Latest Extinction Stories
Dr Jack Musick, emeritus professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has overseen a global study suggesting that 33 percent of shark, skate, and ray species are threatened with extinction.
Nearly one out of every five vertebrates in the world are currently threatened with extinction--and things would be worse were it not for the efforts of conservationists across the globe--a new study set to be published in the journal Science has discovered.
Recent work by Dr. David Lohman, assistant professor of biology at The City College of New York, suggests the Philippines, considered by biologists to be a â€œbiodiversity hotspot,â€ could have more unique species of birds than previously thought.
Delegates from the United Nations (UN) met to discuss ways to protect plant and animal life as a 12-day international conference on biodiversity kicked off Monday in Nagoya, Japan.
The WWF reported on Wednesday that carbon pollution and overusing Earth's natural resources will leave us needing another planet to meet our needs by 2030.
YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., Oct.
Computational biologists at the University of Pennsylvania say that species are still accumulating on Earth but at a slower rate than in the past.
A recently publsihed study reports that over a third of mammal species considered extinct or missing have been rediscovered, and a lot of effort is wasted in trying to find species that have no chance of being found again.
More than one-fifth of the world's plant population could face the threat of extinction.
Gardeners are used to cross-breeding flowers to produce pretty petals or sweet scents -- now scientists have shown the importance of nature's talent for producing new types of flowers.
The Hawaiian Rail (Porzana sandwichensis), known also as the Hawaiian Crake or the Hawaiian Spotted Rail, was a rather enigmatic species of minuscule rail that resided on Big Island of Hawaii, but is currently extinct. A dark form and a lighter form are known. There is considerable confusion by the existence of two distinct forms. While it can’t be completely excluded that early specimens were collected on another island, only O’ahu and Kaua’I seem plausible given the history of...
The Waitoreke is a cryptid from New Zealand described as being otter-like. Its name derived from “Wai” is a Maori word for water. The rest of the word has different translations, but the common one is “toreke,” which means to disappear. Together the name could translate into “disappears into water” or another translation is a “disappearing water specter.” The usual description is a small otter-like creature about the size of a cat. It has brownish short fur and short...
The Red Rail (Aphanapteryx bonasia) is an extinct and flightless rail. It was native to the Mascarene island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar within the Indian Ocean. It had a close relative on Rodrigues Island, the likewise extinct Rodrigues Rail, with which it’s sometimes considered congeneric. Its relationship with other rail isn’t clear. Rails frequently evolve flightlessness when adapting to isolated islands. It was slightly larger than a chicken and had reddish and hair-like...
Commonly known as the Eurasian cave lion or the European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is thought to have lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and may have lived in the Balkans in southeastern Europe until 2,000 years ago. The range of this cave lion would have included northwestern North America, Asia, and areas of Europe and would have extended from Germany, Spain, and Great Britain to the Yukon Territory. Its range also extended from Turkistan to...
The short-faced bear is an extinct genus of bears that was native to North America during the Pleistoscene era. Other common names include Arctodus and the bulldog bear. There are two subspecies of the short-faced bear, and one of them, Aroctodus simus, is thought to have been the largest terrestrial mammal on earth. Placed into a group of bears known as running bears or the tremarctine bears, this genus was found in Europe and the Americas. The earliest member of the tremarchtine group,...
- A handkerchief.
- Specifically— The legendary sweat-cloth; the handkerchief of St. Veronica, according to tradition miraculously impressed with the mask of Christ; also, the napkin about Christ's head (Johu xx. 7).
- In general, any miraculous portrait of Christ.