Study finds herbivores at highest risk of extinction

Study finds herbivores at highest risk of extinction

A new study by Utah State University (USU) suggests that modern megaherbivores– plant-eaters that weigh more than 1 000 kg (2 200 lbs)– have the highest risk of going extinct among mammals, birds, and reptiles, just like what happened to their prehistoric…

Pollinator species worldwide driven toward extinction, UN body warns

Pollinator species worldwide driven toward extinction, UN body warns

According to the first global assessment of pollinators, a growing number of pollinator species worldwide are declining and are being driven toward extinction by diverse pressures. The decline is primarily due to changes in land use, intensive agricultural practices…

The formation of Zanzibar, East Africa

The formation of Zanzibar, East Africa

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the University of York have conducted the first comprehensive study concerning the formation of Zanzibar Island in East Africa. Researchers charted the history of sea level change, and the extinction of various animals,…

Early days of Earth’s sixth mass biological extinction event

Early days of Earth’s sixth mass biological extinction event

An international team of scientists warns that loss and decline of animals is contributing to what appears to be the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event. The planet's current biodiversity, they claim, is the highest in history of li

Experts sound alarm over an apes extinction threat

Experts sound alarm over an apes extinction threat

Infrastructure development and extraction of natural resources have devastated the prime habitat of apes and pushed chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons closer to extinction. The accelerated and unsustainable exploitation of the earth's primar

Meteorite minerals hint at Earth extinctions, climate change

Meteorite minerals hint at Earth extinctions, climate change

A huge asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs may not have been the only cosmic event to cause mass extinctions or change Earth’s climate. Tiny minerals leftover from many smaller meteorites could provide the geological evidence needed to show how rocks falling

Biggest extinction in history caused by climate-changing meteor

Biggest extinction in history caused by climate-changing meteor

It's well known that the dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago when a meteor hit what is now southern Mexico but evidence is accumulating that the biggest extinction of all, 252.3m years ago, at the end of the Permian period, was also triggered by an impact