Stories

  • Secrets in the snow

    February 21, 2024

    In a landmark study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, WWF, and collaborators have unveiled an innovative method for extracting DNA from the snow tracks of three elusive carnivores, including polar bears. The new technique involves retrieving trace amounts of environmental DNA—known as eDNA—shed from the footpads of these animals in the snow, enabling the identification of individual animals.

    A scientist kneeling in the snow, using shovel to collect sample
  • Promoting tradition and fostering ecotourism

    February 15, 2024

    For Sandra Antipani, this kind of tourism is key to ensuring the long-term conservation of her island home and a tangible way for her to share her community’s wisdom.

    Sandra Antipani stands on a waterfront walking path near the ecotourism cabins she manages
  • Eastern migratory monarch butterfly populations decrease by 59% in 2024

    February 07, 2024

    New data detailing the abundance of the eastern monarch butterfly colonies wintering in central Mexico’s forests estimate that the species occupied only 2.2 acres during the 2023-2024 winter season—59% less than the previous year when scientists observed 5.5 acres.

    A monarch butterfly sits on a green leaf with its wings spread
  • WWF women scientists on conservation and connecting to nature

    February 06, 2024

    Before International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11th, we asked some of our female scientists why they decided to pursue a career in conservation science specifically, and how they stay inspired

    WWF Scientist Dina Rasquinha sits on a tree branch
  • India completes its first-ever snow leopard population survey

    February 05, 2024

    Skilled scientists in India completed the first-ever rigorous examination of the country’s snow leopard population, estimating that 718 of these iconic big cats live within the country’s borders.

    A snow leopard captured by camera trap walks in front of a rock outcropping
  • Hard truths about inclusive conservation

    February 01, 2024

    Shifting norms and changing perspectives within the conservation community may be difficult, but it’s critical to moving in the right direction. Indeed, conservation may be destined to fail without it.

    Three people hover over a document as they discuss livestock production and regenerative ranching in Madre de Dios region of Peruvian Amazon
  • For a scientist and mom, successful conservation takes a village

    January 31, 2024

    This is what conservation actually is: many people, from many different places, contributing at the level they can to get the job done. We’re Meeting people where they are, accepting their values, making space for their priorities, and working together.

    A small child in a green coat looks at pebbles on a gray beach with grasses in the background
  • Closing the loop: How using insects and waste as animal feed can protect the planet

    January 30, 2024

    Embracing circular ingredients means adopting a smart approach that transforms the way we handle food, elevating what was once seen as waste into a higher-value ingredient by either repurposing or preventing it.

    Brown chickens walk around and peck at the ground on a farm
  • The Survey

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    The 2022 KAZA Elephant Survey was designed to help estimate elephant numbers, but it also provided other crucial information.
    A small plane flying over the African landscape
  • Mapping animals’ movement between protected areas

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Climate change, shifting land use, and development increasingly isolate the world’s more than 200,000 protected areas.
    European Bison
  • Big Data

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    In Southern Africa, five countries united by a shared vision for conservation undertake an elephant survey of historic proportions
    Aerial photo of a group of elephants in a small watering hole
  • Gallery: Josh Gluckstein’s Sculptures

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    As a child, artist Josh Gluckstein loved wandering through the wildlife exhibits at the London Natural History Museum.
    Cardboard and paper sculpture of orangutan head
  • Protecting millions of acres in the Amazon

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Brazil launched the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) program with WWF and partners in 2002, setting an aspirational goal: permanently secure more than 150 million acres of the Brazilian Amazon.
    A teal and brown tree frog clings to a branch
  • In Madagascar, wildlife abounds on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    No amount of research could prepare me for its stunning variety of landscapes and wildlife.
    Baobab trees in the sunset
  • How dam removal can help rivers

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Choking up the world’s rivers and streams has had major consequences for biodiversity and people. Now many experts agree: Some dams have run their course.
    Illustration showing landscape with dam or left, and landscape without dam on right
  • What a whale needs

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Using cutting-edge technology, researchers are uncovering profound links among ocean health, climate change, and the denizens of the deep
    Drone photo of 2 humpback whales in blue water
  • President's Letter: Indigenous Wisdom and Indigenous-Led Knowledge

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Since 2014, WWF has partnered with Native Nations throughout the Northern Great Plains in support of their bison restoration efforts.
    Carter Roberts
  • WWF’s Enrique Prunes on healthy rivers

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    I was born and raised in the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and wandered in pecan orchards and swam in creeks and rivers as a child.
    Enrique in a river with measuring equipment
  • Surveying species through environmental DNA

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    Analyzing the eDNA in 48 water samples, his team detected 134 species—including several tigers and their prey, such as muntjac and serow.
    A muntjac, small red-brown mammal, in the woods
  • A big win for the Peruvian Amazon

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    WWF and partners helped negotiate and fund a new “debt-for-nature swap” in the Peruvian Amazon.
    Red and brown monkey on branch in foliage with mouth wide open
  • Encountering an upset hippo in Zimbabwe

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    I have been visiting this UNESCO World Heritage Site for 10 years, spending months at a time walking through the bush and photographing wildlife.
    Muddy hippo charges at the camera
  • Marathoner Mina Guli on addressing the global water crisis

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    On World Water Day in 2022, Guli embarked on a yearlong journey, completing 200 marathons in water-stressed locations from Australia to Zambia.
    Runner stands looking at dry watering hole
  • Dr. Rae Wynn Grant on radical solutions and the power of possibility

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    As a child, after watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, she wanted to become a nature show host but thought “you had to cross oceans to find nature.”
    Woman in braids holding a yellow snake up
  • Essay: A night by the black waters of Maine’s Muscongus Bay

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2024
    I probably would have stayed put had it not been for the pure, incapable-of-lying joy in their voices as they begged me to join them.
    Illustration of two children playing in glowing water at night