Sixth Mass Extinction of Global Biodiversity Is Already in Progress
The history of life on Earth has been marked five times by events of mass biodiversity extinction caused by extreme natural phenomena. Today, many experts…
Extinction
Would Rewilding the Arctic With Mammals Really Slow Climate Change Impact?
A new study has shed new light on why large mammals died out at the end of the ice age, suggesting their extinction was caused…
“The Google Earth of Biology” – Visually Stunning Tree of All Known Life Unveiled Online
OneZoom is a one-stop site for exploring all life on Earth, its evolutionary history, and how much of it is threatened with extinction. The OneZoom explorer…
Ancient DNA Discovery Reveals Woolly Mammoths, Wild Horses Survived Thousands of Years Longer Than Believed
Mere spoonsful of soil pulled from Canada’s permafrost are opening vast windows into ancient life in the Yukon, revealing rich new information and rewriting previous…
Extinction of Ancient Grazers Triggered a Global Rise in Fires
From 50,000 years to 6,000 years ago, many of the world’s largest animals, including such iconic grassland grazers as the woolly mammoth, giant bison, and…
Snakes Diversified Explosively After the Dinosaurs Were Wiped Out 66 Million Years Ago
Sudden burst of evolution 66 million years ago expanded snake diets and put vertebrates on the menu. The remarkable diversification of mammals and birds after…
Humans Had Significant Role in the Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth
New research shows that humans had a significant role in the extinction of woolly mammoths in Eurasia, occurring thousands of years later than previously thought….
Animals Died in “Toxic Soup” During Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction – A Warning for Today
‘The end-Permian is one of the best places to look for parallels with what’s happening now.’ The end-Permian mass extinction event of roughly 252 million…
New DNA Research Shows Humans Did Not Cause Woolly Mammoths To Go Extinct – Climate Change Did
New DNA research shows the world got too wet for the giant animals to survive. For five million years, woolly mammoths roamed the earth until…
Snakes Diversified Explosively After Mass Extinction Where Dinosaurs Were Wiped Out
Modern snakes evolved from ancestors that lived side by side with the dinosaurs and that likely fed mainly on insects and lizards. Then a miles-wide…
Looming Extinction Crisis: If Endangered Primates Disappear, So Will Their Parasites. That’s Actually a Problem
The extinction crisis looming for monkeys, apes and their kin could have even greater ripple effects on the tiny underappreciated species that set up camp…
Warming Atlantic Ocean Drives Right Whales Towards Extinction
Warming oceans have driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat, exposing the animals to more lethal ship…
Humans Have Caused the Extinction of Many Bird Species Over the Last 50,000 Years
A new study from Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute revealed that over the last 20,000-50,000 years birds have undergone a major extinction event,…
Shark Diversity Unaffected When the Dinosaurs Were Wiped Out in Global Catastrophe
Selective extinction of apex predators suggests a shift to more generalist diets. A global catastrophe 66 million years ago led to the extinction of all…
First US Case of Human-Led Insect Extinction Confirmed by DNA From 93-Year-Old Butterfly
The Xerces blue butterfly was last seen flapping its iridescent periwinkle wings in San Francisco in the early 1940s. It’s generally accepted to be extinct,…
One of World’s Rarest Chameleons Found Clinging to Survival in Patches of Rainforest in Malawi
Chapman’s pygmy chameleon had been feared extinct due to forest loss. Urgent conservation measures are needed to save a Critically Endangered species of chameleon which…
New Research Shows Dinosaurs Were in Decline for Million Years Before the Final Asteroid Death Blow
The death of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was caused by the impact of a huge asteroid on the Earth. However, paleontologists have continued…
Shock Find Brings Extinct “Shark Bay” Mouse Back From the Dead
An Australian mammal thought to have been wiped out over 150 years ago can now be crossed off our list of extinct animals, following a…