How rangers are using AI to help protect India's tigers in 2022
India has around 3,000 tigers
For 22 years vet, Akhilesh Mishra has been treating animals at Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh state in India.
He does not hesitate to name the tiger as his favourite animal. "They are so magnificent and beautiful. I just need to feel their soft skin to feel relaxed" he says. "!When I treat an injured tiger and then they are able to go back to forest, it is an out of this world experience."
A tiger's life is not easy, he says, particularly for the females: "For me the tigress is much stronger than the male tiger. She fights so fearlessly for her cubs. She is a goddess - ready to take on a huge tiger who tries to harm her cubs."
Nicaragua Bosawas Biosphere Reserve under threat from illegal logging
Nicaragua cloud forest 'under siege' by illegal loggers. Bosawas forest - the Bosawas Reserve is a critically important rainforest but native people say it is being destroyed by "colonists" A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders. The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain. But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists". They are calling on US president Barack Obama, who is visiting the region, to support their battle. Described by the United Nations as a global biological treasure, the reserve is located on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras and teems with wildlife. “We believe that if there is no intervention there will be no Biosphere Reserve in five to 10 years” Taymond Robins, Mayangna people The two million hectares are said to be home to 150,000 insect species, rare jaguars, eagles and crocodiles as well as the world's last populations of Baird's Tapir and the Central American Spider Monkey. Landless invaders The Bosawas reserve also overlaps the homes of indigenous communities who have been there for centuries, living by hunting and fishing. The Nicaraguan government recognised the full legal title of the Mayangna to their lands in 2007. Since then, they say they have been subject to what they term an "invasion" by landless people from other parts of the country.
This inhospitable-looking landscape is home to some critically endangered species. The Niger government, this month, formally decreed this whole area - the Termit Massif and Tin Toumma desert - to be a national nature and cultural reserve. At almost 100,000 square kilometres it is the largest single protected area in Africa. One of Earth's most inhospitable deserts is an important stop-over for migrating wildlife, scientists say. Researchers working in the Termit Massif and Tin Toumma desert in Niger say the whole area should be protected, because it is a biodiversity "hotspot". The rocky massif is home to the Critically Endangered dama gazelle.
The elusive Saharan cheetah, captured here by a camera trap, also lives there. Scientists working for the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) are working to have the area declared a National Reserve. The rainy season transforms the arid landscape into a temporary wetland, which many migrating animals depend on.
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