Tag: Extinction
Mammals cannot evolve fast enough to escape current extinction crisis
We humans are exterminating animal and plant species so quickly that nature's built-in defence mechanism, evolution, cannot keep up. An Aarhus-led research team calculated...
The walking dead: Fossils on the move can distort patterns of...
Using the fossil record to accurately estimate the timing and pace of past mass extinctions is no easy task, and a new study highlights...
Geologists uncover new clues about largest mass extinction ever
A new study could help explain the driving force behind the largest mass extinction in the history of earth, known as the End-Permian Extinction.
The...
What caused the mass extinction of Earth’s first animals?
Fossil records tell us that the first macroscopic animals appeared on Earth about 575 million years ago. Twenty-four million years later, the diversity of...
Scientists Understand the Role of Sexual Selection in Extinction
The lengths that some males go to attract a mate can pay off in the short-term. But according to a new study from scientists...
When it comes to extinction, body size matters
On a certain level, extinction is all about energy. Animals move over their surroundings like pacmen, chomping up resources to fuel their survival. If...
Rainforest collapse 307 million years ago impacted the evolution of early...
Researchers at the University of Birmingham have discovered that the mass extinction seen in plant species caused by the onset of a drier climate...
Past mass extinctions could help scientists prevent the next one
Black rhinos, red wolves, whooping cranes: the global list of endangered species grows every year to the point where some researchers say we're witnessing...
Mammals switched to daytime activity after dinosaur extinction
Mammals only started being active in the daytime after non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out about 66 million years ago (mya), finds a new study...
Research provides unique insight into extinction dynamics in late Triassic
One of the most exciting discoveries that paleontologists can make is finding the causal relationship between the extinction of ancient creatures and the environmental...
Lost mountains in the Karoo reveal the secrets of massive extinction...
Fossil records near the lost Gondwanides mountains show that the Permian-Triassic extinction started 1 million years prior to what was previously believed.
Millions of years...
Mass extinctions led to low species diversity, dinosaur rule
Two of Earth's five mass extinction events -- times when more than half of the world's species died -- resulted in the survival of...
Siberian volcanic eruptions caused extinction 250 million years ago
A team of scientists has found new evidence that the Great Permian Extinction, which occurred approximately 250 million years ago, was caused by massive...
Understanding Caribbean mammal extinctions of the past spurs renewed focus on...
A Johns Hopkins paleontologist and her collaborative team of scientists report they have clear evidence that the arrival of humans and subsequent human activity...
Extinction mystery solved? Evidence suggests humans played a role in monkey’s...
Radiocarbon dating of a fossilized leg bone from a Jamaican monkey called Xenothrix mcgregori suggests it may be the one of the most recent...
What caused the world’s greatest extinction?
A study by a researcher in the Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences offers new clues to what may have triggered the world's...
New bird that humans drove to extinction discovered in Azores
Inside the crater of a volcano on Graciosa Island in the Azores archipelago, in the Atlantic Ocean, an international team of researchers has discovered...
Large-mouthed fish was top predator after mass extinction
The most catastrophic mass extinction on Earth took place about 252 million years ago -- at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geological...
Earth’s major ‘mass extinction’ events
Most scientists agree that a "mass extinction" event is underway with the Earth's wildlife disappearing at an alarming rate, mainly due to human activity.
But...
Size not important for fish in the largest mass extinction of...
Understanding modern biodiversity and extinction threats is important. It is commonly assumed that being large contributes to vulnerability during extinction crises.
However, researchers from the...
