WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) released today its favorite images of 2018. Ten of the images come from WCS’s Bronx Zoo (with one from the New York Aquarium), and ten images are from WCS’s Global Conservation Programs taken by WCS scientists working around the world. 

WCS participated in the “Tencent for the Planet” Partnership Conference on December 19^th, joining the Chinese tech giant and a cadre of conservation groups in a global effort to fight wildlife crime. 

A Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) was spotted in Central Park in October and New Yorkers have been posting photos and noting sightings on social media ever since – New York is in love with this duck! The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which operates four zoos and an aquarium in New York City, has long since confirmed that the Mandarin duck spotted in Central Park and other locations around the city did not come from one of its zoos. For those who want a sure way to see a Mandarin duck, this same beautiful species can be observed at the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, and Prospect Park Zoo.

A new study by WCS, El Colegio de Frontera Sur, Washington State University and other key regional partners has found that the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), one of the last large herding mammals of the Americas, has been eliminated from 87 percent of its historical range in Mesoamerica. 

The New York State Supreme Court in Orleans County today ruled that a habeas corpus petition filed by the NonHuman Rights Project (NRP) -- claiming Happy, a 47 year old Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo, should have the same rights as a  person – would be more properly heard in Bronx County. Today’s ruling is the latest in a long series of losses for this group as they desperately seek ways to use the courts to advance their agenda. Similar petitions brought by NRP in all four judicial departments in the State of New York, as well as a court in Connecticut, have been rejected on the merits.

The Government of Argentina has created two massive offshore marine parks in the southwest Atlantic that will help protect the diverse marine life of the Patagonian Sea, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and a host of other partners who have worked for years to protect these biodiverse seascapes.

On Saturday, Dec. 15, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and officials from WCS’s Bronx Zoo will join Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Bronx Zoo to distribute toys to local Bronx military families in need this holiday season. This event has become an annual tradition in the Bronx. The partnership between the Bronx Zoo and the Borough President is in its ninth year. The Bronx Zoo serves as a collection point for new, unwrapped toys donated by members of the community for distribution to families of veterans and active duty members of the military.

A coalition of major public aquariums has announced that they are opposed to the federal government’s pending issuance of permits to allow repeated seismic blasting along the East Coast in search of offshore oil and gas. Marine scientists are concerned that the prolonged and extreme noise pollution introduced into already highly stressed ocean environments will disturb marine life from tiny plankton to commercially valuable fish stocks and even giant whales.

A study by an international team of conservation scientists found that a dam built in Thailand 31 years ago has caused the local bird population to collapse.

The WCS Myanmar Program released a video celebrating its 25th year of conservation.Watch the video here.