Emma Kast, University of Cambridge; Jeremy McCormack, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, and Sora Kim, University of California, Merced
Megalodon, the world’s largest known shark species, swam the oceans long before humans existed. Its teeth are all that’s left, and they tell a story of an apex predator that vanished.
As a major conference on the global biodiversity crisis opens in Montreal, a conservation biologist explains how ideas about protecting nature have evolved over the past 40 years.
Dodos have been extinct for centuries, but it’s not a simple matter to definitively designate a species as extinct.
(Shutterstock)
Species are declared extinct when there have been no verifiable sightings for 50 years. Declaring a species extinct has implications for conservation efforts and policies.
Gilbert’s potoroo, a marsupial that may be extinct in 20 years.
Dick Walker/Gilbert’s Potoroo Action Group
The hardest to save will be five reptiles, four birds, four frogs, two mammals and one fish, for which there are no recent confirmed records of their continued existence.
A yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) in the Pantanal wetlands of Bolivia.
Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock
Only three specimens of the blue-grey mouse ever existed, and two are lost. We plunged into a search for the third, in the hope we might find the species isn’t extinct at all – just missing.
A new study shows that when free-ranging cats are more than a few blocks from forested areas in cities, such as parks, they’re more likely to prey on rats than on native wildlife.
Artist’s rendering of the Chicxulub asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere 66 million years ago, triggering events that caused a mass extermination.
Roger Harris/Science Photo library via Getty Images
NASA has only mapped 40% of the potentially dangerous asteroids that could crash into Earth. New projects will boost that number, and upcoming missions will test tech that could prevent collisions.
Colorized version of a 1935 photo of a male ivory-billed woodpecker, now believed to be extinct. Photographed by Arthur A. Allen.
Forestry Images/Wikipedia
Genyornis newtoni was one of the biggest birds ever to walk the earth. And new research shows its mysterious extinction may have come amid a bout of widespread bone disease as its lake home dried out.
Research has found that poetry can make people feel the urgency of climate change more keenly.
An ivory-billed woodpecker on display at the California Academy of Sciences. The U.S. government is preparing to declare them extinct.
(AP Photo/Haven Daley)
It’s been 80 years since the last undisputed sighting of the striking black-and-white bird. The U.S. government believes the ivory-billed woodpecker is extinct — but many will keep searching for it.
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University