Extinction News

August 3, 2024

Top Headlines

Warming Stops Tiny Organisms Working Together

Aug. 1, 2024 — Hotter conditions prevent two tiny organisms working together for mutual benefit, new research ...

3D Models Provide Unprecedented Look at Corals' Response to Bleaching Events

July 31, 2024 — Marine biologists are providing a glimpse into coral 'bleaching' responses to stress, using imaging technology to pinpoint coral survival rates following multiple bleaching events off the island of ...

Scientists Using New Sound Tech to Save Animals from Extinction

July 30, 2024 — Scientists are using new technology to help endangered animals by listening to their ...

Ancient Marine Animal Had Inventive Past Despite Being Represented by Few Species

July 25, 2024 — Brachiopods were evolving in new directions but this did not turn into evolutionary success in terms of the numbers of species, researchers have ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:11pm EDT

Mass Extinction 66 Million Years Ago Triggered Rapid Evolution of Bird Genomes

July 31, 2024 — Study finds that the mass extinction caused by an asteroid about 66 million years ago led to critical changes in bird genomes that ultimately sparked ...

Thousands of Birds and Fish Threatened by Mining for Clean Energy Transition, Study Finds

July 26, 2024 — Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean ...

New Zealand's Flightless Birds Are Retreating to Moa Refuges

July 25, 2024 — Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going ...

Tropical Plant Species Are as Threatened by Climate Change as Widely Feared, Study Confirms

July 22, 2024 — Biologists who set out to better understand the effects of climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions found that even small ...

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth to Rip Apart Their Prey

July 24, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. The study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide ...

Scientists Assess How Large Dinosaurs Could Really Get

July 24, 2024 — A study looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs, using the carnivore, Tyrannosaurus rex, as an example. Using computer modelling, experts produced estimates that T. Rex might have been 70% ...

Logged Forests Can Still Have Ecological Value -- If Not Pushed Too Far

July 17, 2024 — Researchers have analysed data from 127 studies to reveal 'thresholds' for when logged rainforests lose the ability to sustain themselves. The results could widen the scope of which forests are ...

Evidence for Butchery of Giant Armadillo-Like Mammals in Argentina 21,000 Years Ago

July 17, 2024 — Cut marks on fossils could be evidence of humans exploiting large mammals in Argentina more than 20,000 years ago, according to a new ...

Research Tracks 66 Million Years of Mammalian Diversity

July 17, 2024 — New research has examined the fossil record going back 66 million years and tracked changes to mammalian ecosystems and species diversity on the North American ...

History Shows That Humans Are Good for Biodiversity... Sometimes

July 15, 2024 — Humans have been an important driver of vegetation change over thousands of years, and, in some places, had positive impacts on biodiversity, according to a new ...

Earlier Headlines

A Window of Opportunity for Climate Change and Biodiversity

July 23, 2024 — World leaders must take advantage of a pivotal window of opportunity for forging a much-needed joined-up approach to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, say scientists. Without this, work on ...

Mapping the World's Fungi from Air Samples

July 11, 2024 — Researchers have found that the key to a quick and cost-effective mapping of biodiversity has been right in front of our eyes all along, but at the same time invisible -- i.e., in the air that ...

Global Database Reveals Large Gaps in Our Knowledge of Four-Footed Animals

July 11, 2024 — Researchers developed TetrapodTraits -- a global database of animals with four feet -- which can now be applied for better ecology, evolution and conservation ...

A New Species of Extinct Crocodile Relative Rewrites Life on the Triassic Coastline

July 10, 2024 — The surprising discovery of a new species of extinct crocodile relative from the Triassic Favret Formation of Nevada, USA, rewrites the story of life along the coasts during the first act of the Age ...

Research Reveals the Most Complete Dinosaur Discovered in the UK in a Century

July 10, 2024 — The most complete dinosaur discovered in the UK in the last 100 years, with a pubic hip bone the size of a 'dinner plate', has been described in a new ...

Wolves' Return Has Had Only Small Impact on Deer Populations in NE Washington

July 10, 2024 — Wolves returned to Washington state in 2008. A new study shows that, despite their rising numbers, wolves are not having much of an impact on white-tailed deer, one of their primary prey. Scientists ...

Researchers Listen to the Hearts of Bats in Flight

July 10, 2024 — Unique recordings show that bats can ramp up heart rate from 6 to 900 b.p.m within ...

First Local Extinction in the US Due to Sea Level Rise, Study Suggests

July 9, 2024 — The United States has lost its only stand of the massive Key Largo tree cactus in what researchers believe is the first local extinction of a species caused by sea level rise in the ...

Study Projects Major Changes in North Atlantic and Arctic Marine Ecosystems Due to Climate Change

July 8, 2024 — New research predicts significant shifts in marine fish communities in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans as a result of climate ...

Restored Oyster Sanctuaries Host More Marine Life

July 8, 2024 — Oysters sanctuaries in Chesapeake Bay are working for more than just oysters. Compared to nearby harvest areas, sanctuaries contain more abundant populations of oysters and other animal life--and the ...

Coral Reefs: Battlegrounds for Survival in a Changing Climate

July 8, 2024 — Coral reefs, those vibrant underwater cities, stand on the precipice of collapse. While rising ocean temperatures and coral bleaching grab headlines, a new essay reveals a hidden layer of complexity ...

Near Chromosome-Level Genome of the Mojave Poppy Bee

July 2, 2024 — Scientists have developed a near chromosome-level genome for the Mojave poppy bee, a specialist pollinator of conservation ...

Ocean Acidification Turns Fish Off Coral Reefs

July 1, 2024 — A new study of coral reefs in Papua New Guinea shows ocean acidification simplifies coral structure, making crucial habitat less appealing to certain fish ...

Researchers Identify Unique Survival Strategies Adopted by Fish in the World's Warmest Waters

July 1, 2024 — A team of researchers have identified unexpected ways coral reef fish living in the warmest waters on earth, in the Arabian Gulf, have adapted to survive extreme ...

The Evidence Is Mounting: Humans Were Responsible for the Extinction of Large Mammals

July 1, 2024 — Human hunting, not climate change, played a decisive role in the extinction of large mammals over the last 50,000 years. This conclusion comes from researchers who reviewed over 300 scientific ...

Sixty-Million-Year-Old Grape Seeds Reveal How the Death of the Dinosaurs May Have Paved the Way for Grapes to Spread

July 1, 2024 — Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across the ...

Ecologists Reconstruct the History of Biodiversity in the Indo-Australian Archipelago and Its Rise as a Hotspot

June 28, 2024 — The Coral Triangle, also known as the Indo-Australian Archipelago, is renowned for having the greatest marine biodiversity on our planet. Despite its importance, the detailed evolutionary history of ...

Projected Loss of Brown Macroalgae and Seagrasses With Global Environmental Change

June 27, 2024 — Researchers predict that climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. The projected changes are alarming due to the fundamental role ...

Ammonites' Fate Sealed by Meteor Strike That Wiped out Dinosaurs

June 27, 2024 — Ammonites were not in decline before their extinction, scientists have ...

Last Surviving Woolly Mammoths Were Inbred but Not Doomed to Extinction

June 27, 2024 — The last population of woolly mammoths was isolated on Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia 10,000 years ago, when sea levels rose and cut the mountainous island off from the mainland. A new ...