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Dinosaurs may have already been going extinct before the asteroid hit

29 June 2021

The diversity of non-avian dinosaur species may have been declining 10 million years before they vanished in a mass extinction 66 million years ago

An Australian mouse thought to be extinct still survives on an island

28 June 2021

We thought Gould’s mouse went extinct 125 years ago – but a small population has now been identified on an island off Australia’s west coast

Sharks were almost wiped out in an extinction 19 million years ago

3 June 2021

Sharks living in the open ocean experienced a previously unknown mass extinction event about 19 million years ago that wiped out nearly 90 per cent of the predators

Both species of African elephants are now officially endangered

25 March 2021

Poachers have brought Africa’s two elephant species to the brink of extinction, with the continent’s two species today classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List

Greenland review: A great comet disaster movie on Amazon Prime

4 February 2021

Starring Gerard Butler, Greenland is a spectacular blockbuster about a comet heading for Earth with sci-fi, domestic drama and bleak realism

Genetics leaves little doubt that humans wiped out passenger pigeons

3 February 2021

Analysis of museum specimens shows that the passenger pigeon and other North American birds weren't in genetic decline before they vanished, suggesting their sudden extinction was down to humans

Almost all lemur species are now officially endangered

9 July 2020

Verreaux’s sifaka was once a common lemur species across the south of Madagascar, but is now listed as critically endangered, the last classification before extinction

Photographer documents the fight to save pangolins from extinction

3 June 2020

Pangolins are the most illegally trafficked mammal. This image from a new photographic series features the efforts by conservationists to halt their decline before the creatures go extinct

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hit just right for maximum damage

26 May 2020

The asteroid impact that formed Chicxulub crater and is linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs seems to have come in at the optimal angle to cause as much destruction as possible

Europe’s cave bears may have died out because of their large sinuses

1 April 2020

Plant-eating cave bears vanished when ice spread across Europe – maybe because their large sinuses prevented them chewing meat to adapt to the new conditions