Latest Wildlife Conservation Society Stories

Research identifies 8 factors that can alert managers to the threat of overfishing in otherwise healthy-looking reefs Coral reefs that have lots of corals and appear healthy may, in fact, be heading toward collapse, according to a study published by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups. Using data from coral reef systems across the western Indian Ocean, an international team of researchers identified how overfishing creates a series of at least eight big changes on reefs...

Zoo will form major consortium to work for healthy animals, healthy people ST. LOUIS, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A leader in wildlife conservation medicine for the past 20 years, the Saint Louis Zoo will establish an Institute for Conservation Medicine and take its conservation work to a new level, it was announced today. The Institute will focus its research on diseases known to affect threatened and endangered wildlife, as well as how disease relates to domestic animals and...

Wildlife Conservation Society applauds regulation to limit lead in Argentina's environment The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds the government of Santa Fe Province for taking steps to reduce the amount of lead ammunition used in hunting of waterfowl, the first such action of its kind in Argentina. Enacted for this year's hunting season, the regulation requires hunters to reduce usage of lead shot by 25 percent. The regulation initiates a process that may lead to the eventual ban...

  New program focuses on saving critically endangered reptile and its wetland habitat Working with the government of Lao PDR, the Wildlife Conservation Society has helped to successfully hatch a clutch of 20 Siamese crocodiles, a species threatened across its range by hunting, habitat fragmentation and loss, and other factors. Hatched from eggs taken from the wild and incubated at the Laos Zoo, the baby crocodiles represent a success for a new program that works to save the Siamese...

Wildlife Conservation Society leads global assessment showing where climate stresses on reef systems will be and places to focus management Marine researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have created a map of the world's corals and their exposure to stress factors, including high temperatures, ultra-violet radiation, weather systems, sedimentation, as well as stress-reducing factors such as temperature variability and tidal dynamics.The study, say the authors, will...

Researchers studying the African Crested Rat have found that it uses an ingenious tool to ward off predators. The rodent consumes a poisonous plant toxin and spits the saliva onto sponge-like hairs on its fur.Jonathan Kingdon and colleagues from the National Museums of Kenya, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and University of Oxford published their observations of this study online in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B.When attacked by predators, the rat puts on a dramatic fur-bristling...

A paper by noted WCS conservationist Elizabeth Bennett says that an immense, increasingly sophisticated illegal trade in wildlife parts conducted by organized crime, coupled with antiquated enforcement methods, are decimating the world's most beloved species including rhinos, tigers, and elephants on a scale never before seen.The paper, published June 7 on the online issue of the journal Oryx, says that much of the trade is driven by wealthy East Asian markets that have a seemingly insatiable...

A genetic study of the world's largest sheep species has revealed that the big-horned animals travel extensively across the mountainous borders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and China according to Wildlife Conservation Society researchers with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).Using a non-invasive technique that extracts DNA from fecal samples, researchers in WCS's Afghanistan Program found that Marco Polo sheep in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan are...

Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo and other members of the Blue Iguana Recovery Program close to saving reptile on Grand CaymanWhile thousands of species are threatened with extinction around the globe, efforts to save the Grand Cayman blue iguana represent a rarity in conservation: a chance for complete recovery, according to health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo and other members of the Blue Iguana Recovery Program.Coordinated by the National Trust for...

The Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of northeastern Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study.The discovery gives hope to the world's most elusive big cat, which calls home to some of the world's tallest mountains. Between 4,500 and 7,500 snow leopards remain in the wild scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia.The study, which appears in the June 29th issue of the...