Conservation

A baby orangutan that was drugged by a Russian trafficker in a failed bid to smuggle it out of Bali will be released back into the wild.

A lynx, a wild cat in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, has been photographed in the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli. 

The Macedonian wildcat, or Balkan lynx, is a national symbol of Macedonia and one of the rarest animals in the world.

As a part of a reforestation initiative that is already under way, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has pledged to plant 400,000 trees and shrubs in areas of northern Greece. According to TAP, the company has undertaken to reforest land which has been cleared and graded during the installation of the pipeline.

The first International Congress of UNESCO Geoparks in Greece and Cyprus will take place in Athens on Thursday and Friday.

Several plant species around Turkey are being pushed toward extinction by rapidly expanding human settlements, experts say. The conversion of forest and natural habitats to picnic areas under the name of "natural parks" and the use of concrete floors in these places put various plant species at further risk of extinction.

Human activity has driven animals and plants into decline in every region of the world, putting our own well-being at risk by over-harvesting and polluting, a comprehensive species survey warned on March 23.

The endangered species in some biodiversity-rich regions of the world are almost the half of all species. The analysis refers to the time before 2080 and indicates places such as Amazonia and Madagascar, reports AFP. 

The rescue in Laos of three endangered red pandas trafficked from China has raised fears the rare animals are increasingly being coveted by exotic pet owners.

A world-renowned ivory investigator whose detailed reports contributed to the fight against elephant poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, was killed at his home in Kenya, police said on Feb. 5.