A wave of new research is forcing paleontologists to reconsider a basic question about life on Earth: when did the first mass ...

The term “de-extinction” often conjures images of Jurassic Park-style genetic manipulation, complete with ethical dilemmas and ecological chaos. But the reality of functional de-extinction—the ...

How did the woolly mammoth, an ambassador of the Ice Age, end up confined to modern-day Wrangel Island? And what ultimately caused their extinction? New evidence suggests it wasn’t poor genetics as ...

(CNN) — No species lasts forever — extinction is part of the evolution of life. But at least five times, a biological catastrophe has engulfed the planet, killing off the vast majority of species from ...

The Xerces Blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces) was native to the coastal dunes of San Francisco, in the United States. As the city grew, much of the butterfly’s habitat was destroyed and its ...

A fire-bellied newt (Cynops ensicauda) on Amami Island in Japan. Previously thought to be extinct, the newt and others in its genera are still alive. (John J. Wiens/University of Arizona) (CN) — For ...

Great auks (Pinguinus impennis) were large flightless birds that thrived on rocky islands in the North Atlantic for thousands of years. However, humans hunted them to extinction within just a few ...

New research finds that the fertility rate needed to sustain a population is much higher than once thought, especially when sex ratios or mortality rates shift. This raises important questions for ...