Stories by John R. Platt

Endangered Species Success Stories: How Many More Are We Likely to See?

Look back on the last year of Extinction Countdown and you won’t find that many endangered species success stories. Oh, sure, they’re there, but you have to look for them.

How Will Climate Change Affect Mountain Gorillas?

When you live on the top of a mountain, you don’t have many places to run if the environment of that mountain habitat changes. Look at the American pika, for example.

Dig This: Decline of Australian Digging Mammals Impacts Entire Ecosystems

How much soil would a bandicoot dig if a bandicoot could dig soil? Quite a lot, it turns out. The southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) weighs just 1.4 kilograms, but over the course of a year this tiny digging marsupial can excavate more than 3.9 metric tons of soil as it builds its nests and [...]..

Piping Plovers in Migration: Foraging for Their Lives

Is invisibility overrated? For many species, the ability to camouflage themselves against their natural habitat provides safety from predators and other unwanted eyes.

22 Links for World Rhino Day as Poaching Levels Shoot Past 2012′s Deadly Record

Statistically speaking, at least two rhinos will probably be killed by poachers today. The criminals will descend upon the fallen animals, chop off their horns and disappear.

Banned Pesticide DDT Is Still Killing California Condors

Just one week after the California legislature voted to ban lead ammunition to protect California condors from the toxic substance, which they can consume via carcasses shot by hunters, new research shows that the critically endangered birds are also still at risk from another long-banned toxic substance: the pesticide DDT...

Climate Change Threatens Madagascar’s Towering Baobab Trees

The 5 Biggest Myths about the Endangered Species Act

This December will mark the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), a vital piece of legislation that has been called one of the world’s most effective environmental laws...

Viper Collectors Nearly Wiped Out This Rare Turkish Snake; Saint Louis Zoo Helps to Save It

Nine young, highly venomous snakes are safely slithering in the viper room of the Saint Louis Zoo today, thanks to a breeding program that may help to save the species from extinction after overzealous collectors nearly eradicated it from its natural range...

U.S. to Destroy 6 Tons of Confiscated Ivory, Sending Message to Poachers

Whole elephant tusks. Carved ivory figurines and statues. Ivory knives, jewelry, chopsticks and trinkets. Six tons of this stuff, all of it illegal, sits in a secure warehouse where box after cardboard box rests alongside wooden pallets that overflow their bloody bounty onto the floor...

Rare Tree, Dependent on Fire, to Leave Endangered Species List

Natural forest fires were once an important part of the life cycle of the Santa Cruz cypress, a rare tree that today exists in just five mountainous groves in California.

Fire Salamanders in the Netherlands Wiped Out by Newly Discovered Fungus

Five years ago the Netherlands was home to a small but healthy population of fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra terrestris). That is no longer the case.

Hellbender Head Start: Raising Giant Salamanders in the Bronx

Four years ago 41 hellbender salamander larvae from western New York State arrived at their temporary home in New York City. Originally collected as eggs near the Allegheny River, the hellbenders—also known as snot otters or devil dogs—were hatched at the Buffalo Zoo and then transferred to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, where they [...]..

World's Largest Owl Needs Equally Large Trees and Forests (But It's More Complex Than That)

With a body the size of a small child and a wingspan of up to two meters, the Blakiston’s fish owl (Bubo blakistoni) is the largest owl in the world.

Egg Swap for Operatic New Zealand Birds a Success, but Invasive Predators Create Discord

New Zealand used to be home to two subspecies of the rare birds known as kōkako (Callaeas cinereus). Today only one subspecies remains. The South Island kōkako was last seen in 1967 and was finally declared extinct six years ago...

Rare Monkey Population up 50 Percent in China and Tibet

Two decades ago just 50 black snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) lived in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. This January a survey revealed that number had risen to an amazing 700 animals...

Giant Tortoises and Baobab Trees: Imperfect Apart

Remove a species from an ecosystem and other species tend to suffer. Take the giant Madagascar tortoise, for example. The two species of giant tortoises on Madagascar went extinct centuries ago, but their loss is still being felt today...

Pangolins in Peril: All 8 Species of Scaly Anteaters Endangered by Illegal Trade

Dan Challender remembers the first time he saw someone eat a pangolin. As part of his research into the consumer demand and illegal trade of the small mammals—often referred to as scaly anteaters—he found himself in a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City in 2012...

Film Fakery: Does Shark Week Harm Conservation Efforts?

Great White Serial Killer. World’s Deadliest Sharks. I Escaped Jaws. Sharkpocalypse. These are just a few of the programs airing this week during the Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week and NatGeo Wild’s new copycat, Sharkfest...

Once Extinct in the Wild, Galapagos Giant Tortoises Return to Pinzon Island

Now here’s a great conservation success story: After more than 100 years, Galápagos giant tortoise hatchlings finally have a chance to thrive and survive on their native Pinzón Island, after conservationists cleared it of the invasive rats that nearly wiped out the animals...