An endangered species is a taxonomic group (typically at the species level) that faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future across all or a significant portion of its range, as determined by quantitative assessment criteria such as population size, rate of decline, geographic range, and degree of habitat fragmentation. In conservation biology and environmental policy, endangered status guides prioritization of management actions, legal protections, and resource allocation. Scientific evaluation commonly uses standardized frameworks (e.g., formal Red List–type criteria) based on demographic trends, reproductive rates, and known or projected threats, including habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change.
Many mammal populations in European and North American zoos are aging—a trend that jeopardizes the long-term viability of so-called reserve populations and, with it, a core mission of modern zoos in global species conservation. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 22, 2026
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A new list of threatened mammals in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini shows that 11 more species have edged closer to extinction since 2016. Those that have joined the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 21, 2026
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Oregon State University researchers have painted a clearer picture of the coastal marten, a secretive, ferret-sized forest carnivore renowned for its cuteness but nearly driven to extinction by human activity in the 20th ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 21, 2026
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Citizen science platforms, including iNaturalist, are leading to major new discoveries and are becoming crucial to the work of scientists. How do we make them even better?
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2026
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Almost two-thirds of Australia is privately owned. But most of our scientific understanding of how threatened species are faring comes from research done on public lands. Traditional biodiversity surveys by professional scientists ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2026
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Once a picturesque garden beneath the sea, some stretches of the Florida Coral Reef have now become graveyards. Unburied coral skeletons stand as haunting remnants of the catastrophic marine heat wave that swept through in ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 13, 2026
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The limited range of marine protected areas (MPAs) offers reduced protection to vulnerable species such as the highly mobile silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis). Because the survival of these sharks is threatened by commercial ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
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Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and their international partners, reveal today their pick of the top 10 plants and fungi named new to science in 2025. From "camouflaged" plants to spider-infecting parasites, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 7, 2026
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Researchers are trying to understand why some wild species do better than others over time, as the environment changes.
Evolution
Jan 6, 2026
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One of the world's rarest whale species is having more babies this year than in some recent seasons, but experts say many more young are needed to help stave off the possibility of extinction.
Plants & Animals
Jan 6, 2026
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