Environment

Wildlife, oceans, forests, climate and conservation

In Environment, ECOnews covers wildlife and biodiversity, oceans, forests, climate change, pollution, recycling and conservation. Surprising stories from around the planet that explain how nature works and how people are changing it.

Map from SkyTruth's global analysis of oil slicks at sea

SkyTruth’s satellite analysis estimates oil slicks cover about 610,000 square miles of ocean each year, and 16 ships appeared to be discharging oil in over 10 percent of their satellite images at sea

By Adrian Villellas

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October 12, 2026 at 10:16 AM

Field team carrying a large green anaconda along the Las Piedras River in Peru

A DNA study of anacondas from nine countries split the green anaconda in two, with the northern green anaconda 5.5 percent apart from its twin, and critics went after its name within a month

By Adrian Villellas

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October 12, 2026 at 6:32 AM

Two dishes of strawberries, a few from uncovered plants and many more from plants under Plant Armor fabric

NC State’s Plant Armor fabric helped strawberry plants produce 3.56 times as many berries

By Adrian Villellas

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October 10, 2026 at 6:29 PM

A Ganges river dolphin surfacing in brown river water

About 20 Ganges river dolphins survive in a Bangladesh river too polluted for native fish

By ECONEWS

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October 10, 2026 at 12:32 PM

Strawberry guava leaves covered with small galls made by the biocontrol insect Tectococcus ovatus

Invasive strawberry guava has spread across Hawaii since it arrived in 1825, and researchers used drones to drop a tiny Brazilian insect on it nearly five times faster than ground crews

By Adrian Villellas

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October 10, 2026 at 6:28 AM

A gray wolf standing in deep snow in a winter forest

Isle Royale wolves were rebuilt from 19 animals, and one brother-and-sister pair produced at least 12 pups, yet a five-year study still gives the population a better than 80 percent chance of lasting 20 years

By Adrian Villellas

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October 9, 2026 at 4:58 PM

A blacktip shark swimming in clear blue water in the Bahamas

Blacktip sharks heard sounds from 243 feet away and turned away from the source

By Adrian Villellas

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October 8, 2026 at 12:34 PM

An olive ridley sea turtle resting in the sand beside its nest near Seal Beach, California

Two olive ridley sea turtles laid the first sea turtle nests ever recorded on the U.S. West Coast in Orange County, and biologists moved 204 eggs indoors before Hurricane Polo’s surf arrived

By Adrian Villellas

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October 8, 2026 at 6:33 AM

A dense cloud of starlings swirls in a gray sky above the domed roof of Eastbourne Pier in England

Thousands of starlings are forming huge shape-shifting clouds over Poland, and a Polish ornithologist says cleverer birds can lead less clever ones to feeding grounds where they are more exposed to attack

By Adrian Villellas

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October 7, 2026 at 4:57 PM

Two people kneel on pavement measuring a long Burmese python stretched along the ground

Florida pays python hunters up to $30 an hour plus $50 for each snake and $25 for every extra foot, and one contractor warns it is unrealistic to move there thinking you can make a living doing this

By Adrian Villellas

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October 7, 2026 at 6:36 AM

A small spotted wild cat with large dark markings standing on leaf litter in a forest setting

A tiny spotted cat that a Bolivian man fed noodles, rice and eggs, thinking it was a kitten, turned out to be Leopardus tilcayo, the first new wild cat species scientists have described in more than a century

By Adrian Villellas

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October 6, 2026 at 2:58 PM

A pinkish orange lion's mane jellyfish washed up next to bladder wrack on a pebbly beach

Hundreds of pink lion’s mane jellyfish washed up on a Baltic beach near Germany’s Fehmarn island, and a marine biologist warns that their stinging venom can stay active for some time after they die

By ECONEWS

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October 6, 2026 at 12:33 PM

A Burmese python coiled on a tree branch

Researchers have about 90 robotic rabbits out in the Everglades to lure Burmese pythons into view, after live rabbits drew 21 python detections to camera pens against one at an empty pen

By ECONEWS

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October 5, 2026 at 2:58 PM

Swallows perched in rows on power lines before their autumn migration

Swallows and house martins have almost vanished from the ponds of a Czech town before October, when in many years they are still around, and an ornithologist says most migrants are already gone

By Javier Niño

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October 4, 2026 at 6:05 AM

Grauer's gorilla mother holding her infant in the forest

Lulingu, a gorilla rescued as an orphan from traffickers, gave birth in the wild in Congo’s Virunga National Park, a milestone for a mountain group of Grauer’s gorillas that had dropped to just eight

By ECONEWS

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October 3, 2026 at 8:49 AM

Close-up of a green kākāpō parrot held by a ranger

New Zealand’s kākāpō, a flightless parrot that fell to just 51 birds in 1995, now numbers 325 after 90 chicks joined the count, and conservationists are running out of safe islands for them

By Adrian Villellas

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October 1, 2026 at 7:03 AM

Angler holding a large wels catfish in a boat

An angler on Poland’s Vistula River pulled in a wels catfish 7 feet 8 inches long and about 198 pounds on her birthday trip, and after a quick photo she let Europe’s largest freshwater predator go

By ECONEWS

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September 30, 2026 at 7:34 AM

Octopus clinging to the dorsal fin of a Risso's dolphin off Devon

A volunteer photographer off Devon captured an octopus clinging to the fin of a Risso’s dolphin, and scientists say it shows how the biggest octopus boom in 75 years may be changing their diet

By Adrian Villellas

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September 30, 2026 at 4:30 AM

Goat moth caterpillar (Cossus cossus) on the ground

A sudden vinegar smell next to a garden tree can mean a goat moth caterpillar has spent years tunneling through the trunk, and the wood can end up snapping

By Adrian Villellas

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September 29, 2026 at 4:54 PM

Crown-of-thorns starfish on a coral reef

The crown-of-thorns starfish is blamed for ravaging the Great Barrier Reef, but a University of Sydney study found coral survived almost 75% of its bites on a protected reef and it may boost diversity

By ECONEWS

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September 29, 2026 at 9:14 AM

Previous Next

Environment

SkyTruth’s satellite analysis estimates oil slicks cover about 610,000 square miles of ocean each year, and 16 ships appeared to be discharging oil in over 10 percent of their satellite images at sea

A DNA study of anacondas from nine countries split the green anaconda in two, with the northern green anaconda 5.5 percent apart from its twin, and critics went after its name within a month

NC State’s Plant Armor fabric helped strawberry plants produce 3.56 times as many berries

About 20 Ganges river dolphins survive in a Bangladesh river too polluted for native fish

Invasive strawberry guava has spread across Hawaii since it arrived in 1825, and researchers used drones to drop a tiny Brazilian insect on it nearly five times faster than ground crews

Isle Royale wolves were rebuilt from 19 animals, and one brother-and-sister pair produced at least 12 pups, yet a five-year study still gives the population a better than 80 percent chance of lasting 20 years

Blacktip sharks heard sounds from 243 feet away and turned away from the source

Two olive ridley sea turtles laid the first sea turtle nests ever recorded on the U.S. West Coast in Orange County, and biologists moved 204 eggs indoors before Hurricane Polo’s surf arrived

Thousands of starlings are forming huge shape-shifting clouds over Poland, and a Polish ornithologist says cleverer birds can lead less clever ones to feeding grounds where they are more exposed to attack

Florida pays python hunters up to $30 an hour plus $50 for each snake and $25 for every extra foot, and one contractor warns it is unrealistic to move there thinking you can make a living doing this

A tiny spotted cat that a Bolivian man fed noodles, rice and eggs, thinking it was a kitten, turned out to be Leopardus tilcayo, the first new wild cat species scientists have described in more than a century

Hundreds of pink lion’s mane jellyfish washed up on a Baltic beach near Germany’s Fehmarn island, and a marine biologist warns that their stinging venom can stay active for some time after they die

Researchers have about 90 robotic rabbits out in the Everglades to lure Burmese pythons into view, after live rabbits drew 21 python detections to camera pens against one at an empty pen

Swallows and house martins have almost vanished from the ponds of a Czech town before October, when in many years they are still around, and an ornithologist says most migrants are already gone

Lulingu, a gorilla rescued as an orphan from traffickers, gave birth in the wild in Congo’s Virunga National Park, a milestone for a mountain group of Grauer’s gorillas that had dropped to just eight

New Zealand’s kākāpō, a flightless parrot that fell to just 51 birds in 1995, now numbers 325 after 90 chicks joined the count, and conservationists are running out of safe islands for them

An angler on Poland’s Vistula River pulled in a wels catfish 7 feet 8 inches long and about 198 pounds on her birthday trip, and after a quick photo she let Europe’s largest freshwater predator go

A volunteer photographer off Devon captured an octopus clinging to the fin of a Risso’s dolphin, and scientists say it shows how the biggest octopus boom in 75 years may be changing their diet

A sudden vinegar smell next to a garden tree can mean a goat moth caterpillar has spent years tunneling through the trunk, and the wood can end up snapping

The crown-of-thorns starfish is blamed for ravaging the Great Barrier Reef, but a University of Sydney study found coral survived almost 75% of its bites on a protected reef and it may boost diversity

Czech cave explorers and a robot have measured the Hranice Abyss to 1,476 feet underwater, and a decade after it became the world’s deepest flooded cave, nobody knows where the bottom is

A Hawaiian tree snail vanished from the wild after Hawaii brought in a predator to fight a garden pest, and 33 years later it is back behind walls that keep its hunters out

A Swiss glacier has pulled back far enough to reveal a larch that stopped growing about 10,300 years ago, and its still-attached roots show the tree grew on ground the ice later buried

Chinstrap penguin droppings across Antarctica release an estimated 540,000 tons of methane a year, and the bare ground between the guano patches gives off almost nothing

Twenty family dogs listened to nonstop invented words while wearing electrodes, and scientists found that dog brains lock onto the same hidden detail of speech that human brains rely on from infancy

Norway’s largest Viking coin hoard has grown to 5,550 coins since two metal detectorists found it in a field, and an archaeologist cataloging them spotted one struck for a king who became a saint

Turkey has unearthed a clay fragment of the oldest known peace treaty, sealed about 3,300 years ago, and its broken lines show what two kings promised people who fled their lands

A 194-year-old giant tortoise named Jonathan has some gene switches as orderly as those of tortoises a fraction of his age, and scientists think part of his secret lies in how his cells make energy

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