Wildlife and conservation news and watching opportunities in Asia.
Recent Asia news
- Breeding grounds discovered for 2 seabirds previously thought extinct
- Conflict elephant rescued from death sentence
- Tiger carcasses found in Bangkok taxidermist’s premises
- Removing illegal snares to protect China’s tigers
- Sea turtle baby boom on Turtle Islands breaks 28-year record
- Philippines wants to move in on Indonesian tuna stocks
- Bears ‘commit suicide’ to escape horror of gall bile farms
- Five snow leopards photographed in Tajikistan valley
- Palm oil companies offering rewards for killing orangutans
- Sumatran elephants edging closer to extinction
- Newly discovered frog is world’s tiniest vertebrate
- Mongoose-hair paintbrushes put species at risk
- So how DO you move five tons of rhino?
- Caught on camera: Borneo’s mysterious bay cat
- 'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Borneo
More Asia news
- South Korea’s whale bycatch ‘loophole’
- Extremely rare Southern River terrapin released into the Wild
- Miracle survival of Sabah’s lonely female rhino
- 5 years searching for the world’s rarest animals
- Blue sheep protected from hunters in Nepal
- Human-elephant conflict escalates in Sri Lanka
- No rhinos poached in Chitwan National Park in 2011
- World’s first look at the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey
- Half a tonne of ivory seized in Malaysia
- Why planting mangroves is good news for whale sharks
- Bird smuggler arrested in Indonesia
- Hotels to be built in Kruger National Park – And removed from Nepal’s Chitwan
- Seychelles warbler back from the brink
- Critically Endangered Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher habitat destroyed by developer
- Terrible year as ivory seizures reach record levels
The story of Delhi's Jain Bird Hospital begins, as all fairytales should, with a king in his palace in the East. The king, a follower of the Jain religion, is a pigeon fancier with a thousand birds, but one in particular has his heart: it is the most beautiful and most clever of all his pigeons.
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The disturbing and brutal reality that breeds these 'must see' elephant attractions is not widely known by tourists or Thais. The fact is that mahouts and elephant trainers use what is known as the 'torture training method' to make these wild creatures obedient and tourist friendly.
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There is only one place on earth where wild tigers live in a mangrove swamp. At 10,000km2 the Indian and Bangladeshi Sundarbans is the biggest and most bio-diverse mangrove forest in the world, and home to the tiger. With only 5000 individuals left in the wild the 400-600 tigers living in the Sundarbans makes this forest one of the endangered species' last strongholds.
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Related News Articles
Sumatran elephants edging closer to extinction WWF is calling for an immediate moratorium on habitat conversion in Sumatra in order to protect the future of the country's elephants. The Sumatran elephant has been uplisted from ‘endangered' to ‘critically endangered' after losing nearly 70 per cent of its habitat and half its population in one generation.
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'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in BorneoAn international team of scientists has found one of the rarest and least known primates in Borneo, Miller's Grizzled Langur; a species which was believed to be extinct or on the verge of extinction.
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After the recent spate of ivory seizures in Asia - We might have hoped that the situation would improve - However the latest seizure is the largest we can remember, and is possibly the largest ever. It dwarfs all the other seizures, and in fact probably contains as much ivory as has been seized all year in the Far East.
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Persian leopard photographed in Afghanistan Recent camera trap images from the rocky terrain of Afghanistan's central highlands have revealed a surprise: a Persian leopard, an apex predator long thought to have disappeared from the region.
And in Siberia, Snow leopards have been photographed for the first time
Four lane highway to destroy Indian tiger corridor
The face-off between development agencies and environment conservationists is once again at the fore with the issue of expansion of India's National Highway in the central state of Maharashtra
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33 rhino horns and a quantity of ivory seized in Hong KongHong Kong Customs have seized 33 rhino horns, 758 ivory chopsticks and 127 ivory bracelets that were concealed inside a container shipped to Hong Kong South Africa.
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New hope for the critically endangered Sumatran tigerA new study has provided a rare glimmer of hope for the Sumatran tiger, the last subspecies of tiger still in existence in Indonesia. The comprehensive study found that while more than 70 per cent of forest patches surveyed were occupied by tigers, its status varied greatly between the different landscapes.
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The Kali Puja Festival is a Hindu festival that has become a major concern to conservation of turtles, and it happens in the world's largest river delta. Hundreds of thousands of turtles are slaughtered in a totally unsustainable and uncontrolled fashion.
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Worst ever year for rhino poaching in South AfricaMore rhinos have been killed in South Africa in the past 10 months than were killed in all of 2010, new poaching numbers reveal. Statistics from South Africa National Parks show that 341 animals have been lost to poaching so far in 2011, compared to a record total of 333 last year.
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Javan rhino declared extinct in VietnamWWF and the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) have confirmed the extinction of the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam.
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The world's most threatened and healthiest sea turtle populations revealedThe report revealed the 12 healthiest sea turtle populations in the world, which are large and currently facing relatively low threats. Five species, such as the hawksbill turtle and the green turtle have populations among these dozen thriving habitats which include nesting sites and feeding areas in Australia, Mexico and Brazil. Other areas that harbour healthy turtle populations include the Southwest Indian Ocean, Micronesia and French Polynesia.
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Huge new wasp discovered in SulawesiThe jaw-dropping, shiny black wasp appears to be the "Komodo dragon" of the wasp family - It's huge. The male measures about two-and-a-half-inches long and its jaws are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed. When the jaws are open they are actually longer than the male's front legs.
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Mekong dolphin on the verge of extinction The critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin population in the Mekong River numbers just 85, WWF research has revealed.
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Thriving Snow leopard population discovered in AfghanistanThe Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of north-eastern Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study.
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Under gruelling conditions and amid fears it might be too late, a conservation breeding team in the remote Russian Far East has collected a clutch of spoon-billed sandpiper eggs, signalling an incredible step towards safeguarding the species from extinction.
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The number of rhinos poached so far this year has passed the 300 mark, and more and more reports of rhinos being killed pour in from across Africa. Unless someone somewhere does something soon, there will be few rhinos left. These are this weeks articles about rhino poaching. - But is there are possible solution?
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150 Olive Ridley turtles killed in a single fishing netSome 150 Olive Ridley turtles died after being trapped in a single net in India.
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Outrage as Tesco still sells live turtles Live turtles are still being sold in Tesco stores in China - much to the outrage of conservationists.
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5 'extinct' frogs rediscovered in IndiaIndia has remarkable amphibian diversity with 321 amphibian species recorded. However, sadly, India has already lost 13% of its amphibians, and, this has ranks India amongst the worst countries for extinctions of native species. Some of these species are only known from very brief century-old original descriptions and/or sketchy illustrations; some lost amphibians species are known from as recently as 18 years ago, but some from as far back as 170 years.
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Japanese whaling factory ship found by Sea ShepherdAfter a 26-day pursuit covering over 4,000 miles, the Steve Irwin caught up with the Nisshin Maru at 1800 hours on January 25th. Unfortunately, the Japanese whaling fleet appears to have just begun their illegal whaling operations. There is a whale presently being butchered on the deck.
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As information about gharial sightings was coming from all over the stretch we were monitoring, we were confident of their presence, so for the second effort we focused on mass awareness campaigning, especially in fishing villages near the riverbanks.
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A new population of Critically Endangered Gharial has been found on the Ganges in an area where they have not been know for more than 40 years.
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Live big cats, including endangered tigers and a rare Asiatic lion were observed being sold, and hundreds of tiger and leopard parts, representing over 400 individual animals, were also seen during nearly a decade of investigations in Myanmar and Thailand.
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Parts from 1,000+ tigers seized in a decadeParts of at least 1,069 tigers have been seized in tiger range countries over the past decade, according to new analysis of tiger seizures carried out by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
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A team of Burmese and international primatologists have discovered a new species of monkey in Northern Myanmar. Hunters reported the presence of a monkey species with prominent lips and wide upturned nostrils, which did not fit the description of any primate currently known from the area.
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An orange spider, a jabbing spiny-legged katydid, a white-tailed mouse and a minute long-nosed frog are among an amazing 200 new species of plants and animals discovered during just two months of deep rainforest exploration in a small portion of Papua New Guinea's remote forest-cloaked mountains last year.
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Raja is usually sighted during the drought period, from around June to September each year, when he appears suddenly, but he has not been seen since last year.
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New gibbon species discovered in IndochinaScientists from the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen have identified a new species of gibbon: the northern buffed-cheeked gibbon, Nomascus annamensis.
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For the first time in more than ten years, there has been a confirmed sighting of one of the rarest and most enigmatic animals in the world, the Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) from the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam.
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Conservationists would save more whales from the harpoon if the whale-watching public and industry were willing to pay a levy that could be used to persuade those countries currently engaged in whaling to stop.
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Over the next two years, the Javan rhinos' habitat at the Park will undergo improvements to help protect the species from extinction caused by a single natural disaster or introduced disease.
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Tiny, new, pea-sized frog is old world's smallest The smallest frog in the Old World (Asia, Africa and Europe) and one of the world's tiniest was discovered inside and around pitcher plants in the heath forests of Borneo.
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The Wildlife Institute of India and The Wildlife Trust of India have recommended three sites as the best places to re-introduce cheetah into India. 18 cheetah will initially be released on the 3 proposed sites; these cheetah will be obtained from the Middle East and Africa
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Wild populations of the iconic Mekong giant catfish will be driven to extinction if hydropower dams planned for the Mekong River go ahead, says a new report by WWF.
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One of the rarest and most threatened primates in the world, the Horton Plains slender loris, so mysterious it was once thought to be extinct, has been has been caught on camera for the first time.
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Tropical Fishes of the East IndiesThese beautiful, elaborately detailed and brilliantly coloured drawings provide an extraordinary description of marine fish fauna of the East Indies and are proving useful to modern day scientists in comparisons with present-day scientific knowledge. From an artistic and historical viewpoint, these drawings are among the finest natural history illustrations ever made.
Nearly 12,000 Critically Endangered Saiga antelopes have been found dead in the Ural population in western Kazakhstan.
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The array of new species includes several new mammals, a reptile, an amphibian, no fewer than twelve insects.
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Critically Endangered Javan rhino killed in Vietnam A Javan rhino has been found dead in Vietnam's Cat Tien National, further endangering the population of one of the world's rarest large mammals. It is now uncertain how many, if any, Javan rhinos are left in Vietnam, WWF said.
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A new proposal announced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) would, if adopted, for the first time in 25 years, endorse the killing of whales in their most precious feeding grounds, the Southern Ocean.
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Millions of sea turtles are killed as ‘collateral damage’ in the race for fish Millions of sea turtles have become the unintended victims of a failure to properly manage the worlds' fisheries, with more and more of their habitats clogged with hooks and nets.
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The total area of what is called the ‘core tiger habitat' is some 17,000 square kilometres. Tiger conservationists will tell you the animal needs a minimum 10 square kilometres of territory to roam, mate and live.
'You do the math.'
An 18-foot long Whale shark has been mutilated in the Philippines by having its fins cut off for the shark fin trade. The shark was left to die by the so called fishermen who butchered it.
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2 tons of ivory seized at Bangkok airportThai officials have seized two tons of ivory at Bangkok Airport. The packing cases containing the ivory are said to have arrived on an Emirates flight from Nairobi via Dubai.
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New bird species found in Heart of BorneoA bird species new to science, The "Spectacled Flowerpecker," has been discovered in the heart of the Bornean rainforest. However, so little is known about the bird that that it has yet to be given a scientific name.
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New bird species discovered in LaosNamed the "limestone leaf warbler" because it breeds in Laos's limestone karst environments, it is similar to other warblers in this area of Southeast Asia, except for its distinct vocalizations and slight morphological differences.
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For every 1000 Oriental white-backed vultures occurring in southern Asia in the 1980s only one remains today because of the lethal effects of diclofenac - a drug used to treat livestock - on vultures. Alarmingly, researchers looking into safe alternatives have now identified that a second, livestock treatment in Asia - ketoprofen - is also lethal to the birds.
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Siberian tiger numbers in decline due to poachingThe last remaining population of Siberian tigers has probably declined significantly due to the rising tide of poaching and habitat loss.
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An end to Japanese whaling?A major review of Japanese government spending could spell the end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
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Long feared extinct, rare crow rediscovered in IndonesiaThe Banggai Crow was thought to be extinct until Indonesian biologists finally secured two new specimens on Peleng Island in 2007.
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The birds, a nocturnal ground bird found in scrub jungles, were seen in the heart of the Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Giant rat and new marsupial amongst 40 new species discovered in Papua New GuineaA new species of giant rat is one of 40 new species discovered on a recent expedition to a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.
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Rediscovery of rare butterflies - (Yellow crested spangle (Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845) and Moore's Cupid (Shijimia moorei Leech, 1889 ) from Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forests, India.
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Saola antelope, only discovered in 1992, is on the brink of extinction.One of the world's most enigmatic mammals, the Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), could be on the brink of extinction.
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New species of ‘bald’ bird discovered in LaosA previously unknown and very unusual songbird with a bald head has been discovered in a rugged region in Laos.
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Visayan Spotted Deer alive and well in the North Negros Natural Park (NNNP) in the Philippines.
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Poaching boom is once again threatening the world’s rhinosRhino poaching worldwide is poised to hit a 15-year-high driven by increased demand in Asia, according to new research.
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Sri Lanka - The growing whale watching hotspotBetween 08 October 2008 and 13 April 2009 Blue whales were encountered 71 per cent of the time. The strike rate was even higher during the December to April period, peaking from January to April. During March and April Blue whales were recorded almost every day.
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Mekong dolphins on the brink of extinctionPollution in the Mekong River has pushed the local population of Irrawaddy dolphins to the brink of extinction, according to a new WWF report.
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Chris Packham - It is time to let the Panda go?WHO ELSE CAN SEE THE CON IN CONSERVATION ?
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A massive logging operation planned by Asian Pulp and Paper and the Sinar Mas Group (APP/SMG) and associated companies is to include large portions of the only areas that Sumatran orangutans have ever successfully been re-introduced into the wild
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BP & Exxon ignore pleas to help worlds most endangered whalesBP and Exxon have continued ignoring requests to join consultations with an international scientific panel to work to protect the world's most endangered whales, threatened by oil and gas development around Sakhalin Island in Far East Russia.
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Orangutan pet trade threatening the survival of the species in Sumatra Lack of law enforcement against illegal trade in Indonesia threatens the survival of orangutans and gibbons on Sumatra.
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Rare Megamouth shark found in PhilippinesSo rare are these sharks (only 41 have ever been recorded) that each of them is designated with a number.
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New species of White-eye discovered in the Solomon IslandsThe discovery of a new bird to science in a distant archipelago is providing evidence of how, in the absence of competitors, unique species can evolve rapidly to fill empty niches.
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Another huge freshwater stingray landed on the Maeklong River in Thailand
The fish was estimated by scientists present at the capture to weigh an extraordinary 265+ kilograms.
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Four new species of frog discovered in Cambodia
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More than 1000 new species have been discovered in the rivers, jungles, markets and restaurants of the Greater Mekong in the last 10 years11 million year old "Extinct" Rock rat amongst new discoveries now under threat from dams, roads and development.
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A new population of the extremely rare Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, so-called because of its unusual and distinctive up-turned nose, has recently been discovered in a remote forested area of northern Vietnam.
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World's rarest cockatoo rediscovered in Indonesia90 years after it was first discovered, Abbott's Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo has been rediscovered in Indonesia
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The Sumatran muntjac, a 'lost' species of deer, has been rediscovered in the remote mountains of western Sumatra, Indonesia, nearly a century after it was last recorded.
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Huge populations discovered of two of Asia’s rarest primatesJust weeks after announcing the discovery of an unkown population of 50,000 western lowland gorillas, the Wildlife Conservation Society report has revealed large and previously unknown populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia.
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The world's monkeys, apes and other primates are disappearing from the world's forests faster than ever
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The newly recognised frog, known as Limnonectes megastomias has only been found in three remote locations in Thailand.
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New species of bird discovered in China
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A new bird species of bird has been discovered in China near the border with Vietnam.
Extinct Javan elephants may have been rediscovered – in BorneoThe Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race.
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Extinct seabird rediscovered off Papua New Guinea.
How the dedicated work of one woman has saved several species of hornbill from extinction in Thailand.
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Yangtse River dolphin declared extinctAfter an exhaustive search, the Baiji has been declared extinct. However just two weeks later a Baiji has been sighted, and filmed.
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A large flock of white-shouldered ibis, one of the world's rarest birds, has been spotted in Cambodia.
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Unique wader threatened with extinctionThis unique shorebird from the far east has seen its population drop by 80% in the last 30 years to just 400 pairs.
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August 2006. Scientists have discovered signs that 4 Javan rhinos have been born recently in Indonesia; this can be considered as a baby boom for the rarest large mammal in the world.
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SEPTEMBER 2006. Dozens of new species of marine life, including epaulette sharks, ‘flasher’ wrasse and reef-building coral, have been discovered.
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Huge haul of tiger and leopard skins found in Nepal.A huge haul of tiger and leopard skins was found in Langtang National Park, Nepal in September 2005.
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October 2006. Environmentalists are calling on the Indian and Chinese governments to take urgent action against the criminals running the illegal skin trade.
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The most comprehensive scientific study of tiger habitats ever completed has discovered that they have disappeared from 40 percent of their range.
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Reserachers from Kent University were amazed to find the had photographed a Sumatra Ground Cuckoo while conducting a tiger survey in Sumatra. It is only the second time it has been recorded in the last 90 years.
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A new colourful, but very rare babbler has been discovered in the mountain forests of North East India.
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Three rhinos killed in Nepal in July, over 100 in last 6 years.August 2006. The Greater one horned Asian rhino has been in a perilous state for some time, but the recent news of three rhinos being killed is highly disturbing.
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The world's least known bird, the Large-billed Reed-warbler, rediscovered.The Large-billed reed warbler, previously only known from 1 specimen collected in India in 1867, has been rediscovered in Thailand.
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Fishermen in Thailand have promised to stop catching the endangered Giant Mekong Catfish, the worlds largest fresh water fish.
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Borneo Clouded leopards recognised as a distinct speciesScientists have revealed that Borneo's Clouded leopards are a separate species from their mainland counterparts.
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India's National Tiger Conservation Authority has announced that it plans to phase out tourism in its 37 tiger reserves. As more and more ‘luxury' lodges are built in tiger habitat, and across tiger corridors, and more and more people crowd into those tiger reserves where it is still possible to see tigers, it is undeniable that this has a negative affect on tiger conservation.
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Chinese gibbon species declared extinct.
May 2008. A gibbon subspecies from China's Yunnan province has been declared extinct by a Chinese-Swiss research team.
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20th Rhino Shot in 2007 in Kaziranga: Poacher killed.December 2007: Yet another rhino of Kaziranga National Park fell prey to poachers’ bullets on December 16, bringing the total number killed in 2007 to a record 20.
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Laotian rock rat rediscovered after 11 million years.The Laotian Rock rat was rediscovered being sold as bush meat in a market. Now living specimens have been filmed and photographed.
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Snow leopard fitted with GPS collarA new milestone has been reached this week in snow leopard research and conservation through the use of high-technology to study their ecology. The snow leopard is a magnificent predator and flagship species for one of the last, great wilderness regions on earth – the spectacular mountain ranges of Asia, including the Himalayas, Karakorams, Hindu Kush, Pamirs, Tien Shans, and Altai ranges. Yet the snow leopard faces pressures that are bringing this species closer to extinction and populations of
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Two mammals thought to be new to science discovered in IndonesiaAn expedition led by Conservation International to the Foja Mountains has discovered a new species of giant rat and a pygmy possum, as well as filming several rare birds for the first time.
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After 26 days of travel and 1750 kilometres, the Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2006 has arrived in Shanghai.
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April 2007. A new census of the world's most endangered cat, the Far Eastern or Amur leopard, shows that as few as 25 to 34 are left in the wild, renewing fears for the future of the species.
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June 13, 2006. A motion-triggered camera trap set up in a remote jungle has captured the first-ever photo of a rhino in the wild on the island of Borneo, World Wildlife Fund and the Sabah Wildlife Department have announced.
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Dolphin slaughter in JapanThousands of dolphins are brutally slaughtered every winter in villages and small towns in Japan.
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October 2006 - In defiance of sceptics who claimed the problem was too big for them to solve, 2 animal rescue charities look set to make history by ending the tradition of ‘dancing’ bears in India.
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Conservationists in Indonesia have warned that fires set to clear land have killed and injured hundreds of endangered orangutans. Environmentalists are also concerned the burning of rainforest and peat bogs is contributing to global warming.
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Family holiday to NepalThe wildlife, mountains, people, noise and smells all make for a perfect family holiday.
From Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park via the foothills of the mighty Himalaya.
Wildlife watching and safaris in Asia
Indian wildife parks
Past stories from Asia
- Nepalese trader confesses to selling 30 leopard skins in 2007.
- 200 sea turtles found on board Chinese fishing boat.
- Survey finds dragonfly haven off Vietnam.
- Two Councilmen from Japanese Whaling Town Break Silence.
- Another new lizard discovered in Vietnam.
- Climate change causes the extinction of the ‘Purple Snail’.
- Five sloth bear cubs being trained for release into the wild.
- Three-legged Sumatran tiger photographed in Tesso Nilo National Park.
- Scientists find large colony of endangered grey-shanked doucs in Vietnam.
- Echo parakeet off the critical list thanks to conservation effort.
- Apo Reef Spared from Predator Starfish.
- New species of lizard discovered in Vietnam.
- Pakke tiger reserve, community protection.
- Indian tiger numbers crash 60% since 2002.
- Nesting ground of rare giant soft shell turtle, not seen for 4 years, found in Cambodia.
- Whalesharks on the up in the Philippines.
- Minke whales being caught in large numbers in Korea as 'accidental bycatch'.
- Chinese fishing boat arrested with 400 sea turtles on board.
- Vast Korean wetlands drained, rare wildlife starves.
- Asian crime syndicates based in Africa fuel illegal ivory surge.

