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Blogs from the Field

A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.

A juvenile bald eagle shown on an exam table for a necropsy to begin

What do you call the post-mortem examination of an animal? The appropriate term is “necropsy,” derived from necro (“death”)….
Amur tiger in winter

The fate of our wildlife lies at the hands of our policy makers – an obvious statement perhaps, but sometimes these forces work in unexpected ways....
Tiger street art

While sitting in a café contemplating the surrounding forested hills, it struck me that there is something unique about the city of Thimphu in Bhutan....
Green rice fields in Thakurdwara

On a sweltering monsoon afternoon in September 1994, I stepped out from a garish-painted bus in western Nepal, the driver pointing me south along a rough track threading off between vibrant green rice fields....
Buffalo

I have spent my career at the science-to-policy interface, including when I had the honor to serve as the first Science Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)...
Round goby

I don’t usually think of myself as a detective. I tell folks that we at the Aquatic Animal Health Program investigate fish kills for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)....
Indonesia

Given their near supernatural reputation, it can be hard to distinguish the truth of the tiger from its mythology....
Far Eastern Leopard sitting on ground

The Far Eastern or Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), already among rarest of the world’s big cats, has now been found to face another threat: infection with canine distemper virus (CDV)....
Wild buffalo on African plain

For generations, international trade practices have dictated that rural southern Africans cannot protect nearby wildlife and, at the same time, farm cattle because of animal disease concerns....
Front-line responder with plastic horn

If you are a soccer fan you probably remember the penetrating drone of vuvuzelas that pervaded the stadiums of South Africa in the 2010 World Cup....