Wild Motherhood: Meet some of the coolest mothers in the animal kingdom
Happy Mother’s Day 2022! They care for us, teach us, and shape our relationship with each other and with the world. For better or worse, each of us owes a lot of who we are to our moms! And as much as we all love to celebrate motherhood on this holiday, there is one mother that is ever-present Read More...
Scientists use elephant DNA to prevent wildlife trafficking
Today, there are about 415,000 elephants in Africa. A century ago, that number was close to 5 million. Conservationists estimate that the international ivory trade leads to about 50,000 elephants being killed each year. If poaching continues at this rate, elephants may go extinct in the near Read More...
Elephant in Kenya gives birth to rare twin calves
In a celebratory moment for conservation, an elephant has given birth last week to twin calves at a national reserve in northern Kenya. The rare phenomenon came as a pleasant surprise for the tour guides who spotted the twins while out on safari at the Samburu reserve. The pair are only the second Read More...
These designers in Thailand are turning elephant dung into bricks
Here at The Optimist Daily, we’re always keen on celebrating the advent of circularity into different sectors of the economy. With that said, we would like to share with you a recent innovative circular solution that uses animal waste to help make the construction industry more Read More...
Life-sized elephant sculptures inspire us to live in harmony with nature
As human populations have grown around the world, so have their territories, leaving wild animals with less land and resources to survive. This especially affects Earth's largest land mammals: elephants. Elephant populations have declined considerably as a consequence of rapid habitat loss and Read More...
Two conservationists create a “Google Translate” for endangered elephants
It’s known that elephants are highly intelligent and social creatures, and scientists have spent years trying to understand how these magnificent beings communicate. However, scientific publications have proven insufficient in cataloging the constant stream of new discoveries being made about Read More...
In a world first, a herd of elephants is going from the UK back to the wild
For the first time ever, a herd of elephants will be released from a zoo back into the wild to provide a healthy living space for the animals and rewild part of their native habitat. The 13 elephants in question will travel from Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, southern England to a wild space in Read More...
UK Bill strengthens protections for animals
The UK is gearing up to pass major animal rights legislation, called the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which addresses a wide range of animal welfare issues. According to UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith, who sponsored the bill, it is scheduled for passage into law later this Read More...
Elephant-friendly alternative to ivory can be 3D-printed to restore art
Although there has been a ban on international ivory trading since 1989, tens of thousands of elephants are still poached for their tusks every year, a trend that’s slowly pushing some endangered species to the brink of extinction. A team of scientists has recently developed a high-quality ivory Read More...
New AI tech is protecting African elephants
African elephants are beautiful and majestic creatures that are unfortunately targeted by poachers because of their ivory tusks. In the last 50 years, the savanna elephant population dropped by 60 percent and the number of forest elephants has fallen by 86 percent in the past three Read More...