On July 1, Iranian conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani (formerly of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation) were arrested in Tehran, along with Sepideh’s sister Sima. news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

A mid-May Ebola outbreak in the DRC puts critically endangered gorillas at high risk due to their social nature. While no ape infections are reported yet, conflict and cuts to U.S. public health funding under the Trump administration hamper outbreak responses. @ayleighk.bsky.social reports.

Gorillas are also at risk from Ebola. news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-h...

A dead polar bear and walrus found in Svalbard last month tested positive for H5N5, a highly pathogenic avian influenza. 🐻‍❄️ Globally, there have now been two polar bear deaths from avian influenza: one from H5N1 in Alaska in 2023, and this most recent one in Svalbard. refractor.io/environment/...

In 2019, a Persian leopard named Aren was first spotted in Armenia. Later that year, he was seen again, but he was missing a leg. Rangers believe he stepped on a landmine. Aren's story shows how roads, fences, & landmines fragment the habitat of this endangered species. By @ayleighk.bsky.social.

“Leopards do not recognize political boundaries. Their survival depends on connected habitats and the ability to move safely across landscapes.” — Hana Raza, founder of Leopards Beyond Borders 🐆🐾 Feature for @mongabay.com 🐾🐆 news.mongabay.com/2026/05/enda...

A lone male Persian leopard's journey — from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave, which borders the leopard stronghold of Iran, through Armenia and on to Georgia — highlights the threats that lurk across the fragmented range of this endangered subspecies. www.of-beasts-and-men.org/despite-trap...

Re-upping this for #EndangeredSpeciesDay - story from last month on Iran's critically endangered Asiatic cheetah and the uphill battle to save it from extinction

A new study has sparked fresh debate over endogenous DMT, and its presence — or absence — in mammalian brains: refractor.io/psychedelics...

Fewer than 30 Asiatic cheetahs remain in the wild, all in Iran. While the subspecies has been protected since 1959, war and sanctions are now disrupting vital conservation efforts, leaving the world’s rarest big cat on the brink of extinction. @ayleighk.bsky.social reports for #Mongabay.

The Asiatic cheetah is on the brink of extinction, with just 27 left in Iran. Now, war visits fresh peril on this critically endangered species. news.mongabay.com/2026/04/war-...