Gerardo Ceballos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Analysis of extinction rates over the past centuries shows that humans are causing the sixth mass extinction in the history of the Earth.
Hold on: before we bring dinosaurs back to life as in Jurassic World, we need to look at other extinct critters first.
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Jurassic World is opening in cinemas this Thursday and again raises the idea of resurrecting extinct creatures. But there’s plenty of other contenders before we even think of recreating dinosaurs.
More mines, more roads, as the government puts its drive towards economic development ahead of all else.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Amid talk of paths to surplus and investing in infrastructure, both sides of politics seem to have forgotten Australia’s longstanding responsibility to govern sustainably, and not just for the economy.
The mountain rainforests of Australia’s Wet Tropics are extremely vulnerable to climate change.
kara brugman/Flickr
Gaze out from the deck of a boat and you will see an ocean that was, in Henry David Thoreau’s phrase, “equally wild and unfathomable always”. There’s a stark contrast in appearance here between the apparently…
The Bramble Cay melomys - the latest in a long line of extinct Australian mammals.
Queensland Government
Last July, the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, announced the appointment of Gregory Andrews as Australia’s first Threatened Species Commissioner. His mission: to help avert the extinction of a…
Coral reefs are like an underwater metropolis – and function in similar ways.
Simon Gingins
Consensus is growing that we are steering towards a sixth mass extinction event. There are calls for increased efforts to stop the accelerating loss of plants and animals. But do we really need to protect…
Island getaway: Tasmanian Devils have been moved to offshore islands to save them from a devastating disease.
AAP Image/David Beniuk
Australia is in the grip of an extinction crisis. Our unique animals, plants, and ecosystems are rapidly ebbing away in a process that began more than 200 years ago with European settlement. Feral cats…
Dodos are best kept in museums these days.
net_efekt
My wildlife friends and I often talk about what species we would bring back from extinction. I am torn between the dodo and the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger. This was once a speculative…
Zoos provide succor for species having a tough time of it in the wild.
B. A. Minteer
Today, many zoos promote the protection of biodiversity as a significant part of their mission. As conservation “arks” for endangered species and, increasingly, as leaders in field conservation projects…
During a speech in Parliament on October 17 1996 — 18 years ago today — then Liberal MP Richard Evans called for the “total eradication of domestic and feral cats from the Australian mainland and offshore…
Indigenous rangers at the Fish River Station in the Northern Territory.
Indigenous Land Corporation
There are places in Australia that are awe-inspiring, spectacular, mysterious; they touch our spirit and help define our nation. Kakadu is one, Uluru another, the magnificent red sandy deserts, the Kimberley…
People are becoming more aware of the wold’s biodiversity, but the crisis continues.
Chris Ford/Flickr
James Whitmore, The Conversation y Nadia Wu, The Conversation
Globally, biodiversity is in trouble, and new research shows that the situation is unlikely to improve over the next five years. Researchers from around the world analysed global progress towards meeting…
Going, going, gone: wildlife like the loris are disappearing.
N. A. Naseer
Full marks to colleagues at the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London for the Living Planet Report 2014 and its headline message which one hopes ought to shock the world out of its complacency…
A dead coral reef in the Caribbean. Coral reefs are extremely vulnerable to climate change and ocean acidification.
superqq/Flickr
Scientists are coming to the conclusion that we are on the brink of a mass extinction — the sixth known in the history of the Earth, and the latest since an asteroid killed off the dinosaurs 65 million…
Gump, who died in May, was the last known member of her species.
Director of National Parks/Supplied
Among the most haunting and evocative images of Australian wildlife are the black and white photographs of the last Thylacine, languishing alone in Hobart Zoo. It’s an extraordinary reminder of how close…
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University