In Panama, new protections for hundreds of threatened animal and plant species were approved last week at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. After two weeks of talks, member states agreed to regulations protecting several species of sharks, songbirds, glass frogs and tropical timber from illegal international trade. Nations also discussed efforts to address the illegal trade of jaguars, pangolins and elephants. But advocates are criticizing the failure to increase protections for hippos threatened by legal worldwide trade, mainly of their ivory teeth for commercial purposes.