extinction

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New Death Brings Rhino Species Down to Final 4

The northern white rhino is dying out before our eyes

(Newser) - The species was down to its last six members last fall. Then there were five . Now, with the death of a northern white rhino in a Czech zoo, there are just four of the animals left in a species already past the point of no return. Nabire, a 31-year-old female,...

Turtle Species on Brink as Artificial Insemination Fails

100-year-old would-be mom has more eggs on the way

(Newser) - Nearly eight dozen Infertile eggs disappointed researchers at the Turtle Survival Alliance this week—and could have serious consequences for an entire species. A female Yangtze giant softshell turtle at China’s Suzhou Zoo laid 89 eggs after being artificially inseminated , but none of them were viable, reports Scientific American...

Cougar Coming Off Endangered List ... for Very Bad Reason

Eastern cougar hasn't been seen since 1938

(Newser) - The eastern cougar no longer needs to be on a list of protected animals because it was killed off more than 70 years ago, the US Fish and Wildlife Service says. The agency now proposes shifting the subspecies from the endangered list to the extinct list, LiveScience reports. The FWS,...

World's Smallest Dolphin Could Vanish in 15 Years

Researchers call new study a 'loud wake-up call'

(Newser) - The world's smallest dolphin, found only off the coast of New Zealand, could disappear within 15 years unless efforts are taken to bring the critically endangered animal back from the brink of extinction. In what they deem a "loud wake-up call," researchers at German conservation group NABU...

60% of Our Giant Herbivores Are in Trouble

Study finds they face risk of extinction

(Newser) - A new study published in Science Advances is being described as "horribly bleak," at least as far as rhinos, camels, and elephants are concerned: It finds that the majority of the planet's giant herbivores face the risk of extinction. The wildlife ecologists write that while about 4,...

Worst Case for Oceans: Another 'Great Dying'

Study blames Permian mass extinction on ocean acidity

(Newser) - The planet's greatest extinction —the Permian mass extinction, or the "Great Dying"—wiped out around 90% of marine species and two-thirds of those on land over 60,000 years. Some 252 million years later, researchers are explaining what happened—and it may not bode well for...

Science Just Got Closer to Elephant-Mammoth Hybrid

But so far, it's just cells in a petri dish

(Newser) - For the first time since the woolly mammoth went extinct, its genes are working again, Popular Science reports. Sure, it's only in a lab; woolly mammoths haven't wandered the planet for about 4,000 years. But the effort at Harvard has brought the return of the animal a...

Scientists Replay Call, Bird Last Seen in 1941 Surfaces

Jerdon's babbler spotted in Burma

(Newser) - Good news courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society: An apparently "extinct" bird last seen in Burma almost 75 years ago has flown back into view. The Jerdon's babbler, or Chrysomma altirostre, initially discovered in 1862, was spotted in grasslands near the town of Myitkyo in July 1941 but...

Near Extinction: Turtle That Breathes Through Its Butt

In the right conditions, the white-throated snapping turtle can live to 100

(Newser) - The days of the white-throated snapping turtle (Elseya albagula) appear to be numbered, according to the Australian government, which has recently declared them critically endangered. If that isn't attention-grabbing enough, consider that the animal prompted a biologist to talk like this: "These turtles breathe out of their ass,...

1 of Last 6 Northern White Rhinos Dies

San Diego Zoo's Angalifu leaves no heirs

(Newser) - The number of northern white rhinos left on the planet can now be counted on one hand. Angalifu, one of the last six members of the species remaining and one of only two males, died yesterday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, apparently of old age, the San Diego ...

Scientists May Have Saved Continent's Rarest Mammal

Black-footed ferret is making a comeback

(Newser) - The black-footed ferret is the rarest mammal on the continent, but conservation efforts are making strides in preventing it from disappearing altogether. That's what people thought had happened 35 years ago, when the animal was declared extinct—for the second time. But after a dog found a black-footed ferret...

Scientists Resurrect the Dodo Bird

Scientists create a 3D digital model of the specimen

(Newser) - When it comes to extinct creatures, few are as commonly known as the dodo. But when it comes to the dodo, few facts have been established about how the flightless birds lived. A new study of the bird unlocks some of its mysteries. As a press release explains, there is...

Eggs' Shape May Have Helped Birds Outlive Dinosaurs

Study suggests differences played a role

(Newser) - So why did birds survive the mass extinction that wiped out their dinosaur relatives? A new study suggests that the shape of their eggs played a role, reports the BBC . Scientists aren't sure exactly what that role was, but they do know that eggs of survivor birds were shaped...

Ancient Giant Kangaroos Too Heavy to Hop

Their lumbering gait may have been their undoing

(Newser) - It isn't just recently that humans have hunted animals to extinction. It appears that 100,000 years ago a giant kangaroo lived in the Australian Outback, where it walked instead of hopped. But perhaps due to its slowness, the creature was an easy target for hunters who arrived somewhere...

World Lost Half Its Wildlife in 40 Years

WWF finds decline is even worse than it thought

(Newser) - The World Wildlife Fund has improved its methods of measuring the world's wildlife populations—and discovered that the situation is even worse than previously thought. In its Living Planet report , the numbers are stark: Populations of vertebrate species—including mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles—fell by a staggering average...

1st Arctic Dwellers Lived There for 4K Years

The Dorsets never mixed DNA with other peoples, study says

(Newser) - An ancient people lived in the Arctic a thousand years ago, leaving behind few clues to explain their heritage or sudden disappearance. Now a new DNA study sheds light on the so-called Dorset people, saying they migrated from Asia around 3000 BC and became the first settlers in the North...

More Elephants Being Killed Than Born

35K killed annually since 2010; deaths driven by illegal ivory trade

(Newser) - A new study tallying the African elephant population has made a stark finding: If poaching continues at its current rate, the animal may be extinct in a century, the BBC reports. "We are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent," says the study'...

&#39;Bad Timing&#39; Wiped Out Dinosaurs
 'Bad Timing' 
 Wiped Out 
 Dinosaurs 
in case you missed it
Aug 2, 2014 11:59 AM CDT

'Bad Timing' Wiped Out Dinosaurs

Asteroid hit at just the wrong time, researchers say

(Newser) - The huge asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago was very bad timing for the dinosaurs, a new study says—it wiped them out, but they probably would have survived if it had hit at a "more convenient" time. The impact in what is now Mexico is almost...

We're Eating 'Scaly Anteaters' Into Extinction

Some think their scales have medicinal qualities

(Newser) - Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are the only known mammals in the world to sport scales. But people are eating them and using their scales for their perceived medicinal value, and now all eight pangolin species are nearing extinction. Just a few days ago, officials in Vietnam found 1....

New Effort: Bring Passenger Pigeon Back to Life

As Smithsonian honors 100th anniversary of the last one's death

(Newser) - The passenger pigeon was once so plentiful, a flock of billions darkened Ontario's skies for 14 hours in 1866; the birds were considered a "poor man's food," the AP reports, to the point that domestic workers tired of eating so many. But their numbers dwindled shockingly...

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