Extinction

Latest in Extinction

Anatomically accurate sculpture of a dodo
Science

The dodo was faster and smarter than you think

By Andrew Paul

a bunch of yellow bananas
Environment

Bananas are at risk of extinction, but scientists have a plan

By Laura Baisas

Illustration of woolly mammoth walking icy plain
Animals

The last woolly mammoths were impressively inbred—but that’s not what killed them

By Andrew Paul

Golden Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) in the Red Sea, Egypt
Climate Change

Mass extinction 183 million years ago offers dire warning for modern oceans

By Andrew Paul

a large bird with blue plummage and orange eyes called a cassowary
Environment

The world’s most dangerous bird is at risk of extinction

By Laura Baisas

a collection of woolly mammoth figurines on petri dishes on a blue background to represent Colossal's de-extinction project
Environment

Is de-extinction only a pipette dream? This startup has a big, expensive plan to find out.

By Andrew Zaleski

A volcano spews lava and ash. In roughly 250 million years, massive tectonic activity could push together all of our current landmasses into a supercontinent like Pangea and make the climate inhospitable to humans and other mammals.
Science

A boiling hot supercontinent could kill all mammals in 250 million years

By Laura Baisas

Four skulls of human ancestors A. africanus, A. afarensis, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, and one modern human skull.
Science

An ‘ancestral bottleneck’ took out nearly 99 percent of the human population 800,000 years ago

By Laura Baisas

Small feathered dinosaurs Kongonaphon kely partying with champagne in front of an erupting volcano and fiery asteroid during the Triassic mass extinction. Illustrated in orange, purple, and yellow.
Science

Dinosaurs survived one mass extinction, but then their luck ran out

By Riley Black

Paleontologist with a laser scanner over plant imprints and other fossils in a seabed in British Columbia, Canada
Environment

These weird marine critters paved the way for the ‘Cambrian explosion’ of species

By Kate Baggaley

a t rex skeleton on a black isolated bakchround
Science

The fiery end of the dinosaurs kicked off the golden age of mammals

By Riley Black

a dinosaur footprint in rock
Science

It was probably springtime when an asteroid did the dinosaurs in

By Kate Baggaley

Feathered Caudipteryx dinosaurs drinking from a sandy river among palm trees before the asteroid hit
Science

June was probably a terrible month to be a dinosaur. Here’s how we know.

By Michael J. Benton / The Conversation

Periwinkles in a saucepan next to a small plate of bread and a glass of cider from an invasives-species menu at Juniper Bar and Restaurant in Burlington, Vermont
Environment

Welcome to invasivorism, the boldest solution to ethical eating yet

By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling

Brown and white extinct Haast's eagle with talons sunk into a furry carcass
Environment

This 30-pound eagle would take down 400-pound prey and dig through their organs

By Margo Milanowski

Goodbye to the Molokai creeper, scioto madtom, and 21 other species, now declared extinct
Environment

Goodbye to the Molokai creeper, scioto madtom, and 21 other species, now declared extinct

By Margo Milanowski

thylacines at national zoo
Environment

Identifying animals in photos is trickier than you might think

By Philip Kiefer

view from above an erupting volcano
Science

A volcanic eruption may have helped the dinosaurs take over the world

By Rachael Zisk

Rhinos with oxpeckers on their back.
Environment

Rhinos pay a painful price for oxpecker protection

By Sara Kiley Watson

a screenshot of a video game
Science

Animal Crossing’s most elusive fish has a bizarre real-life backstory

By Popular Science Team