A meerkat stands guard as her pups cuddle at Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa early November 2025. (Photo by Nadine Leonard/Two Point O Media)

Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

A newborn baby pangolin climbs the walls of a cage in Bangkok, Thailand April 20, 2011. The Thai custom office showed 175 pangolins they found hidden in a truck heading into Bangkok. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A fisherman transports a shark and other fish with his ride to the traditional fish market in Lampulo, Aceh, Indonesia, 12 April 2018. The fishing industry is one of Indonesia's largest economic contributor, with almost half of the country's population working in the sector. (Photo by Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA/EFE)

Londoners enjoying the magnificent sight of sun setting perfectly in the middle of London Eye as seen from Greenwich Park in London, England on the warmest day of the year on April 19, 2018. (Photo by London Viewpoints/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An aerial view shows the 11/19 pit and twin slag heaps at the former coal mine site in Loos-en-Gohelle, northern France, November 1, 2015. Loos-en-Gohelle, a town of 7000 inhabitants in the North of France, marked by the closure of coal mines in 1970, has demonstrated a successful transition from coal to a green economy. (Photo by Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

The rising sun illuminates the sky above the spires of a church in Vienna, Austria, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Boys play with a drainage culvert used for flood control in Las Pinas, Metro Manila February 28, 2016. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)