Extinction

Find out everything there is to know about extinction and stay updated on the latest extinction news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and pictures at LiveScience. Learn more about amazing discoveries scientists are making as they uncover the causes and other details of mass extinctions throughout history.

Related Topics: Evolution, Climate Change, DNA and Genes, Fossils

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Deforestation, among other human activities, is threatening species' habitats.

Up to 1 Million Species Are at Risk of Extinction, and It's All Our Fault

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

More than 1 million species could go extinct, UN report finds.

Photos: Cretaceous 'Graveyard' Holds a Snapshot of the Dino-Killing Asteroid Impact

By Mindy Weisberger published

A fossil site in North Dakota preserves a unique snapshot of the minutes after an asteroid struck Earth around 66 million years ago.

Fossil 'Death Pit' Preserves Dino Extinction Event … But Where Are the Dinosaurs?

By Mindy Weisberger published

What happened after the Cretaceous-ending asteroid struck Earth? A new fossil site may have answers.

megalodon

Did Great White Sharks Wipe Out the Giant Megalodon?

By Rafi Letzter published

Teaser: A re-examination of the fossil record has produced a new theory of the super-fish's demise.

African elephants.

Humans Are Eating Most of Earth's Largest Animals to Extinction

By Brandon Specktor published

Humans are hunting and eating 60 percent of Earth's largest animals into an early grave.

George, the last known <em>Achatinella apexfulva</em> snail in the Hawaiian Islands, died on New Year's Day, 2019.

George the Snail, the Last and Loneliest of His Kind, Dies

By Laura Geggel published

George the snail won't be leaving any more silvery trails in his wake. The 14-year-old champ — the last known snail of his species — died in captivity on New Year's Day, 2019.

Colombian woolly monkey

Scientists Try to Save Woolly Monkeys from Extinction … by Training Them to Be Wild Again

By Mónica Alejandra Ramírez published

Colombian researchers hope to revive an endangered species by rehabilitating monkeys confiscated from smugglers. The captive animals' struggles show that survival is not guaranteed.

nebula above earth

Exploding Stars Helped Kill Earth's Ancient Sea Monsters, New Study Suggests

By Brandon Specktor published

Did an exploding star kill the Earth's biggest sharks?

<em>Diplocaulus salamandroides</em> went extinct during the Permian.

How Rising Temperatures Suffocated 96 Percent of Sea Life in Earth's Biggest Extinction

By Megan Gannon published

Here's the horrifying way these sea creatures met their end more than 250 million years ago.

Laziness May Have Driven Homo Erectus to Extinction

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

It turns out laziness existed long before couches and takeout.

This Could Be the 'Beginning of the End' for North Atlantic Right Whales

By Mindy Weisberger published

A lack of new babies for endangered Northern Atlantic right whales makes their future even more uncertain.

sudan the white rhino

This Is the World's Last Male Northern White Rhino — and He's Sick

By Stephanie Pappas published

Sudan, a 45-year-old rhino, is suffering from an age-related infection.

Making the Case ― Again ― for Saving Imperiled Species (Op-Ed)

By David Steen published

Extinction is not a good thing. Why are people still arguing about this?

he Crest-tailed Mulgara was once commonplace in the Australian desert, but had declined to the appearance of extinction under pressure from invasive species.

A Tiny, 'Extinct' Marsupial Re-Emerges in the Australian Desert

By Rafi Letzter published

A species of tiny, adorable marsupial that scientists thought had been extinct for more than 100 years has re-emerged in New South Wales, Australia.

mummy lynx

Photos: Is ice age cat mummy a lion or a lynx?

By Laura Geggel published

A man hunting for mammoth tusks in Eastern Siberia came across an unexpected find in the permafrost: the mummy of a cat that lived during the last ice age.

Ice age cat mummy

Cave Lion Mummy May Not Be What It Seems

By Laura Geggel published

A Russian man hunting for mammoth tusks in Eastern Siberia made an unexpected discovery in September: the incredibly furry, slightly squished mummy of a cat from the last ice age.

Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on June 25, 2015.

The Story Behind That Viral Photo of a Lonely Rhino

By Stephanie Pappas published

His name is Sudan, and he's been alone for awhile.

Humans Doomed Caribbean's 'Lost World' of Ancient Mammals

By Mindy Weisberger published

Caribbean islands hosted plenty of diverse mammal life — until humans showed up 6,000 years ago.

A dead grasshopper.

Insect 'Armageddon': Should You Worry?

By Paula Kover published

Are we facing insect Armageddon? A recent study found that German nature reserves have seen a 75 percent reduction in flying insects over the last 27 years.

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite captured its first view of the entire sunlit side of the spherical planet Earth, on July 6, 2015.

Earth May Be Close to 'Threshold of Catastrophe'

By Tia Ghose published

A sixth mass extinction could be triggered by sharp increases in carbon dioxide by 2100, one new study suggests.