species extinction

Dogs Are a Kiwi’s Best Friend (and Worst Enemy)

Dogs Are a Kiwi’s Best Friend (and Worst Enemy)

By Jason Bittel The kiwi is a small, flightless bird that spends most of the day underground. At night, these needle-billed, chicken-size floofs emerge to hunt insects, crayfish, seeds and fruit, but as they waddle through New Zealand’s forests, they create invisible scent trails. By morning, kiwis have often unwittingly led a predator back to […]

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    Geologists: Holocene Epoch Ended, ‘Anthropocene’ Started in 1950s

    Geologists: Holocene Epoch Ended, ‘Anthropocene’ Started in 1950s

    By Andrea Germanos A group of scientists said that the scope of human impact on planet Earth is so great that the “Anthropocene” warrants a formal place in the Geological Time Scale. “Our findings suggest that the Anthropocene should follow on from the Holocene Epoch that has seen 11.7 thousand years of relative environmental stability, […]

    ​North Atlantic Right Whales In Dangerous Decline, Study Confirms

    ​North Atlantic Right Whales In Dangerous Decline, Study Confirms

    By Giulia C.S. Good Stefani A new study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution confirms that the North Atlantic right whale—one of the world’s most endangered whales—has reversed course and is no longer recovering, but rather, is in perilous decline. The authors estimate the probability that the population is declining at 99.99 percent and […]

    Global Food Crops Also Face Earth’s Sixth Great Mass Extinction

    Global Food Crops Also Face Earth’s Sixth Great Mass Extinction

    Human civilization utterly depends on our precious food supplies, but the planet’s sixth mass extinction of plants and animals currently underway is also threatening the world’s food crops, according to a new report from Bioversity International. “Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply are just as […]

    The Sixth Extinction: Climate Change May Wipe Out a Third of World’s Parasites

    The Sixth Extinction: Climate Change May Wipe Out a Third of World’s Parasites

    As the U.S. continues to deal with unprecedented floods and hurricanes, a new study has revealed climate change is also driving the mass extinction of parasites that are critical to natural ecosystems, and could add to the planet’s sixth great mass extinction event that’s currently underway. The report in the journal Science Advances warns that […]

    Battle Begins to Restore Protections for Greater Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

    Battle Begins to Restore Protections for Greater Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

    By WildEarth Guardian Wednesday, WildEarth Guardians sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, challenging the agency’s flawed rule stripping grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Endangered Species Act protections. The service’s premature removal of crucial federal safeguards undermines the recovery of the species as a whole, while subjecting grizzlies stepping outside the safety […]

    381 New Species Discovered in the Amazon

    381 New Species Discovered in the Amazon

    A new WWF and Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development report, released Aug. 30, reveals that a new animal or plant species is discovered in the Amazon every two days, the fastest rate to be observed this century. The findings come as huge parts of the forest are increasingly under threat, sparking further concern over the […]

    Trump Administration Denies Pacific Bluefin Tuna Endangered Species Act Protection

    Trump Administration Denies Pacific Bluefin Tuna Endangered Species Act Protection

    The Trump administration rejected a petition Monday to protect imperiled Pacific bluefin tuna under the Endangered Species Act. This powerful apex predator, which commands top prices at fish auctions in Japan, has been overfished to less than 3 percent of its historic population. Although the National Marine Fisheries Service announced in October 2016 that it […]