Save endangered species in style together with WWF’s Holiday Gift Center.

“Make a donation to support WWF’s worldwide conservation efforts and select a special WWF themed thank-you gift.” too!

Now WWF offers stylish jute bags, pajama pants, large recycled and reusable totes, boxers, hats, reusable cups, pet items and stocking stuffers galore.

Read more of this story »

The Chinese delegation attending the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop has reportedly claimed China’s tiger farms supply ‘medicine’ to 60 countries.

A shocking article from Nepal’s Republica says that the Chinese delegation attending the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop claims China “cannot put an end to its tiger farming as medicine produced from tiger parts is supplied to 60 countries”.

Read more of this story »

Expansion of critical habitat for tigers and the establishment of a Wildlife Crime Control Committee are among the announcements from the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop. But will these efforts be enough to protect tigers from China’s ‘bizarre obsession’ with tiger body parts?

Encouraging news so far from the inaugural session of the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal announced a 900 sq km increase of Bardia National Park, expanding critical habitat for Nepal’s tigers.

Read more of this story »

14 critically endangered black rhino have been released into an undisclosed location as the WWF-EKZNW range expansion project continues.

Thanks to the project partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) to protect and expand black rhino populations, 14 additional black rhino are now in their new home.

Read more of this story »

A comprehensive survey to gather genetic data about the last Javan rhino population in Vietnam kicks off in November 2009.

WWF announced today that a comprehensive survey of Cat Tien’s Javan rhino population will begin next month and continue until April 2010. The purpose of the study is to gather urgently needed genetic data in order to develop a local conservation management strategy for these critically endangered mammals.

It is estimated that there no more than five individuals of this rare Javan rhino subspecies (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) still surviving in Vietnam’s Cat Tien National Park.

Read more of this story »

Rarest of all sea creatures seen in the wild today, once upon a time the seahorse was found in every ocean of the world from 20 feet to 100 feet (area now most frequented by man). Sea dragons and Seahorses are protected globally by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), and now by Seahorse Hawaii.

Incredibly enchanting creatures in the animal kingdom, seahorses have an unusual biology, with a prehensile tail, and eyes that rotate 360% independent of the other, and the seahorse is the only animal in the entire animal kingdom in which the male has a true pregnancy!

Read more of this story »

A Hector’s Dolphin showing the characteristic round dorsal fin.

The Wine

It started with Gemma McGrath who had moved from a job on Whale Watch boats to a barmaid in the small Otago village of Bannockburn which is about as far away from the sea as one can get in New Zealand.

Missing the dolphins and concerned by the steady decrease in their numbers, she spoke of them so passionately and persistently that she eventually got a farmer in the area to donate 3 tons of Pinot Gris grapes.

Read more of this story »

Wildlife authorities rescued an endangered Malayan tiger from a wire snare that sliced the big cat’s paw to the bone.

WWF’s Wildlife Protection Unit made the sad discovery of a male tiger writhing in agony as he tried to pull free of a cruel wire snare set by poachers in the Belum-Temengor forest complex.

Read more of this story »

You can now explore the Amazon, Madagascar, and Sebangau National Forest in Borneo through Google Earth.

On September 25, I wrote about a Google Earth tour (narrated by AL Gore) and new Google Earth tools and layers which help people to look at the possible effects of climate change under three different scenarios. Now, three new tours have been launched that allow the exploration of critical rainforests and real-life success stories.

The tours (embedded below) have a great wealth of information and inspirational stories bound into succinct Google Earth or YouTube videos.

Read more of this story »

A new survey of Asians finds that they want a strong international climate agreement, and they want a few key world leaders to step up to the plate to make it happen.

Read more of this story »

A new report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that biotechnology is one possible solution to our climate change and our economic problems.

It could have a dramatic effect on CO2 emissions, and it could also be part of the new green economy. How much can it help? The report says it can reduce global emissions by as much as some leading countries emit in a year.

What is biotechnology? How can it cool our climate and give a boost to our economy? Is it an appropriate and safe solution to these problems?

Read more of this story »

Croatia and Hungary signed an agreement yesterday to protect a major biodiversity area that crosses borders along three rivers. The agreement is being called a “Trans-Boundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve” and has resulted in the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) awarding the two countries with a “Leaders for a Living Planet” award.

The reserve will preserve several endangered species, among other environmental jewels. There is also the possibility of the reserve expanding several times over into neighboring countries in the future.

Read more of this story »

Nine black rhino from Zululand game reserves are being airlifted to a new home as part of a range expansion project for the critically endangered species.

In an effort to ensure the survival of critically endangered black rhino, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) are partnering on a project designed to establish founder populations of black rhino throughout KwaZulu Natal and other parts of Africa.

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

In a press release by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today, we can see that people in developed countries actually use several times more water than they “use” — the water used indirectly to create our products is several times more than the water we use ourselves. According to the WWF, “German households use 124 litres of water a day directly, individual Germans use 5288 litres of water a day when the water requirements of producing their food, clothes and other consumption items are included.”

Read more of this story »

An initiative to transport lone Borneo rhinos to a secure central location - where they can interact with other rhinos - could mean hope for this extremely rare subspecies.

Tabin Wildlife Reserve located in Sabah, Malaysia is the last home of the Bornean rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni), a distinct subspecies of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis sumatrensis). It is estimated that fewer than 50 Bornean rhinos are still surviving in Sabah. Borneo rhinos are said to be even smaller than Sumatran rhinos, with some standing only three feet tall at the shoulder. Both species are covered with bristly hair that rubs down as they mature and create “tunnels” by crashing through the rainforest.

Sadly, some of these rhinos are living alone in fragmented pockets of forest, cut off from other rhino populations, where they have no hope of meeting another of their kind - and the isolation of these animals could lead to their extinction.

Read more of this story »

As China marches forward with aggressive infrastructure construction plans, years of panda conservation face major setbacks.

Despite the panda’s status as China’s signature animal, China’s desire for economic development may spell doom for this shy and gentle creature.

The panda’s already fractured habitat is being split up into even smaller pockets by construction of highways at nature reserves. According to People’s Daily Online, WWF China has reported several panda populations have already been forced into habitats just 1 kilometer wide.

Pandas limited to fragmented home ranges are unable to breed with other populations, severely impacting opportunities for genetic diversity within the species - and leading to extinction in the wild.

Read more of this story »

On the same day that a loophole in endangered species trade law was closed, officers from the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime and Chinatown Units raided a TCM shop.

Approximately 200 products made from endangered tiger, leopard, and musk deer were seized from a “traditional Asian medicine” shop in London’s Chinatown area - a productive raid on the first day that an amended wildlife trade law came into effect.

Read more of this story »

The fragile ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas have been proven to harbor incredible biological diversity in recent years — a diversity now threatened by global climate change, a new report finds.

A new report (pdf) by the WWF, The Eastern Himalayas: Where Worlds Collide, describes more than 350 new species discovered in the last decade including 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, 2 birds, 2 mammals and at least 60 new invertebrates. But all of the species discoveries made in the Eastern Himalayas in the last decade may be overshadowed by a rapidly changing climate.

“These exciting finds reinforce just how little we now about the world around us,” said Mark Wright, WWF’s conservation science advisor, adding that the Eastern Himalayas are a region of extraordinary beauty, with some of the most biologically rich areas on the planet.

Read more of this story »