Wildlife movements within a landscape are influenced by environmental factors such as food availability and, as human-modified landscapes continue to expand, the risks associated with encountering people. For Asian elephants Elephas maximus, human-dominated landscapes can be a risky but also rewarding habitat. When elephants share space with people, negative human–elephant interactions are common, sometimes resulting in injuries or deaths of both people and elephants. We monitored elephant movements in and out of a forest reserve in central Sri Lanka to test four predictions regarding elephant behaviour: (1) visits to agricultural areas occur at times of the year when crops are plentiful, (2) elephants exploit these areas by night to avoid interactions with people, (3) increased nocturnal illumination reduces use of agricultural areas, and (4) males make greater use of anthropogenic food sources than family groups. Analysis of camera-trap data confirmed that elephants visited human-dominated areas mostly at night. The frequency of such incursions was not influenced by moon phase for males, but there was a weak effect of moon phase for family groups. Males moved more frequently into human-dominated landscapes than family groups, and their movements showed a distinct seasonal pattern, peaking at times of rice and fruit harvest. Our findings suggest that elephants primarily venture into human-dominated areas to consume crops. Encouraging farmers in areas frequented by elephants to adapt land-use practices (e.g. guarding crops, fencing villages, planting orange/citrus fences) and establish early warning systems could help limit the damage caused by elephants.

Two species of pangolins occur in Nepal: the Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla and the Indian pangolin Manis crassicaudata. They are categorized as Critically Endangered and Endangered, respectively, on the IUCN Red List, and are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 in Nepal. Although both this national law and CITES prohibit pangolin hunting and trade, such trade still occurs. To better understand the patterns of pangolin hunting and trade in Nepal, we analysed data on pangolin seizures gathered from official records, grey literature and verified public media reports dating from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2020. A total of 122 pangolin seizures were reported in 27 districts, mostly in the central mid-hills. Seizure cases included 23 live pangolins, 18 whole-body skins with scales and 1,046.7 kg of scales. We estimate a minimum of 1,500 individuals were hunted locally over the 11-year study period. Analysis of the trade network identified the capital city, Kathmandu, as the main pangolin trade hub, with scales being the most commonly seized item. The illegal trade occurred mostly in two regions: central and eastern Nepal, and areas bordering China. The pangolins were hunted mainly from core habitats within rural areas, then transported to the city for trade. These data support the future development of effective law enforcement and policy interventions for this region, to stop the illegal pangolin trade. Greater understanding of the patterns of the local pangolin trade and the identification of hotspot areas and peak hunting seasons will allow us to prioritize areas for future conservation interventions.

The Congo basin forests have vast conservation potential but because of their inaccessibility and periodic insecurity there is little formal protection or ecological research occurring there. Community-based conservation efforts in the unprotected forest corridor separating Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko National Parks in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo aim to protect a unique forest ecosystem and facilitate the development of ecological research. To support this process, we obtained baseline data on the occurrence of terrestrial mammals in the Nkuba Conservation Area by conducting camera-trap (2014–2018) and transect (2013–2018) surveys. From camera-trap images we also extracted diel activity patterns and estimated overlap in these patterns between selected pairs of species. We identified 29 mammal species weighing > 1 kg using camera traps and 22 species in transect surveys, with a total of 33 mammal species, of which seven are categorized as threatened on the IUCN Red List. Among this mammalian community, we recorded nocturnal and diurnal species with short core activity periods, and several cathemeral species with long activity periods, with various degrees of temporal separation of diel activity between species. The presence of threatened species, including the Critically Endangered Grauer's gorilla Gorilla beringei graueri, suggests that the Nkuba Conservation Area harbours a forest community that requires continuous monitoring, further research and investment in protection from the ongoing deforestation and resource exploitation occurring in the surrounding region.

The northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita disappeared from Europe in the Middle Ages. Since 2003 a migratory population has been reintroduced in Central Europe. We conducted demographic analyses of the survival and reproduction of 384 northern bald ibises over a period of 12 years (2008–2019). These data also formed the basis for a population viability analysis simulating the possible future development of the northern bald ibis population under different scenarios. We analysed life stage-specific survival rates, rearing protocols and colonies, and the influence of stochastic catastrophic events and reinforcement translocations on population growth. Life stage-specific survival probabilities were 0.64–0.78. Forty-five per cent of the mature females reproduced, with a mean fecundity of 2.15 fledglings per nest. The complementary population viability analysis indicated that the Waldrappteam population is close to self-sustainability, with an estimated population growth rate of 0.95 and a 24% extinction probability within 50 years. Of the 326 future scenarios tested, 94% reached the criteria of extinction probabilities < 5% and population growth rates > 1. Stochastic catastrophic events had only a limited effect. Despite comparatively high survival and fecundity rates the population viability analysis indicated that to achieve self-sustainability the Waldrappteam population needs further translocations to support population growth and the implementation of effective measures against major mortality threats: illegal hunting in Italy and electrocution on unsecured power poles. The findings of this study are to be implemented as part of a second European LIFE project.

Livestock depredation by snow leopards Panthera uncia poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of pastoral communities and engenders negative attitudes towards the species, threatening its survival. We conducted 104 semi-structured interviews within local communities (livestock herders and owners) in the Nyesyang valley of Manang District, in the Annapurna Conservation Area, western Nepal, to assess the status of livestock depredation and community attitudes towards snow leopards. During February 2016–January 2018, respondents reportedly lost 279 livestock to snow leopards (mean loss of 1.3 livestock per household), comprising 3.7% of the total stockholding in 2018. This loss amounts to a monetary loss of USD 319 per annum for each household. Only half of the households who lost livestock to snow leopards in the previous 2 years received compensation from the Conservation Area. Almost an equal proportion of respondents held positive (42%) and negative (41%) attitudes towards snow leopards. An ordered logistic regression analysis revealed that being a woman, being illiterate, owning a high number of large-bodied livestock and relying primarily on agropastoralism were factors associated significantly with negative attitudes towards snow leopards. We recommend focusing conservation education on illiterate community members and engaging more women in conservation programmes, along with a community-based insurance scheme for large-sized livestock to mitigate losses and improve local community attitudes towards snow leopards.

As a result of increasing global demand for food, large areas of natural habitat are being converted to agroecosystems to accommodate crop cultivation. This agricultural expansion is most prominent in the tropics, where many rural communities are dependent solely on farming income for their livelihoods. Such agricultural land conversion can have severe implications for local fauna. In this study, we compared vertebrate species diversity between natural forest habitat and three types of vanilla plantations maintained under varying management regimes in north-east Madagascar. We used diurnal and nocturnal transects to survey vertebrate diversity. Natural forest habitat contained the greatest vertebrate species diversity, and had proportionally more threatened and endemic species than all vanilla plantation types. However, we observed a greater number of species and a higher inverse Simpson index in minimally managed vanilla plantations located within or near natural forest compared to intensively managed vanilla plantations. These findings are important and encouraging for animal conservation and sustainable crop cultivation in Madagascar, and suggest that newly created vanilla plantations, and already existing plantations, should endeavour to follow the more traditional, minimalistic management approach to improve sustainability and promote higher faunal diversity.

Ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata and Varecia rubra) are categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and genetic studies are needed for assessing the conservation value of captive populations. Using 280 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop sequences, we studied the genetic diversity and structure of captive ruffed lemurs in Madagascar, Europe and North America. We found 10 new haplotypes: one from the European captive V. rubra population, three from captive V. variegata subcincta (one from Europe and two from Madagascar) and six from other captive V. variegata in Madagascar. We found low mtDNA genetic diversity in the European and North American captive populations of V. variegata. Several founder individuals shared the same mtDNA haplotype and therefore should not be assumed to be unrelated founders when making breeding recommendations. The captive population in Madagascar has high genetic diversity, including haplotypes not yet identified in wild populations. We determined the probable geographical provenance of founders of captive populations by comparison with previous studies; all reported haplotypes from captive ruffed lemurs were identical to or clustered with haplotypes from wild populations located north of the Mangoro River in Madagascar. Effective conservation strategies for wild populations, with potentially unidentified genetic diversity, should still be considered the priority for conserving ruffed lemurs. However, our results illustrate that the captive population in Madagascar has conservation value as a source of potential release stock for reintroduction or reinforcement projects and that cross-regional transfers within the global captive population could increase the genetic diversity and therefore the conservation value of each regional population.

Conservation action plans need to be devised and implemented if we are to reduce the extinction risk faced by globally threatened plants. However, most plant species categorized as threatened globally on the IUCN Red List lack conservation action plans. In West Africa, Guinea is one of the most diverse countries in terms of botanical species. In total, 273 plant species in Guinea have been assessed as being threatened globally, reflecting increasing pressure from the extractive industry and a growing population requiring food and fuel. In parallel with the implementation of an Important Plant Area programme in Guinea, we developed conservation action plans for 20 threatened plant species through a pilot study. We outline the methods we used and demonstrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach and having up-to-date field information. The need for such plans is urgent, with recent estimates suggesting that one-third of African plants are threatened with extinction. Based on our experience with the first 20 conservation action plans for Guinea species, we suggest that the preparation of multi-species conservation action plans would be an efficient use of the limited resources available for species conservation.

Protected areas are under immense pressure to safeguard much of the remaining global biodiversity and can be strained by unpredicted events such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding the extent of the effects of the pandemic on protected area management and conservation outcomes is critical for recovery and future planning to buffer against these types of events. We used survey and focus group data to measure the perceived impact of the pandemic on protected areas in Mexico and outline the pathways that led to these conservation outcomes. Across 62 protected areas, we found substantial changes in management capacity, monitoring and tourism, and a slight increase in non-compliant activities. Our findings highlight the need to integrate short-term relief plans to support communities dependent on tourism, who were particularly vulnerable during the pandemic, and to increase access to technology and technical capacity to better sustain management activities during future crises.

Turacos are birds used as status symbols in certain African cultures. Despite this cultural value, turacos are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and illegal hunting. We tested the hypothesis that the high cultural value associated with turacos means local people are willing to conserve them and their habitats. To this end, we examined the traditional uses of turacos and how their cultural value could facilitate conservation interventions. We administered an open-ended questionnaire to 180 households during January 2017–November 2019. We found the feathers of three species of turacos to be associated with qualities such as social esteem and power: Bannerman's turaco Tauraco bannermani (categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List), green turaco Tauraco persa (Least Concern) and great blue turaco Corythaeola cristata (Least Concern). People were generally supportive of efforts to protect turacos because of a strong connection between these birds and the local culture, supporting our hypothesis. This particularly applied to people of high social standing such as chiefs and village elders who use turaco feathers to gain public distinction. Feathers were also used by herbalists for traditional medicine, and hunters used the birds’ calls as a time indicator. Feathers are generally obtained through opportunistic collection and a sustainable, traditional hunting system, but we also found that some people hunt turacos to sell them as pets. We recommend that conservation interventions make use of the cultural values associated with these iconic species, together with implementing alternative sources of livelihoods, to promote behaviours that help achieve conservation objectives in the area.

Wild meat is associated with an increased risk of zoonotic diseases. In some West African countries wild meat consumption declined as the result of official restrictions following Ebola outbreaks during 2013–2016, and was also affected by the current Covid-19 pandemic. In Sierra Leone, a country affected by these diseases, we documented wild meat use in four markets in the capital, Freetown. From a total of 197 interviews, we analysed the influence of age and gender on the types of wild meat eaten and the reasons for their consumption. We found that more men than women consumed wild meat, and for both genders taste was the main reason for eating wild meat. Age did not affect wild meat consumption amongst women. Evidence for changes in consumer behaviour in response to zoonotic disease risk was mixed. Although some consumers avoided wild meat because of disease risk, none stated this was the primary reason for not eating wild meat, and monkeys (presumed to carry a high zoonotic disease risk) were amongst the species cited as being consumed often. More work is needed to identify the best pathway towards safe and sustainable consumption of wild meat in urban Sierra Leone.

Estimating the population parameters, performance and factors that influence reproduction from long-term, individual-based monitoring data is the gold standard for effective wildlife management and conservation. Yet this information is often difficult and costly to collect or inaccessible to managers. We synthesized a 20-year set of individual-based monitoring data from a subset of black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis subpopulations across a range of environmental conditions in Namibia. Our findings demonstrate that despite the relatively arid landscape in Namibia, the black rhinoceros metapopulation is performing well, measured by age at first reproduction, inter-birth interval, population growth and survivorship. Information-theoretic modelling revealed that a univariate model including normalized differential vegetative index had a greater influence upon age at first reproduction than population density. The inter-birth interval model set identified cumulative rainfall during the 15 months prior to the birth month as the top model, although the mean normalized differential vegetative index during the inter-birth interval was comparable. There was little evidence for density-dependence effects on reproduction. These findings suggest that although browse quality could have a greater impact on parameters spanning multiple years, shorter-term parameters could be more influenced by rainfall. Our analysis also revealed a synchronous pattern of conceptions occurring in the rainy season. Our study provides a set of population parameter estimates for Namibian black rhinoceros subpopulations and preliminary insights on factors driving their reproduction. These expand our collective knowledge of global black rhinoceros population dynamics and improve our confidence and capability to adaptively manage the black rhinoceros metapopulation of Namibia.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which probably arose from zoonotic sources, has provoked wide-ranging discussion on which wildlife policies can best prevent future pandemics. More work needs to be done to investigate support for regulatory frameworks in China post-Covid-19 and specifically to model how perceptions of the relationship between wildlife consumption and risk of zoonotic diseases combine with other variables to influence support for wildlife policies. We report on a 2021 quantitative survey conducted in China. The objectives were to measure attitudes towards the current wildlife consumption ban and wildlife regulations in China and to model which variables correlate with support for bans on wild-caught and farmed wildlife. The sample was almost evenly split between considering the ban on wild animal consumption in China to be adequate (45%) or not strict enough (42%). Protection against future pandemics and protection of the environment were motivators for supporting the ban for c. 80% of respondents. The results also indicated strong support for wildlife bans. A majority of respondents supported bans of both wild-caught and farmed wildlife, although support for bans of wild-caught animals was greater for most taxa. Furthermore, the perceived zoonotic risk of a taxon was a more prevalent correlate of support for a ban for wild-caught wildlife than for farmed wildlife. Our results indicate substantial support for the current wildlife consumption ban in China, and opportunities to further mitigate the environmental and zoonotic risks of wildlife consumption.