People do care about extinct species, but not for long – new study: Lonesome George was discovered motionless in his enclosure, one morning in June 2012. Overnight, George had taken not only his final breath but the final breath of his entire species, the Pinta Island tortoise, as it faded into extinction. Obituaries for George …
Giraffes could go extinct – the 5 biggest threats they face: Giraffes are the world’s tallest mammals and an African icon, but they are also vulnerable to extinction. Giraffe populations have declined by 40% in the last 30 years, and there are now fewer than 70,000 mature individuals left in the wild. What are the …
New species of cobra-like snake discovered – but it may already be extinct: Hemachatus nyangensis in Nyanga National Park, Zimbabwe Donald Broadley, Author provided Around the world, natural history museums hold a treasure trove of knowledge about Earth’s animals. But much of the precious information is sealed off to genetic scientists because formalin, the chemical …
Why we think that some extinct giant flying reptiles cared for their young: Pteranodon was a large-bodied pterosaur. YuRi Photolife / Shutterstock Our understanding of animal behaviour depends on observation. Researchers can study how animals are born, grow and develop. We can gather evidence of how they interact with each other and their environment. But …
Meg 2: the truth about the extinct mega shark – and why even this ridiculous film could inspire future palaeontologists: Otodus megalodon, the biggest shark of all time, has long captured the imaginations of palaeontologists and the public alike. Scientific fascination spawns from the sheer enormity of their fossilised teeth. As big as human hands …
Meet the gigantic extinct reptile that weighed as much as an adult black rhino: Three 3D views of _Bradysaurus baini_ specimen. Scale bar equals 50 cm. Credit: Fabio Manucci and Marco Romano Around 262 million years ago, during the middle Permian Period, a new family of reptiles emerged. Pareiasaurs – meaning “cheek lizards”, a reference …
Putting the bones of giant, extinct ‘thunderbirds’ under the microscope reveals how they grew: An artist's reconstruction of the giant _Dromornis stirtoni_. Peter Trusler © The largest flightless bird found anywhere in the world today is the ostrich. It stands about 2.5 metres tall and can weigh up to 240kg. But millions of years ago …
What if the dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct? Why our world might look very different: Ajnabia odysseus lived 66 million years ago, making it one of the last dinosaurs on Earth Raul Martin Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid hit the Earth with the force of 10 billion atomic bombs and changed the course of evolution. …
A fossil cranium from Kenya tells the story of an extinct elephant species: 4.5 million-year-old cranium of the fossil elephant Loxodonta adaurora, from Ileret, Kenya, in right lateral and front views. Figure courtesy of Carol Abraczinskas, University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology Some 4.5 million years ago, during the early Pliocene epoch, Kenya’s Lake Turkana …
Baby giant pterosaurs may have driven smaller species extinct, fossil discovery shows: An artist's representation of the hatchling pterosaurs. Megan Jacobs, Author provided Pterosaurs, the flying cousins of the dinosaurs, reached immense sizes in the late Cretaceous period (100-66 million years ago), some species with wingspans of perhaps more than ten metres. Their ancestors during …
Homo longi: extinct human species that may replace Neanderthals as our closest relatives found in China: What our relative may have looked like. CREDIT Chuang Zhao In 1933 a mysterious fossil skull was discovered near Harbin City in the Heilongjiang province of north-eastern China. Despite being nearly perfectly preserved – with square eye sockets, thick …
New study reveals the secrets of an ancient, extinct super predator: A live reconstruction of Anteosaurus attacking a herbivorous Moschognathus. Artwork by Alex Bernardini @SimplexPaléo Some 260 million to 265 million years ago, a huge creature called Anteosaurus roamed what is today the African continent. This period was known as the middle Permian – and …
Dire wolves went extinct 13,000 years ago but thanks to new genetic analysis their true story can now be told: North America during the late Pleistocene: a pack of dire wolves (red hair) are feeding bison while a pair of grey wolves approach in the hopes of scavenging. Mauricio Antón, Author provided Thanks to the …
Zoos are key to the planet’s healthy future – don’t let them go extinct: The coronavirus pandemic has caused significant disruption to all businesses, but zoos seemed to have struggled more than most. Around the world all have recognised the same challenge: without paying visitors, their survival is at stake. Some have already lost the …
Will humans go extinct? For all the existential threats, we’ll likely be here for a very long time: RomanRaD/Shutterstock Will our species go extinct? The short answer is yes. The fossil record shows everything goes extinct, eventually. Almost all species that ever lived, over 99.9%, are extinct. Some left descendants. Most – plesiosaurs, trilobites, Brontosaurus …
Monkey teeth fossils hint several extinct species crossed the Atlantic: New research suggests African monkeys crossed to South America earlier than previously thought. PhotoFires/Shutterstock Most mammal fossils are visually unimpressive: a handful of teeth here and a fragment of bone there. Some are not even enough to identify the species they belonged to. But even …
Not extinct: Bizarre pelican-looking spiders that hunt other spiders thrive in Madagascar: Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer View text version of this page Help using this website – Accessibility statement Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your …
Rare butterfly previously feared extinct discovered in Northern Ireland: A surveyor from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has discovered a rare butterfly previously thought to be extinct in the province. Last recorded from its only known site in 2001, it was feared that the butterfly was extinct in Northern Ireland. : Weird News ‘I waited …