International Union for Conservation of Nature

Rhino poaching in South Africa was 15 percent higher in 2021 than the preceding year as coronavirus restrictions that limited movement were eased, official figures showed on Feb. 8.

A total of 451 animals were killed in 2021, which is still 24 percent lower than the pre-pandemic year 2019, the country's environment department reported.

A Lima zoo is racing to save dozens of seabirds, including protected penguins, left covered in oil after 6,000 barrels of crude spilled off Peru's coast in the aftermath of the Tonga tsunami.

An elephant in Kenya has given birth to twins, an extremely rare event, conservationists said on Jan. 20.

Conservation group Save the Elephants said the twins -- one male and one female -- were born to a mother named Bora.

They were first spotted by lucky tourist guides on a safari drive at the weekend in Samburu reserve in northern Kenya.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis travelled to Marseilles on Friday for a mini summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on biodiversity in the Mediterranean, a gathering also attended by ECB Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Hollywood star Harrison Ford, in his capacity as the vice-president of the group Conservation International.

Turkey's unique and critically endangered Anatolian meadow viper is under threat from serious habitat loss caused by various factors, including the opening of new stone quarries, according to an expert.

Civil unrest and military exercises pose heightened risks to more than 200 threatened species, including elephant populations and the critically endangered Eastern gorilla, conservationists have warned.

Novak Djokovic on the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park.Photo: EPA-EFE/DAVE HUNT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Two professors at the University of Montenegro, Jozef Grego and Vladimir Pesic, told the media that the snail species, now called Travunijana djokovici, was first identified in 2019 at a spring near the capital Podgorica.

"I don't think there is a single organism in the sea any more that has not been in contact with plastic," the 44-year-old told the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro, CIN-CG, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and the weekly Monitor.

The Singapore Zoo has welcomed a lion cub named Simba to its animal kingdom following artificial insemination that officials said on Jan. 26 was a first for the city-state.

It is rare for lions to be conceived through artificial insemination, with the procedure first carried out successfully in 2018 - resulting in two cubs in South Africa.

Parakeets have come out to play in the normally-busy spots in Istanbul after vehicle and pedestrian traffic declined in the city due to measures taken against the spread of the COVID-19.