Two separate camera-trap surveys have captured videos and images of jaguars in two different forests in Ecuador’s northwest, where the animal hadn’t been spotted for several years. Subsequent analysis confirmed that it was the same individual moving between the two forests, according to a new study.

The first camera-trap survey by researchers from the Central University of Ecuador, the Andean Condor Foundation, and the EcoMinga Foundation recorded a jaguar (Panthera onca) in Río Manduriacu Reserve in northwestern Ecuador’s Andean region in November 2023. This was the first time in seven years a jaguar had been seen in the reserve.

Then, in early 2024, NGOs DECOIN and Ecoforensics, along with local ecologists, set up two more camera traps in a mining concession in the Junín Community Forest, also in northwestern Ecuador, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Manduriacu. These cameras, too, recorded a jaguar, the first sighting there in 15 years.

After sharing their footage, the two groups’ collaborative analysis of the animals’ fur patterns confirmed that both surveys had spotted the same individual jaguar. The study notes the jaguar “seems to have taken a circuitous route through forested and human-altered zones for almost two months.”

Study co-author Javier Torres, a professor at the Central University of Ecuador, told Mongabay in an email that ongoing habitat loss in the lowland habitats that jaguars prefer, such as the Chocó forests, could be pushing jaguars to higher-elevation areas, such as the Río Manduriacu reserve, “as they search for new territories.”

“This shift is particularly concerning for the Critically Endangered western population of jaguars, which faces greater threats compared to the eastern population,” he said.

Months before the jaguar was spotted in Junín, a court ordered that mining activity there be withdrawn. “This may suggest that jaguars may have avoided the area previously due to disturbances from mining and other human activities,” the study notes.

At the same time, the EcoMinga Foundation and the Cielo Verde community near Rio Manduriacu found evidence showing that a jaguar, possibly the same individual spotted in the camera traps, may have attacked livestock in the area in January 2024, the authors write.

“In this sense, while the presence of jaguars in areas where they were previously considered absent is a positive sign of biodiversity, it underscores the importance of addressing human-wildlife conflicts and other threats like mining activities and habitat fragmentation,” Torres said.

The cameras in both forests also captured Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus). Torres said they’ll conduct extensive biodiversity monitoring across Imbabura province, which covers both forests, to learn more about the behavior of both species in the area.

The researchers also suggest environmental education for local communities, especially since jaguars are among the species most targeted in retaliatory killings in the Americas.

Banner image of jaguar courtesy of Torres-Jiménez et al. (2024).

Conservation news is often heartbreaking, with reports of dramatic biodiversity loss globally year after year. But in 2024, there were several reasons for cheer as well, with conservationists finding that certain species, once at the brink of extinction, are making a comeback.

Here are five species that researchers confirmed were showing hopeful signs of recovery in 2024:

Sombrero ground lizard: On the tiny Sombrero Island, part of Anguilla in the Caribbean, there were fewer than 100 individuals of the critically endangered Sombrero ground lizard (Pholidoscelis corvinus) in 2018. In just six years, in 2024, researchers found their population had climbed to more than 1,600. The lizards seem to have responded positively to island restoration efforts, including removal of invasive mice and planting of native vegetation.

Iberian lynx: In 2002, the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) population was estimated to have crashed to just around 62 mature individuals across Spain and Portugal. It was then listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. But 20 years of conservation efforts have boosted its population to more than 2,000 adult and young Iberian lynx. It was downlisted to vulnerable on the IUCN Red List this year.

North Atlantic right whale: This year, researchers reported that the population of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) had increased by five individuals, bringing the estimated total to 372 in 2023. While the actual figure may be small, for the ocean giants that live long lives and breed slowly, this is a big leap forward.

Siamese crocodile: Deep inside the remote Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, local inhabitants and conservationists found nests of the critically endangered Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) in May this year. The species has faced drastic declines from poaching and habitat loss. In June, 60 Siamese crocodile hatchlings emerged from the nests, which conservationists said was “a tremendous boost” to the species’ population.

Olive ridley turtles: This year, the vulnerable olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) laid a record number of eggs on Bangladesh’s beaches. Conservation groups found 12,425 eggs in five turtle hatcheries, an increase of almost 53% compared with the previous year, attributed to conservation efforts and awareness programs among local people. Conservationists say this success could see a decline in the future if tourism and related infrastructure development in the areas continue to increase.

Banner image of Iberian lynx by Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

In 2022, the world agreed at a U.N. biodiversity summit to protect 30% of Earth’s land and water by 2030. While protected areas already account for almost 15% of the planet’s land, protection for the world’s oceans is lagging far behind, at just over 8%.

In 2024, several new marine protected areas (MPAs) helped nudge the needle, but there’s still much more work to be done.

Tang.ɢwan — ḥačxwiqak — Tsig̱is MPA, designated in June 2024 off Vancouver Island, Canada, covers roughly 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) and encompasses nearly 50 underwater mountains, or seamounts. It’s home to cold-water coral, sponge forests, dense schools of fish and migrating whales, seabirds and sharks. It was created in collaboration with the First Nations of Canada.

Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, announced in October 2024 off the coast of California, U.S., will also be co-managed with local Indigenous groups. At more than 11,600 km2 (4,500 mi2), the new MPA will provide habitat for migrating whales, sea turtles and sea otters.

The Azores created the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic in October 2024, covering 287,000 km2 (111,000 square miles). Featuring more than 300 seamounts, the MPA is a vital stopover site for migratory marine species of whales, dolphins and seabirds.

Grau Tropical Sea National Reserve in Peru, approved in April 2024, is considered one the 70 most important places in the world for marine biodiversity conservation.

Bajos del Norte National Park in Mexico, announced in January 2024, connects two other MPAs to create a conservation corridor for migrating species, including sea turtles.

The global community needs to protect nearly 22% more of the world’s oceans.

“An area larger than the Indian Ocean [will need] to be designated by 2030 in order to meet the global coverage target,” Heather Bingham, head of the Protected Planet team at the U.N. Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, told Mongabay in an email. At the current rate of protection, it will take more than 800 years to get to 30%.  

However, according to data from the 30 by 30 Sky Truth initiative, many individual countries have already exceeded the 30% goal: Palau (98.7%), the U.K. (68.4%) and Australia (48.3%) lead these efforts.

To date, most MPAs are coastal, within a country’s economic zone. The high seas cover nearly half the planet’s surface and just 1.4% them are protected.

“We simply will not achieve 30 by 30 if we don’t start establishing high seas protections as well,” Sarah Bedalfe, a marine scientist with Oceana, told Mongabay by phone.  “So it’s really urgent that countries ratify the High Seas Treaty so high seas MPAs can start being established.”

The treaty will go into effect in June 2025 if ratified by 60 countries.

Banner image: A sea turtle swims over a coral reef off the coast of Australia. Image by Jordan Robins via Ocean Image Bank.

Watching wild animals can be exhilarating, educational and a richly rewarding experience. But spotting wildlife and keeping them in sight is often challenging. So wildlife researchers are increasingly turning to learning about animals through the sounds they produce. A new podcast series by Mongabay India titled “Wild Frequencies” explores this emerging science of bioacoustics in India.

Hosted by Mongabay India’s Kartik Chandramouli and Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta, the podcast series follows researchers who study wild animals in the forests, grasslands and cities of India. The episodes feature a wide range of animals, habitats and sound recording methods, from researchers using hand-held recorders to detect animals outside human hearing range, to scientists climbing trees in dense rainforests in the middle of the night to record tiny critters.

Listen to the trailer here.

Episode Overview

Episode 1: Find Them — This episode introduces listeners to the idea of bioacoustics, and how researchers in India use animal sounds to not just locate and identify species, but also count them. Animals featured: Birds, bats, dolphins, porpoises, wolves.

Episode 2: Know Them — This episode dives deep into how researchers decode what animals are saying, and what their sounds tell us about their behavior. Animals featured: Asian elephants, crickets.

Episode 3: Us and Them — This episode looks at how researchers rely on sounds to figure out how animals are adapting to changes in their environment caused by human activities. Animals featured: Many species of birds.

Banner image by Hitesh Sonar.

In 2020, a group of botanists and members of the Indigenous Banao community were macheting their way through a rainforest in the Philippines in search of a rare flower called Rafflesia banaoana. Just a few hours after setting off, however, they stumbled upon a plant they hadn’t planned on finding: a vine with purple-spotted white tubular flowers with tufts of hair within them.

“We came across the plant quite unexpectedly — it was hanging from the vegetation above our heads,” Chris Thorogood, head of science at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, U.K., told Mongabay by email. “We took a specimen, and when we reached the river so had more light, we stopped to examine it. It was clear to us then that it was new.”

Eventually, Thorogood and his colleagues, Jayson Mansibang, Adriane Tobias and Pastor Malabrigo Jr. from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, confirmed that the plant, a species of the genus Aeschynanthus, referred to as lipstick vines, was indeed new to science.

In a new paper, the botanists have named it Aeschynanthus pentatrichomatus, after the five tufts of hairs deep within the tubes of the flowers. “Penta” in Latin means five and “trichomatus” refers to trichomes or hair-like growths.

The botanists found the plant while on an expedition into the remote Balbalasang rainforest on the northern Philippine island of Luzon. The expedition was led by men from the Indigenous Banao community.

“We wouldn’t have been able to visit the forest without them,” Thorogood said. “They live in the Balbalasang and knew where to go. They navigated by making small gashes on the trees so that we could find the way back — it was a bewildering place with no landmarks. We owe the discovery to them!”

Lipstick vines, named for the lipstick-like appearance of their developing buds, are found across India, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Southeast Asia, southern and southwestern China, and Sri Lanka. While widespread, the species can be highly endemic, meaning they’re usually restricted to certain locations, the authors write.

The Philippines, for example, hosts some 32 of the 180 known species of lipstick vines, found nowhere else. Of these, 12 species of Aeschynanthus have been recorded on Luzon Island alone.

The study’s authors assess the newly described A. pentatrichomatus as critically endangered. This is because surveys suggest the population may be restricted to the Balbalasang rainforest. While this forest is remote and not as threatened as those near human habitation, forest fires are a growing problem in the area, Thorogood said. There’s also a high risk of loss from typhoons that are becoming more intense because of climate change, the researchers write.

“For now the priority is documenting new species from these ‘botanical darkspots’; we need to understand the biodiversity that exists before we can understand how to prioritise protecting it,” Thorogood said.

Banner image of the new species of lipstick vine, Aeschynanthus pentatrichomatus, courtesy of Chris Thorogood.

The wolf-like golden jackal still thrives in some parts of India’s financial capital, Mumbai, according to a new study, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India.

Historically, the golden jackal (Canis aureus) could be spotted in several areas of southern Mumbai, study co-author Nikit Surve, research manager at Wildlife Conservation Society-India told Mongabay India. “Today, their southernmost habitat is limited to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre [in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai], while thriving populations are found in the mangrove belts of Gorai, Manori [in north Mumbai] and Vashi,” he added.

Surve and his colleagues set up camera traps across different mangrove areas in the Mumbai metropolitan region and captured nearly 3,000 images over the course of 938 nights. Of these, 790 images featured the golden jackal. These jackal populations seem to be doing well, Surve told Mongabay India.

“Though we do not know their exact numbers, we observed pups of various ages during our two-month survey, suggesting that breeding occurs year-round,” Surve said. “Even in smaller packs, we found pups and lactating females, which is a strong indicator of a healthy, active breeding population — not a stagnant one.”

Along with jackals, the cameras captured 1,666 images of people, although the jackals appeared to be more active at night, with their activity peaking during dawn and dusk, when human presence was low.

Additionally, the researchers obtained 374 pictures of free-ranging dogs, suggesting that jackals and dogs were sharing the same spaces.

This poses two challenges, Mahale reports. The overlap between jackals and free-ranging dogs raises the risk of transmission of diseases like rabies; one record of rabies infection was in fact confirmed in five jackals in October this year, all of which died within a month.

“While there’s no definitive evidence of a population-wide outbreak, more in-depth methods are required when it comes to studying diseases, including blood sample collection and cultures. At the moment, we don’t know what’s happening,” Surve told Mongabay India.

Another threat is the risk of hybridization between jackals and dogs. The presence of suspected hybrid individuals in the camera trap images suggests this may already be happening, Mahale reports.

The golden jackal is listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List. But within India, it’s afforded the highest level of legal protection.

“The golden jackals of Mumbai remain vital to the city’s ecological balance,” Mahale writes. “They act as natural waste managers, controlling prey populations and cleaning up organic debris. Yet, their survival is heavily reliant on the preservation of contiguous mangrove patches. Fragmentation of these habitats could push these resilient predators toward local extinction.”

This is a summary of “How Mumbai’s golden jackals adapt to survive in the urban wilderness” by Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India.

Banner image of golden jackal by Shino jacob koottanad via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).