extinction

An artist’s interpretation of the birth of a baby mosasaur.

The 68-million-year-old fossil egg’s mystery mother may have been one of the fiercest marine predators from the Late Cretaceous period.

A Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, in captivity circa 1930.

The 21-second clip shows the last Tasmanian tiger—or thylacine—ever in captivity roaming her cage at Beaumaris Zoo.

Thomas Jefferson thought mastodons might still be lurking somewhere out West—and he was determined to find them.

Its been just over 60 years since we discovered the species—and now there may be less than 20 of them left in the world.

The Whitsunday Islands in Australia's Great Barrier Reef

The Bramble Cay melomys was a tiny rodent that lived on a tiny Australian island. The now-extinct animal was killed off by climate change, scientists say.

Drawing depicting the Great Auk, from the book 'Birds of America' by John James Audubon.

The dodo isn't the only tragic tale.

Matthias Heyde/Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Flickr // CC BY-ND 2.0

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is designed to safeguard the world's crops against extinction, and it's getting a major upgrade to keep it safe.

Some of 2017’s best feel-good stories involved the sudden, dramatic reappearances of ultra-rare animals.

Gray, George Robert; Hullmandel & Walton; Hullmandel, Charles Joseph; Mitchell, D. W / Public Doman

The presumed remains of the ancient penguins are a “jumbled mixture” of bones from three modern species.

Leon Brooks, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Ninety percent of frogs alive today descend from just three lineages that survived the extinction 66 million years ago.

The next time you’re feeling less than brave, remind yourself you’re already one of nature’s great success stories.

Fat Cat via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0

We adore them too. Really. But this is a major problem.

The rare ‘Alalā species is only the second known crow species to use tools.

Due to poaching, elephants populations are declining steadily—even in protected areas.

The researchers believe that dinosaur extinction was a 40-million-year process.

Dmitry Bogdanov via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

When the mass extinction began, Lystrosaurus shortened its lifespan—and its mating cycle.

A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History argues that birds are just another kind of dinosaur.

TX68 appeared to have a four in 1 billion chance of hitting Earth. That may sound like a long shot, but the odds were four times higher than the threshold NASA has set for potentially hazardous objects.

A study of what dodos' brains probably looked like suggests they were about as intelligent as pigeons—which are pretty smart.

Illustration by Henrik Grönvold via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Scanning a long-dead museum specimen revealed a pigment rarely found in ducks.

Mantua Township Fossil Heritage via Facebook

A quarry pit may hold clues pointing to a mass extinction more than 65 million years ago.

One major threat? Collectors and horticulturists harvest the wild plants and sell them illegally.

Nearly 200 species of frogs have gone extinct since the 1970s. Hundreds more may be at risk.

New facts continue to emerge about the long-gone species from Down Under.

This Football-Sized Fossil Egg is the First Found in Antarctica, and It May Have Belonged to a Mosasaur

Researchers Just Unearthed ‘Lost’ Footage of the Extinct Tasmanian Tiger—Watch It Here

How Thomas Jefferson's Obsession With Mastodons Partly Fueled the Lewis and Clark Expedition

11 Facts About the Vaquita, The World's Most Endangered Porpoise

For the First Time Ever, a Mammal Has Been Declared Extinct Due to Climate Change

10 Tragic Stories of Extinct Animals

Norway's Doomsday Seed Vault Is Getting a $12.7 Million Makeover After Flood

5 Rediscovered Species That Made Headlines In 2017

DNA Tests Show ‘Extinct’ Penguin Species Never Existed

Mass Extinction That Killed the Dinosaurs Also Led to 'Explosive Radiations of Frogs'

5 Extinctions That Wiped Much of Life off Planet Earth

8 Ways Domestic Cats Are a Serious Threat to Nature

Tool-Using Hawaiian Crows Join Bird Version of MENSA

African Elephant Populations Are Declining 8% Per Year

Study Says Dinosaurs Were Dying Off Long Before Massive Asteroid Hit Earth

To Save Their Species, These Prehistoric Animals Mated Early and Died Young

9 Ways Dinosaurs Are Just Like Birds

Why We Track Asteroids Like the One That Flew by This Week

Dodos Were Probably Pretty Smart, Study Finds

Science Explains This Duck’s Rare Pink Feathers

New Jersey Fossil Haven Might Reveal What Killed Off the Dinosaurs

Nearly One-Third of Cacti Are at Risk of Becoming Extinct

What’s Killing All the Frogs?

10 Wild Facts About the (Now-Extinct) Tasmanian Tiger