VOLUME 88
By Dr. Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * Illegal wildlife trade is a major global crime: It is a leading driver of biodiversity loss and is estimated to be worth about US$34 billion annually. * Trafficking has shifted online: As traditional e-commerce sites restricted wildlife sales, traffickers increasingly moved to social
VOLUME 86
By Dr. Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * India’s effort to reintroduce African cheetahs has revived a species declared extinct in the country more than 70 years ago. * The project has made Kuno National Park the center of a major conservation experiment, and a major controversy. * Critics question whether Kuno has
VOLUME 84
By Dr Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * The 2008-2018 ivory crisis was widely thought to be over, but a run of large 2026 seizures suggests otherwise. * Four major busts this year (Zambia, Tanzania, Vietnam, Laos) point to organized crime, not isolated incidents. * With seizures estimated at only ~10% of trafficked
VOLUME 82
By Dr Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * Ant trafficking is emerging as a serious new wildlife crime, especially in East Africa. * Booming demand for exotic pet ants in Asia and beyond drives the trade. * Smuggling ants can cause real ecological harm, including colony collapse and invasive-species risks. * Kenya says much
VOLUME 80
By Dr. Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * The report “Clicks That Kill ”documents hundreds of accounts across dozens of countries openly trading live tigers, great apes, elephants, rhinos, and pangolins on Facebook and Instagram. A parallel ECO-SOLVE study logged nearly 22,000 ad posts for over 266,000 wildlife products
VOLUME 78
By Dr Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways * In October 2025, the Northern Cape High Court ruled that breeder Hendrick Diedericks can export horn from captive-bred white rhinos. The government wants to appeal but has not yet been granted leave. * The arrest of Vietnamese national Huy Bao Tran, tied to dozens
VOLUME 76
By Dr Daniel Stiles Key Takeaways: * An invasive big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala) is displacing the native acacia ant that defends whistling-thorn trees against elephants at Ol Pejeta. * Big-headed ants don't bite elephants. In invaded areas, elephants break trees at five to seven times the rate
VOLUME 74
By Dr Daniel Stiles A recent study from Oxford University has revealed a severe loss of ‘wildlife power’ across Africa — the ecological energy that drives essential ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, pollination, and seed dispersal. This study provides hard data to support the UK’s Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem
VOLUME 72
By Dr Daniel Stiles A recent publication by Lindsey et al. reviewed evidence for lion population changes, targeted illegal killing and body parts trafficking incidents in parts of Africa. Although the article admits that “no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study", it nevertheless concludes that “Lions
VOLUME 70
By Dr Daniel Stiles On 20 January 2026, the UK government released a report entitled Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security. While aimed at raising awareness about threats to UK national security posed by biodiversity loss and cascading ecosystem impacts, the report is relevant to all nations. The
VOLUME 68
By Dr Daniel Stiles On 31st October, 2025, South Africa’s High Court in the Northern Cape ruled in favour of Hendrick Diedericks, owner of a registered rhino Captive Breeding Operation (CBO) in the Northern Cape known as Rockwood Conservation. Starting with 45 southern white rhinos purchased from Kruger National