Updates
Top Photos of 2019

December 30, 2019

Our favorite wildlife images from the field were taken on the ground and in the air, by remote camera trap and at sea. They all represent great stories from this past year, including new protected areas, a new species, and a local resurgence. Click on the photos for more information.

In August of 2019, a team of WCS and Russian researchers announced the discovery of a nest of one of the most endangered shorebirds in the world: Nordmann’s greenshank.

Photo Credit: ©Vladimir Pronkevich

In November 2019, WCS announced the results of a massive African elephant survey in Tanzania. More than 20,000 animals were counted, showing that numbers had stabilized in a key landscape.

Photo Credit: ©Aaron Nicholas/WCS

In June, WCS announced that key wildlife populations remained in South Sudan despite five and a half years of armed conflict.

Photo Credit: ©P Elkin/WCS

An Agami heron in Belize. In June, Belize declared new plans to protect the Maya Forest Corridor—a critical link in Central America’s largest forest and a vital wildlife pathway.

Photo Credit: ©WCS

Vanishing habitat, poaching and diseases from livestock are imperiling the heumel, which now hovers at only around 2,500 animals.

Photo Credit: ©Joel Berger/WCS

In October, WCS took over management of the vast Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Photo Credit: ©Okapi Conservation Project

Afghanistan announced the establishment of the 4,200-square kilometer Bamyan Plateau Protected Area in November.

Photo Credit: ©N Mostafawi/WCS Afghanistan

Recently, a team of WCS researchers and colleagues in India described a new species of frog, the brown blotched Bengal tree frog.

Photo Credit: ©Anirban Chaudhuri

Last summer, there was an abundance of humpback whales within sight of New York beaches.

Photo Credit: ©WCS/Ocean Giants/Image taken under NMFS MMPA/ESA Permit No. 18786-03

This is an extremely rare leucistic bison, which has a partial loss of pigmentation. A member of a 100-bison herd managed by the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

Photo Credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

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*Looking for more great photos? You can see the best of our zoos and aquarium as well.

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