Stories by John R. Platt

A new study finds the already threatened bird species is highly reliant on the thickest sea ice for breeding

Once thought to be extinct, this rare turkey lives on a remote Indonesian island where few people have ever seen it, let alone eaten it

Asia’s 200 tiger farms are driving commerce for everything from body parts to live tigers

Old methods of assessing threat levels haven’t kept up, a new paper argues

But with Asian elephant populations declining, what will happen to the fruit trees that depend on them?

In Malawi, the same technology used to protect elephants from poachers is now protecting people and their crops

Be afraid.

Taronga Zoo in Australia has started captive breeding of the Bellinger River snapping turtle

Last seen about 150 years ago, a New Caledonian flower species has been rediscovered—just after it was declared extinct

But certain high-elevation refuges will remain, according to new research

Scientists working in the Galapagos Islands are slowly watching this species disappear right before their eyes

The Stephan’s riffle beetle and Tatum Cave beetle disappeared after waiting decades for legal protection

But the news isn’t quite so good for elephants or lions

The last known member of his species has died at Atlanta Botanical Garden

Fewer than 100 of these rare tortoises remain after a year of rampant poaching for the illegal pet trade

New research shows this invasive crustacean isn’t quite as deadly as its name suggests—but it’s still causing localized extinctions

Hundreds of extinctions have been caused by just 30 invasive predator species

The move comes just weeks after a new government study found that the cold-adapted rodents have disappeared from much of their range

The illegal pet trade threatens these beloved birds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries

The discovery drives home the need to protect Africa’s “forgotten megafauna”

We have good news and bad news about some of the world’s most well-known endangered species

The living embodiment of the Fibonacci spiral faces devastating overharvesting for its valuable shells

The most social Hawaiian monk seals are receiving vaccinations against a disease that could devastate this critically endangered species

A new paper suggests we need to rethink our models about endangered plant species