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Spoorthy Raman

I love words. I admire science. I put them together to be a science writer. I evolved into an environmental journalist, winning a few awards along the way. As a Staff Writer at Mongabay, I now write about all things wild. 

I also fact-check, edit, and teach the craft of science writing.

Featured Work

Mongabay Environmental News •

Choosing coexistence over conflict: How some California ranchers are adapting to wolves

This is the fourth part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read Part 1,  Part 2 and Part 3.

A lone gray wolf (Canis lupus) named OR-7 — then a 2 ½-year-old male — created history when he crossed over the state line from Oregon into California in 2011, becoming the first wolf to set foot in the state after nearly a century. His arrival, followed by his descendants who then established new packs, became a thumping conservation success for an endangered species in...
Mongabay Environmental News •

First state-authorized killings mark escalation in California’s management of wolves

This is the third part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first and the second parts.

In late October, wildlife authorities in the U.S. state of California announced they captured and euthanized three adult gray wolves and shot a juvenile dead, all from the Beyem Seyo pack in the Sierra Valley. Wardens killed them, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said, because the wolves (Canis lupus) had become “habituated to preying on cattle” r...
Mongabay Environmental News •

It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California

In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California’s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man’s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, and the officer found two brown sacks hidden in his underwear. Each contained an unconscious, heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis...
Mongabay Environmental News •

With ‘terrifying’ trade in African hornbills, scientists call for increased protection

For millions of years, the African landscape — the rainforests, woodlands, savannas and scrublands — has echoed with the booms and cackles of large, raucous, strange-looking birds: hornbills. When U.S. ornithologist Nico Arcilla came to Gabon in the late 1990s as a Peace Corps volunteer, these noisy birds enchanted her.

“There’d be a big flock of them flying together, and you could hear them because their wings are big, and they’re loud when they fly,” she reminisced. “They’re fabulous birds …...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Africa’s little-known golden cat gets a conservation boost, with community help

It was mid-2008. Mwezi “Badru” Mugerwa was almost done with his bachelor’s degree in forestry, an academic field that had trained him to view forests as a resource for extraction. However, as he inched closer to graduation, the idea of cutting down trees didn’t sit well with him, and he was looking for ways to put his academic training to better use. In June, an internship opportunity in the remote forests of Bwindi came calling, and Mugerwa jumped at it. He didn’t know it then: but he had a dat...
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels
Engineering @ Maryland •

Engineering Headway in Microelectronics Manufacturing | A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland

Boasting expertise across the spectrum of semiconductor manufacturing, the Clark School is leveraging new funding and partnership opportunities to advance next-gen semiconductor research underway in its laboratories.  

“The University of Maryland has clear leadership in technological areas including design tools, packaging, lifecycle engineering, and thermal management,” Graham says. “Maryland Engineering brings this expertise to the table to address society’s larger challenges.”

Carlos A. Río...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Culture and conservation thrive as Great Lakes tribes bring back native wild rice

In the late summer of 2023, thick stands of wild rice stood tall and shimmered gold in some of Lac du Flambeau’s lakes. The plant has been virtually absent in these lakes for decades, so for Joe Graveen, the sight of grain-filled stalks was a thing of joy, he says. As the wild rice program manager for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a tribal band in northern Wisconsin, Graveen was seeing the fruits (or grains, literally) of hard work he and his tribe’s members had put
Nature •

How to make the leap into industry after a PhD

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Spoorthy Raman is a freelance science and environment journalist in St. John’s, Canada.

Landing that first job in industry requires planning, homework and networking — and a bit of soul-searching.

Melanie Zeppel stepped off the academic path to become a data scientist in industry. Credit: Stephen Jackson

Plant physiologist Melanie Zeppel had heard that hard work, a good publication list and securing highly competitive postdoctoral
Mongabay Environmental News •

Volunteers, First Nations work to bring back a disappearing oak prairie

On the eastern edge of Victoria, British Columbia, abutting the Salish Sea, sits Uplands Park, spanning about 30 hectares, or 74 acres, amid the bustling municipality of Oak Bay. Although an urban park, it lacks manicured lawns, ornamental flowers or asphalted walkways — quintessential elements of modern-day urban parks.

Instead, the landscape is sprinkled with stunted, gnarled and crooked oak trees. A few shrubs of snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) and ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor), and som
Nature •

What it means to practise values-based research

Max Liboiron’s academic career criss-crossed science a few times before finding an interdisciplinary home in geography. Growing up in the rural hamlet of Lac la Biche in northeastern Alberta, Canada, where university education wasn’t common, Liboiron dreamt of being a scientist. But in 1998, when they began undergraduate science studies, they became disillusioned with their university’s push towards industrial applications of science and so gravitated towards fine arts instead. After earning a b
Hakai Magazine •

Shining the Light on Baby Crabs

It’s a gray summer evening on Galiano Island, a long strip of land about 1.5 kilometers across at its narrowest. Home to nearly 1,400 people, it is one of the 200-odd islands and islets in the Gulf Islands archipelago dotting the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the mainland coast. The air here at the wooden pier in Whaler Bay on the island’s southeast end is heavy and moist, tinged with a whiff of boat fuel and old wood, and infused with sea salt. Amid a lineup of moto
Photo by Visit Greenland on Pexels

About Me

I'm an award-winning science and environmental journalist based in St. John's, Canada. My words have been published in many national and international media outlets.  

More About Me

How I Work

Journalism is under attack today from many quarters. Conspiracy theories abound. To win my readers' trust, I believe in being critical, transparent, and accurate in my reporting.

More About My Process

My Ethos

My ethos lies in treating people and their lived experiences with respect, bringing diverse perspectives into my stories, strengthening relationships with my sources, and building communities.

More About My Ethos

Get in Touch

Liked my stories? Have a story tip? Want to tell me about a cool project you are working on (Scientists, looking at you!)? Interested in working with me? Want me to speak at an event? Let's talk!

Contact Me

My Articles

Mongabay Environmental News •

Birds, bugs and butterflies netted in global seizures by Interpol

In a single month this year, nearly 30,000 live animals, were seized in a coordinated global crackdown on the illegal trade in wildlife and plants. Known as Operation Thunder and coordinated by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO), it also confiscated tens of thousands of body parts from endangered species, and high-value plants and timber. The operation, conducted every year, aims to identify, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks behind such environmental crime, an industry...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Choosing coexistence over conflict: How some California ranchers are adapting to wolves

This is the fourth part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read Part 1,  Part 2 and Part 3.

A lone gray wolf (Canis lupus) named OR-7 — then a 2 ½-year-old male — created history when he crossed over the state line from Oregon into California in 2011, becoming the first wolf to set foot in the state after nearly a century. His arrival, followed by his descendants who then established new packs, became a thumping conservation success for an endangered species in...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Countries overwhelmingly support bid to bar Galápagos iguanas from international trade

Four species of iguanas from the Galápagos Islands have received the highest protection against international commercial trade at the ongoing summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The Galápagos land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus), Galápagos pink land iguana (C. marthae), Barrington land iguana (C. pallidus) and marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) are found only on the islands that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution. All are threatened by clima...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Peregrine falcons retain trade protections, despite downlisting bid by Canada and US

The U.S. and Canada have failed in their bid to loosen restrictions on the international trade in peregrine falcons, with delegates to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, voting against it at an summit underway in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The two countries had submitted a joint proposal to move peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) from CITES Appendix I, which bans all commercial international trade and affords the highest protections, to Appendix II, which allows regulated commercial tra...
Mongabay Environmental News •

African forest hornbills gain new protections from unsustainable trade

Negotiators discussing wildlife trade rules have agreed overwhelmingly to back a proposal that regulates the currently unrestricted trade in all seven species of African forest hornbills.

Eight West and Central African countries had tabled the proposal at the ongoing summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It calls for listing the seven species, from the genera Ceratogymna and Bycanistes, in CITES Appendix II, which would allow the commercia...
Mongabay Environmental News •

First state-authorized killings mark escalation in California’s management of wolves

This is the third part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first and the second parts.

In late October, wildlife authorities in the U.S. state of California announced they captured and euthanized three adult gray wolves and shot a juvenile dead, all from the Beyem Seyo pack in the Sierra Valley. Wardens killed them, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said, because the wolves (Canis lupus) had become “habituated to preying on cattle” r...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade

In the remote rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Annamite Mountains straddling Vietnam and Laos, two species of nocturnal rabbits live elusive lives. These species, both of which have distinctive black stripes coloring their fur, are each known to occur in only a single habitat: the Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri) is found only in the western and southern parts of the island, and the Annamite striped rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi) saunters the Annamites.

Both species are threa...
Mongabay Environmental News •

It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California

In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California’s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man’s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, and the officer found two brown sacks hidden in his underwear. Each contained an unconscious, heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons

The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home.

These eye-catching raptors are best known for their hunting skills. They can dive at lightning speeds of 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) — more than th...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking

In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea cucumbers, 1,188 kg (2,619 lbs) of shark fins, and 39 kg (86 lbs) of totoaba swim bladders. The seized goods were valued at 134 million pesos...
Mongabay Environmental News •

With ‘terrifying’ trade in African hornbills, scientists call for increased protection

For millions of years, the African landscape — the rainforests, woodlands, savannas and scrublands — has echoed with the booms and cackles of large, raucous, strange-looking birds: hornbills. When U.S. ornithologist Nico Arcilla came to Gabon in the late 1990s as a Peace Corps volunteer, these noisy birds enchanted her.

“There’d be a big flock of them flying together, and you could hear them because their wings are big, and they’re loud when they fly,” she reminisced. “They’re fabulous birds …...
Mongabay Environmental News •

AI system eavesdrops on elephants to prevent deadly encounters in India

When elephant biologist Seema Lokhandwala, with the Elephants Acoustic Project, visited a village near Balipara in India’s Assam state, as part of her fieldwork in December 2015, she witnessed firsthand what it takes to live alongside elephants.

After night fell, a herd of 150 elephants — “I counted them,” she says — devoured all of the freshly harvested rice stacked outside a woman’s house. Her entire year’s harvest, gone in minutes. Then, the giants ravaged her kitchen looking for salt, a min...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Sun, sand and skulls: Bali tourism trade peddles threatened primate skulls

Charmed by the picturesque beaches and enchanting temple complexes, millions of tourists flock each year to the tiny Indonesian island of Bali to experience its unique culture and art. When they leave, many take home a piece of Bali in the form of souvenirs, such as carvings, pottery or textiles. Unbeknown to them, some may even be committing a crime if they pick up primate skulls — a commodity openly sold in Bali’s curio shops, despite it being illegal.

A recent study, published in the journal...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Rhino poachers imprisoned in back-to-back South Africa sentencing

A South African court in January sentenced four poachers to several years in prison for two separate crimes committed in Kruger National Park (KNP).

The Skukuza Regional Court, which in the past has boasted a near-100% conviction rate and under whose jurisdiction KNP falls, held two South African citizens, Sam Khosa and Solly Selahle, and a Mozambican named Oddis Maluleke, guilty of poaching a rhino and taking its horns in February 2019.

Khosa and Maluleke were handed a 22-year prison term and...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Report reveals staggering levels of wildlife trafficking in Hispanic America

From the glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia to the beaches and mountains of Baja California, Hispanic America, representing Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean, is a biodiversity treasure trove. These include colorful macaws, showy iguanas, gaudy poison frogs and charismatic cats — animals so beautiful that people want to own them as pets.

A recent report throws light on what this desire for exotic pets means for biodiversity in Hispanic America, where wil...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Vietnam and China partner on wildlife-friendly traditional medicine practices

Vietnam and China, the two largest markets for traditional medicine (TM) that uses wild plants and animals, announced a new partnership in January to adopt practices that protect wildlife while preserving the countries’ cultural heritage.

The first-of-its-kind agreement involved leading TM associations from Vietnam and China — the Vietnam Oriental Traditional Medicine Association (VOTMA) and the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CATCM) — along with researchers, policymakers and...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Camera traps capture first glimpse of genetically distinct chimps in southwestern Nigeria

In a win for Nigeria’s only Indigenous grassroots conservation organization, camera traps installed in Ise Conservation Area have captured the first known video of a resident Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee.

The individual, seen swinging between tree branches and feeding on figs, is a mature male in his prime, said Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder director of the South-West/Niger Delta Forest Project (SWNDF). “We are able to show the world these chimps for the very first time.”


Camera traps at I...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Increase in gibbon trafficking into India has conservationists worried

With oversized and inquisitive eyes, an infant-like expressive face, and a palette of thick, furry coats ranging from beige to black, gibbons tick all the right boxes to be called “cute” and “cuddly.” But their endearing appearance is now costing these native Asian apes their lives and a future in the wild, thanks to people wanting them as pets.

This surging demand in the exotic pet trade, especially from countries where gibbons aren’t native, is thrusting them into the illegal wildlife trade....
Mongabay Environmental News •

Record seizure highlights scale of wild bird egg theft in UK

Police in the U.K. recently announced the seizure of more than 5,000 eggs belonging to several wild bird species, following nationwide raids in November 2024. While no arrests have been made in this case, the investigations are continuing.

The seizure, the largest of its kind in U.K. history, was part of an international crackdown on the illegal trade in wild bird eggs, called Operation Pulka, that originated in Norway in June 2023. As part of it, authorities in other countries have so far arre...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Five-month-old male gorilla, victim of illegal wildlife trade, seized in Istanbul

On Dec. 22, 2024, Turkish customs officers conducting a random search of a plane’s cargo hold found a surprise stowaway inside a small wooden crate with holes: a malnourished baby gorilla dressed in a soiled T-shirt.

The Turkish Airlines flight was headed from Nigeria to Thailand and was transiting via Istanbul, authorities told local media. The baby gorilla, transported without necessary permits, is one among many wildlife seized in recent months in Istanbul, a major air-transit hub.

After it...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis

Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison.

Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and c...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Atlantic puffins are perilously attracted to artificial light, new study shows

As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about a half-hour’s drive south of St. John’s, capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a briefing by a coordinator from conservation NGO the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), the volunteers don reflective vests, grab butterfly nets and flashlights, and place plastic crates in their cars. They then set...
Mongabay Environmental News •

New evidence spells massive trouble for world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras

Evolution has perfected the world’s sharks and rays for more than 420 million years. Unlike the ammonites or pterosaurs that they once shared the oceans with, sharks and rays persevered through five mass extinctions. But now, their resilience has been put to test by a human folly: overfishing. In 2023, the Java stingaree (Urolophus javanicus) became the first marine fish on record to have gone extinct because of humans. If our current fishing trends continue, it won’t be the last, scientists war...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Nigerian authorities seize 2 metric tons of pangolin scales, arrest 1 suspect

On Dec. 5, Nigerian authorities seized more than 2 metric tons of pangolin scales in yet another effort to clamp down on the country’s booming transnational wildlife trade.

Acting on intelligence provided by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), an international NGO fighting organized wildlife crime, the Kano-Jigawa command of the Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) also arrested one person, suspected to be a broker. The seizures and the arrest were made in two warehouses in Mubi, a town in Adamawa...
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