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Nearly a third of all species are at risk. New tools—from biodiversity credits to AI like BirdNET and measures against the Asian tiger mosquito—aim to protect ecosystems and human health.
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00:06What do endangered animals have to do with the financial market?
00:11Quite a lot, it turns out.
00:13These days you can buy bonds that support a wildlife reserve in South Africa.
00:18These biodiversity credits are meant to help protect endangered animals, like white rhinos.
00:26And they could even generate returns for investors.
00:30But can financial tools really help protect biodiversity?
00:36All this and more coming up on this edition of DW's Science Show.
00:41Welcome to Tomorrow Today.
00:46Until about 30 years ago, cattle grazed on this land north of Johannesburg.
00:52There were hardly any wild animals here.
00:55Today, this is the Dapchik Wildlife Reserve.
00:57A number of species have been reintroduced, including white rhinos, which were once pushed to the brink of extinction.
01:05Their population has since recovered to more than 15,000.
01:09But now they face a renewed threat, poaching.
01:16But there's an even bigger crisis.
01:18We're in the middle of a mass extinction event, with around 150 species disappearing every day.
01:25Many are vital to human survival.
01:28Most of the crops we rely on, for example, depend on insect pollinators.
01:33Almost half of all insect species are endangered.
01:37Globally, one in four mammals and one in eight birds are at risk of extinction.
01:42The Dapchik Reserve is run by the Amos Foundation, short for Africa's most endangered species.
01:48It was founded by six German entrepreneurs, including Lea Hensken.
01:54Our vision is to secure one million hectares of animal habitat within 10 years.
02:00And looking at where we are right now, this is our first 2,000 hectares.
02:07To fund that goal, Amos is exploring an idea modeled on carbon credits.
02:12The concept, which gained momentum at the UN Biodiversity Conference in 2022, is called Biodiversity Credits.
02:21The credits can be earned by projects that protect or restore species, biodiversity, or ecosystems.
02:29Those credits can then be sold to companies, governments, or private individuals as a way to fund conservation or restoration
02:36work, without trading land ownership.
02:40If the system works, a market could emerge where credits are traded and increase in value, channeling more money into
02:47conservation.
02:50Ultimately, though, the reality is that we do need commercial ways to also keep it viable.
02:56This is the world we live in.
02:58It's beyond just being in cocky pants out in the outdoors.
03:01It needs to be taken seriously by governments, by banks, by private individuals.
03:06If we're going to be able to protect nature, we need everyone to get on board.
03:10At the moment, animals in the reserve roam across an area roughly the size of 3,000 football pitches.
03:17But at just 20 square kilometers, it's too small for larger species like lions or elephants,
03:23and too limited to ensure healthy genetic biodiversity.
03:29One of the biggest risks we have today is that we're creating islands.
03:32Even if we have protected areas, there are islands amongst seas of urbanization.
03:37And we know when we look at islands that animals generally don't last as long as on the bigger land
03:43masses
03:43because we have a lack of genetic diversity that actually becomes the biggest threat.
03:47So we need to create corridors between the bigger protected areas, the national parks,
03:51to connect up, that's the lifeblood, the rivers, that can keep these areas alive.
03:57The plan is ambitious.
04:00Buy or lease land, remove fences, and reconnect fragmented habitats.
04:05Reaching 1 million hectares by 2035 will require significant private investment.
04:11To make biodiversity credits work, buyers and sellers have to conserve or improve biodiversity,
04:19and the efforts must be long-lasting, measurable, and backed by solid data.
04:29That's where the Foundation's fellowship program comes in.
04:32Young people with an interest in nature help document life in the reserve.
04:39Anna, Dilara, and Mateo just graduated from high school and are here on a kind of working holiday.
04:45They photograph animals and plants, recording each observation.
04:49The data is then uploaded to a dedicated app, together with timestamps and GPS coordinates.
04:57It's really important that it's traceable, auditable, and that it can be verified by experts independently.
05:03Investors need that. They need that security to know that what we're actually saying is happening, is happening.
05:09To bring those credits to market, Amos is working with the Munich-based fintech company Land Banking Group,
05:15which gathers and processes the biodiversity data.
05:20Each square kilometer of land becomes the basis for a credit, which can then be traded online.
05:27The Foundation hopes that companies will invest both to publicly support conservation
05:32and to meet the EU's sustainability guidelines.
05:38Protecting habitats instead of destroying them.
05:41An approach that could benefit not just investors, but the ecosystems we all depend on.
05:50Most people probably wouldn't rush to protect animals like these.
05:54And these ones are mostly known for being annoying.
05:58Some of these tiny bloodsuckers even spread disease.
06:02Take the Asian tiger mosquito.
06:04With its long, black-and-white striped legs, it's hard to miss.
06:09And as temperatures rise, this species is on the move.
06:13And that's going to matter.
06:17A wanted poster for the tiger mosquito.
06:20In western Germany, biologist Hans Järentrup is tracking it down.
06:26He wants to stop it early, before it can bite.
06:29This mosquito is more than just a nuisance.
06:32It can carry tropical diseases like chikungunya.
06:39We're definitely not trying to stir up panic.
06:42But we do want people to understand that this is coming.
06:49The tiger mosquito has been spreading across Europe for years.
06:54In Germany, it's mainly in the southwest.
06:57But it's also been detected in Berlin.
07:00Europe usually has only a few hundred cases a year.
07:03In 2025, there were more than a thousand.
07:07Globally, cases are also rising, with more than 500,000 in 2025.
07:12Symptoms include high fever and severe joint pain.
07:17At Heidelberg University Hospital, doctors are already treating travelers returning with the disease.
07:25Joint symptoms cause the most trouble.
07:28Most symptoms fade after seven to ten days.
07:31But in about a third of patients, joint issues can persist for weeks, months, even years.
07:40The name chikungunya means the one who is bent over in pain.
07:45Babies, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are especially at risk.
07:52Elsewhere in Europe, locally acquired cases are on the rise.
07:55Until now, all cases in Germany have been imported.
08:01But Italy has seen outbreaks, and so has France, which reported 788 locally transmitted cases in 2025.
08:11In July 2025, a person near Straussburg, close to the German border, was infected locally.
08:20Experts warn that local transmission in Germany could happen soon.
08:27That could happen this year.
08:30Enough people return from endemic regions carrying the virus, often without realizing it,
08:35or thinking it's just mild discomfort.
08:39So yes, it could happen at any time.
08:41It wouldn't surprise me.
08:44In France, authorities have even used nighttime pesticide spraying to fight the tiger mosquito.
08:50China has done the same.
08:54But that approach is controversial.
08:56It kills other insects as well, including endangered ones.
09:06Germany is taking a different approach, stopping the insects early while they're still larvae.
09:12They're using BTI, a bacterium that targets mosquito larvae.
09:17It works, but only for about two weeks, so treatments have to be repeated regularly.
09:26We're also testing other biological agents that might work longer, so that we don't have to apply them as often.
09:35One promising option combines BTI with another bacterium.
09:41Together, they could kill larvae for up to six weeks, a much longer window.
09:52Another possible helper, tiny two-millimeter copepods, small crustaceans known as hoppers.
10:00They feed on mosquito larvae.
10:07When you put hoppers in rain barrels, which are major breeding sites, they consume larvae for about two months.
10:14So you only need to treat every two months, instead of every two weeks.
10:21Fewer larvae means fewer mosquitoes, and a lower risk of infection.
10:29The more tiger mosquitoes there are, the bigger the problem.
10:33We want to cut their numbers and greatly reduce transmission risk.
10:38But mosquito control is expensive, and some communities are already scaling back.
10:47As the climate warms and average temperatures rise, the chance of mosquitoes transmitting diseases will rise here too.
10:57Everyone can help, especially now, while breeding sites along the Rhine are still limited, by ensuring their gardens don't offer
11:04places for mosquitoes to lay eggs.
11:10That means avoid standing water, cover rain barrels, or use targeted biological treatments.
11:17For now, the tiger mosquito in Germany is mostly a nuisance, but the window to keep it that way is
11:23closing.
11:27Another insect is also on the move.
11:30At first glance, it doesn't look like much.
11:33Originally from the Mediterranean region, it's now reached Germany.
11:37An ant called Tapenoma magnum.
11:39It forms huge colonies and burrows into almost everything.
11:43It could even cause internet outages.
11:46An ant invasion in the making.
11:53This is the head of a Tapenoma magnum, magnified 300 times.
11:58A striking image, even for Bernhardt Seifert, who has seen it countless times.
12:05The insect researcher is used to identifying unusual ant finds, but never on this scale.
12:13They've exploded.
12:15It's great to see so much interest, but it can also get overwhelming.
12:19In 2025, this species was detected in Germany for the first time, likely brought in unimported olive trees.
12:26They form vast super colonies, hollowing out the ground, destabilizing playgrounds and even damaging electrical infrastructure.
12:36What started in western Germany has now reached Saxony in the east, where Seifert began examining the first samples.
12:46This is the Chemnitz Gardening Center in Dresden.
12:50Langebrück in Dresden.
12:52Here it is.
12:54Langebrück, and there's a male one.
12:59Seifert has been fascinated by ants since he was a boy.
13:03He turned that curiosity into a career in the early 1980s, and still uses some of the tools he built
13:10back then.
13:14This is a monkey swing.
13:16I built it from scrap in my basement in 1982.
13:22These are also 45 years old.
13:25Matches, and they still work, 45 years later.
13:29So even in modern, high-tech science, simple tools can do the job.
13:35The first Tapinoma magnum to arrive on his desk was in 2009, and at first it fascinated him.
13:45It's remarkable how much space they can occupy.
13:48The largest super colony we know of covers two square kilometers.
13:52It took over a walnut orchard in Portugal.
13:57In Germany, some super colonies already span more than 30 hectares, with billions of workers and several million queens.
14:08And the little beasts, as he calls them, are here to stay.
14:13You have to eliminate colonies early.
14:17Identifying them, ideally while they're still in plant pots, is crucial if you want to stop them spreading.
14:24That takes trained experts.
14:26But at 70, Banhot Saifat is still looking for someone to carry on his work, and his vast knowledge of
14:33these tiny creatures.
14:37Ants have been on Earth for more than 150 million years, five times longer than humans.
14:44Over time, they've evolved into an incredible variety of shapes, colors and sizes.
14:49With so many species, it's hard to keep track.
14:53But that could soon change, thanks to high-res imaging and AI, which are finally letting us see ants in
14:593D.
15:02There are more than 15,000 ant species, making them one of the most diverse animals on Earth.
15:08Now, thanks to a new digital 3D project called AntScan, that diversity is coming to life.
15:15From tree-dwelling turtle ants, to this giant tropical ant, whose sting is said to be the most painful of
15:22any insect in the world.
15:26These animations show ants in unprecedented detail.
15:29They're created with cutting-edge imaging technology in Karlsruhe, where a powerful particle accelerator can scan even the tiniest structures
15:38inside an ant's body.
15:42We're essentially working with a kind of X-ray laser.
15:46It lets us image samples in a very short time.
15:49So we need a lot less time than a clinical CT scanner, and can capture tiny specimens quickly, with incredible
15:56detail and contrast.
15:59Inside the 110-meter particle accelerator, intense X-rays generate the scans.
16:06A robot automatically loads each ant, and the scan itself takes only about 30 seconds.
16:13The ant is recorded layer by layer, then reconstructed on the computer into a full 3D model.
16:20The researchers hope this will reveal new insights into the hidden world of ants.
16:26Even when we work quickly, we spot structures we don't recognize, things no one's ever studied before.
16:34In one Brazilian species, the team even discovered a surprisingly tough, mineral-reinforced armor.
16:41And as the database grows, artificial intelligence will help analyze the structures more systematically.
16:48To answer big evolutionary questions, like how key traits developed over time, you need huge datasets like this.
16:59The team wants to understand exactly how different ant species evolved.
17:04Samples arrive in Karlsruhe from all over the world.
17:08Right now, they're focusing on species from Australia and Asia.
17:12Step by step, they're building a global archive, a resource that could support ant research,
17:18and maybe even inspire new engineering innovations.
17:21We can study how joints function, and that can lead to applied research,
17:26to see whether these mechanisms can be adapted for bionic systems or machinery.
17:32That could mean new types of robotic legs or highly realistic digital creatures for film, animation and digital effects.
17:42Anyone who wants to create an animated ant could use these datasets, edit them,
17:47and, with relatively little effort, produce a very realistic digital model.
17:56Thomas Van de Kamp has already created these kinds of animations.
18:01Working with hundreds of species, many of them exotic, has even changed how he sees the ants closer to home.
18:14Wood ants are a great example of a very ecologically important group.
18:18They're easy to spot, forming huge colonies linked by satellite nests, and they dominate the areas where they live.
18:25But there are many other fascinating ants.
18:28Some that keep slaves, others that live as social parasites.
18:32They're less well-known but just as remarkable.
18:35And they're also part of the ant world here in Germany.
18:40Thanks to the particle accelerator, this remarkable diversity is now being preserved in digital form.
18:46In the future, the team hopes to expand the database to include many more insect species.
18:52Because even in a world as small as that of ants, there's still so much left to discover.
19:02Birds enjoy an insect snack now and then.
19:05Even hummingbirds like them, but their main food source is nectar.
19:10Each species has a beak suited to its favorite flower.
19:13And evolution isn't finished yet.
19:16Nature keeps refining the design.
19:21California's hummingbirds are evolving, and surprisingly fast.
19:26Researchers have found their beaks are becoming longer and thinner.
19:30Almost spike-like.
19:32And the reason may be surprisingly simple.
19:35Bird feeders.
19:36Over the past century, they've become a common sight in gardens and backyards.
19:43With feeders, hummingbirds suddenly had access to food all year round, not just when flowers bloom.
19:51That constant supply has driven rapid change in just ten generations.
19:57That's incredibly fast in evolutionary terms.
20:01The birds' longer, more streamlined beaks are perfectly suited to reaching nectar inside narrow feeders.
20:08And they serve another purpose, too.
20:12Hummingbirds are famous for their extraordinary flight.
20:15Their wings beat so fast that they generate a lot of heat.
20:20Their beaks help solve that problem.
20:23They act like tiny fans, releasing excess heat and keeping the birds cool.
20:33Birds tend to be shy, so spotting them takes sharp eyes.
20:38And plenty of patience.
20:40Often it's their call that gives them away.
20:43That's where birding by ear comes in.
20:45So which bird are we hearing here?
20:50Let's find out.
20:56The Nilracha Marsh in Zurich's lowlands.
20:59One of the last large wetlands of its kind in Switzerland.
21:03A haven for birds and a refuge for many rare and endangered species.
21:12I'm out here with two biologists, real bird nerds, to find out what lives here.
21:35Let's look at the islands to see if any chicks are still there.
21:39In the front you see the adults, with those black-brown caps and the pretty white eye ring.
21:47The gulls are beautiful.
21:53If you look at the second island and then move left to the edge, there's a much younger bird sitting
21:59there.
22:00Ah, yeah, the whole middle of these violetten blumen.
22:06On the back left, there's even a common turn.
22:09I'm surprised at how much we've already spotted.
22:15But what about the really rare species we almost never see?
22:22That's exactly where recording bird calls helps.
22:26Using a recorder we built.
22:30It's a small box with a microphone and a power input.
22:35And it uses AI to analyze everything it captures, so we can basically see live what's happening out here in
22:42the marsh.
22:46So you mentioned AI, because out here it's total cacophony.
22:51If you had to listen to everything yourself, that would be a lot of work.
22:56Exactly.
22:57And there's now a very good AI for that.
23:00It's called BirdNet.
23:02It runs directly on our devices, processes the recordings, and tells us what's calling or singing.
23:11Is that a game-changer?
23:14Yes, absolutely.
23:15It's used worldwide now.
23:18There's even an app, and it's part of many scientific studies, and constantly being improved.
23:23It's the BirdSound AI.
23:28Across the wetland, 12 of these recorders are running.
23:34That's the little bittern.
23:36It's a rare species you almost never see.
23:38It hides deep in the reeds.
23:40But acoustically, you can detect it very well.
23:45And then there's the very rare Bayong's Creek.
23:51The Bayong's Creek is an endangered species.
23:55Extremely endangered.
23:57Even in Central Europe, it's special to have it breeding anywhere at all.
24:01So we're really lucky here.
24:03It shows up almost every year.
24:08It's a very small bird running around low between the reeds.
24:13Hard to see, but easy to capture acoustically.
24:16I'll play it.
24:24I thought that creaking sound was it.
24:29There's rain in the background.
24:33I hear it.
24:36It almost sounds like a water frog.
24:40If you hadn't told me, I would have said it was a frog.
24:44That's a common mix-up.
24:47But with a recording like this, an expert can review it and confirm it.
24:54So what does a recorder like this actually mean for species protection, or for getting a clear overview?
25:04Each species has specific needs.
25:06And if we know a species is here, or could be here, we can, for example, regulate the water levels
25:12to support it.
25:14That's exactly what happened in this marsh.
25:18Since we started managing the water, populations like the Spotted Creek and the Bayons Creek have returned.
25:24Now they're here every single year.
25:30As evening falls, the wetland grows quieter, and listening becomes even more important.
25:38And BirdNet also works as a smartphone app.
25:40And that means anyone can be a bird nerd.
25:49And that's all for now.
25:50Thanks for watching.
25:52We hope you enjoyed the show.
25:54See you next time on Tomorrow Today, your science show on DW.
25:59Bye for now.
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