March 22, 2017--Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an increasingly popular strategy for protecting marine biodiversity, but a new global study demonstrates that widespread lack of personnel and funds are preventing MPAs from reaching their full potential. Only 9 percent of MPAs reported having adequate staff.

March 22, 2017 – WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) has launched the Uganda Biodiversity Fund with support from USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) to help generate the resources needed to conserve Uganda’s wildlife and natural heritage.

February 16, 2017 – A new WCS study in India shows that three carnivores – tigers, leopards, and dholes (Asian wild dog) – seemingly in direct competition with one other, are living side by side with surprisingly little conflict. 

February 6, 2017 – An international team of scientists has confirmed that the dorado catfish (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii) of the Amazon River basin holds the record for the world’s longest exclusively freshwater fish migration, an epic life-cycle journey stretching nearly the entire width of the South America continent.

January 26, 2017 – A recent wildlife survey led by SERNANP (Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado) and WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) in the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu in Peru has confirmed that the world-famous site is also home to a biologically important and iconic species: the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus).

January 24, 2017 – WCS scientists have discovered the impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa) in the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Myanmar, some 528 miles from its known range in that country.  The researchers reported their finding in the latest issue of the journal Asian Herpetological Research

January 19, 2017 – WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) commends the International Maritime Organization and partners for the development and implementation of the “Polar Code,” a binding international agreement that will help ensure the safety of mariners operating in polar waters, and the protection of both the Arctic and Antarctic’s marine environment from the risks of vessel activities.

January 12, 2017 – Fishing is fundamentally altering the food chain in coral reefs and putting dual pressures on the valuable top-level predatory fish, according to new research by the Wildlife Conservation Society, Lancaster University, and other organizations.

January 9, 2017 – Scientists have published one of the largest genetic studies ever conducted on the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) for the purpose of clarifying management decisions in the Southern Hemisphere and supporting calls to protect unique and threatened populations, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, and other organizations.

January 6, 2017 –WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) commends the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for today’s announcement on the decision to deny six permit applications for airgun seismic surveys in the Mid- and South Atlantic waters of the eastern United States.