extinction

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Populations May Need 2.7 Kids Per Woman to Survive

Study finds higher birth rates needed to 'reliably avoid long-term extinction'

(Newser) - Forget what you know about the replacement rate—new research suggests the world needs more children than previously thought to secure its future. A new study published Wednesday in PLOS One finds that human populations need at least 2.7 children per woman to "reliably avoid long-term extinction,...

Birds Give Us Another Sign of Our 'Slow-Moving Extinction Crisis'

Research finds 75% of bird species in North America are seeing a population decline

(Newser) - North America has a bird problem—not too many, but perhaps too few in the not-so-distant future. New research published Thursday in the journal Science reveals that 75% of the continent's bird species are on a downward spiral, seeing their populations decline between 2007 and 2021. The Washington Post...

Once 'Extinct,' the 'Tree Lobster' Gets a Second Chance

Rats had driven the Lord Howe Island phasmid to the brink, but a Czech zoo is now lending a hand

(Newser) - The Prague Zoo has joined an international effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect that had been considered extinct for more than 80 years. As the AP reports, the zoo is among six institutions around the world that have been able to create living conditions for the largest...

We Underestimated the Megalodon
We Underestimated
the Megalodon
NEW STUDY
Mar 11, 2025 1:16 PM CDT

We Underestimated the Megalodon

Extinct shark could've been as long as 2 school buses, as heavy as a blue whale

(Newser) - It hasn't been easy forming a picture of the megalodon , a massive shark that dominated the oceans millions of years ago, because fossil finds include only teeth and vertebrae . But researchers in 28 countries now believe they have a good idea of what the shark looked like after comparing...

Report: More Than a Third of Tree Species Are in Trouble

More than 16K are at risk of extinction, according to Global Tree Assessment

(Newser) - If the Lorax is still speaking for the trees, he's going to have a lot to say about the International Union for Conservation of Nature's first Global Tree Assessment. The report found that almost 35% of the world's tree species are at risk of extinction. More than...

Only 18 Red Wolves Exist in the US Wild. Rescue Efforts Are on

FWS expert says it's 'a serious roller coaster' to save the endangered species from cars, guns

(Newser) - Red wolves used to frolic throughout the eastern United States, their habitats stretching from Pennsylvania to Texas. Now, there are fewer than two dozen left in the wild, settled in a handful of counties in northeastern North Carolina. Experts are trying their best to save the endangered canine from extinction,...

Near Developer's Path: One of the Oldest Trees on Earth

Advocates say Jurupa Oak in California is at risk, fear promised protections fall short

(Newser) - A tree that was around when saber-tooth tigers roamed the land is still alive and kicking in Jurupa Valley, California. But despite surviving the last Ice Age and adapting to a warming climate, the Jurupa Oak might now be in danger of development, advocates fear. This week, the Jurupa Valley...

Southernmost Polar Bears Await the Death Knell
Southernmost
Polar Bears Await
the Death Knell
NEW STUDY
Jun 18, 2024 10:20 AM CDT

Southernmost Polar Bears Await the Death Knell

Populations in Canada's Hudson Bay to disappear by 2060s, according to new research

(Newser) - The world's southernmost polar bears could disappear within years due to warming temperatures, a bad omen for the rest of their brethren, researchers warn in a new report. Polar bears have long found a home on Canada's Hudson Bay, the largest northern inland sea, whose shallow waters freeze...

Scientists Attempt to Pull a Jurassic Park on Extinct Animal

Tasmanian tigers haven't been seen alive since the '30s, but Australians want to change that

(Newser) - Australia's thylacine, better known as the Tasmanian tiger, was deemed extinct in 1986, 50 years after the last known living one died in captivity. But the animal means so much to locals that people still spend significant time and money searching for them in the wild. And while there...

In Latest Climate Report, a 'Warning to Humanity'

Earth hit threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius over an entire year, with hottest January on record

(Newser) - World leaders walked away from the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference with the aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We've now hit that threshold over a yearlong period, European climate monitors announced Thursday. February...

Scientists Say They Know What Killed Off Giganto
Scientists Say They Know
What Killed Off Giganto
new study
Jan 10, 2024 1:25 PM CST

Scientists Say They Know What Killed Off Giganto

Study says the largest great ape to ever live went extinct because of climate change

(Newser) - The largest primate to ever live roamed southeastern Asia for more than a million years—but left behind plenty of mystery. Despite 85 years of searching, the fossil record for Gigantopithecus blacki—or giganto—is made up of just four jawbones and 2,000 teeth, and scientists didn't know...

A Fifth of Freshwater Fish Are in Big Trouble

Climate change adds to threats endangering thousands of species, researchers say

(Newser) - This has been a terrible year for the world's freshwater fish and a lot of work needs to be done to stop thousands of species from hurtling toward extinction in 2024, researchers say. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that about 21% of freshwater fish—3,086...

21 Species Off Endangered List—Because They're Extinct

US Fish and Wildlife Service pulls 10 bird species, 8 types of mussels, 2 fish, 1 fruit bat

(Newser) - Twenty-one animals have been removed from the Endangered Species Act because, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they're not endangered—they're extinct. The majority of the species—10 types of birds, eight types of mussels, two species of fish, and one type of bat—were listed...

Seeing This Image Was 'Most Surreal Moment of My Life'
Seeing This Image
Was 'Most Surreal
Moment of My Life'
in case you missed it
Nov 26, 2022 1:00 PM CST

Seeing This Image Was 'Most Surreal Moment of My Life'

Scientists capture footage of black-naped pheasant-pigeon for first time since 1882

(Newser) - The researchers had to gun it in their boat to outrun pirates after departing Fergusson Island off of Papua New Guinea. But as the BBC tells it, the likely adrenaline rush that produced may have been dwarfed by the one they experienced on the island itself. The eight-person team in...

Half of World's Palm Trees Face Extinction
Half of World's
Palm Trees
Go On the
'Red List'
new study
Sep 27, 2022 11:10 AM CDT

Half of World's Palm Trees Go On the 'Red List'

Which means they're at risk of extinction

(Newser) - A new study presents an alarming stat about what researchers call a "keystone" family of trees—more than half of the world's species of palm trees face extinction. The study in Nature Ecology and Evolution finds that more than 1,000 of the 1,900 different species are...

India Brings Back the Only Large Mammal It Has Lost

The country reintroduces cheetahs some 75 years after they were hunted to extinction

(Newser) - Cheetahs were hunted into extinction 75 years ago in India, making them "the only large mammal that India has lost," said a conservation expert in the country. "It is our moral and ethical responsibility to bring them back." On Saturday that responsibility was fulfilled, with eight...

Efforts Are Underway to 'De-Extinct' Tasmanian Tiger

Species has been extinct for almost a century

(Newser) - The thylacine, a striped, wolf-like animal better known as the Tasmanian tiger, once roamed the Australian mainland as well as the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. A Texas-based biosciences startup says they could be back within 10 years. The last known thylacine died in a zoo in 1936, but...

Giant Tortoise Presumed Extinct for a Century Is Very Much Alive

Fernanda is first fantastic giant tortoise seen in Galapagos since 1906, and only the 2nd ever

(Newser) - A Galapagos giant tortoise species observed only once more than a century ago on a remote volcanic island and thought to have gone extinct as a result of volcanic eruptions has turned up very much alive. A female "fantastic giant tortoise," which the Guardian reports is "significantly...

Most Americans Don't Want a Real-Life Jurassic Park

Majority are against bringing dinosaurs back from extinction, if that were an option, per YouGov poll

(Newser) - If you've ever fantasized about a world in which T. rex once more roamed the Earth, you're in a small minority. YouGov recently surveyed 2,000 American adults on how they felt about helping save endangered species, or even bringing back extinct ones, and the majority answered that...

Living Animals in White Rhino Breeding Program: One

Najin, one of 2 remaining northern white rhinos, has been retired

(Newser) - Hopes of saving the northern white rhinoceros now rest on a sole female, some frozen sperm, and a dozen embryos. There are just two northern white rhinos alive—females Najin and Fatu of Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy—whose eggs were extracted, then inseminated with frozen sperm from dead males...

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