Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife and the global efforts to protect and support it are increasingly challenged by climate change, human activities like resource extraction and the trade of wild animals and their products. Recognizing wild animals as individuals with intrinsic value, rather than merely parts of a collective entity, is now more urgent than ever. Conservation ethics compel us to acknowledge each animal's intrinsic worth and their crucial roles within ecosystems.

Our goal is to approach conservation as the safeguarding of ecological and evolutionary processes and the various elements that support them, grounded in a solid ethical foundation that views wildlife as individual beings in ecological relationships. This encompasses efforts to maintain and enhance genetic diversity, population sizes of specific species, the richness and evenness of communities, and the conservation of unique landscapes. For social species, preserving social structures and culture are vital, enabling the transmission of knowledge essential for their physical and psychosocial health.

Frontiers in Ethology invites the scientific community to contribute ground-breaking ethological research in the areas of ethology/animal behavior, animal communication, animal sentience, or conservation social science that aids conservation and well-being initiatives with an acute sensitivity to ethical considerations. This Research Topic aims to spotlight ethological studies that address the critical challenges to the protection of wild animals and nature.

Keywords: Animal Sentience, Animal welfare, ethical treatment of wildlife, human-wildlife interaction, sustainability

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.