They call us the “giant river otter” because we’re some of the biggest mustelids: you know, like weasels, otters, and even wolverines. Measured from tail to snout, we could get up to human height! We’re also some of the chattiest members of our family — we growl, scream, bark, whistle, squeak, and sing, depending on the situation.

Unfortunately, our friendliness and ability to approach humans without fear has made us even more vulnerable to poaching, hunting, and conflict with fishermen — who think we’re annoying because we like the same fish…

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We go with the flow! That’s because river dolphins like us live cyclically — moving depending on the water levels that change from the dry to the rainy seasons. Because we’re restricted to river waters, we’re really vulnerable to habitat destruction from sources like water contamination from mining, agriculture or damming.

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Despite our horizontal, zebra-like stripes, we’re actually the closest living relatives of the giraffe. Much like giraffes, we eat lots of food with our long tongues, digesting it with our four stomachs.

We have close ties with the Mbuti and Efe people, hunter-gatherers who regard the forest as both a protector and provider, and avoid eating us. Habitat loss, hunting and mining, and genocidal violence threaten our endangered species and the Indigenous people we’ve coexisted with for tens of thousands of years.

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Along with our chimpanzee relatives, we’re the closest living relatives to you humans, and we share 98.7% of the same DNA as you. We’re smart, social, and strategic — and we have complex social interactions. We’re usually less aggressive than chimpanzees (but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight). We’re capable of literally kissing and making up, and we generally don’t compete with each other as much as our chimpanzee cousins do. We think it’s because we evolved in a region where food and water was plentiful, so we learned to work together by foraging and cooperating without having to fight.

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You can probably guess how we got our name: IT’S BECAUSE OF OUR LOUD VOICES! …sorry, too loud? Because of the way we call to each other, you might think of us as friendly and social animals, but most of us are actually quite serious and we really dislike humans. We might just “howl” at you to keep your distance!

We actually come in different colors, from red howler monkeys to black and brown. While we scamper around on branches, run on the ground, and hang from our prehensile tails, we actually spend a large part of the day sitting and resting. In fact, compared to other monkeys in our area, we’re quite large and slow. We eat fruit, flowers, and nuts, but more than anything we actually like to eat leaves!

The post Wildlife Fact Sheet: Howler monkeys appeared first on Rainforest Action Network.

I can sprint at car-like speeds, crush skulls with my bite, I can climb, swim, jump… is there anything I can’t do? My sleek, intimidating form and distinctive, rose-like spots, makes me one of the most recognizable big cats in the world, and the only Panthera in the Americas.

As the big cats in charge, we keep the plant and seed-eating animal populations in check, maintaining the balance of the ecosystem at large.

So not only do we depend on our forests for survival, the forests depend on us too!

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Not to brag, but I’m the largest flying parrot in the world — and I’ve got a pretty big voice too — you can actually hear me from a mile away! And did you check out my gorgeous blue color?

Hyacinths like me love wooded, open areas, making our home in the Amazon Basin and beyond to the Pantanal, a flooded grassland on the national border between Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

As an important regional symbol, we’ve been thankful to benefit from legal protections and serious conservation efforts. But all this time, agribusinesses like soy and beef have continued to attack our habitat, with massive fires in the Pantanal and deforestation in the Amazon destroying our trees and fragmenting our populations.

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Did someone say “largest living rodent?” That’s us! Fast and friendly, we’re a pretty common animal in South America. But because our habitat is dwindling and drying up, we sometimes try to sneak into farms, parks, and neighborhoods built on our native wetlands.

I have coarse fur, webbed feet, and dive underwater to get away from predators. Speaking of predators: cats, birds, snakes… why does everything want to eat us? I guess it makes us a pretty important part of the food chain? I’m a bit of a foodie myself, picking out specific grasses, leaves, and reeds to eat depending on the season. And yes… our own poop, too! It helps our gut bacteria digest better, OK?!

The post Wildlife Fact Sheet: Capybara appeared first on Rainforest Action Network.

I can live up to 40 years in the wild if humans don’t cut down my home. Male Bornean Orangutans have those signature cheek pads that make us look very handsome and intimidating, and females are much smaller in size.

We’re critically endangered because of deforestation and habitat loss for new roads and pulp and palm oil plantations, and the illegal pet trade. We rely on durian trees for food and the forest for everything we need. In fact, when we devour our beloved durian fruits, we discard the skin, eat the flesh, and spit out the seeds, acting as major seed dispersers for this fruit as well as for so many others. We’re pretty great.

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I’m one of the three Asian elephant subspecies — but I’m the smallest and I’m particularly endangered. If my habitat is intact, I can live up to 60 years in the wild.

I’m not a picky eater: I’ll munch on anything plant-based, from foliage and grass to crops like banana and sugar cane to roots, barks, and stems from plants.

My other elephant friends and I communicate over long distances using low-pitched sounds that are barely audible to humans (sorry, not sorry). These powerful infrasonic rumbles contain specific messages that can be heard and understood by other elephants more than 2 miles away. Pretty cool, right?!

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