extinction

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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...

Reason Mammoths Went Extinct? Blame Humans

Massive die-off correlates with us, not so much climate change

(Newser) - What caused the extinctions of the wooly mammoth, giant sloth, mastodon, and other beasts? A new study makes a strong case that the answer is us. Scientists have long argued over the cause of the "Quaternary extinction"—which took out vast numbers of large mammals about 12,000...

World on Brink of 6th Great Extinction
 World on Brink of 
 6th Great Extinction 
STUDY SAYS
May 30, 2014 7:47 AM CDT

World on Brink of 6th Great Extinction

Humanity has raised extinction rate a thousandfold

(Newser) - Human activity is wiping out species of plants and animals at a dizzying rate, leaving the world on the verge of the sixth great extinction in its history, a new study warns. Researchers found that species are vanishing around 10 times faster than previously believed—and 1,000 times faster...

'Extinct' Shark Found —at Fish Market

Smoothtooth blacktip is alive and apparently tasty

(Newser) - The smoothtooth blacktip shark isn't quite as extinct as scientists had believed it to be, say researchers who found one for sale in a Kuwait fish market. Further research in the region turned up another 47 specimens of the shark, though the only one previously known to scientists was...

West African Lions on Brink of Extinction

There are fewer than 250 adults left, surprise study finds

(Newser) - Lions are on the verge of extinction in West Africa, a stunning new survey has concluded, after years of harrowing treks in search of them. When researchers started their search in 2005, the lions, a distinct species from their east and south African brethren, were believed to inhabit 21 protected...

Bees Nearly Disappeared With Dinosaurs
 Bees Nearly 
 Disappeared 
 With Dinosaurs 
study says
Oct 26, 2013 6:05 AM CDT

Bees Nearly Disappeared With Dinosaurs

Researchers find evidence of mass die-off 65M years ago

(Newser) - Bees may be in trouble today with colony collapse disorder, but new research suggests they've been down this road before. Scientists have determined for the first time that modern carpenter bees all but disappeared 65 million years ago, the same time that dinosaurs got wiped out, reports the BBC...

Scientists Looking to Reverse Extinction

New techniques could bring back long-lost creatures

(Newser) - Human activity and other factors have annihilated countless species over the last few hundred thousand years, but researchers now believe some of those creatures aren't necessarily gone forever, the New York Times finds. Cloning requires an intact cell, but advances in technology mean that it could be possible to...

19% Reptiles at Risk of Extinction
 19% of Reptiles at 
 Risk of Extinction 
New Study
Feb 15, 2013 6:59 AM CST

19% of Reptiles at Risk of Extinction

Study reviewed 1,500 species

(Newser) - Farming and logging are destroying the habitats of the world's reptiles, putting nearly one in five in danger of extinction, reports AFP . The new study—in which 200 experts examined 1,500 species of snakes, turtles, lizards, crocodiles, and other reptiles—claims to be the most comprehensive made of...

Extinct Toothy Lizard Named After Obama

Obamadon gracilis disappeared with the dinosaurs

(Newser) - President Obama's toothy grin inspired researchers to name a newly discovered species of prehistoric lizard after him. Obamadon gracilis, a small, insect-eating lizard found in northwest Montana, went extinct along with the dinosaurs after a giant asteroid hit Earth around 65 million years ago. "The lizard has these...

Debate Rages as Wolves Become Fair Prey Again

Ranchers, activists face off over 1st wolf-hunting in 39 years

(Newser) - With wolves coming off federal assistance , they will soon become prey again—so officials, hunters, and wildlife activists are sniping at each other before the hunt begins, the Washington Post reports. "It’s hard to fathom that you can be deserving of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act...

St. Lucia Racer Now World's Rarest Snake

Team finds 11 of snake once thought extinct

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to drum up support for saving a creature they describe as gentle and comfortable with humans—but not particularly huggable. After months of searching, researchers found and tagged 11 St. Lucia racers, a snake believed to be the world's rarest, in a nature reserve on a...

Oceans Acidifying at Highest Rate in 300M Years

Columbia researchers warn of dangers to marine life

(Newser) - Industrial emissions are causing the oceans to acidify at a fast rate—the fastest in 300 million years, say researchers from Columbia University. That could spell danger for sea creatures. In the last century alone, the pH of the oceans dropped by 0.1 units. That's 10 times faster...

Men Not Going Extinct After All
 Men Not Going Extinct After All 
Feb 23, 2012 4:45 AM CST

Men Not Going Extinct After All

Y chromosome is steadier than science used to think

(Newser) - Relax, guys. It's no longer certain at all that you'll be extinct in 100,000 years, as one genetics professor predicted. Another scientist had decided that the all-important (to men) Y chromosome was losing genes at a rate that would make it non-existent in some 5 million years,...

Thai Elephants' New Threat: Poachers After Their Meat

Some Asian cultures believe flesh will boost one's sexual prowess

(Newser) - A new gastronomic fad in Thailand is pushing the country's elephants a step closer to extinction. Poachers, who have historically hunted elephants to obtain their ivory tusks, are now killing the giant mammals and selling their trunks and sexual organs to be eaten as food, reports the AP . Consumption...

Deforestation Could Wipe Out Sumatran Elephants

Creatures face extinction in 30 year

(Newser) - If deforestation isn't slowed right away, wild Sumatran elephants could be extinct within three decades, environmentalists say. The creatures have been labeled "critically endangered," with their numbers cut in half since 1985; now, only 2,400 to 2,800 remain. The forests of Sumatra in Indonesia—host...

'Extinct' Galapagos Tortoise Still Alive

DNA shows that species thought wiped out in 1840s is on different island

(Newser) - Scientists have located survivors of a giant Galapagos tortoise species thought to have gone extinct back in the 1840s. Researchers testing the DNA of 1,600 tortoises on Isabela Island in the Galapagos discovered that at least 84 were offspring of a species that originally lived on nearby Floreana Island,...

Frankincense Is &#39;Doomed&#39;
 Frankincense Is 'Doomed' 
Dec 21, 2011 9:22 AM CST

Frankincense Is 'Doomed'

Ethiopia's population of the trees that produce it are dying

(Newser) - Gold and myrrh could one day find themselves a duo: Frankincense may soon be extinct. The tree that the perfumed resin is sourced from—boswellia papyrifera—grows mainly in northern Ethiopia ... or traditionally has. Today, as many as 7% of the trees there are dying annually, according to researchers, who...

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