India's endangered tiger population is rebounding in triumph for conservationists

The once-declining elephant population at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe is now stable because the rangers use the core-buffer model to keep them safe. To ensure they have enough room to live comfortably, the elephants are allowed to wander far into less-protected zones. But the park has a well-protected core patrolled by rangers that elephants can return to when they feel threatened.

The gray wolf was on the Endangered Species list when they were first reintroduced to the West in 1995, and although they have made an impressive comeback, there is now a debate between ranchers and environmentalists about the best way to handle the influx of predators to their cattle. Ranchers like Joe Purdy in Montana have found a successful mix of nonlethal tactics to keep them at bay: patrol of the area during the hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., wildlife cameras, inviting campers to stay, building fences, and more.

Gopher tortoises might be labelled as endangered under federal law, which brings strict guidelines that businesses want to avoid. Georgia Gopher Tortoise Initiative is dedicated to finding gophers in their natural habitat and protecting the areas they are found in, as well as other methods to help grow the population.

The California Condor Recovery Program used captive breeding, innovative reproductive techniques, genetic management, and binational collaboration to bring the species back from 24 individuals in 1987 to 561 today, with 344 living in the wild across the US and Mexico.

Lobster is a crucial economic resource in New England, but entanglements with the fishing line from lobster traps are a major cause of death for endangered North Atlantic right whales. Scientists and lobstermen are testing ropeless, on-demand gear that minimizes the risk for whales and allows fishing to continue in areas that would otherwise be closed for months as the whales pass through.

Over 55,000 people have become “virtual rangers,” helping to protect South Africa’s Balule Nature Reserve from poachers. Officials at the reserve teamed up with Samsung and Africam to increase the ability to keep watch over the park, which is home to some of the most vulnerable animals to poaching, including rhinoceros, leopards, and elephants. Camera phones, held in protective cases, are mounted around the reserve and stream images to “virtual rangers” worldwide who have already reported hearing gunshots, which could indicate the possibility of poachers, and seeing trapped animals needing rescue.

The nonprofit group Save Giraffes Now, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Northern Rangelands Trust, and local community members are working together to save the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe species. Rising lake levels and flooding have stranded the animals on its island, so they made a custom-built steel barge to relocate them to a protected wildlife reserve. It’s not easy to move giraffes, but so far they’ve successfully moved three out of nine of them.

Rwanda’s Akagera National Park, once a conservation failure, has been revitalized with fences, patrols, and new technology to become a successful wildlife park. The government partnered with conservation group African Parks to manage the national park, which has led to an increase tourists, patrols, and even lions and black rhinos. Akagera also became the world first “Smart Park” after it installed a telecommunications network called LoRaWAN to securely track, monitor, and communicate between rangers, vehicles, equipment, and animals.

Estonia’s i-Voting system is currently used by 46.7% of voters and allows them to vote from home using a government-issued smart card. To vote, residents need a computer with a card reader or can have their encrypted ID linked to their cell phone SIM card. They can track their vote with a QR code and are able to change their choices any time during the 10-day voting period. Estonia is currently the only country to use this method, in part because eroding government trust has prevented the use of centralized systems that track personal information.

Wildlife sanctuaries and monitoring technologies are helping to protect endangered species. In India, a decade of policies aimed toward increasing the number of Bengal tigers is proving effective, in some areas leading to an increase in the total population. In addition to the creation of designated wildlife sanctuaries where biodiversity can thrive, the use of specialized monitoring technology allows for the tracking of individual tigers.