Heather Physioc / HP Conservation

In high-speed, pitch-black photography, capturing bats in action feels impossible. Photographer Michael Durham spent years custom-building custom light-triggered shutter rigs to solve the puzzle, revealing hidden behaviors and species details we’ve never seen before. www.batcon.org/bats-in-focu...

Fitness-obsessed bears, a "salty" orangutan, scowling owls, and a squirrel caught mid-flight: The 2026 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists are here to remind us nature has a sense of humor. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

It turns out penguin poop is fertilizing green snow algae, causing it to absorb 40% more solar heat, and accelerating Antarctica's rapid snowmelt. www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/... #penguins

Researchers combing through a deep-sea canyon nearly twice the depth of the Grand Canyon just uncovered 57 new marine species in a matter of weeks: www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts... #marinelife

While global #wildlife numbers have dropped 73% since 1970, new data shows we’re reaching "positive tipping points," from surging tiger populations to solar power taking over. Here’s why the 2026 WWF Living Planet Report offers a rational basis for hope: www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/...

"Speed, technology or medium do not excuse inaccuracy or unfairness. Journalists are ethically responsible for their work, regardless of the tools and technology used.” SPJ updates ethics code: www.cjr.org/feature/soci...

We know almost nothing about the elusive, shipping-container-sized Omura’s whale — until now. Rare drone footage captured in Indonesia shows how these ocean giants hunt, giving scientists a front-row seat to study and protect a species hiding in plain sight. www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...

India's tiger population surged past 3,600, creating a different challenge: 35% of these big cats now live *outside* protected reserves. To help them disperse safely, India built Asia's largest wildlife overpasses & underpasses. Next big need: corridor connections. news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indi...

One of the most cooked fish in the Brazilian Amazon, the tambaqui was included in the official national list of threatened species, triggering fear of losses from Amazon small-scale fishers who depend on the species for their livelihood.

Viral videos of grizzly encounters are fueling fear, but grizzly populations are finally rebounding - a huge conservation victory. The challenge now is coexistence - leashing dogs, carrying bear spray, and securing attractants to safely share the landscape. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/here-...

Top-down conservation failed critically endangered Bali starlings; community-led customary law saved them. Indigenous-led conservation improved anti-poaching compliance and transformed former trappers into guardians. Read it at @mongabay.com: news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indi... #IndigenousPeoplesDay

Honoring Indigenous Peoples' Day by looking at the vital fight to preserve Quechua in the Andes. With 7 to 10 million speakers, it's a living language carrying centuries of community wisdom and identity. hpconservation.com/abroad/revit... #IndigenousPeoplesDay

Every SEO explaining what they do

Chief discoverability officer says 'use AI search tools like a customer, not an executive' www.emarketer.com/content/emar... "Decisions that used to take weeks or months are compressing into hours, and brands are only beginning to grasp what that means for their business."

Science communication is booming on YouTube and Substack, but science journalism — with the deep reporting, fact-checking, and institutional teeth that hold power accountable — is facing a real crisis. Is it cyclical or existential? www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/is-s...

Three African wild dog brothers just completed a record-breaking 4,126km journey across southern Africa. Regional conservation efforts & wildlife corridors are helping endangered populations successfully navigate human-dominated landscapes to stay connected. www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...

Indonesia's critically endangered Javan rhinos survived the recent Anak Krakatau eruption, but their confinement to a single coastal park and early translocation setbacks expose the immense fragility of managing the world's rarest large mammal. news.mongabay.com/2026/09/java...

Two wild Przewalski’s foals born in Kazakhstan after 200+ years. The milestone provides early evidence that an ambitious rewilding strategy is working: deploying these natural "ecosystem engineers" to restore the steppe biome and actively mitigate wildfire risks. news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

When federal rules redefine "harm" to open endangered habitats to drilling, state attorneys general are stepping up as the new legal frontline: 20 states are deploying administrative law to block habitat destruction before it begins. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/c...

The Race Is On to Stop an Armored Invader on the West Coast: Tribes and scientists are mounting an urgent trapping effort to keep European green crabs from devastating a corner of Puget Sound. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/c...

Waterlogged ecosystems called peatlands hold more carbon in the ground than all the world’s forests. Draining or destroying them releases the planet-warming gases into the atmosphere. Peatlands cover just 3% of Earth but store more carbon than ALL global forests combined: apnews.com/article/clim...

Paid media spending surges 274%+ as organic traffic to many publishers drops ~25%+. www.adweek.com/media/publis...

Solar-powered, towable labs are helping restore queen conch across the Caribbean. These 20-foot mobile hatcheries shelter fragile larvae from climate stressors and can be hitched and moved out of harm’s way when hurricanes approach, pairing local job training with hands-on reef resilience.

Instead of hunting endangered salmon-crested cockatoos for their sacred Cidaku coming-of-age ritual, Indonesia’s Indigenous Huaulu people are now sourcing naturally shed feathers from rescue centers and zoos to protect the wild birds.

Wildlife conservation, hunting, and fishing are perfectly compatible with proper land management, agency funding and a supported workforce. Instead, the USFWS has lost 36% of its workforce under the second Trump administration. ourpubliclandsandwaters.substack.com/p/us-fish-an...

Wildfire-charred logs are more biologically active than unburned ones. A 40-year log decay study proved that leaving dead wood alone restores ecosystems and saves millions in management costs. Let nature rot! www.sierraclub.org/sierra/watch...

Rotting seaweed is choking our beaches, but one surprising fix starts on the farm. Fertilizer runoff feeds massive algae blooms, and it's money down the drain for agriculture. Now, farmers are using GPS for precision fertilizing to cut costs and starve the blooms. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/it-s-...

I'm truly honored. 🥹 This week at the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference in Madison, Wisconsin, my "My Wildlife Wonders" series of educational wildlife coloring book pages and activity sheets took First Place in their Open category. hpconservation.com/news/heather...

For years, laws protecting Nigeria's highly endangered gorillas failed due to local nepotism and logging bribes. Then, local women took charge of enforcement, even against kings and sisters, and stop timber barons with the threat of nude protests. And it's working. news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-...

Love this collab beween Grist and the Intercept.

Scientists really looked at government budget cuts and said "fine, we'll start an OnlyFans." Introducing OnlyMarms: uncensored, G-rated rodent action for the true science degenerates. Drop a tip for the field researchers trying to survive federal funding cuts. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/s...

To track disease risks and shift away from harmful pesticides, scientists are working to identify thousands of undiscovered biting insect species, arguing that precisely mapping this hidden biodiversity is key to safe, targeted coexistence. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/zoolo...

To restore fire-ravaged landscapes, human engineering wasn’t enough. The solution? Relocating “nuisance” beavers to do the heavy lifting — rebuilding ecosystems, buffering floodwaters, and reviving dried-up creeks far better than traditional restoration ever could. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/beave...

Reintroducing myself for those who don't know me - I'm Heather Physioc, the conservation journalist, wildlife photographer & outdoor travel writer behind HP Conservation. I report on wildlife, wild places & people fighting for both. Come for the photos. Stay for the stories. hpconservation.com

Florida wants to ban shark-feeding ecotourism, but the law would still allow millions of anglers to chum freely. Scientists say banning tour operators won't fix the issue; real solutions require angler education, gear innovation, and targeted management. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/what-...

A 'Super' El Niño is causing marine heatwaves, disrupting food chains and triggering widespread seabird die-offs across the Pacific. Conservationists are calling on the fishing industry to adopt safer gear, like faster-sinking lines, to prevent fatal seabird bycatch. abcbirds.org/news/pacific...

Google’s new AI tool helps fact-checkers investigate AI fakes Backstory automates provenance checks, reverse image searches, and context tracing to speed up verification work. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/goog...

A private company plans to extract 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater per year from California’s Mojave Desert, ~25x more than the aquifer naturally replenishes. The pipeline project could permanently dry up vital desert springs and imperil fragile ecosystems.

Bangladesh urbanization fragments natural habitats, but a low-cost solution is saving wildlife from deadly highway collisions. For just $5K, simple nylon ropeway bridges were installed over a busy highway, providing safe aerial corridors for macaques and langurs. news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-...

Habitat fragmentation is pushing Brazil's endangered native felines into deadly contact with domestic pets, sparking a hidden crisis of viral, fungal, and parasitic diseases. news.mongabay.com/2026/08/braz...

An endangered turtle recovery program in Illinois was nearly derailed when over half of its captive hatchlings contracted a deadly, shell-eating fungus. The unlikely cure that saved the population? A common human athlete’s foot treatment. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/resea...

Large predators make roads safer by hunting near road edges at night. Predators like pumas and wolves scare deer back into the forest during the most dangerous driving hours. This "fear factor" reduces deer-vehicle collisions, saving lives and millions of dollars. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/puma-...