Endangered color after dark

Like all lemurs, you can only find the ring-tailed in Madagascar. Hunting and habitat destruction have meant that today, 98 percent of lemur species are threatened, 33 of which are now critically endangered—one level away from extinction. Ring-tailed lemurs are the most common you’ll find protected in zoos or sanctuaries, like the family we met: Meara, Nessa, Neave, Delilah, and Lulu. Thankfully, Madagascar’s lemurs are now better protected too, as local organizations create community-based projects to safeguard and reforest their habitats, along with raising awareness of lemurs as the country’s national treasure.

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Pygmy hippos live exclusively in the rainforests of West Africa, and very little is known about them. At the last estimate, there are thought to be around 2,000 left in the wild, and they’re classified as endangered due to habitat loss through deforestation. At Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, this 30-year-old male is the proud father of many offspring. He now enjoys relaxing in his ponds, his mudbath, and avoiding his female roommate; he is quite intimidated by her and largely stays out of her way—a real odd couple. It is estimated that the survival of this species will happen thanks to the efforts of zoos around the world, in addition to habitat protection in the wild and the removal of human threats.

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Found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand, the Malayan tapir population is in alarming decline. They live alone in tropical, moist forests and wetlands where they use their nimble snouts to feed on more than 380 species of plant. The Tapir we photographed currently lives in Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. These are the last remaining “Old World” species of Tapir in Asia, with others only living in the Americas. Today, the closest living relatives to Tapirs are horses and rhinoceroses, and their origins can be traced back at least 50 million years—yet in only a few decades their numbers have dwindled, largely due to habitat loss and hunting.

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Jet and Bolt are two fennec fox brothers who live at Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska. It’s a far way away from their native environment in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Fennecs inhabit extreme habitats that generally have very few humans, but development like oil exploration and road building are on the rise, threatening local populations of these foxes. Another threat is being captured and sold as fashionable pets. In the searing desert, their large ears help to dissipate body heat and listen for prey when they hunt at in the cool of night.

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Indian crested porcupines can be found throughout southeast and central Asia, and in parts of the Middle East. If provoked, they raise their quills while lurching backwards at the intruder, which gave rise to the belief that porcupines can shoot their quills at you. Thankfully this isn’t true, but they are known to raid crops, which has led in part to their persecution by farmers, who trap them for food. However, their populations are stable thanks to them being highly adaptable—yet these human-wildlife conflicts, and climate change, remain long-term risks to them. At Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, we joined their resident female at dinner time, where she pursued us with great interest before pausing for a meal of vegetables and insects.

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While Amazon milk frog numbers aren’t concerning yet, frogs globally have been affected by the rise of a fungus that causes population declines and localized extinctions. Climate change has also led to a loss of moist, wet habitats that frogs love. The Amazon milk frog is so named because of the poisonous milky secretion they release when threatened. Luckily, we didn’t experience that with Naveen, pictured here at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska. You’ll notice the big toes on Naveen’s feet, able to hold up to 14 times her body weight. Amazon milk frogs are originally from the northern parts of South America, spending their lives in the canopies of tropical rainforests.

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In 2013, the two-toed sloth was classified as “Least Concern”, but since then habitat degradation and fragmentation have severely affected populations, especially in Colombia and Central America. In Colombia, they’re hunted and sold to tourists as pets. Sidney, pictured here, is a rescue sloth at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska. His pastimes include sleeping in baskets and enjoying his favorite treat of sweet potato and carrots. Sloths are one of the slowest animals on earth, so slow that algae grows in their fur, which becomes a handy camouflage in the trees of Central and South American rainforests.

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Nestled in burrows deep in the Namib Desert sands, these tiny creatures rely on cool moisture at these depths during the day. They only venture to the surface at night, where their delicate musculature and webbed feet propel them across the fine sand in scooping motions—darting to catch prey like crickets, grasshoppers, and small spiders spotted through their oversized eyes. Recently, researchers have discovered that Namib sand geckos have stripes along their bodies that glow neon green under UV light, which is thought to be used to communicate socially in some way under the desert night sky. Although not considered to be a vulnerable species, habitat destruction through practices like sand mining, and hunting could tip the population balance in the wrong direction.

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With a growing population, coyotes are a remarkably resilient and adaptive species. They can adjust their litter sizes based on resources, so in lean years they have fewer or no pups. They can also survive in the wilderness and urban areas alike. But few species are as misunderstood as the coyote; and little to no protection is granted to them across their range in North America. In certain areas coyote hunting is very common, with hundreds of thousands killed annually. We met a beautiful pair of coyotes at Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, shortly before they were released back into the wild. Their mother had been killed when they were only two weeks old, so they were brought to the sanctuary and bottle fed.

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Considered vulnerable, snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. These striking owls hold a place in popular culture—immortalized as Harry Potter’s faithful companion, for example. Their hunting style is sometimes referred to as ‘sit and wait’, swiveling their heads up to 270 degrees scanning for prey before swooping to snatch it from the ground, or even clean out of the air. When prey dwindles, populations can fly thousands of miles south to unusually (for the owls) warm climates to find more. Known as an irruption of snowy owls, these mass migrations can end up in man-made concrete locations, such as airports, due to their resemblance to the arctic tundra for the birds. Places like these are where we lose many snowy owls to planes, powerlines, cars, and wind turbines.

Shot on OPPO Find X5 Pro, additional hardware and software used.