Forty two species recommended for addition to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals have recommended that 42 additional species be included on Appendix I and/or II of the convention, ahead of the next UN Conference to Advance Global Conservation of Migratory Wildlife and Their Habitats, to be held in Campo Grande, Brazil, on 23-29 March 2026, according to a press release issued on 18 December 2025.

In order to be listed as under Appendix I of the convention, a species must be migratory, or wide ranging, and officially determined to be endangered. To be listed under Appendix II, it must be established that international cooperation is needed to protect that species. Countries which are parties to the convention are obliged to prioritise protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.

Two species of terrestrial Mammal are proposed for inclusion. The Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena, a wide ranging species found across much of Africa and Asia. This species now has a global population of less than 10 000 mature individuals, and its habitat is highly fragmented, and shrinking in many places, due to agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure development, as well as declines in many large carnivore species, which reduce the availability of the carrion which forms an important part of the species diet, and conflicts with Humans driven by shifting livestock farming practices, hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade. 

The current global distribution of the Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena. ICUN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also proposed is the addition of Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, populations in Zimbabwe to Appendix I of the convention; Cheetahs were also found across much of Africa and Asia, and is threatened by habitat fragmentation and loss, as well as hunting and capture for the illegal wildlife trade. The species is currently protected under the convention across its range, with the exception of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, where it had been thought to be faring better. However, the Zimbabwean population has undergone a 90% decrease in population in 15 years, and the Government of Zimbabwe has proposed that its Cheetah population be added to the convention.

A Cheetah imaged by a camera-trap set by the Painted Dog Research Trust in Zimbabwe. Sibanda (2023).

A single species of aquatic Mammal, the Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, has also been proposed for inclusion on the list. This species is found in lowland wetlands and coastal regions of much of South America, but is threatened by habitat loss across much of its range, and is believed to have suffered a 50% population loss in the 25 years to 2014, with predictions suggesting that it will continue to decline at the same rate. 

A Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, foragingin the Piquiri River in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Bernard Dupont/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Thirty two new species of Birds have been proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. The most notable of these is the  Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, a charismatic species commonly represented in popular culture, which is estimated to have lost a third of its population in the last three decades, and which has was declared regionally extinct in Sweden by BirdLife International this year.

A Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, in flight. Bert de Tilly/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The other Bird species proposed are the Flesh-footed Shearwater, Ardenna carneipes, the Hudsonian Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, the Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa haemastica, the Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes, the Iberá Seedeater, Sporophila iberaensis, and all 25 species of Gadfly Petrels, Pterodroma spp. and Pseudobulweria spp.

A Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Eight species of Shark and Fish are also proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. These are the Pelagic Thresher Shark, Alopias pelagicus, the Bigeye Thresher Shark, Alopias superciliosus, the Common Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, the Patagonian Narrownose Smoothhound, Mustelus schmitti, the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna lewini, the Great Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna mokarran, the Angular Angelshark, Squatina guggenheim, and the Spotted Sorubim, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans, a migratory Catfish from the rivers of tropical South America, threatened by overfishing and habitat fragmentation.

Two Thresher Sharks over a Coral reef off the island of Malapascua in the Philippines. Dani Escayola/Ocean Image Bank/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The Great Hammerhead Shark is typical of the Shark species proposed for protection under the Convention. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical water around the world, but has been heavily overfished for the value of its meat, and in particular its fins, and even when not actively targeted by fishermen, is a common bycatch from other fisheries. As a top predator, its disappearance can trigger a cascade of ecological effects, profoundly altering the ecosystems where it is lost.

One taxon has also been proposed for removal from Appendix I of the convention, the Bukhara Deer, Cervus elaphus yarkandensis, a subspecies of Red Deer, which was reduced to about 400 species in 1999, but which has since undergone a significant recovery due to conservation efforts, and is no longer considered to be threatened.

A group of Bukhara Deer. Natalya Marmazinskaya/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

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The Ursid Meteor Shower.

The Ursid Meteors are expected to peak at about 4.00 pm GMT on the evening of Monday 22 December this year, with the shower being potentially visible to some extent between Monday 17 and Wednesday 26 December.  The shower is typically best seen between midnight and dawn from anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere (it is difficult, if not impossible, to view it from the Southern Hemisphere). The extent of the shower is variable, some years producing over 100 meteors per hour at its peak, others less than 10. The peak of this year's shower falls slightly after the New Moon, on 20 December, so viewing should be good, with little glare from the Moon to hinder the viewing of meteors. The meteor shower gets its name from the constellation of Ursa Minor, in which it appears to originate.

The radiant (apparent point of origin) of the Ursid Meteors. BBC Science Focus Magazine/PA.

Meteor streams are thought to come from dust shed by comets as they come close to the Sun and their icy surfaces begin to evaporate away. Although the dust is separated from the comet, it continues to orbit the Sun on roughly the same orbital path, creating a visible meteor shower when the Earth crosses that path, and flecks of dust burn in the upper atmosphere, due to friction with the atmosphere.

The Earth passing through a stream of comet dust, resulting in a meteor shower. Not to scale. Astro Bob.

The Ursid Meteor Shower is caused by the Earth passing through the tail of Comet 8P/Tuttle, and encountering dust from the tail of this comet. The dust particles strike the atmosphere at speeds of over 200 000 km per hour, burning up in the upper atmosphere and producing a light show in the process. The Earth does not need to pass close to Comet 8P/Tuttle for the meteor shower to occur, it simply passes through a trail of dust from the comet's tail that is following the same orbital path. Comet 8P/Tuttle visits the Inner Solar System once every 13.6 years, last doing so in 2021.

How the passage of the Earth through a meteor shower creates a radiant point from which they can be observed. In The Sky.

Comet 8P/Tuttle was discovered by Horace Parnell Tuttle on 5 January 1858. The designation 8P/Tuttle indicates that it was the eighth comet discovered (people have known about comets for thousands of years, but it was only realised that they were objects orbiting the Sun, which could be repeatedly observed and predicted, in the mid-eighteenth century), that it is a Periodic Comet (comet with an orbital period of less than 200 years) and that it was discovered by Horace Parnell Tuttle.

Comet 8P/Tuttle imaged from Weißenkirchen in der Wachau in Austria on 30 December 2007. Michael Jäger/Spaceweather.

Comet 8P/Tuttle has an orbital period of 4972 days (13.6 years) and a highly eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 55.0° to the plain of the Solar System, that brings it from 1.03 AU from the Sun at closest perihelion (103% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun) to 10.4 AU from the Sun at aphelion (10.4 times as far from the Sun as the Earth or slightly outside the orbit of the planet Saturn). As a comet with a period of less than 20 years, 8P/Tuttle is considered to be a Jupiter Family Comet.

The calculated orbit and position of 8P/Tuttle and the planets of the Inner Solar System at 4.00 pm on Monday 22 December 2025.  JPL Small Body Database.

This means that 8P/Tuttle has occasional close encounters with the Earth, with the last thought to have happened in January 2008 and the next predicted in December 2048. The comet also has occasional close encounters with the planets Jupiter, which it last came close to in December 1995 and is next predicted to pass in September 2078, and Saturn, which it last came close to in February 1930 and is expected to pass again in February 2107. Objects which make close passes to multiple planets are considered to be in unstable orbits, and are often eventually knocked out of these orbits by these encounters, either being knocked onto a new, more stable orbit, dropped into the Sun, knocked out of the Solar System or occasionally colliding with a planet. 

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Brazil officially recognised to have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The World Health Organization has officially recognised Brazil as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), according to a press release issued on 18 December 2025. This makes Brazil the most populous country in the Americas to have reached this milestone, a reflection of the country's long-standing commitment to providing free healthcare to all its citizens via its Unified Health System.

The goal was achieved by targeting states and municipalities individually, beginning with those with a population larger than 100 000, then moving on to smaller zones. Within each area healthcare workers set out to provide prenatal care, routine HIV testing, and timely treatment for pregnant women living with HIV, thereby improving the quality of services to all mothers and infants, not just those effected by HIV.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is a form of Lentivirus which causes infections in Humans, spread through sexual intercourse or exchange of blood. Notably, the Virus infects the cells of the Human immune system, where it is hard for that immune system to attack, and eventually leads to a breakdown of the immune system known as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), during which the body becomes vulnerable to a wide range of infections, including many by micro-organisms which are not usually pathogenic. 

Untreated, HIV invariably leads to AIDS, and AIDS is invariably fatal, but, as with Syphilis, HIV infections can go through long phases of dormancy, leaving infected people unaware that they have the disease. Neither an effective vaccine nor a cure for HIV has yet been developed, however, it is possible to suppress the infection with a combination of anti-viral drugs, allowing patients to lead relatively normal lives, as long as their supply of antivirals is not interrupted. Children born to mothers with HIV are not automatically infected, as the Virus is usually unable to cross the placenta, but there is a high chance of infection during birth if the mother is not receiving treatment.

Scanning electron microscope image of an HIV virion. Hockley et al. (1988). 

The evaluation of Brazil as being free from mother-to-child transmission of HIV was made by independent assessors working in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization, and then reviewed and confirmed by experts from the World Health Organization. 

The elimination is part of a broader initiative by the Pan American Health Organization, the EMTCT Plus Initiative (End Mother-To-Child-Transmission Plus Initiative), which aims to eliminate mother-to-child-transmission of of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and congenital Chagas, across the Americas, itself a part of the wider Elimination Initiative, which aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases across the Americas by 2030.

Brazil is the nineteenth country to have eliminated mother-to-child-transmission of HIV, and the twelfth nation in the Americas to have done so. Cuba became the first country to eliminate such transmission in 2015, followed by Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2017; Dominica in 2020; Belize in 2023; and Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2024. Outside the Americas, Armenia, Belarus, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Sri Lanka, and Thailand have also all eliminated mother-to-child-transmission of HIV.

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The Southern Solstice.

The Southern (or December) Solstice this year falls on Sunday 21 December, with the Sun reaching its southernmost point in the sky at 3.04 pm GMT. This is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is known as the Winter Solstice and the longest day in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is known as the Summer Solstice. At very high latitudes the sun may not rise (Northern Hemisphere) or set (Southern Hemisphere) for several weeks on either side of the Southern Solstice.

The solstices are entirely a product of variation in the Earth's rotation on its axis, which is at an angle of 23.5° to the plain of the Earth's orbit about the Sun. This means that in December the Earth's Southern Pole is tilted towards the Sun, while the Northern Pole is tilted away from it. This means that around the Southern Solstice the Southern Hemisphere is receiving radiation from the Sun over a longer part of the than the Northern, and at a steeper angle (so that it to pass through less atmosphere to reach the planet), creating the southern summer and northern winter.

The tilt of the Earth during the December Solstice. Wikimedia Commons.

The solstices are fairly noticeable astronomical events, and tied to the seasons which govern the life cycles of life on Earth, and they have been celebrated under different names by cultures across the globe, but most notably by those at higher latitudes, who are more profoundly affected by the changes of the seasons.

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Comet 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to the Earth.

Comet 3I/Atlas will make its closest approach to the Earth on Friday 19 December 2025, when it will reach a distance of 1.80 AU (i.e 1.8 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), or 269 037 114 km from us. At this time it will be in the constellation of Leo, and have an apparent optical magnitude of 11.4, meaning it will be hard to spot without a fairly good telescope to observe it. Nevertheless, this closest approach falls coincides with the New Moon, so observers with appropriate equipment may be able to see it in the late evening (the comet will set before midnight).

The approximate positions and orbits of the 3I/ATLAS, the Earth, and the planets of the Inner Solar System on 19 December 2025. JPL Small Body Database.

3I/Atlas was discovered on Tuesday 1 July 2025 by scientists at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, who observed a body 4.53 AU from the Sun (i.e. 4.53 times as far from the Sun as the planet Earth) between the constellations of Serpens Cauda and Sagittarius, which was given the provisional designation A11pl3Z. This object was travelling towards the Inner Solar System at a speed of 65 km per second, on what appeared to be a more-or-less straight trajectory, highly unusual in a body orbiting the Sun.

Discovery images for object A11pl3Z. ATLAS/University of Hawaii/NASA/Wikimedia Commons.

A series of follow-up observations  by both professional and amateur astronomers confirmed that the body was a comet on a hyperbolic trajectory (a trajectory which will take it straight through the Solar System and out into interstellar space. Most such parabolic comets derive from the Oort Cloud, a vast disc of thinly spread cometry bodies between 2000 and 200 000 from the Sun. These comets are knocked from their orbits be close encounters with other bodies, plunge through the Inner Solar System once, then vanish into the depths of space. 

Full discovery image for 3L/ATLAS. University of Hawaii/NASA/Wikimedia Commons.

However, two previous comets have been found to be on trajectories which cannot be explained in this way, these being 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, and on Tuesday 2 July it was confirmed that A11pl3Z was a third such body, leading to it being given the designation 3I/Atlas, in which the 'I' stands for 'Interstellar body', the '3' indicates that it was the third such body discovered, and 'ATLAS' refers to the ATLAS asteroid impact early warning system, which discovered the object.

Follow up image of 3I/ATLAS made by the system Las Cumbres Observatory on 2 July 2025. European Space Agency.

However, two previous comets have been found to be on trajectories which cannot be explained in this way, these being 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, and on Tuesday 2 July it was confirmed that A11pl3Z was a third such body, leading to it being given the designation 3I/Atlas, in which the 'I' stands for 'Interstellar body', the '3' indicates that it was the third such body discovered, and 'ATLAS' refers to the ATLAS asteroid impact early warning system, which discovered the object.

See also...