There are so few wild ocelots in the US that the cats are becoming inbred, with a bad prognosis for their ultimate survival. But researchers are perfecting ways to get new genes into the population.
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Articles on Endangered animals
Displaying 1 - 20 of 41 articles
Between 250 and 200 million years ago, a whole host of bizarre horseshoe crabs had evolved in two distinct groups. Only one of these groups survives.
Saving our threatened species shouldn’t be seen as a cost, but rather a very savvy investment to ensure the support systems sustaining life on Earth remain intact.
Planting trees can sometimes be a carbon-offset box-ticking exercise, but reforestation is a long-term commitment that supports communities, promotes biodiversity and tackles the climate emergency.
Scientists and bureaucrats moved logistical mountains to rescue the eastern bristlebird from bushfires this year. As climate change worsens, wildlife evacuations will become more common.
The story of the Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spider offer insight into the challenges ahead for invertebrates – the tiny engines of Australia’s biodiversity – after this year’s cataclysmic fires.
I’ve worked in threatened fish conservation and management for more than 35 years, but this species is special to me.
The Kaputar rock skink is thought to have have one of the smallest ranges of any reptile in New South Wales – at the summit of a single extinct volcano, Mount Kaputar.
One vet suggested bushfire smoke had killed the smoky mouse – and asked, in a nod to the species’ name, if this was a case of “death by irony”.
When the post-bushfire rains finally arrived, the situation for many fish species went from dangerous to catastrophic. A slurry of ash and mud washed into waterways, sending oxygen levels plummeting.
A chemical refined from the blue, copper-based blood of horseshoe crabs helps identify contaminants in medical equipment inserted into humans.
Koalas are notoriously difficult to detect. Traditional methods are costly and labour intensive. So we found a more efficient way to locate koalas in eastern NSW, using drones.
At current rates, the rattlesnake population in British Columbia could be severely depleted by 2060.
Pangolins are illegally traded, linked to the coronavirus pandemic and driven to extinction in some areas. That’s why it’s vital to reintroduce this threatened species back into the wild.
How fast can an animal run? How intense was the fire? Picking which species to help after a bushfire tragedy is no easy task.
Fish, frogs, turtles and platypus at major risk of extinction following the bushfires. So why aren’t they getting much attention?
Without an emergency cull of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park, the land cannot recover from the bushfires – and threatened species are at grave risk of being annihilated.
It’s been a deadly summer for Australia’s wildlife. But beyond the fires, we need to act now to protect bats – which make up a quarter of Australian mammal species – from a silent overseas killer.
In a matter of weeks, the fires have subverted decades of dedicated conservation efforts for many threatened species.
After the woolly mammoth and other megafauna became extinct, surviving animals mingled less. This has big implications for modern conservation.
Top contributors
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Professor (conservation biology), Charles Darwin University
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland
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Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
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Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow, The University of Queensland
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Professor, Australian National University
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Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology, University of New England
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Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Senior Lecturer, Griffith University
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Professor, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow, UNSW Sydney
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Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
