Impressive reptiles top 600 poundsB-roll download here:Bronx Zoo Aldabra Giant Tortoises B-roll.movBronx, NY – Aug. 14, 2014 – Two giant Aldabra tortoises (Geochelone gigantean) are now grazing outside Zoo Center at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo.Both tortoises are males; one weighs approximately 400 pounds and the other tips the scales at around 600 pounds. Their exhibit is located at the iconic Zoo Center and resembles their natural habitat with a sandy substrate, lush vegetatio...

New Pronghorn Management Guides share latest science, inform issues impacting species BOZEMAN (August 13, 2014) – Biologists from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have collaborated for the first time to produce recommendations to protect and manage North America’s fastest land mammal – the pronghorn. Pronghorn are endemic to North America and numbered an estimated 35 million in the early 19th century. Today, about 700,000 remain and more than half of those live in Wyoming. The guides provide the l...

WCS president and CEO Cristián Samper commends New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for signing a historic law banning the purchase and sale of elephant ivory and rhino horn.

New Law Elevates Penalties on Criminals Profiting From Killing of Elephants and Rhinos NEW YORK (August 12, 2014) – The Wildlife Conservation Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, and The Nature Conservancy applaud New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for signing a state ban on the sale and purchase of elephant ivory and rhino horn today on World Elephant Day. Governor Cuomo signed into law a two-house bill formulated to address New York State’s statu...

Nationwide activities send message to stop ivory trade and raise awareness of elephant crisis 96,000 messages sent to officials from national 96 Elephants coalition96 elephants are gunned down every day for their ivoryCampaign URL: www.96elephants.org [New York – World Elephant Day – August 12, 2014] The 96 Elephants campaign and its coalition of partners throughout the U.S. is commemorating World Elephant Day today.As part of the World Elephant Day celebration, more than 100 partnering AZA acc...

This World Elephant Day, Elizabeth Bennett, Vice President for Species Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society, suggests New York set an example for the rest of the country and the world and ban the sale of ivory.

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is speaking up for elephants. These amazing mammals are being poached at unprecedented levels. But together, she says, we can save them.

Human-structures in sagebrush landscapes favor Common Raven nesting over historical hawk species Implications for transmission line development, sensitive prey species BOZEMAN (August 11, 2014) – A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Idaho State University (ISU) exploredhow habitat alterations, including the addition of energy transmission towers, affect avian predators nesting in sagebrush landscapes. Researchers compared nesting habitat ...

Peer-reviewed paper says any legal trade in ivory will contribute to elephant’s demise Corruption, organized crime, and lack of enforcement make legal trade an impossibility if elephants are to survive, says WCS Paper appears in August 7 edition of the online version of Conservation Biology Paper URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12377/abstract NEW YORK (August 7, 2014) – The message is simple: to save elephants, all ivory markets must close and all ivory stockpiles must be d...

Bronx, NY – Aug. 7, 2014 – A baby male Angolan colobus monkey (Colobus angolensis) was born in the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo.With the addition of the baby, there are five colobus monkeys in the troop; one adult male, two adult females, one juvenile female and the newborn. The species is native to northern Angola and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a second population found in Tanzania and Kenya. They are arboreal and live in thick jungl...