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Famous monkey-face ‘Dracula’ orchids are vanishing in the wild

Diogo Veríssimo, Amy Hinsley, Luis Baquero / The Conversation

created: Oct. 14, 2025, 9 p.m. | updated: Oct. 24, 2025, 9:05 p.m.

Known to scientists as Dracula, the so-called “monkey-face orchids” have become online celebrities. A new global assessment has, for the first time, revealed the conservation status of all known Dracula orchids. Unfortunately, those same slopes are being rapidly cleared for cattle pasture, crops like avocado, and expanding roads and mining projects, activities that are directly threatening several Dracula species (such as Dracula terborchii. Many enthusiasts and professional growers trade in cultivated plants responsibly, but others still seek wild orchids, and Dracula species are no exception. The reserve is home to at least ten Dracula species, five of them found nowhere else on Earth.

1 month ago: Popular Science