Wild Hope Explains

Why are zoos sometimes the key to saving critically endangered wildlife? In dire straits, creating healthy captive populations is the best course to save these species in the wild. Captive breeding allows zoos to quicken the reproductive process and carefully preserve genetic diversity. When successful, these breeding programs can set endangered species on a long-term path to recovery in the wild.

Disease outbreaks can decimate wildlife populations. Scientists are adapting human vaccines to work for different species, developing new vaccines from scratch and finding creative ways to get innoculations to species in the wild. Witness incredible stories of success that have given hope to scientists around the globe fighting to preserve these species.

Can cloning help save species on the brink of extinction? It’s complicated. Cloning technology has come a long way since Dolly the sheep, but this technology is most useful when there’s a reserve of frozen genetic material to pull from. And it’s best used as a last resort--not a replacement for conserving healthy wild populations in their native ecosystems.

We’ve been selectively breeding dogs, crops and livestock for thousands of years--but to select for resilience in threatened wild species is a new arena. In the case of coral polyps, natural selection shows a promising future for coral able to withstand rising temperatures and resist coral bleaching. So can researchers kick this natural process into high gear fast enough to save coral reefs?

Artificial intelligence is reshaping our world in countless ways--but can it protect the natural world? In rural India, scientists are training neural networks to help communities avoid human-tiger conflict and protect their livestock. In the fight to protect both wild predators and the people who live alongside them, this might be the wild card conservationists have been waiting for.

Scientists are fighting mosquito-borne diseases using a new microscopic ally: bacteria. Scientists have been using Wolbachia to suppress the growth of disease-causing viruses like dengue, Zika, and yellow fever in human populations to stop outbreaks around the world. Now, in Hawaii, researchers are hoping to harness Wolbachia for the first time to save a bird species from certain extinction.