NASA Is Using Powerful Satellites to Watch Over Endangered Species

By shifting a little focus from space to Earth, NASA is helping ecologists protect endangered species like tigers and elephants with its powerful satellites.

Habitat loss is currently the greatest threat to species on our planet. As human populations explode in number, we are altering more wilderness and using an ever greater share of resources. Larger species, like tigers and elephants, are some of the most vulnerable to extinction.

Once widespread across Asia, tigers (Panthera tigris) have lost a staggering 93 percent of their habitat over the past 150 years. Scientists estimate less than 4,000 of these majestic predators are alive today.

But NASA's satellite data reveals there's cause for hope, identifying suitable habitat for these vital predators, which they were not currently accessing...more