Endangered Species Day

Today is Endangered Species Day - highlighting the incredible diversity on our planet and the importance of preserving it. 

Take a moment today to enjoy the spectacular endangered Panda and Polar Bear on our live cams.

Through film and photos, learn more about elephants, tigers, gorillas and sturgeon. And celebrate the triumph of the ospreys with Rachel and Steve - once endangered, they’ve made a steady comeback. 

What endangered animals would you like to see highlighted on the blog? Email us.

Endangered Animals

Bull elephants will ram tusks in macho displays for female affections in local herds. 

See more from the endangered animal photo album here. 

Find Your Wild Side

Flip through our collection of Wildlife Photography from the Wolong Nature Reserve in China. In the photo above, a caretaker at Wolong feeds a baby panda. 

Breeding is a particular tricky business with pandas: Females are in the mood for only one to three days each year. This reproductive limitation initially gave researchers a hard time getting pandas to mate. But they’re now having more success.

Though extensive research has explored female pandas’ reproductive behaviors, the other half of the panda population has not been well described. …Pandas’ peak breeding season is between March 22 and April 15. This information helps researchers understand when are good times to collect sperm for artificial insemination and when more natural breeding might take place. (CSMonitor)

Siku Has a New Friend!

Smilla is an older, female polar bear he’d rub noses with through their fence. Now they spend half days in the same enclosure, playing and sleeping side-by-side. See more of Siku and Smilia on the live cam and read more about his progress from our partners at Polar Bears International. 

If you’ve been following Siku from the start, tell us your favorite memory of him: share@explore.org.