Conservation and Biodiversity
Check Out These Awesome Animal Sanctuaries
December 17, 2025
Protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, and conservation lands highlight the global need for both preservation, protecting environments from harmful human development, and conservation, using nature sustainably. From saving Asiatic lions in India to protecting dolphins in New Zealand, here are six extraordinary wildlife sanctuaries making a real difference.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest – Mountain Gorillas
Located in the Rift Valley of Uganda, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to approximately 320 mountain gorillas — half of this critically endangered species’ world population.
The ancient Bwindi primeval forest that these animals reside in dates back more than 25,000 years, and is one of Africa’s most biodiverse ecosystems. The park was officially established in 1991 with the purpose of protecting the forest’s mountain gorilla population from poachers and habitat destruction.
In the primate family, gorillas are classified as great apes, not monkeys. Other types of great apes include orangutans, chimpanzees, and yes… humans. One of the closest living relatives of humans, we share up to 98% of our DNA with gorillas. In fact, Gorillas are highly intelligent creatures, in 2025 it was discovered they use tools and since then it’s been discovered they can learn sign language.
Unlike many exaggerated Hollywood depictions of gorillas such as King Kong, gorillas are gentle and peaceful creatures with strong social relationships. They live in ”tribes” of family units, maintaining close connections with their loved ones, and eat a mostly vegetarian diet.
Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary – Dolphins
The Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary, New Zealand’s first marine mammal sanctuary was created around Banks Peninsula in 1988 to protect the endangered Hector’s dolphin.
Hector’s dolphins are strikingly beautiful creatures, with an unusual rounded dorsal fin and a combination of streamline black, grey, and white markings. They are the smallest marine dolphin in the world and are found only off the coasts of New Zealand. These acrobatic dolphins who leap and dive, have been found to dive to depths of up to nearly 400 feet.
Dolphin species are unabashedly adorable and tend to display natural curiosities towards humans, but have been known to get caught in fishing nets and to come across other human-wildlife-caused incidents. This is why commercial fishing, seismic surveying, and seabed mining are prohibited in the sanctuary with few exceptions. Additionally, the Sanctuary encourages visitors in boats to slow down and turn off their motor when dolphins are nearby, especially when young dolphins are present.
The Hector’s dolphin is still classified as nationally vulnerable, while its subspecies the Māui dolphin is critically endangered, making Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary a crucial space for the survival of their species.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – Bears
Approximately the size of South Carolina, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of few places in the world that is home to all three species of North American bears — the black bear, the brown bear, and the polar bear.
Being large animals, bears require large ranges of land, and have thrived on the refuge’s nearly twenty million acres of open wilderness. For the Gwitch’in indigenous tribe, the area is known as “the sacred place where life begins.”
The refuge is especially important to Polar bears, a species threatened with extinction due to climate change that relies on the refuge’s arctic climate and sea ice of the coastal habitats. Brown bears or “grizzly bears” that live in the refuge also call this place home and can sometimes hibernate for up to 8 months out of the year here. Black bears, which live in the southern forests of this area, are the smallest bear species of the refuge’s three bear populations.
A realm of untouched wilderness, without roads, facilities, or cell phone coverage inside the Refuge, this mighty expanse may seem impossible to enter but is surprisingly quite the contrary. Open to the public, without visitor fees or specific entry points, many visitors find ways to enjoy the land’s untouched condition on guided trips through the wilderness.
Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary – Lions
Located in India’s Gujarat Province, Gir National Park is the last remaining natural habitat of the endangered Asiatic lion.
The Asiatic lion, once nearly driven to extinction in the 20th century due to uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss, at one point had only 20 individuals left in the wild. But the creation of the Gir sanctuary in 1965 and its upgraded status to a national park in 1975, offered these lions a miraculous final chance at survival.
Asiatic lions are the only wild lions found outside of Africa, having once roamed throughout Asia including in ancient regions of Persia, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Balochistan, and India. Smaller in size and traveling in smaller prides, the asiatic lion is much like the African Lion, only smaller.
Visitors are open to the park year-round where lions of the Gir forest still roam.
Serengeti National Park – Wildebeests
Wildebeests annually migrate across the wild plains of Serengeti National Park in what is called The Great Migration. Famously captured in Disney’s The Lion King, Wildebeest’s epic journeys create dramatic effects. The 1500 km trek is one of the largest mammal migrations on earth.
Wildebeests; an unusual antelope simultaneously resembling a cow, a horse, and a gazelle, migrate north to south, based on rain patterns across the Serengeti. Annually they follow the rains in search of green vegetation and water.
Wildebeests play a crucial role in the African savanna ecosystem. With their population consuming over 4,500 tons of grass each day, wildebeests act as nature’s lawnmowers across the savannas, preventing overgrowth and reducing wildfire risk.
Komodo National Park – Komodo Dragons
Between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores in the Indonesian archipelago lies Komodo National Park; a wildlife sanctuary dedicated to the famous komodo dragon. Located across three volcanic islands, this park is home to around 5,700 fearsome individual komodo dragons.
As the world’s largest lizard, Komodo dragons are powerful animals, growing up to 10 feet long and weighing up to 150 lbs! These tough creatures have been known to take down animals of much larger sizes including water buffalo, deer, and wild pigs, using their venomous bite as a weapon.
What also makes Komodo dragons a force to be reckoned with is their thick skin. The outer layers of a Komodo Dragon’s body are made up of thousands of tiny bones under their skin that protect them like a plate of armor.
This isn’t your typical lizard. The Komodo dragon is one tough cookie and an apex predator.
Saving Wildlife
Our planet is made up of so much biodiversity, it is truly incredible to reflect upon. In order to protect these species for future generations, we must advocate for these remarkable creatures and the pristine ecosystems they live in. We’ve barely scratched the surface on all of the fascinating wildlife sanctuaries out there, but there is still much work to be done to ensure all creatures live in their natural habitats.
Which is why we are advocating for Wikie and Keijo, mother and son orca whales, as well as twelve bottlenose dolphins, all highly social animals, who are currently held in captivity in deteriorating conditions in Marineland, a closed park, in Antibes, France. Tell President Macron today to intervene and make sure they are rehomed to a better facility.
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