Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Extinction

Two T. rex dinosaurs square up for a fight in an illustration. Dinosaurs in the Cretaceous were thriving until the Chicxulub asteroid initiated a mass extinction.

The Dinosaurs of North America Were Thriving Up Until an Asteroid Wiped Them Off the Face of the Earth, Scientists Argue

A new study of dinosaur biodiversity challenges the belief that the megafauna were on their way out 66 million years ago

Green sea turtles are rebounding, thanks to global conservation efforts.

After Decades of Decline, Some Good News Is Here for Green Sea Turtles

The International Union for Conservation of Nature no longer considers the marine creatures endangered and has instead reclassified them as a species of least concern

Generations of bearded vultures return to the same nesting sites for centuries, offering archaeologists a glimpse into the past.

Generations of Bearded Vultures Stashed Humans’ Treasures, Including a 650-Year-Old Sandal, in These Bird Nests

Researchers recovered more than 200 human artifacts from historical nests in southern Spain

An 1844 illustration of mink

The Life, Loss and Lore of the Sea Mink

It might be among the first mammals to go extinct in North America after colonization. But can scientists prove it was even a distinct species?

Researchers studied genetic samples from 483 mammoths, including from their tusks, bones, skin and molars (shown here).

Scientists Investigate the Bacteria That Colonized Extinct Mammoths—and Uncover the Oldest Known Microbial DNA From a Host

Some of the microbes might have been benign or helpful, while others could have caused deadly diseases

The partial dire wolf skull was found in Iowa.

A Partial Dire Wolf Skull Is Headed to Auction This Month—and It Could Sell for $30,000

Collectors have a rare opportunity to bid on the remains of the fearsome creature, a large canid that went extinct around the end of the last ice age

Winter-run Chinook salmon are unique because they spawn in the summer, then migrate as adults to the Pacific Ocean in the winter.

For the First Time in Nearly a Century, Adult Winter-Run Chinook Salmon Are Swimming in California’s McCloud River

Video footage shows a female guarding her nest while several smaller males compete for positioning nearby

The leaf-toed gecko has been rediscovered on Rábida Island in the Galápagos.

Small, Secretive Gecko Rediscovered in the Galápagos After Scientists Eliminate Invasive Rats

Researchers thought leaf-toed geckos were locally extinct on Rábida Island, so they were thrilled to find several of the lizards alive and well during 2019 and 2021 expeditions

New research suggests a large crocodile-like creature attacked a "terror bird" 12 million years ago.

Even Apex Predators Like ‘Terror Birds’ Had Enemies, Research Suggests

Bite marks on a fossilized leg bone found in South America suggest a crocodile-like creature attacked a massive, meat-eating bird 12 million years ago

 The scientists found R. wellingtoni in two different color combinations, black-purple and red-black.

Scientists Just Found a Coral Species They Thought Had Gone Extinct, Marking the First Record of It in 24 Years

After the 1982-1983 El Niño warming event, the coral endemic to the Galápagos Islands experienced sharp population declines and was rarely observed during surveys

The Barbados threadsnake is just three to four inches long and about the same width as a strand of spaghetti. Pictured here in 2006, the species was officially described in 2008.

Scientists Feared the World’s Smallest Snake Had Gone Extinct. They Just Found It Again

When fully grown, the Barbados threadsnake is only three to four inches long—shorter than many earthworms

Scientists found a partial dinosaur vertebra inside a geological core sample that measures just 2.5 inches in diameter.

‘Nothing Short of Magical’: Scientists Discover a Dinosaur Bone Nearly 800 Feet Beneath a Parking Lot at a Denver Museum

The partial vertebra appeared inside a 2.5-inch-diameter column of rock that researchers drilled, earning the title of the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil found in Denver

E. mollyborthwickae is now on display at London's Natural History Museum.

‘Enigmatic’ Dog-Sized Dinosaur Reveals a New Species That Scampered Around Jurassic North America

The speedy, plant-eating creature lived in what is now Colorado roughly 150 million years ago, and its skeleton went on display in London this week

Today's living night lizards—like Xantusia vigilis (pictured)—are descendants of a common ancestor that lived roughly 90 million years ago, well before the Chicxulub asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago.

These Lizards Mysteriously Survived the Asteroid Strike That Killed the Dinosaurs—and Their Descendants Are Still Alive Today

Small and elusive night lizards probably persisted because they have slow metabolisms and like to hide out in rock crevices, a new study suggests

The well-preserved cubs—which turned out to be sisters—were discovered in 2011 and 2015 in northern Siberia.

14,000-Year-Old ‘Puppies’ Found in Siberia Were Wolf Littermates Who Dined on Woolly Rhino

Researchers studied chemicals found in the animals’ bones, teeth and tissues, as well as genetic material from their stomach contents

The mosquitoes are dropped from drones inside small, cylindrical, biodegradable containers.

Scientists Are Using Drones to Unleash Thousands of Mosquitoes in Hawaii in a Bid to Save Native Birds. Here’s How It Works

The lab-raised, non-biting male mosquitoes are meant to breed with the invasive ones on the islands and produce sterile eggs that will help suppress avian malaria

None

Journey Into a Prehistoric Cave That Trapped and Entombed Animals for Millennia

The animals that plummeted 85 feet into Wyoming’s Natural Trap Cave provide a layered history of life dating back to the Pleistocene

An artistic reconstruction of the extinct megalodon. Scientists' ideas about how the megalodon looked are based on its fossilized teeth.

The Fearsome Megalodon Ate Basically Whatever It Wanted to Reach Its Daily 100,000-Calorie Need, Study Suggests

Scientists previously assumed the giant, prehistoric sharks mostly feasted on whales, but it turns out they probably weren’t so picky

Eastern quolls went extinct on mainland Australia in 1963.

See Eastern Quolls Get Released on Mainland Australia in a New Bid to Re-establish the ‘Magic Little Animal’

Conservationists recently introduced 15 of the polka-dotted marsupials into a protected area of New South Wales

The mosasaur vertebra measured more than seven inches wide.

Geologists Stumble Upon Remains of Giant ‘Sea Monster’ in Mississippi, Likely the Largest Mosasaur Ever Identified in the State

Researchers uncovered one vertebra, and based on its size, they estimate the massive creature was at least 30 feet long when it roamed the shallow seas that covered the region roughly 66 million years ago

Page 3 of 22