Extinction Countdown

06/06/2024

Leave no trace...

Researchers in Barbados found that ecotourism sea-turtle encounters created some very human problems for the animals.

31/05/2024

A little counter-programming...

Goldenrod Isn’t Causing Your Spring Allergies — But It Is Killing Europe’s Ants and Butterflies

The North American plants look pretty, but they also causes havoc in places where humans have allowed them to spread.

24/05/2024

Collecting stamps (or anything else) can be a fun way to share messages about rare species.

Can Collecting Stamps Help Rare and Endangered Species? https://therevelator.org/stamps-endangered-species/

22/05/2024

Catastrophic flooding in Brazil has already displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Now we have a warning that it could also cause extinctions.

Could Brazil’s Catastrophic Flooding Cause Extinctions? https://therevelator.org/brazil-flooding-extinctions/

15/05/2024

How does habitat fragmentation harm wildlife?

How Does Habitat Fragmentation Harm Wildlife?

To understand the problem, look to three monkey species, each of whom face the threat in different (and not always successful) ways. https://therevelator.org/habitat-fragmentation/

13/05/2024

Some (mostly) good news to start your week:

But at the same time, it doesn’t take much to do tremendous damage to endangered species.

09/05/2024

I appeared on BBC World Radio today to talk about Japan’s plan to start hunting fin whales.
My segment starts at about 43:00. (This link will work for 29 days.)

Israel's Eurovision contestant was booed during a dress rehearsal

12/04/2024

Could the Russian invasion of Ukraine cause problems for wildlife around the world? From The Revelator:

Could the Russian invasion of Ukraine lead to worldwide declines in biodiversity? Plus other important conservation and environmental news.

09/04/2024

It's the first new Extinction Countdown article in quite some time! Expect lots more as I near the 20th anniversary of this column (coming this August).

As the Russian invasion rages on, two species of crane make their annual migration into ancestral habitats that have become a battlefield.

29/01/2024

Come work with me at The Revelator! We're hiring an associate editor to enhance our coverage of endangered species, climate change and related topics. This is the first job opening we've had in 5 years, so don't miss out!
https://biologicaldiversity.bamboohr.com/careers/71

26/06/2023

Meet one of the world's rarest reptiles -- and the people working to prevent its extinction.

With fewer than 500 individuals left, this is not only one of the word’s lesser-known crocodilian species but one of our most endangered reptiles.

28/04/2023

A living dinosaur...

One of the world’s oldest and rarest trees survives at a secret gorge in Australia, but it still faces many threats — from fire to fungi.

24/04/2023

Wrapping up good news about tigers, cheetahs, lions and other big cats.

This month Links From the Brink news roundup has a pack of good-news stories about wild, endangered felines.

10/04/2023

The Revelator spoke with the Gyllenhaals about who’s saving birds, how technology helps, and what more we need to do.

A new book looks at efforts to recover dwindling populations and what more is needed.

03/04/2023

The population faces rapid decline: Scientists estimate that only 40 birds remain in the wild.

Conservationists racing to save one of Hawai‘i’s last honeycreeper species get creative, allowing birds to choose their own mates.

24/03/2023

“Bats are amazing animals that fulfil many important services, from pollination to pest control,” says Hughes. “Reducing hunting maintains those services.”

A hidden threat to bats -- hunting. Read more: https://therevelator.org/bats-threat-hunting/

20/03/2023

Polar bears, PFAS and you...

Researchers have found PFAS in the bodies of wild animals everywhere they’ve looked. Now they’re beginning to understand the health effects.

21/11/2022

Love this headline (the reality, not so much).

Over the span of 10 years, a team of researchers have been following 102 Asian elephants in Malaysia, collecting more than 600,000 GPS fixes in the process. When they analyzed the data, the team found that the elephants preferred habitats on the edges of and surrounding protected areas rather than i...

16/11/2022

How much is too much?

New research compiles the “heat tolerance” of 616 amphibian species — and reveals how much more we need to know.

18/10/2022

Hundreds of Amazon species are being shipped to Asia, principally China, in unsustainable numbers, ranging from jaguars to reptiles, turtles and parrots to songbirds, poison dart frogs and tropical fish.

Organized crime cartels and Chinese laborers continue draining the Amazon of jaguars and other endangered species, threatening ecosystems with collapse.

13/10/2022

Save the frugivores!

A new study by researchers at the University of Washington shows that losing a particular group of endangered animals — those that eat fruit and help disperse the seeds of trees and other plants —...

12/10/2022

"The 2022 U.S. State of the Birds report shows plummeting bird populations across almost all habitats..."

The 2022 U.S. State of the Birds report shows plummeting bird populations across almost all habitats while highlighting the need for further conservation efforts.

11/10/2022

Important new study:

Each year, millions of mule deer, elk, pronghorn, and other large ungulates (hoofed mammals) traverse the vast landscape of the American West. In recent years, GPS technology, in the form of collars affixed to individual animals, has revolutionized scientists’ understanding of these migrations by ...

10/10/2022

One year later and a dam's removal has already helped at least two species.

It was also the first time another threatened species had made its way upstream in over...

07/10/2022

Nordmeyer carried the cooler to his car, aware that the future of the species could be inside. "It's a big day," Runquist said.

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Poweshiek skipperling population suddenly cratered in Minnesota, for reasons that aren't yet fully clear. Researchers at the Minnesota Zoo are part of a last-ditch effort to stop the species from dying out.

30/09/2022

Tough issues...

Killing an endangered species is a heinous crime, but the language around the act requires a refocus away from colonialization.

29/09/2022

“If we can solve the biodiversity crisis, we're a long way along the way to solving the climate crisis.”

Also, why the defeat of Manchin’s energy bill could be a loss for the climate.

28/09/2022

"If you lose squid, your ecosystem is in bad, bad shape."

A squid biologist takes to the streets — and Skype — to share scientific knowledge.

14/09/2022

Solving today's conservation problems by looking and yesterday's forgotten data.

Saving endangered species sometimes means knowing where they used to live — before scientists started studying them. For that, we need historical ecologists.

09/09/2022

“They are Guam’s bird, so it's very sad that we can’t actually put them back there,” Ewen says. Fortunately, the Endangered Species Act permits introducing listed species into new areas if their current habitat is too degraded to support them.

Extinct on its native island since the late 1980s, the endangered bird may fly free as soon as 2023—but not on Guam.