EXTINCTION

How Mammoth Poop Gave Us Pumpkin Pie

When you express gratitude with your loved ones this Thanksgiving, don’t forget to be grateful for mammoth poop.

8 Animals That Were the Last of Their Species

From Benjamin the thylacine to Lonesome George the Pinta Island Tortoise, these endlings had an unfortunate claim to fame.

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

10 Tragic Stories of Extinct Animals

The dodo isn't the only tragic tale.

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

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

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.

5 Rediscovered Species That Made Headlines In 2017

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

DNA Tests Show ‘Extinct’ Penguin Species Never Existed

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

Leon Brooks, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

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

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

5 Extinctions That Wiped Much of Life off Planet Earth

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

8 Ways Domestic Cats Are a Serious Threat to Nature

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

Tool-Using Hawaiian Crows Join Bird Version of MENSA

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

Gone But Not Forgotten: Travel Posters Highlight Extinct Animals

It's too late to discover the wonders of Costa Rica's golden toad or go to Mauritius to see the dodo.

African Elephant Populations Are Declining 8% Per Year

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

Tiger Populations Are Rising for the First Time in 100 Years Thanks to Local Tribes

Indigenous communities in India are peacefully coexisting with tigers, helping to bolster the numbers of the endangered populations around them.

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

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

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

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

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

9 Ways Dinosaurs Are Just Like Birds

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

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

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.

Dodos Were Probably Pretty Smart, Study Finds

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

Science Explains This Duck’s Rare Pink Feathers

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

Mantua Township Fossil Heritage via Facebook

New Jersey Fossil Haven Might Reveal What Killed Off the Dinosaurs

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

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

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

What’s Killing All the Frogs?

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

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

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

Synthetic Rhino Horns Could Reduce Poaching

The hope is that these fake horns—produced in a lab using synthetic rhino horn DNA—will put poachers out of business.

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