Fossils Show Mass Extinction Occurred 10 Times Faster in Ocean
Studies of ancient mammal remains reveal how the planet’s biggest extinction event played out on land and in the sea.
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Future of Mammals Unknown Amid Perils of Climate Change, Study Finds
In evolutionary terms, mammals are arguably the most successful group in the history of the planet, colonizing virtually all terrestrial and most aquatic habitats. But little is known about how most mammals will respond to climate change.
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Volcanic Emissions Not Culpable for Most Recent Mass Extinction Event, Study Finds
An analysis of carbon dioxide levels in magma from the Deccan Traps of India tells a story about the mass extinction event 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs.
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Researchers Say Key Species Should Be Targeted for Conservation Efforts
New research finds that species with certain characteristics are at higher risk for extinction and perform unique functions within their environments.
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Rare Australian Bee Spotted After 100-Year Absence
A field researcher identified the bee, which faces new threats from rainforest degradation and wildfires.
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Alpine Plants at Risk of Extinction as Glaciers Disappear
Scientists studying the affects of glacial melt say a quarter of alpine flower species face extinction in the decades after glaciers disappear.
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Race to Save Bangladesh Hound From Extinction
In a rickety hut on the border with Bangladesh and India, two brothers are among the last local breeders of the Sarail hound, a dog on the brink of extinction.
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Mass Extinctions Occur Every 27 Million Years, Study Finds
Scientists from New York University have found that mass extinctions of land-based animals are more predictable than previously thought, and occur roughly every 27 million years in a cycle likely due to our planetary orbit, according to a new study released Thursday.
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Climate Change Spurring Frog Extinctions: Conservationists
Three Central American frog species have gone extinct and many others may soon follow as their populations are ravaged by a fungus that is spreading faster because of climate change, conservationists said Thursday.
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Warning From the Past: Climate Change Likely Drove Early Human Species to Extinction
A new study suggests early humans may have been unable to pull through the harsh fluctuations in climate during their time and were ultimately led to extinction by climate change — a warning as we face the same threat today.
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Too Sexy to Survive? Swiss Wildcats’ Future in Doubt
The Swiss wildcat is in danger of becoming extinct because it is so attractive to the domestic cat, say experts.
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Scientists Identify New Mass Extinction Before Rise of Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs were decimated 66 million years ago after a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth and temperatures plunged worldwide as dust blotted out the sun. Yet dinosaurs had come to dominate the globe thanks to an earlier volcano-induced extinction event, scientists say in a new study.
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Long Gone, Ibex Gains Foothold in French Pyrenees
With a bumper litter of new kids, the recently introduced ibex population in the French Pyrenees is thriving more than a century after the native species of wild goats was wiped out in France.
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As Earth Warmed, Ancient Mastodons Headed Far North
A study published Tuesday offers evidence that the extinct forest-dwelling species known as the American mastodon routinely migrated to the upper latitudes of North America, lured by new vegetation during periods of interglacial warming over the last 800,000 years.
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Humans Off the Hook? Climate Change Killed Woolly Rhinos, Says Study
A woolly brown rhinoceros that weighed 2 tons once roamed northeastern Siberia before mysteriously disappearing around 14,000 years ago.
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Not Easy Eating Green: Herbivores Most at Extinction Risk
Although scientists often worry most about the loss of the world’s predators, a comprehensive new study finds that plant-eating herbivores are the animals most at risk of extinction.
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Habitat Loss Sparks Cascade of Ecosystem Damage: Study
The effects of shrinking habitats on wildlife are more profound and wide ranging than often assumed, a study published Wednesday found, as researchers warned that many forecasts underestimate how many species are lost in fragmented environments.
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Reef Tales: Candid Cams Reveal Shark Populations in Decline
An unprecedented global survey has revealed a shocking decline in the number of reef sharks, with the predators “functionally extinct” on nearly 20% of sites studied.
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Climate Change on Track to Wipe Out Polar Bears by 2100
Climate change is starving polar bears into extinction, according to research published Monday that predicts the apex carnivores could all but disappear within the span of a human lifetime.
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Nearly All Madagascar’s Lemur Species ‘Face Extinction’
Almost all species of lemur, the small saucer-eyed primates native to Madagascar, face extinction, an international conservation body warned on Thursday, adding to its growing list of animals and plants under threat.
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