Obituaries and tributes
The risks of field science are usually described in abstract terms. Weather turns. Equipment fails. The sea does not always behave as expected. These dangers are well understood by those who work in and on the ocean, and they are rarely romanticized by the people who face them. Most accept
Obituaries and tributes
In the rangelands beneath Kilimanjaro, coexistence between people and wildlife has never been a simple matter. Livestock wander into the paths of lions. Farmers lose cattle they can scarcely afford to lose. Retaliation follows, and with it the slow unravelling of ecosystems that depend on predators to stay whole. The
Obituaries and tributes
For nearly six decades, Douglas-Hamilton dedicated his life to the elephants of Africa, forging a bond with the continent’s largest inhabitants that went beyond mere scientific study. It was said that he could recognize an elephant by the pattern of its ears or the wrinkles of its skin,
Obituaries and tributes
The bulls were the first thing visitors noticed. Seven of them, huge and muscled, grazing under acacia trees in the heat of Tamil Nadu’s drylands, when a reporter from The Hindu visited in 2012. They were Kangayam cattle, a native breed once counted in the hundreds of thousands. Now
Obituaries and tributes
The cliffs above Cala de Moraia are steep and inaccessible. To most people, the terrain would signal danger rather than duty. But dangerous places often shelter life that needs defending. Rare plants cling to the cliff face, surviving only because most people cannot reach them. On November 25th, 2025, one
Obituaries and tributes
On the beaches of Topsail Island in North Carolina, sea turtles still crawl ashore in the dark to lay their eggs. For many years, a woman with a clipboard and a steady presence walked those sands before dawn, counting tracks and marking nests. Her reason for being there began with
Obituaries and tributes
She moved slowly, as if time were something best savored. Visitors leaned over railings or crouched at the edge of her enclosure and watched her stretch her neck toward a leaf of romaine. Children noted she was older than their grandparents. Their parents did the math and realized she was
Obituaries and tributes
Early on November 16th, gunmen shot and killed Vicente Kaiowá e Guarani, a father and spokesman for the Kaiowá, a people who have spent decades trying to return to the places they call tekoha. His community says the men who pulled the trigger arrived in the dark, well armed and
Obituaries and tributes
In the shallows off northern Bali, where the reefs flicker with life and the sea carries the rhythm of work and prayer, a quiet revolution took root. Women who once had few choices began tending tanks of clownfish and Banggai cardinalfish, learning the art of aquaculture. Fishers in nearby villages
Obituaries and tributes
Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them find little reason to wonder how they came to be, or who
Obituaries and tributes
He never raised his voice in anger. When talks grew tense—whether across a union bargaining table or a forest-policy summit—Chris Allnutt would grow quieter. The softer he spoke, colleagues recalled, the more certain everyone became that something important was about to happen. He did not trade in
Obituaries and tributes
He was born where the forest gives way to the savannah, in the South Rupununi of Guyana, among horses, rivers, and the songs of the Wapichan people. From that landscape, Tony Rodney James—known to many as Chief Kokoi—drew the convictions that would guide his life: that land is