Extinction

A collection of fish teeth and shark scales from the Early Cenozoic period.

After the Dinosaurs Died, Earth Experienced the Age of Fish

The fossil record shows how ray-finned fishes took over the planet's oceans

Asteroid Impacts Once Made the Earth's Oceans Boil for A Whole Year

Life had it rough back then

A giant rice rat specimen from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France

How Settlers Wiped Out the Caribbean’s Rodents of Unusual Size

The eradication of rice rats in the Lesser Antilles was part of a massive mammal extinction event

Could we bring back the woolly mammoth?

These Are the Extinct Animals We Can, and Should, Resurrect

Biologist Beth Shapiro offers a guide to the science and ethics of using DNA for de-extinction

White rhinos are considered a conservation sucess after near extinction in the 19th century, their numbers now classify them as Near Threatened

Here’s How to Avoid Losing Half of Earth’s Species

Basically, don’t stop trying to halt extinction

Ocean Acidification Could Have Driven Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinction

Study shows the world's oceans were dangerously acidic during the Permian Extinction Event

It's a beetle invasion! These lady beetles (also known as lady bugs) are just one of Earth's family of beetles.

Beetle Species, Weirdly, Almost Never Go Extinct

The world is disproportionately filled with beetles—now, a new study suggests that’s because few species have ever been wiped out

Divers Discover Graveyard Filled With Giant Lemur Skeletons

A Madagascar cave is packed with the bones of extinct species

The red fox is among two European imports that researchers say play a big part in the loss of some of Australia's native species.

One-Tenth of Native Mammals in Australia Are Extinct: Blame Cats And Foxes

No other country on Earth has lost a greater proportion of land mammals over the last two centuries; now, a new study zeros in on the cause

A diverse array of trilobites ruled the seas for almost 300 million years, until they vanished at the end of the Permian period.

Vinegar-Like Acid Rain May Have Fallen During Earth’s Worst Extinction

Vanilla-flavored rocks hint at a planet scoured by intense acid rain during the Great Dying 252 million years ago

Only 5 Northern White Rhinos remain. A powerful image of three of them under guard by Kate Brooks.

There Are Probably Just Five Northern White Rhinos Left

The death of a captive rhino at the San Diego Zoo brings the species closer to imminent extinction

Fred Tomaselli, Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2006.

The Threatened Birds in These Artworks Might One Day Go the Way of the Dodo

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition explores mankind's relationship to birds and the natural world

The skeleton was discovered near the American Falls dam and reservoir in Idaho.

What Appears to Be a Complete Mammoth Skeleton Was Discovered in an Idaho Ditch

A nearby reservoir has just covered the fossil in water, however, postponing the excavation

Wildlife Around the World Has Declined by About 50 Percent Since 1970

Fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles are disappearing quickly

More than two years after his death, the tortoise Lonesome George has been stuffed and put on display in New York.

Lonesome George, the Last Tortoise of His Kind, Is on Posthumous Display in NYC

Driven to extinction by overhunting, the world's last Pinta Island tortoise is now a taxidermy display at New York's American Museum of Natural History

An inlaid alabaster unguent jar in the form of an ibex, with one natural horn, was found in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Egypt’s Mammal Extinctions Tracked Through 6,000 Years of Art

Tomb goods and historical texts show how a drying climate and an expanding human population took their toll on the region’s wildlife

From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

100 Years After Her Death, Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon, Still Resonates

The famed bird now finds itself at the center of a flap over de-extinction

Changila, a male elephant who was later killed by poachers near Samburu National Reserve in Kenya.

Surprise! Science Shows That Elephant Poaching Is Unsustainable

For the first time, scientists have made a comprehensive tally of illegal killing rates across Africa

Why Everyone From Conservationists to Yao Ming to Andrew Cuomo Supports Banning Ivory Sales

Because of corruption and laundering, any system of legal ivory trade threatens the continued existence of elephants

Not so mysterious: This is not a realistic depiction of a T. rex dinner.

The Ten Biggest Dinosaur Mysteries We Have Yet to Solve

Which one was the first, the biggest, the fuzziest? These puzzles continue to perplex paleontologists

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