Spix’s macaw is now extinct in the wild. Conservation programs in Brazil maintain the last 70 or so individuals from this species.
(Shutterstock)
While Hail Mary conservation efforts can pull birds back from the brink, an extinction wave still looms.
EPA-EFE/CPL Tristan Kennedy/First Joint Public Affairs Unit handout
The ecological costs of huge, repetitive, high-severity wildfires on ecosystems could be colossal.
Invertebrates out greatly outnumber mammals everywhere, including in bushfire zones.
Michael Lee
Once you include insects, snails, worms and other small creatures, it’s clear the fires could cause one of the biggest extinction events of the modern era.
Birds are disoriented by smoke and often cannot escape a fire.
James Ross/AAP
In a matter of weeks, the fires have subverted decades of dedicated conservation efforts for many threatened species.
Wikimedia Commons/Cloudordinary
Overhunting of megafauna such as mammoths may have force us to take up farming, ultimately leading to modern society
If coffee and wine are things you love, then you need to pay attention to climate change.
Shutterstock/Ekaterina Pokrovsky
People tend to pay attention when things get personal, so you need to know how climate change is damaging things in your life.
The now extinct great auk.
John Gerrard Keulemans
Understanding why the great auk went extinct could help protect species still living today.
Over the coming months, koalas will depend on wildlife hospitals to recover from the effects of unprecedented bushfires.
Lachlan G. Howell
Unprecedented fires are devastating koalas along Australia’s east coast. These sudden drops in population put the survivors at risk of inbreeding.
Scientists need your help to protect Australia’s insects and track their numbers.
Joe Castro/AAP
Insects are vital to sustaining life on Earth – and their numbers are falling fast. So consider ditching the fly spray and see what you can do to help.
The Tasmanian tiger is among the best known of our extinct species, but researchers have now revealed the extent of the crisis.
TASMANIAN MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
New research has revealed 100 plant and animal species have become extinct in the past two centuries – a far higher number than previously thought.
Air, water, land and wildlife are tainted with thousands of chemicals that we cannot see, smell or touch — and may not be considered a threat to wildlife.
(Shutterstock)
Scientists have a new approach to understanding how pollution threatens species at risk in Canada.
Extinction of the woolly mammoth and other megafauna caused surviving animals to go their separate ways.
Wikimedia
After the woolly mammoth and other megafauna became extinct, surviving animals mingled less. This has big implications for modern conservation.
A fossilized bee in amber.
Fossilmuseum.net
How do we know that bees were around when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth? The main evidence comes from fossils – the mineralized remains of long-dead organisms.
Until its rediscovery, the silver-backed chevrotain was among Global Wildlife Conservation’s 25 “most wanted lost” species.
SIE/GWC/Leibniz-IZW/NCNP
This diminutive deer isn’t the only fantastical life form discovered in Vietnam. But hunting and habitat destruction threaten many with extinction.
Humans are probably causing what ice ages and asteroids caused before them.
Keith Roper/Flickr
The Earth has experienced five periods of mass extinction. Scientists can’t quite be certain yet, but they’re fairly sure we’re now well into the sixth.
Eastern-yellow robin. Some 60 per cent of the native birds of south-east mainland Australia have lost more than half of their natural habitat.
Graham Winterflood/Wikimedia Commons
Aside from their intrinsic value, common bird species might be one of the only ways we connect with nature in our everyday lives. But these opportunities are under threat.
Peter Porrini/Shutterstock.com
An obscure Russian prince lays claim to being the first person to announce that humanity may destroy itself through its own technological advancement.
Ton Bangkeaw/Shutterstock
Every cloud has a silver lining – even the debris cloud from an asteroid impact
NASA
Realising the silence of outer space was what made us appreciate our precarious position down on this pale blue dot – so beginning our obsession with extinction.
Photo Art Lucas/Shutterstock
We don’t notice the plant species we’re losing, but we won’t be able to ignore the effect of their loss on our supply of food and medicine.