Over the past 14 years, Martin Guth has built a monopoly on some of the world’s rarest birds. Will his secretive organization ultimately help put more parrots in the wild, as he says or—push them closer to extinction?

John Ackerman has spent millions procuring a majority of the known caves in Minnesota, which add up to dozens of miles of underground passageways and likely make him the largest cave owner in the U.S. He collects and charts them in the name of preservation, but his controversial methods have created many opponents.

Scientists in Brazil are trying to save the giant anteater from a growing threat: roads.

What’s at stake in the fight over development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? A caribou herd, and a culture that relies on it.

How a night of drunken mischief led to the death of a rare endangered fish and a rare prosecution.

The life and death of OR4, the patriarch of Oregon’s reintroduced wolves.

On a 650-mile trek, two adventurers faced danger and hardship—and saw how development could spoil an American icon.

On the relationship between conservation, British farmers, and a possible Brexit.

In Utah, an unlikely leader is looking to end the state’s land-use wars.

A story of medical ailments, family dynamics, and conservation work.

Checking up on an ambitious, controversial conservation initiative, 20 years later.

The diarist and photographer Peter Beard, known both for his series documenting a mass elephant starvation and for discovering the supermodel Iman on a Nairobi street, reflects on his life of “drugs, debt, and beautiful women” while recovering from being trampled by an elephant.