Given the COVID-19 pandemic, wildlife conservation may not be the most pressing priority on people’s mind. Worldwide, the normal daily existence of many has slipped away, only to be filled with more bad news. While the field of conservation has been described as a ‘crisis discipline’, even us, as conservationists, are currently struggling to focus on our work.

COVID-19 is causing widespread human suffering, as the most acute global public health emergency of our generation.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in animals. Covid-19 is one of several such viruses that have made the jump from animals to humans. So far, the evidence suggests that the virus was first transmitted to humans at a seafood market in Wuhan, China.

Authors: Dan Challender, Amy Hinsley, Diogo Veríssimo, Michael 't Sas-Rolfes

2020 was supposed to be a super year for nature. Instead we got a pandemic.