunda Clouded Leopards (Neofelis diardi) were originally thought to be the same species as the Indochinese Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), but genetic studies in 2006 confirmed that they are separate species.
• Genetic divergence: The two species diverged between 2 million and 900,000 years ago, likely when rising sea levels isolated Borneo and Sumatra from the mainland.
• Physical differences: Sunda Clouded Leopards have darker fur, smaller cloud markings, and a more robust build, whereas Indochinese Clouded Leopards are lighter in colour with larger, more defined markings.
• Habitat preferences: Sunda Clouded Leopards rarely descend to the forest floor, whereas Indochinese Clouded Leopards hunt both in trees and on the ground.
Why are they called “Tree Tigers”?
The Malay name rimau-dahan means “tree tiger”, as they are among the best tree-climbing predators in the world. This name comes from their incredible climbing skills and their resemblance to big cats like tigers. Their large paws, long tail, and flexible ankles make them exceptional tree climbers, often leaping between branches or ambushing prey from above.
Are Sunda Clouded Leopards extinct anywhere?
They were once found on Java, but are now extinct there.
How many Sunda Clouded Leopards are left?
Estimates suggest there are fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, but deforestation and poaching are causing rapid declines. Exact numbers are hard to determine due to their elusive nature.
Take Action!
Every time you shop, choose 100% palm oil-free products to avoid contributing to deforestation. #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife
Boycott palm oil and products that contribute to rainforest destruction.
Support conservation efforts protecting Borneo and Sumatra’s last remaining forests.
Advocate for stronger anti-poaching laws and enforcement.
Support Sunda Clouded Leopards by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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.
Buckley-Beason, V. A., Johnson, W. E., Nash, W. G., Stanyon, R., Menninger, J. C., Driscoll, C. A., Howard, J., Bush, M., Page, J. E., Roelke, M. E., Stone, G., Martelli, P., Wen, C., Ling, L., Duraisingam, R. K., Lam, P. V., & O’Brien, S. J. (2006). Molecular evidence for species-level distinctions in clouded leopards. Current Biology, 16(23), 2371–2376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2006.08.066
Haidir, I., Macdonald, D. W., & Linkie, M. (2020). Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) densities and human activities in the humid evergreen rainforests of Sumatra. Oryx, 55(2), 189-196. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319001005
Hearn, A., Ross, J., Brodie, J., Cheyne, S., Haidir, I.A., Loken, B., Mathai, J., Wilting, A. & McCarthy, J. 2015. Neofelis diardi (errata version published in 2016). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T136603A97212874. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T136603A50664601.en. Accessed on 26 February 2025.
Kaszta, Z., Cushman, S. A., Hearn, A. J., Burnham, D., Macdonald, E. A., Goossens, B., Nathan, S., & Macdonald, D. W. (2019). Integrating Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) conservation into development and restoration planning in Sabah, Borneo. Biological Conservation, 235(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.04.001
Mayhew, D. S., Hearn, A. J., Devineau, O., Linnell, J. D. C., & Macdonald, D. W. (2024). Loss of Sunda clouded leopards and forest integrity drive potential impacts of mesopredator release on vulnerable avifauna. Heliyon, 10(12), e32801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32801
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
A recent study has identified five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs (also known as Lesser Gymnures) from #SoutheastAsia. The study used DNA analysis and physical characteristics to describe two entirely new species of soft-furred hedgehogs and to elevate three subspecies to the level of species.
These tiny tree-dwelling creatures are soft and furry with a mouse-like appearance, yet they are not rodents – they are hedgehogs. Help them to survive the destruction of their natural home for #palmoil – make sure you #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
Research paper: Arlo Hinckley et al. An integrative taxonomic revision of lesser gymnures (Eulipotyphla: Hylomys) reveals five new species and emerging patterns of local endemism in Tropical East Asia. , 2023 DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad177. Media release: “Five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from Southeast Asia.” published in ScienceDaily, 21 December 2023.
The two new species, named Hylomys vorax and H. macarong, are endemic to the endangered Leuser ecosystem, a tropical rainforest in North Sumatra and Southern Vietnam, respectively. The museum specimens that were vital to describing these two new species came from the natural history collections of the Smithsonian and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia where they had remained in drawers for 84 and 62 years, respectively, prior to identification.
Soft-furred hedgehogs or gymnures are small mammals that are members of the hedgehog family, but as their common name suggests they are furry rather than spiny.
Like spiny hedgehogs, they are not rodents and they have a pointy snout. Without the spines of their more well-known cousins, soft-furred hedgehogs superficially look a bit like a mixture of a mouse and a shrew with a short tail, said Arlo Hinckley, the study’s lead author and a Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History and University of Seville. The five new species belong to a group of soft-furred hedgehogs called lesser gymnures (Hylomys) that live in Southeast Asia and previously was only recognized to have been represented by two known species.
Short-tailed gymnure by Alan Y
“We were only able to identify these new hedgehogs thanks to museum staff that curated these specimens across countless decades and their original field collectors,” Hinckley said. “By applying modern genomic techniques like we did many years after these hedgehogs were first collected, the next generation will be able to identify even more new species.”
Hinckley said these small mammals are active during the day and night and are omnivorous, likely eating a diversity of insects and other invertebrates as well as some fruits as opportunities present themselves.
“Based on the lifestyles of their close relatives and field observations, these hedgehogs likely nest in hollows and take cover while foraging among tree roots, fallen logs, rocks, grassy areas, undergrowth and leaf litter,” Hinckley said. “But, because they’re so understudied, we are limited to speculate about the details of their natural history.”
Hinckley first became intrigued with the gymnure group Hylomys in 2016 during his doctoral studies, especially after he sampled them in Borneo with co-author Miguel Camacho Sánchez. Preliminary genetic data and studies of several known populations of Hylomys in Southeast Asia suggested to them there might be more species in the group than were currently recognized. This sent Hinckley combing through natural history collections searching for specimens assigned to the group, many of which were only preserved skins and skulls.
When he began his research at the Smithsonian in 2022, Hinckley leveraged the National Museum of Natural History’s collections to fill in geographic gaps in the specimens he had already studied with the help of Melissa Hawkins, the museum’s curator of mammals.
In the end, Hinckley, Hawkins and their collaborators assembled 232 physical specimens and 85 tissue samples for genetic analysis from across the entire Hylomys group from a combination of Hinckley and Hawkins’ own field collecting, as well as modern and historical museum specimens from no less than 14 natural history collections across Asia, Europe and the U.S.
Then Hinckley and his co-authors set about the lengthy process of conducting genetic analysis on the 85 tissue samples in Doñana Biological Station’s ancient DNA laboratory and the museum’s Laboratories of Analytical Biology. They also made rigorous physical observations and collected measurements to examine differences in the size and shape of skulls, teeth and fur on the 232 specimens.
The genetic results identified seven distinct genetic lineages in Hylomys, suggesting the number of recognized species in the group was about to increase by five, later confirmed by the team’s physical observations of the specimens.
“It might be surprising for people to hear that there are still undiscovered mammals out there,” Hawkins said. “But there is a lot we don’t know—especially the smaller nocturnal animals that can be difficult to tell apart from one another.”
H. macarong, which has dark brown fur and measures about 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) in length, was named after a Vietnamese word for vampire (Ma cà rồng) because males of the species possess long, fang-like incisors. Hinckley said more field study would be required to figure out what purpose the fangs might serve, but that their larger size in males suggests they could have some role in sexual selection. Males also have rust-colored chest markings that Hawkins said could have been stained by scent glands.
H. vorax also has dark brown fur but is slightly smaller than H. macarong at 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) long; it has a completely black tail, a very narrow snout and is found only on the slopes of Mount Leuser in Northern Sumatra. Hinckley and Hawkins gave the species the Latin name H. vorax after a striking description of their behavior from mammologist Frederick Ulmer, who collected the specimens that led to the species description on an expedition to Sumatra in 1939. Ulmer described the creature in his field notes, incorrectly identifying it as a type of shrew: “They were voracious beasts often devouring the whole bait before springing the trap. Ham rind, coconut, meat, and walnuts were eaten. One shrew partially devoured the chicken head bait of a steel trap before getting caught in a nearby Schuyler trap baited with ham rind.”
The other three new species were all formerly considered to be subspecies of Hylomys suillus, but all showed sufficient genetic and physical divergence to merit the upgrade to species in their own right. They are named H. dorsalis, H. maxi and H. peguensis.
H. dorsalis hails from the mountains of Northern Borneo and features a conspicuous dark stripe that begins atop their heads and bisects their back before fading around mid-body. It is about the same size as H. macarong. H. maxi is also on the larger end of the new species of soft-furred hedgehogs at 14 centimeters (5.5 inches).
The species is found in mountainous regions on the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra. H. peguensis is smaller, measuring 13 centimeters (5.1 inches), and is found in numerous countries in mainland Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Their fur is a bit more yellow colored than that of the other new species, Hawkins said.
Describing new species expands humanity’s scientific understanding of the natural world can be a tool for boosting conservation in threatened habitats such as Northern Sumatra’s Leuser ecosystem.
“This kind of study can help governments and organizations make hard choices about where to prioritize conservation funding to maximize biodiversity,” Hinckley said.
Research paper: Arlo Hinckley et al. An integrative taxonomic revision of lesser gymnures (Eulipotyphla: Hylomys) reveals five new species and emerging patterns of local endemism in Tropical East Asia. , 2023 DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad177. Media release: “Five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from Southeast Asia.” published in ScienceDaily, 21 December 2023.
ENDS
Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
In the Aguán Valley of northern Honduras, peasant communities reclaiming ancestral lands face increasing violence and intimidation from armed groups linked to organised crime. The Dinant Corporation, a prominent palm oil producer, is accused of land theft and involvement in the murders of local activists. International organisations have condemned these human rights abuses, with a coalition of 33 organisations calling for a boycott of Dinant and for multinational companies: Pepsi, ADM, Cargill and Nestle to immediately cease business with Dinant. Despite governmental promises to address the conflict, concrete actions remain absent. You can resist for them in solidarity by boycotting their products in the supermarket! #BoycottPalmOil #LandRights#IndigenousRights#HumanRights
In the Aguán Valley, northern Honduras, peasant communities striving to reclaim ancestral lands from the palm oil industry are encountering severe threats from heavily armed groups associated with organised crime. Recent incidents include the assassinations of peasant leaders José Luis Hernández Lobo and Suyapa Guillén in February 2025, and activist Arnulfo Díaz in January 2025. On December 24, 2024, the Los Camarones cooperative suffered a violent eviction by armed factions, displacing over 160 families who now endure precarious conditions without access to land or resources.
Dinant Faces Allegations of Murder, Violence and Threats Against Peasant Farmers
The Dinant Corporation, a major palm oil producer, claims ownership of lands that peasants assert as their ancestral territory. For over a decade, Dinant has faced allegations of engaging in violence, including murders and threats against peasant leaders and human rights defenders. International bodies, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, have denounced these abuses. In February 2022, Honduran President Xiomara Castro pledged to investigate and resolve the conflict through a tripartite commission; however, tangible actions have yet to materialise.
Environmental and Economic Implications
The expansion of palm oil monoculture in Honduras, now covering approximately 200,000 hectares—over 18% of the nation’s arable land—has led to significant deforestation, ecosystem destruction, and soil degradation. This growth often involves collaboration between corporations and paramilitary groups, exacerbating the displacement and persecution of peasant communities.
International Coalition of 33 Orgs Call for Boycott of Dinant
A coalition of 33 environmental and human rights organisations has called on multinational corporations, including ADM, Cargill, Pepsico, and Nestlé, to cease business relations with Dinant. These organisations accuse Dinant of employing paramilitary and military forces to forcibly remove peasants resisting plantation expansion, using tactics ranging from physical violence to the destruction of livelihoods. In response to mounting pressure, companies such as BASF and Bunge have suspended commercial ties with Dinant, while Nestlé has announced plans to eliminate the supplier from its supply chains.
Call for Immediate Action
The ongoing violence and displacement of peasant communities in Honduras necessitate urgent intervention from both national authorities and the international community. Protecting the rights and lives of these communities is imperative, alongside promoting land use practices that fully respect indigenous territories and environmental integrity.
A catastrophic storm in #Uganda’s Kalangala district left nearly 1,000 households homeless. The real culprit? Rampant #deforestation for #palmoil. Once rich in native forests that buffered storms, Kalangala is now a fragile landscape…
In the Aguán Valley of northern Honduras, peasant communities reclaiming ancestral lands face increasing violence and intimidation from armed groups linked to organised crime. The Dinant Corporation, a prominent palm oil producer, is…
Latin America is the fastest-growing producer of palm oil, but at what price for the environment and its defenders? Park rangers in Honduras tell harrowing tales of daily threats to their lives and…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
The Glaucous #Macaw stands out not only for their vibrant coloration but also for their vocalisations, which led to its Guaraní name “guaa-obi.” As part of a larger group of neotropical macaws, they are closely related to the Lear’s macaw (A. leari) and the hyacinth macaw (A. hyacinthinus). Although often confused with similar species, the Glaucous Macaw is a unique denizen of South America’s gallery forests and palm savannahs.
Use your wallet as a weapon and help the Glaucous Macaw and other rare #birds. They face many threats to their survival including forest destruction for meat, palm oil, soy and gold. Join the movement to #BoycottPalmOil #BoycottGold and #Boycott4Wildlife. Together we can empower people we know to make conscious supermarket decisions for wildlife survival.
The Glaucous Macaw Anodorhynchus glaucus are known for their pale turquoise-blue plumage and distinctive grey head, is a critically endangered bird native to South America. With a length of 70 cm (28 in), this striking macaw features a long tail, yellow eye ring, and half-moon lappets around its large mandible. Despite their formidable size and stunning appearance, the bird is rarely seen in the wild today due to habitat loss and poaching.
Threats
The Glaucous Macaw faces have faced significant human-related threats that have driven them to the brink of extinction. This is an immeasurable tragedy.
Habitat Loss: Widespread logging, gold mining and palm oil agriculture led to the destruction of crucial yatay palm groves.
Poaching: The bird was heavily targeted for the illegal pet trade due to their striking appearance.
The Glaucous Macaw was historically found across Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, favoring river basins with yatay palms or open forests. They relied on these palm groves for nesting and feeding. Their disappearance from these areas due to logging, agriculture, and hunting is a poignant reminder of the importance of habitat conservation. We cannot let them disappear!
Diet
Primarily feeding on the yatay palm nuts, the Glaucous Macaw supplemented their diet with other fruits and seeds. The loss of these critical palms directly impacted the bird’s survival and forced the remaining macaws to seek alternative, often insufficient, food sources.
Mating and breeding
Little is known about the breeding behaviour of this species due to their rarity. It is thought they nested on rocky cliffs in colonies, likely laying eggs in secure nests. Their colonial nature made them especially vulnerable to hunters.
Support Glaucous Macaw by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
New research reveals that African savannah #elephants use unique, ‘names’ to call one another, showcasing their incredible intelligence and deep social bonds. Unlike other animals, these majestic creatures communicate with non-imitative calls, highlighting their advanced cognitive abilities. This discovery opens new doors to understanding the evolution of language and cognition in animals. Dive into the fascinating world of elephant communication! 🐘🌍✨ They face many threats to their survival, help them to survive when you #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
In a groundbreaking 2024 study, researchers have discovered that African savannah elephants Loxodonta africana communicate with each other using unique name-like calls, similar to how humans use personal names. This discovery, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, places elephants among a rare group of animals known to use individual-specific vocalisations.
The Study and Its Findings
A team of international researchers employed artificial intelligence to analyse 469 rumbles—deep, low-frequency sounds—made by two herds of wild elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park and Samburu National Reserve between 1986 and 2022. The AI model successfully identified the intended recipient of these calls 27.5% of the time, a rate significantly higher than random chance. This finding suggests that the elephants’ calls contain individual-specific information akin to names.
The study also involved playback experiments where recordings of these rumbles were played to the elephants. The subjects responded more rapidly and vocally to calls originally addressed to them compared to those directed at other elephants. This indicates that elephants can recognise and respond to their own ‘names’ even when the call is out of context.
Research: African Savannah Elephants Use ‘Names’ to Call One Another
Implications for Animal Communication and Cognition
Unlike dolphins and parrots, who call to each other by mimicking their sounds, elephants use unique, non-imitative calls. This discovery is significant as it suggests that elephants have a capacity for abstract thought and complex social cognition. The ability to use arbitrary sounds to label individuals is a trait shared with humans, highlighting the advanced cognitive abilities of elephants. In a fascinating example of interspecies communication (unrelated to the study) an orphaned baby elephant named Tsavo responds to his keeper calling his name at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
Tsavo the baby elephant responds to his keeper calling his name. Image Credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
The findings also underscore the importance of social bonds among elephants. The need to call each other by name implies a sophisticated social structure and communication system. Understanding these communication patterns gives deeper insights into the evolution of language and cognition in both humans and animals.
Further Reading
Pardo, M. A., Fristrup, K., Lolchuragi, D. S., Poole, J. H., Granli, P., Moss, C., Douglas-Hamilton, I., & Wittemyer, G. (2024). African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02420-w
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A joint investigation by Malaysiakini and Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) reveals alarming deforestation in Pahang, #Malaysia, caused by one of the country’s largest #palmoil plantations. The plantation threatens endangered species like #tigers and pollutes local water supplies. It has been described as “the worst-managed oil palm plantation in Malaysia.” Palm oil yields are low, while the #deforestation is chaotic, leaving the land barren and overrun with #elephants. The report highlights links between developers and political or royal ownership and rampant corruption and strongly pushes for more transparency, improved government oversight and regulatory enforcement. #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife
An investigation by Malaysiakini, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network, has exposed the dire environmental and social impacts of one of Malaysia’s largest oil palm plantations in Pahang. Located near an environmentally protected area, the plantation’s operations have resulted in chaotic deforestation, disrupted water supplies, and threats to endangered wildlife, including tigers.
The plantation, described by an environmental consultant as “the worst-managed oil palm plantation in Malaysia,” has low palm oil yields and barren landscapes overrun with elephants. Developers often cite “wildlife conflict” to justify failures, shifting focus to logging valuable timber instead of sustainable plantation development.
Malaysiakini’s investigation also shed light on troubling links between plantation developers and political or royal interests, with 95% of the land developed by such entities. In December, the investigative team revealed that prominent banks provided large loans to plantation developers despite repeated project failures, questioning the banks’ credibility and oversight practices.
The investigation calls on the Malaysian government to tighten plantation approval processes and enforce environmental protections to prevent further harm to biodiversity and local communities.
From Brazil’s action against illegal gold miners to the Sacred Headwaters Alliance defending the Amazon, these top Indigenous stories of 2024 highlight resilience and challenges. The year of 2024 underscored the importance of…
Disgraceful incident in Kinshasa, DRC. During shareholder meeting for palm oil co. PHC (AKA Feronia) rights defenders were arrested, a journalist kidnapped!
The Amazon’s diverse ecosystem is under threat from rampant deforestation, degradation, a biodiversity crisis, and the climate crisis – jeopardising its ability to act as a carbon sink. This degradation increases the likelihood of zoonotic diseases emerging…
Gold mining’s environmental destruction is unparalleled. Learn how a circular economy using only recycled gold can end this ecocide and its human rights toll.
#India’s aggressive push for #palmoil plantations in #Nagaland, #Assam and #Mizoram is wreaking havoc on both the environment and local communities. The government plans to ramp up oil palm cultivation in the northeast,…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Attenborough’s long-beaked #echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), known locally as “Payangko,” is one of the most evolutionarily distinct mammals and is native to the Cyclops Mountains in Indonesian occupied #WestPapua. This critically endangered monotreme is distinguished by its unique feeding technique and smaller size compared to other long-beaked echidnas. Despite not being recorded by scientists since 1961, a recent expedition led to its rediscovery in 2023, offering renewed hope for the species. Facing threats from #hunting and habitat degradation, we must protect this elusive creature by supporting sustainable practices and community-led conservation. #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife
As the smallest member of the genus Zaglossus, the Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is comparable in size to the short-beaked echidna. Males have spurs on their hind legs, and both sexes sport a long, narrow beak. They are solitary, coming together only once a year to mate. When threatened, they curl into a spiny ball, resembling a hedgehog.
Monotreme Lineage: One of the few egg-laying mammals, with ancestors dating back 46 million years.
Rediscovered Species: After not being recorded for over six decades, this critically endangered species was spotted through trail camera footage in 2023.
Nose Pokes: Their distinctive feeding behavior leaves behind “nose pokes” in the soil, revealing where they dig for earthworms and termites.
Threats
Long thought extinct for decades, a chance discovery of them on camera traps revealed they have survived. Yet they are critically endangered due to serious ongoing threats:
Hunting with Dogs: Local hunting practices using trained dogs to detect their burrows pose a significant threat.
Habitat Destruction: Logging for timber, palm oil agriculture, and forest conversion for gold mining make these echidnas put these animals at risk.
Hunting: Forest clearance puts them at risk for predation and hunting.
You can help them to survive when you consciously avoid and boycott products with palm oil in them and support local efforts to protect them. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Habitat
This species is found exclusively in the tropical montane forests of the Cyclops Mountains in Papua, Indonesia. Their range includes lowland to montane elevations.
Diet
Their diet consists primarily of earthworms, termites, insect larvae, and ants. They use their long beaks to sniff out prey and then dig with their powerful claws, leaving behind the characteristic “nose poke” marks.
Mating and breeding
Attenborough’s long-beaked echidnas come together only once a year for mating. The female lays an egg, and the offspring remain in the mother’s pouch for around eight weeks until their spines develop. They have a long weaning period of approximately seven months.
Support Attenborough’s Long-Beaked Echidna by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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
Leary, T., Seri, L., Flannery, T., Wright, D., Hamilton, S., Helgen, K., Singadan, R., Menzies, J., Allison, A., James, R., Aplin, K., Salas, L. & Dickman, C. 2016. Zaglossus attenboroughi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T136322A21964353. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136322A21964353.en. Accessed on 09 May 2024.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
South East Asia is home to many fascinating creatures and rich biodiversity. The secrets of animal origins and ancient legends are revealed in their names: #Orangutan, #Gibbon, #Binturong and #Siamang in South East Asian languages. Help these animals to survive and #Boycottpalmoil
Forest creatures include some of humanity’s closest biological relatives. Due to human threats, they are also some of the most endangered animals on our planet.
Southeast Asia hosts many unique forest species, and many of our English words for forest creatures have their origins in Southeast Asian languages. What sound to English speakers like exotic loanwords are meaningful in their original languages.
By exploring the Southeast Asian etymologies of these names, we can understand how humans have maintained relationships of respect and affinity with forest creatures over the centuries. And, as these ecosystems are under grave threat, it is important to recognise a different way of relating to our most endangered relatives is possible.
Shutterstock
Here, then, are the names of four of my favourite Southeast Asian forest species, and what we know about the origins of their names.
Orangutan
Orangutans belong to the great ape family, our closest biological relatives. This familial link is reflected in the word orangutan itself, which Malay speakers today can still recognise as deriving from the phrase orang hutan, which means “forest person”.
My recent research shows this term goes back over a thousand years, contrary to the conventional belief it was coined by European visitors to Indonesia in the 17th century.
Orangutans are one of our closest relatives, as reflected in the Malay word orang hutan, or ‘forest person’
Surprisingly, the oldest surviving texts to use the word orangutan do not come from Sumatra or Borneo, where orangutans live today, but from the neighbouring island of Java. One of the oldest texts to mention orangutans is the 9th-century poem Rāmāyaṇa. Written in the Old Javanese language, the poem describes “the orangutans, all bearded, climbing up”.
The word orangutan came into Old Javanese from another archaic language related to modern Malay. These early appearances show the word was circulating among the archipelago’s languages well over a thousand years ago.
This origin as the phrase “forest person” shows for many centuries Southeast Asians have viewed orangutans as human-like creatures residing in the forest.
Gibbon
Gibbons are a type of ape ideally suited to swinging through the trees of Southeast Asia’s forests. The word gibbon entered European languages through French in the 18th century.
The French adopted it from the Malay word, kebon. But recent research shows this Malay word originally came from a group of languages called Northern Aslian, spoken by indigenous communities in peninsular Malaysia. In Northern Aslian, it was probably pronounced kebong.
Called gibbons in English, many Southeast Asian languages call these creatures wak-wak
Gibbon is a relatively rare term in Southeast Asia itself. It even fell out of use in Malay after the 18th century. More common in the region’s languages is the word wak-wak. Like orangutan, this word appears in the Old Javanese language as early as the 9th century and seems to derive from the crow-like sound gibbons make.
Through my research, I suggest the word wak-wak may have inspired the Middle Eastern legend of the Wakwak Tree: a fantastical tree from a far eastern land whose fruits produced human heads and bodies which cried out “wak wak”. Folk memories of the gibbon’s piercing cry may have been transmitted across the Indian Ocean many centuries before the animal was identified by European science.
Binturong
Binturongs, also known in English as bearcats, are long and heavy tree-dwellers with large tails which they use to communicate. The word binturong first appeared in English in the 19th century as a borrowing from Malay.
Binturong also appears in a wide variety of languages from Sumatra and Borneo. This shows the word was coined early in the history of the region: probably several millennia ago, before these languages began to diverge.
The binturong does not leap from tree to tree, instead it makes its way along the ground. ShutterstockBinturong Arctictis binturongBinturong Arctictis binturongBinturong Arctictis binturongBinturong Arctictis binturong
The earliest form of this word we know about was maturun, which probably meant “the one who descends”. It was inherited by many languages of Borneo and Sumatra, undergoing a series of regular sound changes. This is how the Malay form benturong evolved, which was later adopted by English.
Unlike many other tree creatures, binturongs do not nimbly leap among the branches. Rather, they tend to descend one tree and walk along the ground to another tree. The aptness of the name maturun shows us these early Southeast Asian communities were close observers of animal behaviour.
Siamang
The endangered siamangs are the largest type of gibbon. They have distinctive black coats and communicate with a complex system of booming calls.
Siamangs communicate with complex booming calls. Shutterstock
Siamang Symphalangus syndactylusSiamang
The ultimate origin of the word is probably the word ʔamang (where the ʔ represents a glottal stop), found in several indigenous languages of the Central Aslian group.
When speakers of Malay borrowed the word ʔamang, they added the personal article si. Similar to an honorific like “mister”, si generally applies only to humans, or to animals, spirits or objects that are personified. Malay speakers later interpreted the word amang as “black”, giving rise to a folk etymology of si amang as meaning something like “Mr Sooty”.
The Malay expression was eventually treated as the single word siamang. For the Malays, the charisma exuded by siamangs entitled them to the status of personhood — another recognition of the affinity between humans and our forest ape relatives.
Latin America is the fastest-growing producer of palm oil, but at what price for the environment and its defenders? Park rangers in Honduras tell harrowing tales of daily threats to their lives and real dangers they face in the long-term fight for protect Honduran rainforests, indigenous peoples and animals from annihilation #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife
Words and photography by Fritz Pinnow in Tela, Honduras. Originally published in The Guardian, 27 November, 2023 and republished via the Guardian’s open license agreement, read original article.
Park ranger Adonias Cruz was out monitoring illegal oil palm crops in Blanca Jeannette Kawas national park, on the north coast of Honduras, on 10 September, when an unknown armed man came to his flat and rang the bell. When the stranger realised Cruz was out, he left him a death threat.
Oil palm fields growing at the edges of the national park in Honduras. Photography: Fritz Pinnow.
“I had already received death threats from people in the community for leading a team to eradicate a new oil palm plantation in the central zone of the park,” says Cruz. “It was frightening to know they were in my flat and that everything could have ended differently if I had been home that day.”
Cruz, 28, is one of four park rangers dedicated to protecting national parks and monitoring illegal oil palm crops in Honduras. It is a high-risk job: groups linked to the exploitation of palm oil in environmental reserves and drug trafficking have made it clear they are ready to kill if they think the agents interfere too much in their business.
“Most people see us as their enemy. We can have friendly conversations with everyone here, but you never know who will be behind the next assassination attempt,” says Cruz.
Park ranger Adonias Cruz and colleagues patrol a mangrove lagoon in Blanca Jeannette Kawas national park looking for signs of illegal oil palm. Photo: Fritz Pinnow.
Fellow park ranger Cesar Ortega, 22, adds that the team’s work is monitored by the criminals. “From when we leave the office, they know exactly where we are and where we are heading. They have people at every intersection calling in our position and asking if we are with soldiers,” he says.
Cruz and Ortega are two of the many rangers who have been threatened while fighting against the rapid spread of oil palm plantations. Palm oil, especially from the oil palm’s fruit, has become an essential export business in Honduras, used in the food industry, in beauty products and as a biofuel. Its low production costs make it a cheap substitute for most oils, such as sunflower and olive, significantly lowering manufacturing costs in global markets.
Park ranger Cesar Ortega points out newly planted oil palm: “When the oil palm is still so young, it is critical to remove it
In Honduras, oil palm gained traction as a crop in2014, when the former president Juan Orlando Hernández invested almost $72m (£57m) in loans and grants to incentivise its cultivation. “All one needed was the willingness to plant oil palm, and the rest was served on a plate,” says Pablo Flores Velásquez, professor of environmental investigations at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).
For the traffickers, oil palm crops are a way of legitimising their presence in the territory and securing physical control over the land.
Frances Thomson, Latin America specialist
The problem is that the extensive cultivation of oil palm has not only proved to be lucrative, but also poses a risk to the environment. “The oil palm presents a serious threat to the biodiversity of the wetlands and the water quality communities depend on,” says Velásquez. “As a monoculture, the installation and establishment of the crop necessitates the complete eradication of the biodiverse area, paralysing the ecosystem completely and permanently.”
In Honduras, these crops – whose harmful effects on the soil can create “green deserts” – account for almost 4% of all exports, mostly going to the Netherlands, the US, Italy and Switzerland, with a value of $334m in 2021. Six large companies control the production, and two claim more than half of all exports.
Nevertheless, 60% of the production in Honduras is in the hands of smallholders, who sell to corporations for refinement and export. Palm oil is highly lucrative for the farmers and provides an income every 15 days. The regional price of palm oil fruit varies greatly, from about 2,400 lempiras (£77) a tonne during low season to double that in summer.
Cesar Ortega looks at an area deforested for oil palm plantations. “They have stopped because of flooding, but as soon as they can access this area again this will all become palma,” he says
Words and photography by Fritz Pinnow in Tela, Honduras. Originally published in The Guardian, 27 November, 2023 and republished under Guardian’s open license agreement, read original article.
ENDS
Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry
Pangolins get their name from the Malay ‘pengguling’ meaning rolling up. These special critically endangered animals deserve a break from savage poaching
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Testimony of Illegal poachers in Indonesia finds 26 of the estimated remaining 72 living Javan #Rhinos were slaughtered over the past five years. Shame!
Beef palm oil, and timber consumption in wealthy nations is driving mass deforestation and species extinction in tropical regions. EUDR is vital to stop this!
Almost 25% of all land in Africa has been damaged driven by climate change and deforestation for mining palm oil and cocoa. Take action and protect forests!
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Greenwashing Exposed: MSC and RSPO mislead consumers on seafood and palm oil
Environmental organisation Greenpeace Austria has analysed 42 of the most widely used food labels and found that over 25% of them are unreliable. The findings highlight growing consumer concerns over greenwashing in the food industry.
Consumers Losing Trust
A representative survey by the research institute Integral found:
Importance of Food Labels: 64% of respondents consider food labels important when shopping.
Greenpeace has singled out certain labels, such as the MSC certification for fish and the RSPO label for palm oil, as potentially harmful to environmental goals. Meanwhile, some labels remain credible, including Demeter, “Prüf nach!” and Bio Austria.
Call for Stricter Regulations
Greenpeace is demanding that terms like “sustainable” or “climate-friendly” only be used when backed by scientific evidence and transparent certification standards. The upcoming EU Green Claims Directive aims to prevent companies from making false or exaggerated environmental claims without scientific proof.
Time for Real Change
Consumers are calling for honest and transparent labelling, while environmental advocates warn that without stricter regulations, greenwashing will continue to deceive shoppers.
The report itself is in German and can be read here. The RSPO and MSC sections have been machine translated below for your convenience. Greenpeace considers both MSC and RSPO ecolabels to be “absolutely untrustworthy” for consumers in 2025.
Which quality labels and organic brands can I trust?
Austria has a jungle of quality seals, certification labels, and brand or quality marks. Hundreds of them appear on products when shopping in supermarkets. But which ones are truly trustworthy?
Greenpeace has examined the quality labels in the food sector. The alarming result: more than a quarter of the 42 certification labels are not or only moderately trustworthy. Some are even detrimental to achieving environmental goals – such as the MSC fish label or the RSPO palm oil label.
Quality Seals, Certification Labels, and Organic Brands
The analysis of quality labels and brands, particularly those relevant to climate and the environment, focused on four key areas:
Standards and scope of requirements
Labelling and distinguishability
Traceability, transparency, and control
Trustworthiness and credibility
Based on these criteria, the labels were categorised into:
Highly trustworthy and particularly environmentally friendly
Trustworthy and environmentally friendly
Conditionally trustworthy with moderate environmental benefits
Barely trustworthy with little or no environmental benefits
Absolutely untrustworthy and contributing to environmental destruction
Labels and Certifications for Other Areas
For certification labels that do not primarily focus on environmental standards but instead prioritise animal welfare, social standards, or other aspects, a broader classification was used. This evaluation focused on:
Environmentally relevant standards and the scope of requirements
Transparency and control mechanisms
Trustworthiness and credibility
The categories for these labels were:
Trustworthy and environmentally friendly
Moderately trustworthy with limited environmental benefits
Not trustworthy, contributing to environmental destruction
Although there is now a ban on new plantations on peatlands and a prohibition on slash-and-burn clearing for new plantations, the standard does not require the restoration of the millions of hectares of already drained peatlands where oil palm plantations currently stand. However, in the face of the climate crisis, this restoration would be crucial.
Over the years, numerous reports have surfaced detailing human rights violations, including child labour, forced labour, and breaches of RSPO’s minimum standards.
Many food products carry labels such as “certified palm oil” or “sustainable palm oil,” which are often RSPO-certified. However, from an environmental perspective, the term “sustainable” is misleading in this context. Greenpeace considers this to be greenwashing.
MSC:
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was founded in 1997 by Unilever and WWF as an initiative for responsible fishing. However, little remains of its once ambitious goals.
NEGATIVE ASPECTS:
• Even fisheries that use bottom trawling, which causes long-term destruction of the seafloor ecosystem, can receive MSC certification.
• MSC certification is still granted even when fisheries target species that are scientifically recognised as endangered. For example in Australia, the endangered orange roughie was certified as “sustainable” by MSC despite their population that is in grave peril.
NOT TRUSTWORTHY
Neither MSC nor other certification schemes apply the precautionary principle, which is essential for protecting marine life. Instead of addressing the real issues in global fisheries, MSC gives the destructive fishing industry a greenwashed image.
This is particularly alarming given that MSC’s own website acknowledges that fishing is the greatest threat to endangered marine species. Greenpeace considers this label to be untrustworthy.
WARNING: GREENWASHING
The MSC label is widely used and serves primarily as a marketing tool to boost fish product sales, claiming to be an “eco-label for wild-caught fish” and a seal of approval for sustainable fisheries. However, our oceans are already severely overfished. The only truly sustainable choice is to stop buying and consuming seafood and predatory fish altogether.
Greenpeace. (2025, February 13). Greenwashing & Co.: Ein Viertel der Gütesiegel ist nicht vertrauenswürdig. Kronen Zeitung. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.krone.at/3688558.
The legal trade is largely to blame for African grey parrots becoming endangered. Regulator CITES is broken allowing exploitation, massive reform needed now!
Around 800 million people in our world go hungry each day. Yet around the globe we have enough food to go around. So why the discrepancy? Market concentration and corporate monopoly of our…
Greenpeace report reveals severe failures of ecolabel RSPO certifying palm oil and FSC certifying seafood. Consumers are being greenwashed. Boycott palm oil!
The world may be facing a devastating “hidden” collapse in insect species due to the twin threats of climate change and habitat loss. #Palmoil 🪔 #soy#meat 🥩 and #cocoa 🍫 #agriculture along…
Discover the financial giants fuelling ecocide and deforestation for palm oil, meat, mining and soy in this important report about financial corruption
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A groundbreaking and exciting study has started to decode the complex communication of Bornean orangutans, revealing the intricacies of their vocalisations and offering new insights into their rich and mysterious world. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered, primarily due to palm oil deforestation. To help these remarkable great apes, you should always #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop. Don’t believe the industry sponsored lie of “sustainable” palm oil. Learn more about how you can take action.
Erb, W. M., Utami-Atmoko, S. S., & Vogel, E. R. (2024). The complexities of Bornean orangutan vocalisations: A new understanding of their communication. PeerJ Life & Environment. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17320
Orangutans, the intelligent philosophers of the jungle, have long intrigued scientists with their mysterious calls. Now, a new study in PeerJ Life & Environment is unveiling the secrets of their vocalisations. Dr Wendy Erb from the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University led the research to explore the complexities of orangutan long calls, crucial for their communication in the dense rainforests of Indonesia.
Over three years, Dr Erb and her team gathered hundreds of long call recordings from 13 individual orangutans, revealing an astonishing array of vocal diversity. These long calls, which begin with soft, bubbly sounds that escalate into high-amplitude pulses, showcase a complex and variable vocal structure. The study combined traditional audio-visual analysis with machine learning techniques to identify distinct pulse types within these calls.
“Our research aimed to unravel the complexities of orangutan long calls, which play a crucial role in their communication across vast distances in the dense rainforests of Indonesia. Over the course of three years, we accumulated hundreds of long call recordings, revealing a fascinating array of vocal diversity.”
~ Dr Wendy Erb from the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University in the US, as quoted in Cosmos magazine.
Despite previous efforts to catalogue orangutan calls, Dr Erb’s team faced challenges in categorising all the pulses they encountered. Their innovative approach identified three distinct pulse types, differentiated by both humans and machines. This research marks a significant advancement in understanding orangutan communication, though it also suggests there may be an even greater repertoire of vocalisations yet to be discovered.
“While our study represents a significant step forward in understanding orangutan communication, there is still much to uncover. Orangutans may possess a far greater repertoire of sound types than we have described, highlighting the complexity of their vocal system.”
~ Dr Wendy Erb from the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University in the US, as quoted in Cosmos magazine.
This study not only enhances our understanding of orangutan communication but also highlights the intricate and diverse vocal systems present in the animal kingdom. As we continue to uncover the mysteries of these endangered great apes, it becomes increasingly clear how vital it is to protect their habitats and ensure their survival.
Erb, W. M., Utami-Atmoko, S. S., & Vogel, E. R. (2024). The complexities of Bornean orangutan vocalisations: A new understanding of their communication. PeerJ Life & Environment. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17320
ENDS
Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys peer out of the trees during the dusk with their large, soulful eyes and striking facial markings. Also known as the Ma’s night monkey or the Peruvian red-necked owl monkey, this nocturnal primate is named in honour of Dr. Nancy Shui-Fong Ma, who played a significant role in understanding their genetics and later led to the discovery of other species.
These diminutive monkeys weigh around 700 grams and are around 90 cm long from head to tail. They are famous for their large eyes, which have evolved for excellent night vision. They sport an endearing heart-shaped patch of white fur around their eyes and mouth, contrasted by dark brown or black outlines. Their coats are a mix of reddish-orange, light brown, and grey fur, and they possess a black, non-prehensile tail. Their hands are adept at grasping, equipped with long fingers and wide pads.
Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys play a vital role in forest ecosystems by dispersing seeds, which aids in forest regeneration. They are nocturnal and crepuscular creatures are most active during twilight and dawn. They forage in the upper canopy and sleep in the lower canopy or understory during the day.
Quirky Facts
Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys are unique among Latin American monkeys due to their monochromatic vision, seeing the world in shades of black and white. This adaptation does not impede their nocturnal activities; instead, it enhances their ability to move gracefully and catch insects in the dark. Their exceptional night vision, along with a strong sense of smell, helps them locate fruits, flowers, and insects without needing to perceive color.
Living high in the trees, these monkeys are primarily arboreal and only venture to the ground when absolutely necessary. They source their food from the upper canopy but descend to the lower canopy or understory to rest. Their peak activity periods are at twilight and dawn, making them crepuscular creatures. Daytime, however, is reserved for sleep.
When it comes to finding a place to sleep, Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys are very particular. They prefer tree hollows or branches and shrubs that offer natural depressions or can be manipulated to create a secure hiding spot. Their shelters must be large enough for the entire group to sleep together, hidden from predators and equipped with multiple escape routes in case of danger. This meticulous selection of sleeping quarters helps mitigate the risk posed by daytime predators.
Take Action!
Strong government and global legislation to protect their rainforest home is needed. Additionally, the maintenance and guardianship of forests by indigenous peoples keeps these animals protected. Consumers can take action every time they shop, by being vegan and boycotting meat and boycotting palm oil, as animal agriculture, soy and palm oil deforestation is a major threat to the Nancy Ma’s Night Monkey. Use your wallet as a weapon and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Threats
The Red List highlights a major threat these monkeys being palm oil deforestation across their range. A second totally unnecessary and tragic threat is their use for medical research. The findings of using primates in human research have been widely criticised, there are now much better, animal-free ways to do research.
Habitat Loss: Deforestation for agriculture, logging, and palm oil plantations poses the greatest threat. In Peru, extensive forest areas are cleared for rice cultivation and livestock pastures. In Brazil, rainforest destruction is driven by cattle pastures and soybean production.
Illegal Trade: These monkeys are frequently found in the illegal pet trade and are also used in biomedical research, particularly for malaria studies, severely impacting their wild populations.
Habitat
Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys inhabit the lowland tropical rainforests of Northern Peru, Western Brazil, and certain regions of Colombia. They prefer areas that experience seasonal flooding, which provide more tree hollows and soft vegetation for nesting.
Diet
Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys primarily feast on fruits and flowers found in the upper reaches of the forest canopy. Though their diet mainly consists of fruits, they occasionally supplement it with insects. Their dexterous hands make them adept at capturing insects on branches; they often hold the insect with one hand while using the other to pick it apart for consumption.
Being nocturnal gives these monkeys an advantage, as they forage under the cover of darkness, avoiding competition with diurnal herbivores. This nighttime activity allows them to access food resources without the pressure of daytime competitors.
Mating and breeding
If want to find an example of a loving parental bond look no further than Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys! The mother and father become the nucleus of a small family, including their offspring until they reach adulthood, which is around two years old.
During this time, the young monkeys will eventually leave to find their own lifelong mates. Typically, a family group consists of the parents and up to three offspring.
The bonded pair mates year-round but usually has only one or two offspring each year. The gestation period is approximately 133 days (a little over four months). For the first week after birth, both parents equally share the responsibilities of caring for their newborn.
After the initial week, the father takes on the primary role in child-rearing, with the mother mainly handling nursing duties. Babies nurse for about one to three weeks. After nursing, mothers encourage the baby to return to the father, who continues to carry the infant until it can move independently. The father is responsible for protection, grooming, nurturing, and additional feeding once the baby is weaned. This remarkable paternal involvement makes Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys an inspiring example of fatherhood in the animal world.
Support Nancy Ma’s Night Monkeys by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
Emily Underwood is a Sussex-based illustrator with a degree in Marine Biology and an MA in Illustration. Combining her scientific background with her creative talents, she is passionate about highlighting lesser-known endangered species through her art. Inspired by her travels and encounters with extraordinary wildlife, Emily’s work celebrates these creatures while raising awareness of their challenges. Her commitment to wild animals is at the heart of her illustrations, with ceramics soon joining her offerings.
I studied Marine Biology and got an MA in Illustration to share animal stories through my art
Both my parents and my grandad are wildlife-obsessed, and our family has always prioritised experiences, like exploring the world, over material possessions. Seeing and hearing about the importance of wildlife, both within my family and globally—through maintaining ecosystems, cultural connections, and understanding how animals can be mistreated—has deeply influenced my love for animals. This eventually led me to study Marine Biology and now pursue my MA in Illustration to share their stories through art.
These experiences helped me to expand my knowledge and learn more about the natural world! I also hoped it would open up opportunities to travel, though COVID disrupted that part of the plan. I’m a certified diver (PADI), and my love for diving was another reason I gravitated toward Marine Biology.
100% I characterise my art as a form of ‘artivism’
Growing up, I was always torn between science and art, feeling like I had to choose one or the other. Over time, I realised I could combine the two to make a meaningful impact. During my Marine Biology degree, we kept notebooks to document experiments and fieldwork. This process was very visual for me, and it struck me that visual storytelling could be a powerful way to educate others. That was my “aha” moment.
Doing what you love will keep you motivated and make your work more impactful
My advice is to embrace all the things you enjoy and find ways to combine them. Also, start small! I used to feel discouraged that I couldn’t change everyone’s views, but even influencing a handful of people is a success. Small actions can have a ripple effect.
The protection of species at risk before it’s too late is my top priority
My plan is to continue adding to the Endangered Voices series. I’d love to focus on a UK-based series, featuring animals like the red squirrel and dormouse, inspired by photos I’ve taken. I started doing pottery during the COVID lockdown with my grandad, and I’d like to experiment with adding my yellow snail trail design and animal drawings onto pinch pots. I’m currently building a small studio for both ceramics and illustration, which I plan to document on Instagram to bring the project to life.
It’s easy to feel defeated, but every effort counts
My advice is to mirror what I mentioned earlier—start small and remember that influencing even a few people is meaningful.
Yes, 100%. Deforestation for palm oil is deeply linked to the destruction of habitats and the endangerment of countless species, some of which are still undiscovered.
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia. Now extinct in Uruguay.
The Maned Wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus is a captivating wild dog species known for their “foxes on stilts” appearance and distinctive cannabis-smelling urine odour. Their long legs allow them to peer over the tall grass in their South American grassland habitat. Solitary and enigmatic, they communicate through “roar-barks” while marking territory with their unique scent. Despite their fascinating quirks, this species faces significant threats. Deforestation due to palm oil, meat and soy agriculture, gold mining, and commodity crop plantations (like palm oil and soy) has fragmented their habitat, leaving them vulnerable to road mortality, disease transmission from domestic dogs, and poaching. These threats, coupled with habitat destruction, endanger their future. You can make a difference by fighting for their survival every time you shop. Use your wallet as a weapon and boycott palm oil and boycott gold to protect them #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), known as South America’s tallest canid, stands at nearly a meter high and sports long, slender legs adapted to spotting prey over the tall grasses of their native habitat. Their reddish-brown fur, black legs, and signature mane give them a striking and unmistakable appearance. Despite resembling foxes and wolves, they’re neither and instead represent a unique branch of the canid family. They are solitary, often shy, and communicate through distinctive “roar-barks” while marking their territory with cannabis-like scented urine.
Foxes on Stilts: Their long legs earned them this nickname as it helps them peer above the grass for prey.
Solitary Wanderers: Unlike most canids, they are solitary hunters, patrolling vast territories alone.
Cannabis-Like Odour: Their urine contains a compound that smells remarkably like cannabis, giving them the nickname “skunk wolf.”
Vital Seed Dispersers: Feeding on native fruits, they help disperse seeds throughout the ecosystem, playing a crucial role in plant biodiversity.
To protect this species, consumers can join the movement by avoiding and boycotting commodities associated with the destruction of their home. Help them to survive by being vegan and avoiding meat, #BoycottGold and #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife.
Threats
Habitat Reduction: Deforestation and conversion of rainforest for palm oil, soy and meat agriculture are reducing their habitat.
Road Mortality: Increasing road networks lead to death or injury from vehicle collisions.
Disease Transmission: Domestic dogs pose a significant threat due to passing on diseases.
Poaching: Illegal hunting of Maned Wolves continues to pose a danger.
Conservationists and local communities are working together to safeguard the Maned Wolf’s future. By boycotting palm oil, and advocating for wildlife-friendly policies, you can be a strong force for change and fight for their survival. Remember to #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
Habitat
Maned Wolves are found in South America’s grasslands, savannahs, and forests across Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru. They favour grasslands with scattered trees and bush lands in higher altitudes but are known to adapt to plantations and even agricultural landscapes.
Diet
The maned wolf is omnivorous, feasting on a variety of foods. Their diet includes small mammals, birds, eggs, and insects, but they also love fruits and plants. They especially favour “wolf apple,” a fruit that provides both sustenance and protection from parasites.
Mating and breeding
Monogamous pairs share large territories but often interact only during mating season, which ranges from November to April. Females give birth to litters of 2-6 pups after a gestation period of 60-65 days. While the pups are primarily cared for by their mother, the father also plays a role.
Support Maned Wolves by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
Conversely, dung beetles suffer when an ecological system is struggling. In tropical forests, for example, stress caused by environmental disturbances causes dung beetles to gain body fat and work less. Species diversity declines.
That’s why, as Amazonresearchers, we use the marvelous, hard-working dung beetle to measure the ecological health of the world’s largest rainforest. Since 2010, we have collected and studied over 14,000 dung beetles from 98 different species in the vast and still wild interior of Brazil’s Santarém region, a remote corner of the Amazon forest – part of a long-term project with the Sustainable Amazon Network.
Most recently, we studied dung beetles to assess the Amazon’s recovery from the intense drought and forest fires of 2015 and 2016, extreme climatic events brought on by the most severe El Niño on record.
Stressed beetles take less crap
Some forests in our 10,586-square-mile research area were burned in the El Niño fires, which scorched 4,000 square miles of the Amazon. These climate-triggered fires are not to be confused with last year’s Amazon fire crisis, which was deforestation-related. Other Amazonian forests in our study experienced extreme drought but not fire.
We knew going into this project that Amazonian fauna are particularly sensitive to fire – unlike animals in Australia, which have a long history of fire adaptation. But our study, which was published in the scientific journal Biotropica in February 2020, reveals that both forest fires and drought are far more damaging than previously thought.
Dung beetles are captured in traps baited with – what else? – human and pig poop. There we count and physically examine them. To assess their activity level, we trick dung beetles into dispersing seeds by building a small arena filled with a mix of dung and artificial seeds on the forest floor.
Comparing our catches before and after the El Niño forest fires, we learned that almost 70% of dung beetles had disappeared. We believe that’s because most dung beetles nest in shallow soil depths of between zero to 6 inches, so fire heat is likely to kill them.
The El Niño droughts likewise decimated the Amazonian dung beetle populations. Their populations dropped by about 60% in forests affected only by drought, not fire.
Author Filipe França with an Amazonian dung beetle. Marizilda Cuppre/RAS Network, Author provided
Together, extreme drought and forest fires in the Amazon had severely diminished the beetles’ ability to remove dung and spread seeds, which declined by 67% and 22%, respectively, in comparison to data recorded in 2010 – before El Niño. This reduced haul is probably the result of population loss.
Both the reduction in the number of dung beetles captured and their diminished waste disposal functions persisted even two years after El Niño. While dung beetle populations recover quickly in fire-dependent ecosystems, insect recovery from fire disturbance in tropical forests can take many years.
Tropical beetles: If both drought and fire kill off dung beetles, the Amazon forests are in serious trouble
Without these important tropical animals, forests damaged by fire and drought will recover much more slowly. That means they may barely begin their regrowth before the next disaster. And with climate change projected to bring the tropics more intense and frequent droughts, along with hotter and dry global temperatures, such disasters will likely come ever more quickly.
From our field sites deep in the Amazon, we are rooting for all the little creeping and crawling creatures that keep the world running – with, admittedly, some particular affection and concern for the humble dung beetle.
Here are some other ways you can help by using your wallet as a weapon and joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
A landmark lawsuit filed in Philadelphia names major food companies: Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Post Holdings, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestlé, Kellogg’s, Mars, and ConAgra and accuses them of designing and marketing ultra-processed foods (UPFs) with addictive qualities, particularly targeting children. The suit alleges that these practices have led to serious childhood health issues, such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
The case and its repercussions echo sinister marketing tactics employed by Big Tobacco in decades past. In a similar way it is alleged, global food giants manipulate consumers with misleading health claims and aggressive marketing. A large body of research shows that cutting UPFs could save millions of lives, while palm oil’s role in deforestation and biodiversity loss compounds the crisis. It’s time to reject harmful foods and demand accountability. Choose wholefoods, protect wildlife, and fight for a healthier planet. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop.
In a groundbreaking legal action, some of the world’s largest food and beverage corporations are facing allegations of deliberately engineering ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to be addictive, with a specific focus on marketing these products to children. The lawsuit, filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, names companies including Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Post Holdings, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestlé, Kellogg’s, Mars, and ConAgra.
The 148-page complaint drawing unsettling parallels with insidious strategies employed by the tobacco industry, asserts that these companies have employed strategies reminiscent of those used by tobacco giants, utilising research on addiction to create hyper-palatable food products that are difficult to resist. This approach is alleged to have contributed to a rise in serious health conditions among children, notably Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease—ailments that were once rare in this age group.
The plaintiff, represented by the law firm Morgan & Morgan, contends that the defendants have prioritised profit over public health, leading to a public health crisis characterised by increased rates of chronic diseases linked to diet. The lawsuit seeks to hold these corporations accountable for their role in promoting and distributing products that may pose significant health risks to consumers, particularly vulnerable populations like children.
This case underscores the growing scrutiny of ultra-processed foods and their impact on health, especially among younger demographics. It raises critical questions about corporate responsibility, marketing ethics, and the need for greater transparency in the food industry.
The compliant alleges that these tactics originate from a time when tobacco giants acquired and operated major food brands, using the same addiction research once employed to hook smokers on cigarettes. This same research was subsequently applied to make ultra-processed foods tasty and irresistible to children.
This lawsuit represents a pivotal moment in the fight against corporate practices that prioritise profits over human health and planetary well-being. With childhood obesity rates and diet-related illnesses climbing, the case forces society to reckon with the profound consequences of marketing UPFs to vulnerable populations.
Big Food Taking from Big Tobacco’s Playbook of Deception
The lawsuit alleges that Big Food employs tactics alarmingly similar to those pioneered by the tobacco industry, including targeting children, engineering addiction, and lobbying to obstruct regulation. These claims echo findings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Bulletin (2021), which likened the palm oil industry’s tactics to Big Tobacco’s playbook. The report detailed how industries undermine health policies through lobbying, greenwashing, and misleading claims.
In the context of ultra-processed foods, companies exploit health-conscious messaging to disguise their products’ true impact. Misleading packaging, claims of “low-fat” or “fortified” products, and cartoon characters lure children into consuming foods with little to no nutritional value. These strategies mirror the tobacco industry’s decades-long effort to obfuscate health risks while marketing addictive products to the public and in particular to children.
The Hidden Danger of Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods, rich in refined palm oil, sugars, salts, and additives, are engineered to override natural satiety signals, encouraging overconsumption. They not only fuel obesity and chronic diseases but also wreak havoc on cardiovascular health.
Dawn Harris Sherling, in her research published in The American Journal of Medicine (2024), highlights the immense influence of multinational corporations producing ultra-processed foods:
“The multinational companies that produce ultra-processed foods are just as, if not more, powerful than tobacco companies were in the last century, and it is unlikely that governments will be able to move quickly on policies that will promote whole foods and discourage the consumption of ultra-processed foods,” said Sherling.
She argues that this corporate dominance makes swift government action to promote whole foods and discourage ultra-processed food consumption unlikely, underscoring the challenges of addressing this public health crisis. (Sherling, Hennekens, & Ferris, 2024).
Palm Oil’s Role in the UPF Crisis
Palm oil is a cornerstone of UPFs, contributing not only to their health risks but also to widespread environmental destruction. As detailed on Palm Oil Detectives, the palm oil industry drives deforestation, biodiversity loss, and violations of indigenous rights. The unchecked expansion of palm oil plantations continues to exacerbate climate change and disrupt ecosystems vital to planetary health.
Companies like Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo rely heavily on palm oil, underscoring their complicity in both public health and environmental degradation. Addressing these interlinked crises requires holding corporations accountable and rethinking our food systems.
Take Action!
The evidence is clear: ultra-processed foods are a health hazard, and the industries behind them profit from addiction, environmental destruction, and misleading marketing. Here’s what you can do:
• Boycott Palm Oil: Refuse to buy products containing palm oil to combat deforestation, biodiversity loss, and corporate greenwashing.
• Choose Whole Foods: Opt for fresh, minimally processed plant-based foods to prioritise your health and reduce dependency on harmful UPFs.
Fruit bats AKA flying foxes are vital in Africa’s forests as seed dispersers boosting biodiversity. Take action to save these protectors of the rainforest!
A recent #study has revealed that even in the most isolated parts of the #Amazon, bird #populations are collapsing due to #climatechange. Research published in Science Advances found that a 1°C increase in…
#Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, is facing severe threats due to deforestation and habitat fragmentation. This has led to a sharp decline in primate species, including…
The Indigenous Semai #indigenous people of #Malaysia can teach us a lot about how to protect people, planet and biodiversity. The Indigenous concept of #badi is not superstition or taboo, it’s about respecting…
Healthy rivers are essential for community wellbeing. India and Bangladesh legally recognise rivers as natural persons with rights and powers. Take action!
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
The tufted ground squirrel, or groove-toothed squirrel, is a striking nut-cracking rodent native to the island of Borneo. Sporting a voluminous, club-shaped tail, the tufted ground squirrel carries the largest tail-to-body size ratio of any mammal. Scientists believe the tail could serve to confuse predators or attract mates. They are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and are threatened by deforestation, hunting, and forest conversion to palm oil. To protect these charismatic creatures, make sure you #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
The tufted ground squirrel, or groove-toothed squirrel, is a striking nut-cracking rodent native to the island of Borneo. Weighing in at around 2 kg their bodies are overshadowed by a fluffy, charcoal-and-white frosted tail that’s 130% the volume of their body. Their head-and-body length is around 34 cm with a tail almost as long, bringing their total length to nearly 70 cm! They have the largest tail-to-body ratio of any animal on the planet.
Their sharp incisors feature 7-10 saw-like grooves that are perfect for cracking hard nuts. Their fur is primarily brown with a reddish tint, and they sport dramatic tufts of dark fur on their ears, giving them a striking appearance. They’re agile climbers and forage both on the forest floor and in the lower canopy.
“Vampire Squirrel” myth is patently untrue: Though local folklore suggests that these squirrels attack deer from above to feast on their organs, researchers have yet to find scientific proof. Instead, they mostly munch on incredibly hard seeds, especially those from the Canarium tree.
Logging: Out of control logging practices impact their primary forest habitat.
Hunting and Trapping: Although not specifically targeted, these squirrels can become victims due to their ground-foraging habits.
You can help spread awareness about impacts of palm oil on these squirrels and 1000’s of other species. By using your wallet as a weapon every time you shop and being a part of the #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife you are taking an empowering step for them.
Habitat
Glimpsing Tufted Ground Squirrels in their natural home is exceedingly rate. They are found only on the island of Borneo and prefer dense lowland primary forests up to 1,100 meters in elevation. However, they will sometimes venture into secondary forests, orchards or smallholdings. They are elusive and not often seen, sometimes their fluffy tailed forms are captured by camera traps or chance sightings.
Diet
The tufted ground squirrel’s diet includes mostly hard seeds, particularly those of the Canarium tree. They also eat fruits, nuts, and insects, adapting to the available food sources in their forest habitat. Despite their sharp teeth, tales of their carnivorous nature have led to them being dubbed “vampire squirrels”, however these claims were subsequently discovered to be lacking in evidence. Their ultra sharp teeth give them the ability crack open even the toughest nuts.
Mating and breeding
Much remains unknown about the mating and reproduction of the tufted ground squirrel due to their elusive nature. Researchers hope that future studies using motion-activated cameras will uncover more details about their behaviour, including how their elaborate tail might play a role in courtship.
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
2024 was a critical year for Indigenous peoples worldwide, marked by significant victories, challenges, and advocacy for land rights and biodiversity conservation. Here are Mongabay’s top Indigenous news stories of the year:
1. Brazil Prepares to Halt Illegal Mining in Munduruku Territory
Brazil began operations to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, addressing mercury contamination and environmental destruction caused by gold mining.
2. Water Defender Fights for Yaqui Sacred River Amid Mexico’s Heatwave
Mario Luna Romero continues to fight for the Yaqui River, a sacred water source drained by overexploitation and agrochemical pollution. Despite threats and imprisonment, his advocacy persists.
3. Indigenous Rights Violations in Nepal’s Hydropower Projects
Yak herders in Nepal exposed false claims and fabricated signatures by hydropower companies, leading to legal battles over biocultural landscapes.
4. Land Grabs in the DRC Amid Conflict
Indigenous Twa communities in the DRC accused a mining company of acquiring land without proper consultation, exacerbating land disputes under the shadow of regional conflict.
5. Historic Batwa Land Rights Ruling in Africa
The African Commission ruled the Batwa people’s eviction from Kahuzi-Biega National Park a human rights violation, calling for compensation and a return to ancestral lands.
6. Land Rights Conflicts in Cambodia’s Keo Seima REDD+ Project
Indigenous communities in Cambodia faced arrests, land disputes, and destruction of customary lands tied to REDD+ carbon credit projects, raising questions about its efficacy.
7. Do Indigenous Peoples Conserve 80% of Biodiversity?
A controversial study questioned the claim that Indigenous peoples protect 80% of global biodiversity, sparking debate about the validity of the statistic and its implications.
8. Illegal Cattle Boom in Brazil’s Arariboia Territory
Illegal ranching expanded in Arariboia, causing deforestation and violence, with 2023 marking the deadliest year for Indigenous Guajajara people in recent history.
9. False UN Backing Persuades Forest Rights Cession in Latin America
Companies falsely claiming UN endorsement persuaded Indigenous communities in Peru, Bolivia, and Panama to cede forest rights, affecting over 9.5 million hectares.
10. Drug Routes Expand Violence in Peru’s Indigenous Communities
Illicit airstrips linked to coca cultivation in Peru’s Ucayali region have increased violence and deforestation, impacting Indigenous reserves.
Bonus Story: Brazil’s President Lula Recognises 13 Indigenous Lands
Brazil’s President Lula approved 13 Indigenous territories since taking office, advancing efforts to combat deforestation and strengthen Indigenous sovereignty.
These stories reflect the resilience and leadership of Indigenous peoples in the face of environmental and social challenges.
Research reveals no significant difference between RSPO-certified “sustainable” palm oil and non-certified palm in Indonesian land conflicts. Boycott palm oil!
An investigation reveals Socfin’s exploitation of rubber and palm oil in West Africa, leading to deforestation, landgrabbing, and shocking human rights abuses.
PepsiCo’s supply chain is linked to environmental and human rights violations in Peru, involving Amazon deforestation and Indigenous land invasion. For three years, palm oil from deforested Shipibo-Konibo territory has been used in…
The dangerous pesticide Paraquat is banned in the EU however continues to destroy the lives of palm oil plantation workers in Indonesia. Read this story below originally published in Geographic Magazine and learn how…
Gold mining kills indigenous peoples throughout the world like the Yanomami people of Brazil and Papuans in West Papua. The bloody, violent and greedy landgrabbing that goes on for gold forces indigenous women…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
The parts of the world with the greatest #insect abundance may be falling silent without us even realising. the Insect apocalypse would herald the end of all life on earth. The time for excuses is OVER. #BoycottPalmOil#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-4KY
UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research has carried out one of the largest-ever assessments of insect declines around the world – assessing three-quarters of a million samples from around 6,000 sites.
The new study, published in Nature, finds that climate-stressed farmland possesses only half the number of insects, on average, and 25% fewer insect species than areas of natural habitat.
Insect declines are greatest in high-intensity farmland areas within tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are experienced most profoundly.
The majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million species are thought to live in these regions – meaning the planet’s greatest abundances of insect life may be suffering collapses without us even realising.
Lowering the intensity of farming by using fewer chemicals, having a greater diversity of crops and preserving some natural habitat can mitigate the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change on insects.
Considering the choices we make as consumers – such as buying shade-grown coffee or cocoa – could also help protect insects and other creatures in the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions.
Originally written by Tim Newbold, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment, UCL and Charlie Outhwaite, Postdoctoral Researcher in Biodiversity Change, UCL. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Longer version
Insects are critical to the future of our planet. They help to keep pest species under control and break down dead material to release nutrients into the soil. Flying insects are also key pollinators of many major food crops, including fruits, spices and – importantly for chocolate lovers – cocoa.
The growing number of reports suggesting insect numbers are in steep decline is therefore of urgent concern. Loss of insect biodiversity could put these vital ecological functions at risk, threatening human livelihoods and food security in the process. Yet across large swathes of the world, there are gaps in our knowledge about the true scale and nature of insect declines.
Most of what we do know comes from data collected in the planet’s more temperate regions, especially Europe and North America. For example, widespread losses of pollinators have been identified in Great Britain, butterflies have experienced declines in numbers of between 30 and 50% across Europe, and a 76% reduction in the biomass of flying insects has been reported in Germany.
Information on insect species numbers and their abundance in the tropics (the regions either side of the Equator including the Amazon rainforest, all of Brazil, and much of Africa, India and Southeast Asia) is far more scarce. Yet the majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million insect species are thought to live in these tropical regions – meaning the planet’s greatest abundances of insect life may be suffering calamitous collapses without us even realising.
The largest of the 29 major insect groups are butterflies/moths, beetles, bees/wasps/ants and flies. Each of these groups is thought to contain more than one million species. Not only is it near-impossible to monitor such a vast number, but as many as 80% of insects may not have been discovered yet – of which many are tropical species.
Responding to these knowledge gaps, researchers at UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research have conducted one of the largest-ever assessments of insect biodiversity change. Some three-quarters of a million samples from around 6,000 sites worldwide were analysed in our study, adding up to nearly 20,000 different species in all.
Insects are facing an unprecedented threat due to the “twin horsemen” of climate change and habitat loss. We sought to understand how insect biodiversity is being affected in areas that experience both these challenges most severely. We know they do not work in isolation: habitat loss can add to the effects of climate change by limiting available shade, for example, leading to even warmer temperatures in these vulnerable areas.
For the first time, we were able to include these important interactions in our global biodiversity modelling. Our findings, published in Nature, reveal that insect declines are greatest in farmland areas within tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are experienced most profoundly.
We compared high-intensity farmland sites where high levels of warming have occurred with (related) areas of natural habitat that are little-affected by climate change. The farmland sites possess only half the number of insects, on average, and more than 25% fewer insect species. Throughout the world, our analysis also shows that farmland in climate-stressed areas where most nearby natural habitat has been removed has lost 63% of its insects, on average, compared with as little as 7% for farmland where the nearby natural habitat has been largely preserved.
Areas our study highlights as particularly at risk include Indonesia and Brazil, where many crops depend on insects for pollination and other vital ecosystem services. This has serious implications for local farmers and the wider food chain in these climatically and economically vulnerable areas.
Cocoa, midges and deforestation
Eighty-seven of the world’s major crops are thought to be fully or partially dependent on insect pollinators, of which most tend to be grown in the tropics. Cocoa, for example, is primarily pollinated by midges, a group of flies infamous for bedevilling camping trips in Scotland and other parts of the northern hemisphere. In fact, midges play a vital and under-appreciated role in pollinating the cocoa needed to make chocolate.
The majority of cocoa production takes place in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In Indonesia alone, the export of cocoa beans is valued at around US$75 million per year. Most cocoa production is carried out by smallholders rather than big plantation owners, and many farmers are dependent on this crop for their livelihoods. While it is critical to understand whether insect losses will make things worse for cocoa and its farmers, we have very little knowledge of the state of insect biodiversity in tropical countries such as Indonesia.
Cocoa production in Indonesia is carried out by smallholders whose livelihoods may be hit by insect decline. Shutterstock
Cocoa production in the region is already being stressed by adverse weather events that may be linked to climate change. Warming temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are implicated in changes in the growth, pollination and bean production of cocoa plants.
Agriculture is one of the major industries for the people of Indonesia, particularly in rural regions, with large areas being cleared for the production of key crops, also including palm oil. This has resulted in deforestation of extensive areas of rainforest, increasing the risk to many rare and endangered species such as the orangutan, as well as less well-known species including many insects.
Tropical regions are under considerable threat, primarily as a result of agricultural expansion – often to meet increasing demand from countries outside the tropics. International trade has been shown to be a major driver of deforestation in these regions, with forests in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and the Amazon particularly vulnerable.
Brazil’s and Indonesia’s high levels of deforestation are attributed to the production of commodities for export including soybean, coffee, palm oil – and cocoa.
The threat of climate change
Habitat loss is known to be a key threat to biodiversity, yet its impact on insects is still under-studied, and assessments of tropical species tend to be very rare. One study found that forest-dependent orchid bees in Brazil have declined in abundance by around 50% (although it only sampled their numbers at two time points). Orchid bees, found only in the Americas, are important pollinators of orchid flowers, with some plants being entirely dependent on this insect for their pollination.
Example of a farmland system in the tropics, in Ethiopia. Tim Newbold
Adding to the challenges of deforestation and other, longer-term habitat changes, is climate change. This fast-emerging threat to insect biodiversity has already been implicated in declines of moths in Costa Rica and bumblebees in Europe and North America. Rising temperatures and increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts, are just two manifestations known to be having a harmful impact on many insect species.
It is predicted that climate change will have a particularly big impact in the planet’s tropical regions. Temperatures in the tropics are naturally quite stable, so species aren’t used to coping with the fast changes in temperature we are seeing with climate change. Again, though, our ability to understand how this is affecting tropical insects is hampered by a lack of data for these regions. Almost all of the available data comes from only a few very well-studied groups of insects – in particular, butterflies, moths and bees – while many other groups receive very little attention. Despite a big increase in studies of insect biodiversity change, there is still much we don’t know.
Insects normally missed
To help address this knowledge gap, our study has assessed three-quarters of a million samples of insects from all over the world. Of the 6,000 sites included, almost one third are from tropical locations. Our samples of nearly 20,000 different insect species include beetles, bees, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, flies, bugs, dragonflies and other, less well-known groups.
This was made possible through the use of PREDICTS, a biodiversity database which brings together millions of samples collected by researchers all over the world. PREDICTS records biodiversity in natural habitats and also in areas used by humans for growing crops, among other purposes. It is one of very few global databases that allow us to study biodiversity changes across the whole world.
Almost all insect data comes from a few very well-studied groups – in particular, butterflies, moths and bees. Shutterstock
While our 20,000-strong sample represents only a fraction of the vast diversity of insect species, it is still a sample from more sites than have ever been studied before. We were particularly interested in using it to understand how habitat loss and climate change play off each other to affect insect biodiversity, and were able to include these interactions in our models for the first time.
These twin conditions are found most profoundly in farmland in tropical countries. And our results demonstrate that farmland in these regions has typically lost a lot of insect biodiversity, relative to areas of primary vegetation. This highlights that climate change may present a major threat to food security not only by directly impacting crops, but also through losses of pollinators and other important insects.
As climate change accelerates, the ability to grow cocoa and other crops in their current geographical ranges is already becoming more uncertain, threatening local livelihoods and reducing the availability of these crops for consumers all over the world. The insect losses our study highlights are only likely to add to this risk. Indeed, threats to food security due to the loss of insect biodiversity are already being seen in both temperate and tropical regions: for example, evidence of reduced yields due to a lack of pollinators has been reported for cherry, apple and blueberry production in the US.
In some parts of the world, farmers are resorting to hand-pollination techniques, where the flowers of crops are pollinated using a brush. Hand pollination is used for cocoa in a number of countries, including Ghana and Indonesia. These techniques can help to maintain or increase yield, but come at a high labour cost.
Reducing the declines
Our study also highlights changes that could help to reduce insect declines. Lowering the intensity of farming – for example, by using fewer chemicals and having a greater diversity of crops – mitigates some of the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change. In particular, we show that preserving natural habitat within farmed landscapes really helps insects. Where farmland in climate-stressed areas with its natural habitat largely removed shows insect reductions of 63%, on average, this number drops to as little as 7% where three-quarters of the nearby natural habitat has been preserved.
For insects living on farmland, natural habitat patches act as an alternative source of food, nesting sites and places to shelter from high temperatures. This offers hope that even while the planet continues to warm, there are options that will reduce some of the impacts on insect biodiversity.
Not all species are struggling: one UK study shows an increase in freshwater insects such as the damselfly. Shutterstock
Indeed, natural habitat availability has already been shown, at smaller scales, to have a positive impact within agricultural systems in particular. For Indonesian cocoa, increasing the amount of natural habitat has been found to boost numbers of key insects including pollinators. Our new study shows, however, that the benefits of this intervention are only found in less-intensive farming systems. This might mean reducing the level of inputs such as fertilisers and insecticides that are applied, or increasing crop diversity to ensure the benefits of nearby natural habitat can be felt.
It’s also important to note that not all species are enduring a hard time as a result of recent pressures. For example, recent work looking at UK insects has shown that while some groups have declined, others, including freshwater insects, have increased in recent years. Another study looking at worldwide insect trends also found increases in the numbers of freshwater insects. However, many of these positive trends have been reported in non-tropical regions such as the UK and Europe, where a lot has been done, for example, to improve the water quality of rivers in recent years, following past degradation.
Covid-19 helped many people to reconnect with animals and plants around us
The COVID-19 lockdowns prompted many of us to reconnect with the flora and fauna around us. In the UK, the warm spring weather of 2020 saw an apparent increase in the abundance of insects in the UK countryside. However, this spike was probably temporary, and something of an anomaly set against the bigger picture worldwide.
To support more insect biodiversity in our local environments, we can plant diverse gardens to attract insects, reduce the amount of pesticides used in gardens and allotments, and reduce how often we mow our lawns. (In the UK, you could consider joining the No Mow May challenge.) However, it is not just locally that we can make a difference. Considering the choices we make as consumers could help protect insects and other creatures in the tropics. For example, buying shade-grown coffee or cocoa will ensure a lesser impact on biodiversity than crops grown in the open.
Meanwhile, governments and other public and private organisations should consider more carefully the impact their actions and policies are having on insects. This could range from the proper consideration of biodiversity within trade policies and agreements, to ensuring that products are not sourced from areas associated with high deforestation rates.
And then there’s the data issue. We are increasingly recognising the importance of insects for human health and wellbeing, and their key role in global food production systems. Safeguarding the environment to protect insects into the future will have big benefits for human societies around the world. However, none of this is possible without good data.
One important step towards a better understanding of insect biodiversity change is to bring together and assess the data that is already available. A new project of which we are part, GLiTRS (GLobal Insect Threat-Response Synthesis), is doing this by combining the work of leading experts from a range of institutions and ecological disciplines, including data analysts. The project will then assess how different insect groups are responding to certain threats.
Understanding what is causing insect declines is key for preventing even greater losses in the future, and for safeguarding the valuable functions that insects perform. Climate change and biodiversity loss are major global crises that are two sides of the same coin. Their combined effects on food production mean the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of many people in the tropics and beyond are hanging in the balance. Insect biodiversity losses are a crucial, but as yet understudied, part of this story.
ENDS
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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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The Visayan Broadbill Sarcophanops samarensis is a brightly colored bird endemic to the islands of Samar, Leyte, and Bohol in the central Philippines. Males flaunt striking reddish-pink underparts, while females are marked by a distinctive white belly and collar. Sadly, due to extensive deforestation and habitat loss for palm oil and other commodities in the Philippines, the Visayan Broadbill is now classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. There is only an estimated population of 2,500 to 9,999 mature individuals left alive! Therefore urgent conservation measures are needed to protect this unique bird’s lowland forest habitat. Advocate for stricter protections, push back against illegal logging for palm oil #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife to make a difference.
The Visayan Broadbill is a small passerine bird that measures between 14 to 15 cm. Their distinctive features include a pale blue bill and eye wattle, a black face, a streaked crown, and a reddish-brown back. While the male has a reddish-pink belly and collar, the female has a white belly and a black-and-white collar. Their unique vocalisations include whistles, rattles, and sharp calls.
These birds possess a wide mouth, allowing them to consume larger pieces of food than most other birds their size. Their distinctive vocalisations, such as whistles and rattles, are complemented by unique wing and head displays during territorial or mating behaviour. Despite these fascinating traits, they face critical threats from habitat loss due to extensive deforestation and land conversion for farming and mining, leaving only 4% of forest in Bohol and limited primary forest in Samar and Leyte. Their estimated population has declined to 2,500–9,999 mature individuals.
Threats
Deforestation: Logging and land conversion for palm oil and other agriculture have decimated their natural lowland forest habitat.
Mining: Mining concessions further exacerbate habitat destruction.
Illegal Logging: Even within protected areas like the Rajah Sikatuna National Park, illegal logging persists.
Agricultural Expansion: Slash-and-burn farming techniques and forest fires are common and degrade forest quality and threaten these birds and many other aniamls.
Habitat
This strikingly colourful species inhabits the lowland tropical forests of the central Philippines, primarily on the islands of Samar, Leyte, and Bohol. Their preferred habitats include moist lowland forests and shrublands, typically found below 1,000 meters.
Diet
The Visayan Broadbill feeds on insects, which they capture during short sallies, often foraging in pairs, groups, or mixed-species flocks in the understory and lower canopy.
Mating and breeding
They breed in tropical moist forests and engage in unique territorial and mating displays. Males perform wing flapping, head bobbing, and feather fluffing, while females often join in flights. They tend to stay in pairs or small groups during the breeding season.
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.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
On April 30, 2024, a shocking and disgraceful incident occurred in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During a meeting of shareholders from Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), (formerly known as Feronia) environmental rights defenders were arrested, and a journalist was kidnapped after displaying banners denouncing PHC’s mistreatment of local communities. PHC, formerly known as Feronia, is a multinational company that operates large palm oil plantations in the DRC. Take action in solidarity of these people and #BoycottPalmOil when you shop!
On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, a shocking and disgraceful incident occurred in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During a meeting of shareholders from Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), environmental rights defenders were arrested, and an environmental journalist was kidnapped after displaying banners denouncing PHC’s mistreatment of local communities. PHC, formerly known as Feronia, is a multinational company that operates large palm oil plantations in the DRC.
Who are Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC)?
Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC) are a palm oil company that operate extensive palm oil plantations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company produces palm oil used in many products like food, cosmetics, and biofuels. PHC has faced numerous protests and criticism for its detrimental impact on the environment and local communities.
This powerful #comic is by Didier Kassai and Dieudonne Botoko Kendewa is about a community in the #Congo 🇨🇩 living next to the #Feronia#palmoil plantation. They faced #violence…
The protest was sparked by a letter from the Réseau d’Information et d’Appui aux ONG (RIAO – DRC), a network supporting non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the DRC. This letter led PHC to hold an urgent meeting in Kinshasa.
Protesters had several demands:
Release people who were unjustly imprisoned.
Compensate workers for accidents and retirees.
Reopen the Lokutu and Boteka ports, which they argue are public roads, not PHC property.
Call to Action and Strong Suppression
The protesters wanted to push state authorities to act on an open letter from RIAO – DRC and its partners. This letter discussed mediation claims funded by the German Bank (DEG) and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) to help communities affected by PHC. Unfortunately, security forces were called to stop the protesters, damage their equipment, and kidnap the journalist and environmental defender.
An Urgent Appeal for Support
RIAO-RDC, a national support network for NGOs, made an urgent call to security authorities and stakeholders to find their members, Dieumerci Mpay Ngomba, and a cameraman journalist from Numerica TV in Kinshasa. They called these actions “kidnapping” and stressed that defenders of forest community rights should not face political or rights abuses.
An Alarming and Unjust Situation for Environmental Defenders
The situation for environmental defenders in the DRC is worrying. RIAO-RDC said Dieumerci was arrested because of a complaint by PHC. At the General Prosecutor’s Office near the Court of Appeal of Kinshasa Gombe, protesters were charged with inciting breaches against public authority under article 135 of the Congolese penal code.
Targeting Environmental Advocates
RIAO-RDC believes that PHC is mainly targeting Jean François Mombia Atukua, who previously led a disguised march against RIAO and its director at the Lokutu base. The organisation urges the judiciary to ensure the safety of those arrested and uphold press freedom and human rights.
Company Response
Following publication PHC did not respond to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s request for comment regarding these allegations.
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Renowned and prolific science communicator and author Julian Cribb writes this op-ed piece for Palm Oil Detectives. He addresses the world’s most pressing needs for survival as we descend into the pointy end…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil#Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
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 #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
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
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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