Veronika Perkova

After the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), which severely degraded Iraqi nature, Persian leopards (Panthera pardus tulliana) were thought to be locally extinct. The war left the country with mountains covered with millions of landmines and many species with vastly depleted numbers. So nobody expected this endangered species — the world’s largest leopard — to remain in the […]

In 2006, the world’s leading hummingbird photographer, Luis Mazariegos, visited La Mesenia, an isolated village in Colombia’s western Andes. He had no idea that besides taking a picture of the recently rediscovered glittering starfrontlet (Coeligena orina), he would find a place that hosts overwhelming biodiversity. The forests here, spanning altitudes from 1,700 to 3,170 meters

When Hurricane Iris hit southern Belize in 2001, the country’s magnificent corals were destroyed. But within 10 years, a radical restoration project brought the reef back to life. Read my story about the amazing work of the Belizean nonprofit Fragments of Hope on BBC Future Planet. Credit: Fragments of HOpe

While in many places, ecosystems and wildlife are under increasing threat and suffering population declines, Vietnam’s Van Long Nature Reserve provides a light in the darkness. The reserve is home to the largest population of Delacour’s langurs (Trachypithecus delacouri), a critically endangered monkey species endemic to the country and numbering fewer than 300 in the

The illegal trade in pangolins and slow lorises in Indonesia has gained a lot of media attention, yet that has had only a small effect on combating the actual trade itself. In many areas of the country, these two critically endangered species have gone extinct due to a lack of law enforcement and specialized protection.