Animals and plants at risk of extinction
Animals we have saved from extinction
It is possible to bring animals and plants back from the brink.
Species humans have driven to extinction
What is a mass extinction?
Human activity is killing nature at an unprecedented rate. We are now experiencing the consequences in the form of a possible sixth mass extinction.
Past extinctions
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News
Woolly mammoth genome rebuilt in 3D from freeze-dried skin
Ancient DNA has been reconstructed in three dimensions for the first time ever using a 52,000-year-old mammoth.
11 July 2024 -
Science news
Trilobite ‘Pompeii’ reveals 500-million-year-old animals preserved in exquisite detail
Some of the best three-dimensionally preserved fossil trilobites have been revealed from Morocco.
28 June 2024 -
Science news
Ammonite extinction at the end of the dinosaur era was not inevitable
The iconic marine molluscs might be alive today had Earth not been struck by a meteorite.
27 June 2024 -
News
Frog ‘saunas’ could help species to battle deadly disease
Artificial hotspots might be able to help frogs fight off chytridiomycosis.
26 June 2024 -
News
Tiny flower that survived deforestation named as new species
Amalophyllon miraculum reveals that the region’s biodiversity may not have suffered as badly as first feared.
11 June 2024 -
News
Face of ancient Australian ‘giga-goose’ revealed after fossil skull found
After more than a century of searching, the head of one of the largest ever birds has been found.
3 June 2024 -
Anthropocene
Remembering the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine
Looking back at the story of the Tasmanian tiger, the echoes of colonialism and its impact on Australia’s wildlife today.
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News
Blueprint launched to save 1,000 of the world’s most threatened fishes
A new project to kickstart conservation for some of the world’s rarest fishes is making a splash.
15 May 2024 -
Science news
Laser technology could help curb the illegal trade in ivory
Every year thousands of elephants are still killed for their ivory.
24 April 2024 -
Science news
Rediscovering the world’s largest cormorant
The spectacled cormorant went extinct almost 200 years ago – but almost nothing is known about its life.
19 March 2024 -
News
Number of threatened bird species falls in latest conservation update
We now know more about the threats affecting birds than ever before.
14 March 2024 -
Science news
Giant fishes in the Mekong River at risk of extinction
Some of the world’s largest and most unusual fishes could be wiped out.
8 March 2024 -
News
Migratory fish, mammals and birds at risk of extinction
The first State of the World’s Migratory Species report found that countries aren’t doing enough to save threatened species.
12 February 2024 -
News
World’s first rhino IVF could help save the northern white rhino
Scientists have successfully managed to perform IVF on a rhino for the first time.
24 January 2024 -
Dinosaurs
Prehistoric plants: How to grow a dinosaur garden
Our Evolution Garden shows how plant life has changed over time and includes lots of examples that dinosaurs would recognise.
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Science news
Climate change threatens thousands of amphibians with extinction
Amphibians are the most threatened group of vertebrates in the world.
4 October 2023 -
Human evolution
Homo habilis, an early maker of stone tools
This ancient human was once thought to be the first to make stone tools, but is this true?
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Science news
Horns in the Natural History Museum's collection confirmed to be from extinct bluebuck antelope
Only four confirmed specimens are known to science.
4 September 2023 -
News
Human ancestors may have almost died out after ancient population crash
Almost 99% of all human ancestors may have been wiped out around 930,000 years ago, a new paper has claimed.
31 August 2023 -
Science news
Our appetite for shellfish risks pushing mussels and scallops into extinction
Bivalves have been touted as a food of the future – but wild populations might not last that long.
15 August 2023