News tagged with extinct species

Explosive evolution need not follow mass extinctions, says study of ancient zooplankton

Following one of Earth's five greatest mass extinctions, tiny marine organisms called graptoloids did not begin to rapidly develop new physical traits until about 2 million years after competing species became ...

Biology / Evolution

created 7 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Prolific plant hunters provide insight in strategy for collecting undiscovered plant species

Today's alarmingly high rate of plant extinction necessitates an increased understanding of the world's biodiversity. An estimated 15 to 30 percent of the world's flowering plants have yet to be discovered, making efficiency ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Borneo by new expedition

An international team of scientists has found one of the rarest and least known primates in Borneo, Miller's Grizzled Langur, a species which was believed to be extinct or on the verge of extinction. The team's ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Could Siberian volcanism have caused the Earth's largest extinction event?

Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian geologic period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Although the cause ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Earth's massive extinction: The story gets worse

Scientists have uncovered a lot about the Earth's greatest extinction event that took place 250 million years ago when rapid climate change wiped out nearly all marine species and a majority of those on land. ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (25) | comments 36 | with audio podcast

Capture of rare Sumatran rhino gives hope for species

Malaysian wildlife authorities said Monday the capture of a young female Borneo Sumatran rhino had given them a last chance to save the highly endangered species from extinction.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 26, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Researchers document caterpillars that mimic one another for survival

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the world of insects, high risk of attack has led to the development of camouflage as a means for survival, especially in the larval stage. One caterpillar may look like a stick, while another disguises ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hundreds of threatened species not on official US list

Many of the animal species at risk of extinction in the United States have not made it onto the country's official Endangered Species Act (ESA) list, according to new research from the University of Adelaide.

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Scientists rediscover rarest US bumblebee

A team of scientists from the University of California, Riverside recently rediscovered the rarest species of bumblebee in the United States, last seen in 1956, living in the White Mountains of south-central ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Farming crucial for threatened species in developing world

A number of threatened species in the developing world are entirely dependent on human agriculture for their survival, according to new research by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Biologist discovers new and wider varieties of frog species in amazon basin than previously recorded

The diversity of frogs in the Amazon Basin is much greater than previously recorded, according to a new paper by Colorado State University and Ecuadorian biologists that could lead to greater understanding ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

British butterfly is evolving to respond to climate change

As global temperatures rise and climatic zones move polewards, species will need to find different environments to prevent extinction. New research, published today in the journal Molecular Ecology, has re ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Scientists use fossil feathers reveal lineage of extinct, flightless ibis

A remarkable first occurred recently at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History when ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Research team explores how microbial diversity defends against disease

Amphibians are among the most threatened creatures on earth, with some 40 percent of amphibian species threatened or endangered. One of their primary threats is a rapidly spreading disease that attacks the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Biodiversity can promote survival on a warming planet

Whether a species can evolve to survive climate change may depend on the biodiversity of its ecological community, according to a new mathematical model that simulates the effect of climate change on plants ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast