A hefty set of tusks is usually an advantage for elephants, allowing them to dig for water, strip bark for food and joust with other elephants. But during episodes of intense ivory poaching, those big incisors become a liability.

When Gina Paola Serna studied to become a biologist and veterinarian in Colombia, she never expected to one day be tasked with neutering an invasive herd of hippos that once belonged to Pablo Escobar.

A native species of mouse that was last seen in Tasmania's north-east 17 years ago has been caught on camera on Flinders Island — sniffing a stick dipped in peanut butter.

The Umusambi Village has rescued more than 200 cranes from captivity over the years, helping to boost the population of the endangered birds to 881 from 487 just four years ago.

A large swathe of the Scottish Highlands stretching between the west coast and Loch Ness is to be rewilded as part of a 30-year project to restore nature. The Affric Highlands initiative aims to increase connected habitats and species diversity over an area of 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres), incorporating Kintail mountain range, and glens Cannich, Moriston and Shiel. Plans include planting trees, enhancing river corridors, restoring peat bogs and creating nature-friendly farming practices.

It is estimated that there are 2.5 million feral cats in New Zealand.

One day in late May, a stranger contacted Erica Miller about a sick bird. For a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator, that isn't unusual. She's rescued 1,794 animals so far this year, many of them birds, and mostly thanks to tips from people who come across sick or injured animals. This was different.

Lani Malmberg travels with a few hundred goats, which eat the tall brush and grasses that power Western wildfires.

Ten thousand years after woolly mammoths vanished from the face of the Earth, scientists are embarking on an ambitious project to bring the beasts back to the Arctic tundra. The prospect of recreating mammoths and returning them to the wild has been discussed – seriously at times – for more than a decade, but on Monday researchers announced fresh funding they believe could make their dream a reality.

An experiment that hung rhinoceroses upside down to see what effect it had on the animals has been awarded one of this year's Ig Nobel prizes. Other recipients included teams that studied the bacteria in chewing gum stuck to pavements, and how to control cockroaches on submarines.

The photos feature otters, bears, monkeys, tigers, prairie dogs, penguins, and other wildlife in comical poses.

Anne Gorden-Vega notices a yellowish glint in the brush and slams on the brakes. She’s out of her Chevy Colorado pickup before I can even process what’s happening. The 62-year-old art teacher is basically operating on muscle memory as she dives into the brush with a flashlight, searching for the Burmese python she knows is there.

We have forgotten the primeval forests and expansive grasslands where wildlife thrived, an ecological amnesia. We must work to remember, regenerate, and restore

Brush-tailed bettongs are back. These tiny endangered marsupials have been reintroduced to mainland South Australia after disappearing more than a century ago. The bettong, also known as a woylie, once occupied more than 60 per cent of Australia, but was almost wiped out when cats and foxes were introduced by Europeans. Only about 15,000 are alive today.

Last year, the Trump administration announced that the gray wolf would be removed from the list of animals protected by the Endangered Species Act. Before gray wolves were protected by the act, the species was considered near extinction after a combination of hunting, trapping, and loss of habitat decimated its numbers.

Rattlesnakes have evolved a clever method of convincing humans that danger is closer than you think.

Scientists who systematically eavesdropped on bat roosts in Costa Rica have discovered baby-bat babbling bears a striking resemblance to that of human infants. The bats produce rhythmic sounds and repeat key "building-block syllables". And this suggests - just like in human infants - their babbling lays the foundations for communication.

Giraffes seem above it all. They float over the savanna like two-story ascetics, peering down at the fray from behind those long lashes. For decades, many biologists thought giraffes extended this treatment to their peers as well, with one popular wildlife guide calling them “aloof” and capable of only “the most casual” associations.

Trees, grasses and wildlife are returning as Lord Randal Plunkett recreates a vanished landscape in County Meath