Latest Extinction Stories
A new genetic study confirms that modern domesticated cattle are descended from 80 domesticated wild oxen in the Near East over 10,500 years ago. Scientists from CNRS, the National Museum of Natural History in France, the University of Mainz in Germany, and University College London (UCL) in the UK performed the study by extracting DNA from the bones of extracted domestic cattle found in Iran. These sites are believed to date back to the invention of farming and the area where cattle first...
Conventional wisdom holds that during the Mesozoic Era, mammals were small creatures that held on at life's edges. But at least one mammal group, rodent-like creatures called multituberculates, actually flourished during the last 20 million years of the dinosaurs' reign and survived their extinction 66 million years ago. New research led by a University of Washington paleontologist suggests that the multituberculates did so well in part because they developed numerous tubercles (bumps, or...
Speeding up evolution may increase genetic variation, but surprisingly it can reduce species diversity, according to a study led by Carlos J. Melian The role of sex in driving genetic variation and generating higher biodiversity has been debated for over a century. Speeding up evolution may increase genetic variation, but surprisingly it can reduce species diversity, according to a study led by Carlos J. Melian from Eawag – Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology,...
The death and extinction of many large, prehistoric animals may be due largely in part to man’s actions as well as climate change. The University of Cambridge has conducted new research to determine if humankind played a significant role in the destruction of these prehistoric megafauna. The findings were posted on March 5, 2012 in the journal PNAS. The research team examined extinctions during the late Quaternary period (700,000 years ago to present day) but focused much of their...
A team of researchers has found a key to the habitat puzzle for improving long-term survival of the endangered Florida Scrub-Jay. New research published online today in The Royal Society's journal Biology Letters shows that "clustered habitat networks" are needed to maintain the genetic diversity of Florida Scrub-Jays, a species at risk of extinction with just more than 5,000 birds left in the world. The new research reveals, for the first time, a direct connection between genetic...
Global warming, extreme weather aggravate habitat loss Climate change spells trouble for many tropical birds – especially those living in mountains, coastal forests and relatively small areas – and the damage will be compounded by other threats like habitat loss, disease and competition among species. That is among the conclusions of a review of nearly 200 scientific studies relevant to the topic. The review was scheduled for online publication this week in the journal Biological...
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 extinct. This discovery, based on new research, challenges the widely held assumption that a period of explosive evolution quickly follows for survivors of mass extinctions. In the absence of competition, the common theory goes, surviving species hurry to adapt, evolving new...
The Feline Conservation Federation (FCF) favors regulations for safe and humane exotic animal husbandry that allow present and future owners to be a part of captive conservation. Washington, DC (PRWEB) February 13, 2012 Ohio resident Terry Thompson released his menagerie of bears, lions, tigers, monkeys and pumas before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This tragedy has prompted calls by some for a complete ban on the private ownership of exotics. The Feline Conservation Federation...
A strangely out-of-focus video was released by The Sun this week that shows a lumbering animal walking across a river in Siberia. The video alleges the animal to be a live woolly mammoth in what would be a remarkable find as the mammoth has been extinct for nearly 4,000 years. The footage was taken by a government-employed road surveyor last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, and is strangely reminiscent of the 40 year old Bigfoot film, brief and fuzzy. Many...
Latest Extinction Reference Libraries
Commonly known as the Eurasian cave lion or the European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is thought to have lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and may have lived in the Balkans in southeastern Europe until 2,000 years ago. The range of this cave lion would have included northwestern North America, Asia, and areas of Europe and would have extended from Germany, Spain, and Great Britain to the Yukon Territory. Its range also extended from Turkistan to...
The short-faced bear is an extinct genus of bears that was native to North America during the Pleistoscene era. Other common names include Arctodus and the bulldog bear. There are two subspecies of the short-faced bear, and one of them, Aroctodus simus, is thought to have been the largest terrestrial mammal on earth. Placed into a group of bears known as running bears or the tremarctine bears, this genus was found in Europe and the Americas. The earliest member of the tremarchtine group,...
The American lion (Panthera leo atrox or P. atrox) is also known as the North American lion, American cave lion, or Naegele’s giant jaguar. It is an extinct species that was native to North America and the northwestern parts of South America during the Pleistocene era. It lived up to eleven thousand years ago. During the last interglacial period in North America (the Sangamonian Stage), the American lion’s range included the Americas south of Alaska. The earliest fossils of these big cats...
Miracinonyx, commonly known as the American Cheetah, is an extinct genus of large cats. It was native to North America during the Pleiotocene era(1.8 million to 11,000 years ago). The American cheetah held at least two species in its genus that are similar to modern cheetahs, including Miracinonyx inexpectatus and M. trumani. Similarities distinguished by bone fragments include a short face and nose for better breathing, and elongated legs used for swiftly hunting prey. These similarities are...
Glyptotherium is an extinct genus of mammal related to the armadillo. Glyptodontids lived about 4.1 to 1.5 million years ago. It is believed this genus was wiped out by climate change or perhaps early human interference, although there is no direct evidence of humans preying on them. Species of this genus thrived in tropical and subtropical regions of Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona. The genus was named in 1903, and assigned to the family Glyptodontinae in 1995. Like its...
