Rodrigues fruit bats and Amur tigers are among the species supported by WCS, which operates five wildlife parks in New York City and works to save wildlife and wild places in nearly 60 countries and all the world’s oceans

The Bronx zoo recently opened a blue iguana (C yclura lewisi) exhibit in the reptile house. This is a critically endangered species that was once functionally extinct with fewer than 20 individuals remaining. Bronx zoo veterinarians have been working with partners in the blue iguana’s native range on Grand Cayman where conservation programmes have successfully re-established wild populations on the island. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

The great hornbill ( Buceros bicornis) is considered to be near-threatened by IUCN due to habitat loss and hunting. Earlier this year, Cites took action to protect the helmeted hornbill, which is now critically endangered due to overhunting. This image was taken during WCS surveys in Myanmar’s Hukaung Valley wildlife sanctuary, which WCS helped establish. Photograph: WCS Myanma

A juvenile western lowland gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla) rides backwards sits on its mother in the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx zoo. There are five young gorillas under the two-years-old at the Bronx zoo, making for a very busy exhibit. Entry fees to the Congo Gorilla Forest are used to fund WCS conservation programmes in Africa and have contributed more than $14m (£11.3m) since the award-winning exhibit opened in 1999. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

For the second year in a row, the zoo’s gelada baboons ( Theropithecus gelada) produced offspring. The family groups can be observed at the zoo’s Baboon Reserve. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

A view looking west towards the Mbatamila Inselberg range located near the Niassa reserve headquarters in Mozambique. Elephant protection coordinator and aviation manager, Falk Grossmann, absorbs the moment from a strategic vantage point. WCS researchers in Mozambique were participants in the recently completed great elephant census, an effort to count savannah elephant populations across sub-Saharan Africa in response to the current escalating wave of poaching sweeping across Africa. Photograph: John Guernier/WCS

A herd of Turkmenian flare-horned markhor (C apra falconeri hepterni) roam the rocky terrain in their expansive habitat along the Wild Asia Monorail at the Bronx zoo. The herd consists of 11 males, easily identified by their huge spiralled horns and distinct coats; 10 females, which are smaller than the males and have much shorter horns; and their offspring, which include eight kids born this year. Photograph: WCS   A green-winged macaw ( Ara chloropterus) prepares to land as it approaches a perch in the crowd on Astor Court at the Bronx zoo. The free-flying birds were one of several species at the Birds In Flight demonstration. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS In 2016, a little penguin ( Eudyptula minor) was hatched and reared at Bronx zoo – a first in the 120-year history of the zoo. A colony of little penguins – also known as little blue penguins – came to the Bronx from the Taronga zoo in Australia in 2015. WCS supports little penguin conservation efforts in Sydney harbour. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS Two critically endangered Malayan tiger cubs ( Panthera tigris jacksoni) born at the zoo were hand-reared by staff when their mother failed to provide adequate maternal care. Once old enough, the cubs were introduced to their new home at the zoo’s Tiger Mountain, where they can now be seen by visitors. WCS conservation programmes are working to save tigers where they live. There are an estimated 250 Malayan tigers remaining in the wild. Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS