NEW YORK (June 5, 2018)—The lowly sea cucumber strikes observers as a simple sausage-like creature, one that is far less interesting than brightly colored reef fish or color-changing octopi that share its coastal habitat. The sea cucumber’s unimpressive appearance belies the outsized role these creatures play in converting decomposing organic matter into recyclable nutrients and keeping coastal ecosystems healthy and clean, and overfishing them can have negative impacts on coastal marine environments, according to a new study focusing on a species of sea cucumber called a sandfish in the journal PeerJ.

NEW YORK (May 23, 2018) – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) kicked off its Give a Sip campaign today to support a bill introduced by Councilman Rafael Espinal that will eliminate the use of most single-use plastic straws in New York City.

WASHINGTON (May 22, 2018) – Today, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance S.2764, the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act, to the full Senate for consideration.

May 1, 2018 – Marine scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), University of Warwick, and University of Queensland have identified two key factors that create the ideal conditions needed for high species diversity in coral reefs: thermal energy in the form of warm water and low climate stress. 

A team of researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and other groups have found that increasing land clearing for logging in Solomon Islands–even with best management strategies in place – will lead to unsustainable levels of soil erosion and significant impacts to downstream water quality.

New York (April 6, 2018) – A group of teens led by inaugural New York Aquarium artist-in-residence Christy Gast has produced a video that provides a cautionary tale of a future dominated by an artificially produced and frequently discarded material—plastic.

SANTIAGO, Chile (March 16, 2018) – The Government of Chile has officially designated Admiralty Sound (Seno Almirantazgo)—a scenic and biologically diverse 80-kilometer-long (49 miles) fjord—Tierra del Fuego’s first marine protected area (MPA), according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).

WCS is pleased to announce that two of its conservationists, Dr. Nyawira Muthiga and Dr.Tim McClanahan, have been awarded the 2018 Award for Conservation Excellence (ACE). Drs. Muthiga and McClanahan were nominated together as one finalist. The Award for Conservation Excellence (ACE) was created to recognize the extraordinary contributions made to wildlife conservation by the world’s leading scientists. Along with the other four finalists—Dr. Joel Berger and Dr. Ul...

January 19, 2018 – Just in time for Penguin Awareness Day this Saturday January 20^th, WCS has released an incredibly cute video shot by WCS’s Graham Harris on Isla Martillo in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

December 1, 2017 -- WCS announced today that Edwin Kinyanjui, Giyanto “Gigi,” Rubén Cueva, and Bemahafaly Randriamanantsoa have been honored with a Conservation Hero Award from the Disney Conservation Fund.