Conservation

Focal Species

The EDGE of Existence programme is supporting conservation projects for ten of the top 100 EDGE mammals.

These species have been selected for conservation attention because they are extremely evolutionarily distinct and threatened, and are currently receiving little or no conservation attention from other organisations. We feel that we are in a position to truly make a difference to the future of these species.

You can make a donation to the EDGE Mammals programme here.


Long-beaked echidnas
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Hispaniolan solenodon
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Bactrian camel
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Pygmy hippopotamus
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Rondo Dwarf Galago
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Hirola antelope
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Saola
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Ganges River Dolphin
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Slender loris
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Focal species 'alumni'


Yangtze River dolphin
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Bumblebee bat
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Golden-rumped elephant shrew
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Long-eared jerboa
EDGE conservation actions
Species information

Top 100 Edge Mammals
See the full list of the Top 100 EDGE mammals, with detailed descriptions and blogs


EDGE Updates
Follow our conservation programmes, with regular updates on the EDGE blog

Visit the EDGE blog

To stay up-to-date with the latest EDGE news direct from the field, View our RSS Feeds


Associated Blog Posts
19th Dec 11
Camera traps are revolutionising our ability to track the changing fate of wildlife. Often used in remote locations looking for elusive species, thi...  Read

12th Jul 11
The Hispaniolan Solenodon is not only one of the most evolutionarily distinct and threatened mammals in the world; but also, one of the few poisonous ones. I...  Read

20th Apr 11
An update from Joe Nunez on the progress of the Last Survivors project which is raising awareness of the Hispaniolan solenodon and hutia in the Dominican Rep...  Read

11th Apr 11
Earlier this month William Robichaud gave an interview to Mongabay.com about his work into the research and conservation of the endangered saola (Pseudoryx n...  Read

15th Mar 11
My name is Maria Eugenia and I come from Bolivia. I decided to study biology because I love wildlife and I want to support its conservation and management. I...  Read

11th Mar 11
While on holiday in Panama, David Curnick, a member of the Marine and Freshwater team at ZSL and sloth enthusiast met with Bryson Voirin who has spent the la...  Read

8th Mar 11
Last week WWF and Indonesia’s National Park Authority released new video footage of two critically endangered Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) and their...  Read

2nd Mar 11
One of the new additions to the group of focal EDGE Mammals in urgent need of conservation attention is the saola, a shy and secretive mammal found in Vietna...  Read

24th Feb 11
Last month five Indus River dolphins (Platanista gangetica minor) were found dead in Pakistan with three females and a male found at the village of Ali Wahan...  Read

22nd Feb 11
This is an update from Joe Nunez on the Last Survivors project. It's been far too long since our last blog but then we have been incredibly busy on all fron...  Read

11th Feb 11
This is the second guest blog from George Tyson, a graduate journalist with a keen interest in conservation. Rondo Dwarf Galago - Galagoides rondoensis ...  Read

8th Feb 11
In November 2010 a workshop was held in Liberia, West Africa to develop a conservation strategy for the pygmy hippo, EDGE mammal number 29. The pygmy hippo i...  Read

3rd Feb 11
Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year and 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit. In celebration of the Chinese year of the Rabbit, sales o...  Read

1st Feb 11
EDGE Fellow Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar, known as Buuvei has sent in his latest update on the progress of his saiga research in Mongolia. The saiga (Saiga tat...  Read

28th Jan 11
This is the first in a series of blogs written by George Tyson, a graduate journalist with a keen interest in conservation. As the conditions of global ...  Read

21st Jan 11
Last week two EDGE Fellows, Werner Conradie and Saman Gamage visited London to speak at the Zoological Society of London’s Communicating Science event:...  Read

14th Jan 11
A new colony of EDGE mammal number 25 the Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) has been found in a remote, secret location in Greece. This colony i...  Read

29th Dec 10
As 2010 comes to a close, Jose Nunez-Mino has written a summary of the excellent work he and his team have achieved this year in the Dominican Republic o...  Read

26th Nov 10
Dr. Jose Nunez-Mino has sent an update on the progress of The Last Survivors project in the Dominican Republic and its work to enable the long term conservat...  Read

8th Oct 10
EDGE mammal number 67 the Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) is today’s IUCN Species of the day!   The Chacoan peccary is a large pig-like mammal wit...  Read

30th Sep 10
Hello! My name is Dr Becky Coe, I have been working for ZSL London Zoo as an Education Officer for the past three and a half years – and finally seized an ...  Read

16th Sep 10
When Kenyan EDGE Fellow Grace Wambui was awarded an EDGE Fellowship to study the golden-rumped elephant-shrew, she had little idea that she would discover a ...  Read

19th Jul 10
A massive occupancy monitoring programme has been initiated over the past 18 months to assess the persistence of lorises in over 100 of the remaining fragmen...  Read

18th Jul 10
EDGE mammal number 46, the remarkable golden-rumped elephant-shrew, is the Species of the Day! Elephant-shrews (or sengi's) are so-named because they have...  Read

6th Jul 10
Asian river dolphins are among the most threatened large vertebrates, because the regions where they occur have high human population densities, resource ove...  Read

21st Jun 10
The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is a unique carnivore, endemic to Madagascar, is EDGE Mammal number 43, and is today's IUCN Species of the Day. There has ...  Read

17th Jun 10
I don’t know how but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figured out that it is my birthday today (17th June) and I suspect that'...  Read

13th Jun 10
The smallest mammal in the world is EDGE Mammal number 49 and is today's Species of the Day. This tiny bat weighs less than 2 grams. Its body is about the si...  Read

3rd Jun 10
The saiga (Saiga tatarica) is EDGE mammal conservation priority number 62, and is today's IUCN Species of the Day. This extraordinary-looking antelope is ...  Read

2nd Jun 10
We were not expecting to write another blog until mid June but there is lots of exciting news that we want to share with you and so it warrants this special ...  Read

1st Jun 10
Five eastern black rhinoceroses have recently been airlifted from the South African conservancy in which they were raised to Tanzania's Serengeti National Re...  Read

22nd May 10
The maned three-toed sloth (Bradypus torquatus) is EDGE mammal conservation priority number 63, and is also today's IUCN Species of the Day. Named after i...  Read

19th May 10
It has been long since updates are sent for the blog readers. All is well for hirola monitoring. A population is thought to increase if new born are added to...  Read

12th May 10
One of the few remaining Javan rhinos was killed by poachers in Vietnam last month, it has been revealed; with fewer than 60 individuals remaining the Javan ...  Read

11th May 10
Back in the UK you have been experiencing the arrival of spring, here on the Island of Hispaniola we are still waiting for our next season to start in earnes...  Read

20th Apr 10
This year, Mongolia is affected by a “dzud”, a natural disaster consisting of a summer drought, followed by heavy snowfall with extreme cold temperatures...  Read

14th Apr 10
JOE NUNEZ: As always, we have been pretty busy since our last blog posting. Pedro will tell you all about our latest rounds of field work but first I want to...  Read

25th Mar 10
Uuganbadrakh Oyunkhishig, EDGE Fellow, has recently arrived in the UK, and will be working with ZSL for the next month on an internship scheme funded by the ...  Read

23rd Mar 10
Grévy’s zebra (Equus grevyi), ranked 82nd out of all mammals as an EDGE conservation priority, is today's IUCN Species of the Day. The largest of the livi...  Read

8th Mar 10
I simply can’t write this blog without mentioning the devastating earthquake that hit Hispaniola on the 12 of January 2010; it was felt throughout the isla...  Read

3rd Mar 10
A partnership of UK conservation organisations – BirdLife International, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Zoological Society of London's EDG...  Read

25th Feb 10
The pygmy hippopotamus is today featured as the IUCN Red List ‘Species of the Day’, which is running throughout 2010 to mark the International Year of Bi...  Read

20th Feb 10
This week the list of the World’s 25 most endangered primates was released, highlighting which of man’s closest relatives are on the brink extinction and...  Read

16th Feb 10
Hirola monitoring is still on as usual despite challenges here and there. However, this will not make us not to achieve what we want at the long run. Struggl...  Read

5th Jan 10
The EDGE team is pleased to welcome its two newest Community members - Sarah Brook and Simon Mahood from WWF Vietnam.           Sarah and Sim...  Read

30th Dec 09
It has been over a month since my last update so I thought it was time to bring you up to date with everything that has been happening. The last few weeks...  Read

22nd Dec 09
From the 18th to the 30th of November 2009, Adiya (Bactrian Camel EDGE Fellow) and Henry (Steppe Forward Programme Co-ordinator) participated in the Mongolia...  Read

28th Oct 09
The EDGE Team has just received its first blog from Jose Nuñez-Miño, Project Manager for the new UK Darwin Initiative funded Hispaniolan Endemic Land Mamma...  Read

18th Oct 09
The EDGE team recently heard some great news concerning EDGE mammal no 23 - the greater bamboo lemur. The largest of the bamboo lemurs, this species is also ...  Read

2nd Oct 09
Here is the latest blog from Kimitei, our EDGE Fellow working on the critically endangered hirola antelope in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. In both wil...  Read

18th Aug 09
The EDGE team has received a request from the Orang-utan Tropical Peatland Project (Orangutantrop) to help raise awareness about forest fires that are curren...  Read

17th Jul 09
EDGE supports Mongolian conservationist Buuvei through the EDGE Fellows programme to research threats to saiga. Here is an account of his most recent fieldwo...  Read

9th Jul 09
It is not long until the second group of EDGE Fellows arrives in the UK for the annual conservation skills training course, so here Uuganbadrakh gives his im...  Read

2nd Jul 09
Yuan Lei is an EDGE Fellow working on one of the few remaining wild Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) populations in China. In May he organized a survey ex...  Read

29th Jun 09
EDGE Fellow John Konie recently wrote to give us the news that the President of Liberia had made a visit to Sapo National Park, where Konie is using camera t...  Read

17th Jun 09
The yellow-tailed woolly monkey (EDGE Mammal number 79) is one of the largest and rarest New World monkeys. It is only found in the tropical forests of the w...  Read

1st Jun 09
EDGE Fellow Buuvei is investigating how much predation from dogs threatens Mongolian saiga antelopes. Here he tells us about efforts to combat one of the oth...  Read

22nd May 09
The EDGE team has just heard about a major proposal that threatens a reintroduced population of the Critically Endangered Sumatran orangutan (EDGE mammal no....  Read

18th May 09
Yuan Lei, one of two EDGE Fellows working on the wild Bactrian camel, tells us here about the environment he encountered during an observation trip in the ba...  Read

11th May 09
EDGE Fellow Uuganbadrakh, who is researching the long-eared jerboa in Mongolia's Gobi desert, tells us here about using radio telemetry to track these little...  Read

27th Apr 09
Everyone loves dolphins, don’t they? And the baiji—the Yangtze River Dolphin—was so beautiful. Along the river, legends abound of its origin from the m...  Read

9th Apr 09
Here is the final blog from EDGE’s Dr Sam Turvey about his surveys along the Yangtze River in China, trying to discover the cause behind the disappearance ...  Read

31st Mar 09
Here is the latest update from EDGE Fellow Kimitei, who is monitoring the translocated hirola antelope population in Tsavo National Park, southern Kenya. ...  Read

24th Mar 09
Osé is an EDGE Fellow working on conservation of the Hispaniolan solenodon in Haiti. Here he reports on the findings from his EDGE Fellowship fieldwork in t...  Read

27th Feb 09
Here EDGE Fellow Kimitei tells us more about some potential threats to the critically endangered hirola antelope, his focus species: Tsavo East National P...  Read

25th Feb 09
A three-year conservation project for Hispaniola’s native mammals has just received large-scale support from the UK-based Darwin Initiative, a scheme which...  Read

20th Feb 09
EDGE Fellow Uuganbadrakh recently sent us some information on human impacts on the long-eared jerboa: The Mongolian Gobi desert contains many ancient obje...  Read

4th Feb 09
While we have all been enjoying the unusual amounts of snow in the UK, one of our EDGE Fellows, Buuvei, has been braving much more severe winter conditions t...  Read

23rd Jan 09
News just in from John Hare of the Wild Camel Protection Foundation that hay has been delivered to the captive breeding centre at Zakhyn-Us – just! John...  Read

22nd Jan 09
Here is the third blog from EDGE's Dr Sam Turvey about his surveys along the Yangtze River in China, trying to discover the cause behind the disappearance of...  Read

12th Jan 09
We have just received the following appeal from John Hare at the Wild Camel Protection Foundation, with whom we work for the conservation of the Bactrian cam...  Read

9th Jan 09
The Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus), a top EDGE species, is one of the world’s weirdest mammals. The two living solenodon species diverged fr...  Read

6th Jan 09
Here is the second blog from EDGE's Dr Sam Turvey about his surveys along the Yangtze River in China, trying to discover the cause behind the disappearance o...  Read

11th Dec 08
Marwell Zoological Park is celebrating the birth of a pygmy hippopotamus, EDGE Mammal species number 21. Born three weeks ago, the hippo is part of a cons...  Read

10th Dec 08
Kimitei, our EDGE Fellow monitoring the Critically Endangered hirola population in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, has sent us this update: Rains are now droppi...  Read

8th Dec 08
Here is the first blog from EDGE's Dr Sam Turvey about his surveys along the Yangtze River in China, trying to discover the cause behind the disappearance of...  Read

4th Dec 08
Yuan Lei, the EDGE Fellow we support to study the Critically Endangered Bactrian camel in China, has been carrying out his usual monitoring surveys in rece...  Read

24th Nov 08
Japanese scientists have created a cloned embryo from the dead body of a top ranking EDGE rabbit and are hoping for a birth. The Amami rabbit, or Pentalag...  Read

14th Nov 08
Kimitei, our Kenyan EDGE Fellow studying Africa's most endangered antelope - the hirola, has sent us the following update on his recent findings: Click h...  Read

21st Oct 08
Hi friends! It is a pleasure to have this chance to write one or two for you. I am Kimitei Kimeli Kenneth a young Scientist in Kenya. I did a Wildlife Man...  Read

6th Oct 08
Our newest EDGE Fellow, Kimitei, has recently started monitoring a translocated hirola population in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. His work will gather es...  Read

3rd Oct 08
A major initiative by ZSL, Kenyan Wildlife Service and conservation partners to move rhinos from over-stocked fenced sanctuaries into large unfenced areas ha...  Read

9th Sep 08
Buuvei, one of our Mongolian EDGE Fellows spent most of August in the field studying the effect of domestic dogs on saiga antelope. He sent us the following ...  Read

24th Jul 08
Buuvei is an EDGE Fellow researching the effect of domestic dogs on Mongolian saiga calf mortality - he sent us this update on his work: Mongolian saiga (...  Read

21st Jul 08
Osé is an EDGE Fellow working on conservation of the Hispaniolan solenodon in the Massif de la Hotte, Haiti. Here he reports on some of his findings from re...  Read

3rd Jul 08
Our EDGE Fellow John Konie monitors the pygmy hippopotamus and other threatened mammal species in Liberia. He has sent us the following information about Sap...  Read

27th Jun 08
I am happy to welcome our newest EDGE Fellow, Buuvei, who will be researching the saiga antelope in Mongolia. Buuvei sent the following information to introd...  Read

24th Jun 08
Earlier this year our Mongolian EDGE Fellow working on the Bactrian camel, Adiya, and John Hare from the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) visited the ...  Read

16th Jun 08
Our Kenyan EDGE Fellow, Grace Ngaruiya, studies the Endangered golden-rumped elephant shrew (Rhynchocyon chrysopygus). She has carried out transect surveys i...  Read

27th May 08
Grace Ngaruiya, our Kenyan EDGE Fellow who works on the golden-rumped elephant shrew, recently went to Boni National Reserve in Kenya to search for this el...  Read

24th May 08
Adiya is our Mongolian EDGE Fellow studying the wild Bactrian camel. From the 19th to 28th April this year he went on an expedition to Zahyi Us and Great Gob...  Read

18th May 08
Scientists have recently sequenced the genome of the most Evolutionarily Distinct mammal species, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), in order to stud...  Read

8th May 08
Yuanlei, our Chinese EDGE Fellow, recently sent us this update of his work on the Critically Endangered Bactrian camel, just before he headed out into the fi...  Read

15th Apr 08
Our Mongolian EDGE Fellow Uuganbadrakh has just sent us some more information and photos that he has collected while studying the Long-eared jerboa in Mongol...  Read

11th Apr 08
Sapo National park comprises 1800 km2 of moist tropical lowland rainforest, with a varied mosaic of riparian, seasonally inundated, and dryland forest. Ther...  Read

10th Apr 08
In the EDGE office we are anxiously awaiting the return of two of our team members - EDGE coordinator Carly Waterman and Dr. Sam Turvey have been in China c...  Read

6th Apr 08
Researchers from the Institute of Zoology;  Dr Kate Jones and Alanna Maltby have just returned back from a recent trip to Thailand where they were par...  Read

2nd Apr 08
Our Mongolian EDGE Fellow Uuganbadrah Oyunkhishig sent the EDGE Team some information on how he has been harmlessly capturing Long-eared jerboas to collect...  Read

12th Mar 08
Piyathip Piyapan our Thai EDGE Fellow currently studying the roost selection of Bumblebee bats  (otherwise known as Kitti's hog-nosed bat) sent the EDGE Te...  Read

10th Mar 08
Team 1 - forest team While the cameras must stay in the field for 35 days to allow sufficient time for images to be captured, in order to complete the train...  Read

7th Mar 08
Yuan Lei our Chinese EDGE Fellow has sent us some information on wild Bactrian camel folklore and how camels have played a major role in peoples lives over m...  Read

4th Mar 08
On the 20th January, Ben Collen, Janna Rist and Olivia Daniel set off to Liberia to set up a monitoring programme in Sapo National Park, and to try and captu...  Read

26th Feb 08
Here is Part 2 of our Mongolian EDGE Fellow-Adiya's survey of the Great Gobi protected area and buffer zone. (Click here if you haven't already read Par...  Read

20th Feb 08
Adiya Yadamsuren, our Mongolian Bactrian camel EDGE Fellow has just completed his surveys in the Buffer Zone of the Great Gobi Protected Area A in Mongolia....  Read

19th Feb 08
We are thrilled to introduce our latest EDGE Fellow from Haiti- Osé Pauléus. He will be working to conserve Hispaniolan solenodons and their habitats in ...  Read

7th Feb 08
Yuan Lei, our Chinese Bactrian camel EDGE Fellow, recently sent us the post mortem results following the death of the wild camel he and his team from the X...  Read

30th Jan 08
Now that it is winter and the long-eared jerboas are hibernating, our jerboa EDGE Fellow, Uuganbadrakh is concentrating on studying for his Master's e...  Read

28th Jan 08
Our Mongolian EDGE Fellow Adiya has just sent us a blog on the project he has been working on in collaboration with researchers from the Denver Zoo and The...  Read

20th Jan 08
Today we travel out to Sapo National Park to begin our pygmy hippo monitoring programme.  All the camera traps arrived last week thanks to Rich (at www.trai...  Read

17th Jan 08
We were exhausted from having been up all night, but the intense heat made it impossible to sleep.  We rolled up the base of the ger to get some ventilation...  Read

14th Jan 08
Conservationists are delighted over the recent sighting of six rare Indus River dolphins (Platanista minor) in northwestern India, an area that traditionally...  Read

4th Jan 08
During a follow up visit to the Foja Mountains of Papua, scientists from Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences have recently an...  Read

28th Dec 07
On Christmas Eve, the EDGE team received news from Yuan Lei, our Chinese Bactrian Camel EDGE Fellow about his amazing attempt to rescue an injured wild Bactr...  Read

10th Dec 07
Scroll down to find out more about the expedition to Mongolia's Gobi Desert and view the first known footage of the extraordinary long-eared jerboa in it...  Read

7th Dec 07
It feels like history is repeating itself again in the Yangtze River. Earlier this year, scientists declared that the Yangtze River dolphin or baiji (Lipotes...  Read

9th Nov 07
Annanba village was chosen as a good site to interview herdsman as this is the only village in the Akesai county that links to, and therefore may influence t...  Read

8th Nov 07
The last blog following Yuan Lei’s expedition of the Aerjin Mountain Reserve in China ended with Yuan and his team stocking up in the Akesai county for the...  Read

30th Oct 07
The EDGE Team have just received news of our Bactrian camel EDGE Fellow Yuan Lei’s expedition to the Heidaban region in the Aerjin Mountain Reserve in Chin...  Read

18th Oct 07
When I heard the birds of paradise calling I knew it was time to get up.  As I stumbled out of my tent it was still dark in the forest, but I could see that...  Read

12th Oct 07
Robert Howard, part of the Fauna and Flora International (FFI) team carrying out the biomonitoring programme in Sapo National Park sent us this blog:  ...  Read

24th Sep 07
Last month, Yuan Lei’s preparations for his Bactrian camel research were briefly interrupted as he was invited to the Gansu Anxi Extremely Arid Desert Rese...  Read

18th Sep 07
We offered Wandi a place in the tent, but he preferred to sleep by the camp fire.   I don’t think he slept much as the camp had been completely tr...  Read

12th Sep 07
The 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is today being released, updating global understanding of the conservation status of the world’s plants and an...  Read

11th Sep 07
Yuan Lei is currently preparing to go into the field to begin his research into the main threats facing the wild Bactrian camel population in the Lop Nur Nat...  Read

31st Aug 07
Only a few weeks after our research team sadly concluded that the baiji was probably extinct, we have received news that a baiji may have been seen – and f...  Read

23rd Aug 07
Hi I’m John Konie, I currently work as a Biologist for the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), in Liberia. Recently I have been given a great opportunity...  Read

8th Aug 07
After more than 20 million years on the planet it looks as if we have now lost the Yangtze River dolphin or baiji forever.  The question scientists are now...  Read

6th Aug 07
Adiya was involved in a UNDP / GEF funded project "Conservation of the Great Gobi Ecosystem and its Endangered Species" earlier this year.  His role in the ...  Read

20th Jul 07
This is the final installment of Oliver Duprey's expedition to the Zakhyn Us wild camel captive breeding centre in Mongolia. Ollie cares for camels at ZSL L...  Read

15th Jul 07
It’s a sad but true fact of life that much of a conservationist’s time is spent applying for funding. This week Sam has been focusing on writing grant a...  Read

6th Jul 07
In May, ZSL London Zoo keeper, Oliver Duprey visited the Zakhyn Us wild Bactrian camel captive breeding centre in Mongolia to provide advice on caring for an...  Read

27th Jun 07
I am Oliver Duprey and I work at ZSL London Zoo as a keeper looking after a number of different species including the sloth bears, pygmy hippos and also the ...  Read

19th Jun 07
Lop Nur is is a group of small, seasonal salt lakes and marshes between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uighur Au...  Read

6th Jun 07
The Qiantang River is a large river in eastern China that travels through Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. Although several hundred miles south of the Yangtze...  Read

16th May 07
The EDGE team is delighted to announce that we have now raised sufficient funds for a second EDGE Fellow, Adya Yadamsuren. Adya would like to express his w...  Read

26th Apr 07
Founded by the Wild Camel Protection Foundation The only captive wild Bactrian camel breeding centre in the world. In 2003, the Wild Camel Protection Fou...  Read

6th Apr 07
There are approximately 450 wild Bactrian camels in the Mongolian Great Gobi Reserve A south of Bayan Toroi and approximately 650 additional camels further s...  Read