Mongabay Newscast

For the 100th episode of the Newscast, we revisit Mongabay's groundbreaking Conservation Effectiveness series which asked a simple question: How can we know if conservation methods are working if we don't test their effectiveness? From marine protected areas to parks and certification schemes like 'green' labels on lumber, our team reviewed published studies and evaluated the evidence for each method. On this episode we speak with Mongabay's founder and editor-in-chief Rhett Butler about the Conservation Effectiveness series & the ongoing need to test conservation outcomes, and with Sven Wunder, a principal scientist at the European Forest Institute in Barcelona, who is also a senior associate at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), about the effectiveness of several of these conservation methods, like "payments for ecosystem services." Review all the features from the series here, https://news.mongabay.com/series/conservation-effectiveness/ We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below! If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Hellbenders are North America's largest salamanders, living in rivers and growing to an incredible length of over two feet. Eastern newts are tiny and terrestrial, but both are susceptible to a fungal pathogen called Bsal. While Bsal has yet to make an appearance in the global hotspot of salamander diversity that is North America, it has wreaked havoc on populations in Europe, so biologists worry its impact could be even worse if it does. Eastern newts' susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their notable mobility mean they could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus ever gets to North America. For hellbenders, which are already listed as endangered and suffer from habitat degradation, a new pathogen is hardly good news. On this episode we speak with Dr. Becky Hardman from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Dr. Anna Longo of the University of Florida about these fascinating and unique species, and discuss what is being done to prepare for a Bsal invasion that experts say is inevitable. More on this topic: Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemic Hellbenders threatened by disease & stress Mongabay's article series on Bsal is here United States Bsal Task Force website To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Parts 3, 4, & 5 are also helpful in understanding the conservation community's response to the threat (and some opportunities) presented by Bsal. Based on a multi-year article series that Mongabay.com published about Bsal, episodes of this special podcast series delve further to learn what's known about this issue, now. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

More than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas. And thanks to the COVID pandemic, many of us who are city-dwellers have spent at least part of the past several months on lockdown in our homes. But living in a city doesn't mean that you can't get out and enjoy some nature. On this episode we explore cities with author Kelly Brenner and urban forester & educator Georgia Silvera Seamans. Kelly Brenner is a naturalist and writer whose most recent book is called Nature Obscura: A City's Hidden Natural World. Brenner, who lives in Seattle, Washington, joins us to discuss some of the wildlife encounters she writes about in the book and to provide some tips on how anyone can go about exploring nature in their city. We also welcome to the program Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester who has spearheaded a number of "hyper local urban ecology" projects in New York City. Silvera Seamans tells us about the Washington Square Park Eco Projects, which include monitoring, education, and advocacy efforts in the iconic NYC park, and shares how urban ecosystems benefit all city-dwellers. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a trade ban on 201 salamander species in 2016 in order to prevent the import of the the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ('Bsal') which could be a major threat to the world's salamander hotspot of North America (and the U.S. in particular). However, the recent discovery that frogs can also carry Bsal has led scientists to urge the American government to ban the import of all salamander and frog species to the country. But what other policies or regulations could be enacted to prevent Bsal from wiping out this rich amphibian heritage? In this 5th "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Priya Nanjappa, former Program Manager for the Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies, and Tiffany Yap, a Staff Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, about animal trade policy, differences in the way the United States conducts this policy from other nations, and what the U.S. might do to more effectively combat the threat. More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time? Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here United States Bsal Task Force website To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Parts 3 & 4 are also helpful in understanding the threats and opportunities presented by Bsal. Based on a multi-year project Mongabay.com published about Bsal at the site (link above), episodes of this special podcast series delve further to learn what's known about this issue, now. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

On this episode we take a look at the ongoing debate over trophy hunting 5 years after the killing of Cecil the Lion sparked global outrage: he was a famous attraction for tourists and photographers visiting Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, but in July 2015, an American dentist and recreational hunter killed Cecil just outside the park. To what degree does trophy hunting support conservation and local communities where iconic wildlife live? What happens to animal populations who've lost members to hunters? Does trophy hunting support or harm scientific inquiry or conservation goals? To discuss questions like this and what's changed (or not) in the debate since 2015, we hear from four experts who share a diversity of information and opinions that may change the way you think about this important issue: Iris Ho of Humane Society International conservation icon Jane Goodall Amy Dickman, founder of the Ruaha Carnivore Project Maxi Pia Louis, director of NACSO, a Namibian organization that works with local communities to support conservation efforts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

North America (and the US in particular) is the world's hotspot of salamander diversity, hosting about 1/3 of all species. Researchers think that about half of these may be susceptible to a deadly fungus called Bsal, and believe it's a matter of time before it gets to North America. If and when it does, it could mean devastation and maybe extinction for a massive amount of amphibians. To head off the threat, scientists created the Bsal Task Force in 2015 and in this fourth "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo interviews the group's Dr. Jake Kerby who is also the associate chair of biology at the University of South Dakota. Dr. Kerby details the working relationships their 'Bsal battalion' has with federal entities in Canada, the US, and Mexico and how they are working together to manage and mitigate the damage of this potential pandemic. He also discusses what citizens can do to help protect North America's amazingly diverse salamander species. More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time? Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America. Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here United States Bsal Task Force website To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Based on a special series Mongabay.com published to its website in 2018-19, the next couple episodes of this special podcast series made possible in part by our Patreon supporters will delve further into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Animal societies have culture, too, as science keeps showing us ever since Dr. Jane Goodall first pointed it out, and on this episode we explore the culture and social learning of sperm whales, scarlet macaws, and chimpanzees with author Carl Safina and whale culture researcher Hal Whitehead. Safina examines how these species are equipped to live in their worlds by learning from other individuals in their social groups — which he argues is just as important as their genetic inheritance — in his new book, Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. In the book, he calls Hal Whitehead "the pioneering sperm whale researcher" who has studied social learning in whales and dolphins for decades. A professor at Canada's Dalhousie University, he was one of the first scientists to examine the complex social lives of sperm whales and their distinctive calls known as codas, and appears on the podcast today to play some recordings of them and tell us about sperm whale culture and social learning. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Reporter Benji Jones and wildlife disease ecologist with U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Grear, join this special edition of Mongabay's podcast to discuss the hunt for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) in North America, which Benji has described as "searching for a needle in a haystack except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles." Host Mike DiGirolamo talks with Jones and Grear about the search, the difficulty in finding it, and what we can expect if the disease ever makes its way to U.S. shores. This third bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year. For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now. More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time? Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America. Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here United States Bsal Task Force website To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

On this episode we look at how current environmental crises intersect with two others: the pandemic and the systemic racism and police brutality that have sparked protests around the U.S. and world in recent weeks, with guests Leela Hazzah, founder and executive director of Lion Guardians, and Earyn McGee, a herpetologist and science communicator who just helped organize the first-ever Black Birders Week, a celebration of black birders and nature lovers. McGee tells host Mike G. how Black Birders Week came together so quickly and why it's necessary to celebrate black nature lovers, and Egyptian conservationist Hazzah discusses what she sees as opportunities for transformative change in conservation due to the pandemic, like for instance that conservation has been named an "essential service" during the health crisis by the Kenyan government, plus the fact that more female and African representatives have been present at important conservation meetings lately, now that they're all virtual. "I hope that we continue using these virtual tools so we can continue to have more diverse voices at important meetings," Hazzah says, while also reducing our carbon footprints, she adds. And as McGee says, diversity is important, and people want to be part of the conservation movement as her group's event proved: "The interest is there...we want to do this work, but there are barriers in our way." Episode artwork photo of Leela Hazzah © Philip J. Briggs. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Why are salamanders so incredibly diverse in the United States? Among other things, a fluke of geography contributed to making it the global hotspot of salamander diversity. But now, another pandemic is on the march toward the U.S., and this time it's got salamanders in its sights. In this second special episode about salamanders, we'll give you the full context. How big a role do these ubiquitous animals play in the environment, and what would it mean to forest biodiversity, climate change, and forest food chains to lose whole populations of salamanders? This second bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year. For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now. More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time? Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America. Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here United States Bsal Task Force website To hear part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

The Elephant Listening Project is a bioacoustics research effort that aims to preserve rainforests of Central Africa--and the biodiversity found in those forests--by listening to forest elephants, and on this episode we hear those animals' calls, rumbles, and trumpets with ELP researcher Ana Verahrami. Verahrami has spent two field seasons in the Central African Republic collecting behavioral and acoustic data vital to the project & joins us to explain why forest elephants' role as keystone species makes their survival crucial to the wellbeing of tropical forests and its other inhabitants, and to play some of the fascinating recordings that inform the project's work. Helping frame the discussion is Terna Gyuse, Mongabay's Cape Town-based Africa Editor. ELP is part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, whose bioacoustics research team we've featured several times in the past, listen to these episodes for more fascinating bioacoustics studies that feature the calls, songs, and sounds of diverse animals what they may mean for them and for conservation: • How listening to individual gibbons can benefit conservation • What underwater sounds can tell us about Indian Ocean humpback dolphins • The superb mimicry skills of an Australian songbird • The sounds of tropical katydids and how they can benefit conservation Photo of forest elephants at Dzanga bai in Central African Republic © Ana Verahrami, ELP. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Another pandemic is currently on the march, and it's got salamanders in its sights. You may not have heard about 'Bsal' before, but it nearly wiped out a population of salamanders in Europe, and scientists worry it could invade the United States--the home of the world's greatest diversity of salamanders--next. Is the U.S. ready for Bsal, and can a pandemic in this global salamander hotspot be prevented, unlike the one that's currently crippling human societies globally? What's being done, and what would it mean to lose salamanders on a landscape-wide level in North America? This first bonus episode of the Mongabay Newscast tackles these important questions, just as spring and salamanders emerge in the North. For the next couple months, this special series made possible by our Patreon supporters called Mongabay Explores will dive into a recent project our writers and editors produced on the topic, to learn what's known about this issue now. More reading from Mongabay on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time? Mongabay's whole series on Bsal is here United States Bsal Task Force website If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Australia's fire season may have just ended, but most of the world's tropical forest regions will soon enter their own. We look at what's driving the intense fires in the Amazon, Indonesia, and elsewhere in recent years with three guests, who discuss what we can expect from the 2020 tropical fire season while sharing some solutions to this problem, which has huge effects on biodiversity, indigenous peoples, forests, and climate change. Joining us are Rhett Butler, Mongabay's founder and CEO, who provides a global perspective; scientist Dan Nepstad, who worked in the Brazilian Amazon for more than three decades; plus Aida Greenbury, an Indonesian sustainability consultant for projects like the High Carbon Stock Approach to forest protection. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. More reading from this episode: Rhett Butler for Mongabay: "Rainforests in 2020: Ten things to watch," December 2019 "Amazon deforestation increases for 13th straight month in Brazil," May 2020 Dan Nepstad for the New York Times, "How to help Brazilian Farmers Save the Amazon," December 2019 See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

At a time when so many people are trying to make photographs of wildlife -- to break the pandemic lockdown blues, or to share on social media -- we speak with two guests about how to do this without harassing, exploiting, or harming them. Internationally renowned wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas shares her experiences and advice, saying that the most important practices are both better for wildlife and capture the most compelling images. This is "kind of a win-win," Eszterhas says, because "we're treating the animals with kindness and respect and we're not affecting their lives in a very negative way" while delivering superior photos. Also joining the discussion is environmental journalist Annie Roth, who recently wrote an in-depth article for Hakai Magazine exploring how wildlife pay the price when humans get too close in order to snap a few pics that they hope will score them likes on social media. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Episode artwork of jackal pups courtesy of Suzi Eszterhas. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

What does it mean to celebrate the 50th Earth Day amidst a pandemic? Our guests for this episode provide options and inspiration to mark this important anniversary in the face of a global virus outbreak, which ironically has roots in the destruction of nature. We speak with Trammell Crow, the founder of the largest Earth Day event in the world, EarthX, which has big plans with National Geographic for a virtual celebration, and Ginger Cassady, the executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental advocacy group that works to end deforestation and respond to the climate crisis. They share stories of inspiration, challenge, and triumph as we mark 50 years of Earth Day with an eye on what comes next. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details. See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Acclaimed environmental journalist John Vidal joins the show to discuss the current pandemic's links to the wildlife trade and the destruction of nature. We speak about his recent Guardian/Ensia feature on what we know about the origins of the outbreak, what he's learned while reporting from similar outbreak epicenters in the past, how the destruction of nature creates the perfect conditions for diseases to emerge, and what we can do to prevent future outbreaks. See related Mongabay podcast episode: How studying an African bat might help us prevent future Ebola outbreaks Here's this episode's top news: National parks in Africa shutter over COVID-19 threat to great apes Shell of bioluminescent shrimp not only glows but detects light Seychelles extends protection to marine area twice the size of Great Britain If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

The songs, calls, clicks, and bumps of beluga whales, bearded seals, bowhead whales, ribbon seals, and walrus are the stars of this episode, which also features the co-author of a recent study that used bioacoustics to assess how variation in sea surface temperature and sea ice extent affects these animals' populations in the northern Bering Sea. Dr. Howard Rosenbaum is the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program, and his team is creating an acoustic baseline for how marine noise pollution and climate change are affecting large mammals in this area of the Arctic. Learn more about Dr. Rosenbaum's team's study here and press play to hear the fascinating sounds they captured. Here's this episode's top news: Conservationists set the record straight on COVID-19's wildlife links Record-high global tree cover loss driven by agriculture In Afghanistan, a new national park carries hopes for conservation and peace If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Shah Selbe is a rocket scientist who put his engineering skills into building a lab that uses open-source technologies to empower local communities to solve conservation challenges. His team has been deploying technologies like drones, sensor networks, smartphone apps, and acoustic buoys to monitor protected areas, wildlife, and biodiversity. But their big news is the launch of the open-source hardware and online platform FieldKit that anyone can use to deploy a local sensing network and mesh that with remote sensing data for real-time ecosystem monitoring: he joins us to discuss its potential plus the conservation tech he's currently most excited about. Here's this episode's top news: China beefs up wildlife trade ban as COVID-19 outbreak intensifies 'Out of control': Unprecedented fires ravage Brazil's Pantanal wetlands Camera traps confirm presence of lowland gorillas in central mainland Equatorial Guinea for first time in over a decade If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Fred Swaniker is the founder of the African Leadership University, which recently launched a School of Wildlife Conservation to help young Africans develop the skills and knowledge necessary to "own and drive" the conservation agenda on the African continent. Swaniker sees Africa's natural heritage as a strategic advantage for the continent, and argues on this episode that the immense young workforce can be engaged in its conservation in many ways, from management to filmmaking, science communications and technology. He also shares highlights from ALU's recent "Business of Conservation Conference" in Kigali, Rwanda. Here's this episode's top news: Jeff Bezos establishes $10 billion 'Earth Fund' to combat climate change Deforestation in Brazil continues torrid pace into 2020 Rhino poaching in South Africa declines for fifth straight year Learn more about African Leadership University's School of Wildlife Conservation at its website, www.sowc.alueducation.com. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Top scientists, authors, and activists appear on the Mongabay Newscast to discuss their latest research, describe new solutions for tough challenges, or to share their views on conservation and the environment: subscribe to this free show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mongabay.com is a 25 year-old award-winning nonprofit news service with 5 million monthly readers who consume our daily reporting in 6 languages via 5 international bureaus. So to stay on top of key trends, new science and fresh thinking on the global environment, find, subscribe and follow the Mongabay Newscast for news and inspiration from nature's frontline.

'Without the land, indigenous people cannot exist' the new leader of Cultural Survival, Galina Angarova, tells host Mike G. in this new episode. Raised in a Buryat community in Siberia, she's had a number of top roles through the years, but her recent appointment to this key indigenous rights organization is perhaps the most important one yet. She grew up eating wild berries, mushrooms, nuts, wild garlic, deer, and more on the shores of Lake Baikal, and therefore has a strong sense of relationship to the land and how important it is that indigenous peoples like her community are allowed to keep stewarding these places: it's been proven that indigenous communities are the best stewards of land, waters, forests, and animals. Angarova joins the show to discuss this plus the power of indigenous radio programs, and her idea of the sacred feminine. Here's this episode's top news: Catastrophic Amazon tipping point less than 30 years away: study Dam that threatens orangutan habitat is 'wholly unnecessary': Report Indigenous, protected lands in Amazon emit far less carbon than areas outside Belize officially declares wildlife corridor in key protected area complex Learn more about Galina and the work of Cultural Survival at their website, culturalsurvival.org. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Laurel Symes is a biologist who uses bioacoustics to study tropical katydids in Central America, and she joins us to play some of her hypnotic rainforest recordings and say how tracking these insects' interesting sounds can aid rainforest conservation. Based on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, she uses machine learning to detect and identify these creatures, which are grasshopper-like insects that are important to the rainforest food web, because they eat a lot of plants and are in turn eaten by a lot of other species, including birds, bats, monkeys, frogs, and more. Here's this episode's top news: 2019 was second-hottest year on record, 2010s hottest decade Indigenous lands hold 36% or more of remaining intact forest landscapes Update to biodiversity treaty proposes protecting at least 30% of Earth One six-week expedition discovered ten new songbird species and subspecies in Indonesia If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Ami Vitale is an award-winning war correspondent turned conservation photographer, and her iconic images of animals like Sudan the Rhino adorn the pages of National Geographic and other top outlets often. But she's so much more than a woman with a camera, rather, she's a force of nature helping create change and grassroots conservation all over the world through her work, words, and advocacy. She joins the podcast to talk about the most inspiring and heartbreaking moments from her recent projects (don't miss the beautiful story at the end about the behavior of elephant orphans) and she shares where she finds her seemingly boundless energy and optimism. Here's this episode's top news items: Study declares ancient Chinese paddlefish extinct 'Tainted timber' from Myanmar widely used in yachts seized in the Netherlands New monkey discovered on "island" amid deforestation in Brazil Episode artwork of a panda keeper in China is courtesy of Ami Vitale. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

For this last episode of 2019, we take a look back at some favorite bioacoustics recordings featured here on the Mongabay Newscast and play them for you. As regular listeners will know, bioacoustics is the study of how animals use and perceive sound, and how their acoustical adaptations reflect their behaviors and relationships with their habitats and surroundings. Bioacoustics is a fairly young field of study but it is already being used to study everything from how wildlife populations respond to the impacts of climate change to how entire ecosystems are impacted by human activities. Here's this episode's top news: Tropical forests' lost decade: the 2010s Central American countries pledge to protect Mesoamerica's '5 Great Forests' Mountain gorilla census reveals further increase in numbers If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

We speak with National Geographic writer Chris Fagan about the investigative report he just filed for Mongabay revealing a massive invasion of national parks in the Peruvian Amazon, in an area relied upon by isolated indigenous communities. Traveling up the Sepahua River with indigenous guides, Fagan counted more than 250 plots of land illegally cleared for cocaine production in recent months. He met some of these growers and describes for us a very 'Wild West' scene that Peruvian officials know little about, in an area that was thought to be largely protected. Read Chris's full report and see the stunning video and drone footage here: https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/coca-farms-close-in-on-protected-areas-isolated-tribes-in-peruvian-amazon/ Here's this episode's top news: Revealed: Government officials say permits for mega-plantation in Papua were falsified Hopes dim as COP25 delegates dicker over Article 6 and world burns: critics Newly spotted calves boost Javan rhino population to 72 If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo of Chris Fagan by Jason Houston/Upper Amazon Conservancy. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Dena Clink is a primatologist studying individuality and variation in Bornean gibbon calls, which she says could aid these primates' conservation. She joins this episode to play some recordings of these fascinating songs & calls she's made in the course of her research, and explain how they're used and what they may mean to the species. We've featured a wide variety of bioacoustics studies here on the Mongabay Newscast, from whales to bats and birds, but these are usually recordings of species at the population level. Our guest today focuses on how calls vary between each gibbon, and what that can teach us about the animals, and their conservation needs. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Bluesky or Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo of a Mueller's gibbon (Hylobates muelleri) via People Resources and Conservation Foundation. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Damian Aspinall is chairman of the Aspinall Foundation, a UK charity that works to conserve endangered animals and return them to the wild. Despite his foundation operating two zoos, he's a vocal critic of how zoos are generally run, and feels their focus should be upon breeding rare animals and reintroducing them to the wild, vs keeping them in captivity for public entertainment, as he says. "European zoos spend at least 15 million pounds a year, at least, on looking after their elephants and rhinos...imagine what you could do with that money in the wild," toward stopping poaching & rebuilding their habitats, he argues on this episode of the podcast. Aspinall also talks about numerous other ethical problems he sees with 'the zoo-ocracy,' discusses his own program for breeding and reintroducing gorillas, lemurs, gibbons and more, and he shares his vision for a 'zoo-less future' on Earth. Here's this episode's top news: Controversial dam gets green light to flood a Philippine protected area Emperor penguins could disappear by 2100 if nations don't cap emissions There's a new fin whale subspecies in the North Pacific Listen to our recent conversation with Bronx Zoo director Jim Breheny about zoos' role in conservation on Mongabay's podcast, here. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Katie Baker is a reporter for the Buzzfeed News team investigating human rights violations committed against local & indigenous people by park rangers paid by the major environmental NGO WWF to protect creatures like rhinos from poachers. "No one is saying that [WWF's rangers] don't have really difficult jobs...but just because they have a difficult job doesn't mean they can rape and kill and torture with impunity or arrest people without evidence," she tells host Mike G, and adds that the pushback from the NGO has been rather meek: "I have not received any hate mail from [WWF employees] telling me I got it wrong." Baker discusses the explosive findings of her team's investigative reports, what it took to chase these stories down, and the impacts she's seen from her reporting. Here's this episode's top news: Violence against indigenous peoples explodes in Brazil Study finds massive reorganization of life across Earth's ecosystems $85 million initiative to scale up agroforestry in Africa announced Once close to extinction, western South Atlantic humpback population close to full recovery Mongabay reported on the effects on local communities as revealed by Baker's reporting here, and here's Mongabay's investigation of harassment, bullying, and retaliation against whistleblowers at another major environmental NGO, Conservation International. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Plans for ocean floor mining are moving forward globally -- especially around thermal vents that create deposits of metals like gold, silver, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc -- but humans have explored less than 1% of the deep sea, so it's fair to say that we really have no idea what's at risk. On this episode we speak with deep sea biologist Dr. Diva Amon about what we do -- and don't -- know about biodiversity at the bottom of the ocean. Raised on the shores of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Amon's fascination with what lies below the surface has taken her on journeys to great depths, and she shares insights and glimpses of amazing creatures gained there. Here's more about this episode's top news: Eight ape species, including Tapanuli orangutan, make first appearance on list of most endangered primates Madagascar calls for assistance as fires imperil its protected areas Rare songbird recovers, moves off endangered species list And see all of our coverage of deep sea mining issues here. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay's adventurous Middle East-based staff writer John Cannon just traveled the length of the Pan Borneo Highway and shares what he discovered on the journey about biodiversity, development, and the natural future of this, the world's 3rd largest island. It took him 3 weeks to travel the route proposed to connect the rainforest-rich Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak as well as the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo--to make commerce and travel easier in a region that is notoriously difficult to navigate--and also to encourage tourists to see the states' cultural treasures and rich wildlife, from elephants to crocodiles, gibbons and clouded leopards. But scientists warn that the highway is likely to harm the very wildlife it seeks to highlight, by dividing populations and degrading their habitats. Here's where you can find John's six-part series and his "top 5 revelations from traveling the Pan Borneo Highway" at Mongabay.com. These are the episode's top news items if you want to learn more: 'Full-blown crisis': North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970 At the UN, losing the race against time to fight climate change 'The Blob' is back: Pacific heat wave already second-largest in recent history Episode photo: A female Sunda clouded leopard and one of her cubs crossing a road in Sabah, still image from footage shot by Michael Gordon. Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is welcome: [email protected].

For this episode we speak with Jim Darling, a marine biologist whose team found that the songs of different humpback whale groups can be so similar to each other that the conventional wisdom of these being distinct groups might be wrong. These whales may be sharing and singing each others' songs across groups and regions, he thinks. Darling joins the show to play recordings of these remarkably similar humpback whale songs and discuss the implications. Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is welcome: [email protected].

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Reverend Lennox Yearwood about the upcoming UN Climate Summit in New York City and what it's going to take to pass legislation and policies that can effectively tackle the enormity of the climate crisis. Undaunted by the challenge, Rev Yearwood rather is "very excited," he says, about the new energy and effective leadership he sees coming from youth, women, people of color, and more, who are all urging the world toward meaningful climate action. He is President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, a non-profit that advocates for social and environmental justice, and is a sought after speaker who also recently addressed the U.S. Congress on the topic of the environment. Yearwood talks about participating in the week-long Global Climate Strike during the UN meetings; providing a platform for indigenous leaders, people of color, and young people to speak on climate issues that affect them; and his "suites to the streets" approach to climate activism: "Climate change is a civil rights issue. People have a right to clean air. People have a right to ensure that this planet is safeguarded for future generations." Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news from nature's frontlines at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is welcome: [email protected].

For an encore edition during this show's brief hiatus, we replay one of our most popular Field Notes interviews of all time, featuring Australian researcher Anastasia Dalziell who's doing trailblazing work with superb lyrebirds. Listen to her recordings of these songsters and be amazed by these animals, who are so adept at replays themselves. Host Mike G. explored with her the incredible ability these creatures have to mimic sounds in their environment, ranging from predators and possums to squeaky trees and other songbirds native to their forested habitat: even the clicks of camera shutters and chainsaws are 'replayed' by these animals. Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Image credit: Superb lyrebird in Marysville State Forest, Australia (© Donovan Wilson/500px). See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Talk to you again in two weeks!

Urban pests like rats have been in the news due to the US President calling Baltimore "rat and rodent infested." He isn't the first American politician to use this kind of rhetoric to demean communities that are predominantly made up of people of color (while ignoring the fact that policies deliberately designed to marginalize communities of color are at the root of the pest problems), he's just the latest. Dawn Biehler actually knows what she's talking about when it comes to rodent infestations in cities: the University of Maryland professor wrote the indispensable 2013 book Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats, and has just penned an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun newspaper looking at how racial segregation and funding inequities for urban housing and infrastructure contribute to rat infestations. Biehler joins this episode of the Mongabay Newscast to discuss how this is an environmental justice issue, and how the problem can be dealt with in an environmentally sustainable manner, starting with investment in urban communities. Here's this episode's top news: July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth As Amazon deforestation in Brazil rises, Bolsonaro administration attacks the messenger In Indonesia, a court victory for Bali's ban on single-use plastics Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

David Quammen is an award-winning science writer, author, and journalist covering the most promising trends in conservation and evolutionary science for the past 30 years. We invited him on the show to discuss his latest feature for National Geographic, where he is a regular contributor, about Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique — once touted by none other than E.O. Wilson in a podcast interview with Mongabay as a place where inspiring restoration efforts are underway and benefitting nature, wildlife, and people. We also discuss Quammen's most recent book, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, which explores the revolution in how scientists understand the history of evolution on Earth sparked by the work of Carl Woese, and his coverage of virology in light of the recent Ebola outbreak. He shares his thoughts on all of this plus what gives him hope that biodiversity loss and destruction of the natural world can be halted. Here's this episode's top news: From over 100,000 species assessments in IUCN update, zero improvements June 2019 was the hottest on record: NOAA U.S. Virgin Islands bans coral-damaging sunscreens Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps. See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Jessica Crance is a research biologist who recently discovered right whales singing for the first time. While some whales like humpbacks and bowheads are known for their melodious songs, none of the three species of right whale has ever been known to sing. Crance led the research team at NOAA that documented North Pacific right whales breaking into song in the Bering Sea, and on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, she will play recordings of two different right whale song types and discuss what we know about why the critically endangered whales might be singing. Here's this episode's top news: Japan resumes commercial whale hunting Heart of Ecuador's Yasuni, home to uncontacted tribes, opens for oil drilling Zambia halts plans to dam the Luangwa River Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps. See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

We speak with Ivonne Higuero, new Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — better known by its acronym, CITES. The first woman to ever serve as Secretary General, we discuss how her background as an environmental economist informs her approach to the job, how CITES can tackle challenges like the online wildlife trade and lack of enforcement of CITES statutes at the national level, and what she expects to accomplish at the 18th congress of the parties (COP) this August. Here's this episode's top news: Arctic sea ice extent just hit a record low for early June and worse may come Nearly 600 plant species have gone extinct in last 250 years Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps. See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Jim Breheny is the director of the Bronx Zoo in New York City and joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the contributions zoos make to global biodiversity conservation. While many question the relevance of zoos in the 21st century, he argues that as humanity's influence extends ever farther and wildlife habitat continues to shrink, zoos are more relevant than ever since they could save a diversity of species like hellbender salamanders, which his institution is helping to breed and repopulate in the wild. He also discusses how zoos support field work to protect species in the wild, and shares their experience telling the story of zoos through its popular Animal Planet TV show 'The Zoo.' This episode's top news: The Great Insect Dying: A global look at a deepening crisis Twice as many fishing vessels now, but it's harder to catch fish Brazil's Congress reverses Bolsonaro, restores Funai's land demarcation powers Please invite your friends to subscribe to this show via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps. See our latest news at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Gabriel Melo-Santos studies Araguaian river dolphins in Brazil — his work has revealed that the species is much chattier than we'd previously known, and could potentially help us better understand the evolution of underwater communication in marine mammals. He plays some of the recordings he's made of the dolphins, explains how he managed to study the elusive creatures thanks to their fondness for a certain riverside fish market, and discusses how the study of their vocalizations could yield insights into how their sea-faring relatives use their own calls to maintain social cohesion. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and say what you like about the Mongabay Newscast, and how we can improve. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Ecologist Julian Bayliss used satellite imagery, drones, and technical climbing to make a big discovery last year, an untouched rainforest atop a virtually unclimbable mountain in Mozambique (an "inselberg" or "island mountain") that contains species new to science. Intriguingly, his team also found ancient human artifacts at its top, perhaps linked to people's prayers for the mountain's continued supply of fresh water to the surrounding lowlands. On this episode Bayliss discusses Mt. Lico's novel species like fish, crabs, and butterflies and shares the technical challenges and frustrations inherent in making a discovery of this kind. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and say what you like about the Mongabay Newscast, and how we can improve. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Kinari Webb founded Health in Harmony, providing healthcare to people to save Indonesian rainforests. She realized that most illegal deforestation happens when villagers have to pay for medical care, because they have little to generate cash with, except timber. The program has reduced infant deaths by more than 2/3 and the number of households engaged in illegal logging dropped nearly 90%. Her story was one of the most-read articles at Mongabay.com in 2017, so now with Webb expanding the program to new regions, we asked her for an update. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and say what you like about the Mongabay Newscast, and how we can improve. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Primatologist Cleve Hicks leads a research team that has discovered a new tool-using chimp culture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After 12 years of research, their findings include an entirely new chimpanzee tool kit featuring four different kinds of tools. These chimps also build ground nests, which is highly unusual for any group of chimps, but especially for ones living around dangerous predators like lions and leopards. But these chimps' novel use of tools and ground nesting aren't even the most interesting behavioral quirks this group displays, Hicks says on this podcast. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Dr. Rebecca Cliffe joins us to challenge myths about sloths like the popular perception of them as lazy creatures: moving slowly is a survival strategy that has been so successful in fact that sloths are some of the oldest mammals on our planet. But Dr. Cliffe also warns of a "sloth crisis" driven by deforestation, roadbuilding, and irresponsible tourism including "sloth selfies," and what you can do to help protect sloths. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

How do you study a marine mammal that lives in waters so murky that it can hide from you in plain sight, even in shallow water? On this episode we speak with marine biologist Isha Bopardikar, a researcher using one technique, bioacoustics, to unlock the hidden behaviors of humpback dolphins on the west coast of India. Mongabay's India bureau recently published a story about her work, "What underwater sounds tell us about marine life", which noted that although humanity is making the underwater world even noisier through oil and gas exploration, shipping, and other mechanized vessels, today's research tools can still reveal many of the ocean's mysteries. Bioacoustics combines the study of sound and biology and is increasingly being used to understand marine mammals, so Bopardikar joins us to discuss how, exactly, and play some recordings she's collected of her mysterious cetacean subjects. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

"The uncontacted and isolated tribes represent a true treasure," National Geographic writer and author Scott Wallace says in this episode. "Their knowledge of the rainforest, of the medicinal properties of the plants, of all the animals, their spirit world — all of this is an incredibly rich trove of knowledge." Wallace's book The Unconquered tells the story of an expedition into remote Amazon rainforests undertaken by the head of Brazil's Department of Isolated Indians to gather information about an uncontacted tribe known as "the Arrow People" in order to protect the indigenous group from the ever-advancing arc of Amazonian deforestation. He joins the podcast to share his experiences and to discuss this particularly perilous time for indigenous peoples in the Amazon. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected]. Episode artwork courtesy of FUNAI.

On this episode we speak with Oliver Metcalf, lead author of a new study using bioacoustics and machine learning (artificial intelligence or "AI") to study a very rare bird in New Zealand. We play some recordings of the beautiful hihi bird that illustrate the success of a last ditch reintroduction effort for this species (and in a place) that are otherwise very difficult to monitor. The findings suggest that bioacoustics can play a key role in assessing the effectiveness of conservation efforts. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

On this episode we hear from Mongabay's Mexico City-based contributor Martha Pskowski who recently traveled to central Mexico during the winter 'high season' when tourists flock to see monarch butterflies covering the trees. Her fascinating report on threats to monarchs in these overwintering grounds was tempered by cheerful news that the number of monarchs wintering in Mexico is up 144% in 2019. Pskowski spoke with locals who rely on monarch tourism for their livelihoods, and she investigated impacts on the monarchs' habitat from agriculture and a proposed mine. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the app that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. Thank you! And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

The IUCN is probably best known for its Red List of Threatened Species, a vital resource on the conservation statuses and extinction risks of tens of thousands of species. But the IUCN does much more than just maintain the Red List, as Inger Andersen, the organization's director general, explains in this episode [producer's note: just after this episode was published, Andersen accepted the role of director at the UN Environment Program]. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature was founded in 1948 and is neither a government body nor an NGO, but is rather a science-based hybrid of these, with the goal of ensuring nature conservation worldwide. Speaking from their Swiss headquarters, Andersen shares insights about how the Red List is built, the key role of women in conservation ("Women represent 3.5 billion conservation solutions"), and plans for the next World Conservation Congress in 2020, which will dictate how conservation progresses in the wake of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which sunset that year. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We also love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the program that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so that we can find new listeners. Thank you! Also, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts. And please send thoughts, questions, or feedback about this show to [email protected].

Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler joins the podcast to discuss the biggest rainforest storylines to watch in 2019, and a major new paper he co-authored in Science that looks at how bioacoustics can monitor forests for greater assessment of conservation goals and corporate responsibility commitments. This year marks the 20th anniversary since Rhett founded Mongabay, and subscribers to our new Insider Content already know the story of how it happened after travels to places like Madagascar, Ecuador, and Borneo. So overseeing this global environmental news service has provided him with a wealth of insight into the science and trends that are shaping conservation, and he appears on the podcast to discuss his recent articles looking at the top rainforest stories of 2018 and the tropical forest trends to watch in 2019. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We also love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the program that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast, so we can find new listeners. Thank you! And please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts.

On this episode, the largely untold [and very heartwarming] story of how 96 critically endangered sea turtle hatchlings survived this past summer in New York City—with help from dedicated scientists and a cozy office closet. In July, Big Apple beachgoers spotted a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle laying eggs on West Beach. Two of them called a 24-hour wildlife hotline to report it, which very likely saved 96 tiny, precious lives. This was by far the farthest north a Kemp's has ever been known to nest. But it soon became clear that unusually high tides would swamp the nest, which would have meant disaster for the developing embryos, so an unusual plan was hatched to save them. We speak with scientists and conservationists who cared for the nest and answer questions such as whether it's a good sign that a Kemp's Ridley came all the way to NYC to nest. If you enjoy this show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge any amount to keep it growing. Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet, so all support helps. We also love reviews, so please find the reviews section of the program that delivers your podcasts and tell the world about the Mongabay Newscast. Thank you! And please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or wherever they get podcasts.