Photograph documents first record of an oncilla in Madidi National Park NEW YORK (November 29, 2012) — A photograph taken by Wildlife Conservation Society scientists of a little known Bolivian cat species called an oncilla has won a BBC Wildlife camera-trap photo competition. The photo, which won the New Discoveries category, documents the first-known occurrence of this extremely rare spotted cat in Madidi National Park. The Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus) occurs across the Amazon and al...

JEJU, REPUBLIC OF KOREA (September 13, 2012)—Oscar Loayza of WCS’s Madidi Program in Bolivia has received the Kenton Miller Award for Innovation in Protected Areas Management at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju, Republic of Korea from Sept. 6-15. Loayza, the Sub Director of the WCS Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape Conservation Program, was chosen by an international jury for his development of initiatives that strengthened indigenous participation in the management of protected are...

With help from WCS, the Bolivian Park Service released a new compendium documenting the abundant plant and wildlife found within Madidi National Park. The natural haven houses more than 200 mammal species, 11 percent of the world’s birds, and the vibrant parrot snake, photographed as it slithers through the trees.

Park contains 11 percent of the world’s birds, more than 200 mammal species Announcement released at IUCN World Conservation Congress JEJU, REPUBLIC OF KOREA September 12, 2012 – A remote park in northwest Bolivia may be the most biologically diverse place on earth, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped put together a comprehensive list of species found there. The announcement was released at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, an international gathering of conser...

Flushing, N.Y. – Aug. 13, 2012 – Two blue-throated macaws perch on a branch in the historic aviary at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo. These parrots live in the zoo’s geodesic dome aviary among other exotic birds including scarlet macaws, blue and gold macaws, and sun conures. The blue-throated macaws can be recognized by their brightly colored blue and yellow plumage and the blue patches on their cheeks. Not to be confused with the similar blue-and-gold macaw, the blue-throat...

Visitors will go hog wild for zoo’s newest species Flushing, N.Y. – May 1, 2012 – The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo is now home to a trio of Chacoan peccaries, a species found only in a remote dry forest in South America. “It is very exciting to announce the arrival of these amazing and rare animals," said Scott Silver, Director of the Queens Zoo. “This was a species that was not even known to still exist a few decades ago. Now, being able to show them to New Yorkers helps us f...

365 species previously undocumented in the area are found thriving in protected sanctuary NEW YORK (February 2, 2012) – The Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Peru program announced today the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park (BSNP) in southeastern Peru. Fifteen researchers participated in the inventory focusing on plant life, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The discovery included: thirty undocumented bird species, including the black-and-...

1,000 jaguars live in the vast bi-national Gran Chaco Jaguar Conservation Unit spanning southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay NEW YORK (December 21, 2011) – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released today a dramatic photo of a female jaguar and her two cubs near the Isoso Station of the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez Gas Pipeline in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. The adult jaguar, nicknamed Kaaiyana, has been seen with her cubs in the area for over a month; though WCS conser...

In a recent study conducted in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park, WCS researchers have identified a record number of jaguars through a digital camera trap survey.

New digital cameras capture images of 19 individual jaguars i n Madidi National Park NEW YORK (October 19, 2011) – In a new camera trap survey in the world’s most biologically diverse landscape, researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society have identified more individual jaguars than ever before. Using technology first adapted to identify tigers by stripe patterns, WCS conservationists have identified 19 individual jaguars by spot patterns in the rainforests o...