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.
Northern spotted owl populations are approaching or have already crossed functional extinction across large areas of the Pacific Northwest, a new study, published in Ecological Applications found. Researchers used artificial ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 25, 2026
0
10
New James Cook University research has used highly sensitive environmental DNA (e-DNA) techniques to find two species of threatened frogs in places they've never been seen before—and find another still struggling to recover ...
Ecology
Aug 25, 2026
0
10
Researchers monitoring online activity for six weeks in mid-2025 found primates, birds, snakes, frogs, orchids and many other wildlife groups advertised for sale across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Wildlife is ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 24, 2026
0
18
For decades, wildlife traffickers have illegally captured and sold hundreds of thousands of wild parrots native to Mexico. Despite changes to international wildlife laws, the conservation status of these birds has continued ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 24, 2026
0
11
When news broke over the weekend that Australia's first mainland case of bird flu in a mammal—the death of a long-nosed fur seal—had been detected, I felt deep sadness and dread for what's likely to come next. We should expect ...
Veterinary medicine
Aug 24, 2026
0
7
Scrambling through dense salal in the dark, weaving between the majestic western red cedars of northern Haida Gwaii, I could barely imagine where we were just days before—crossing Dixon Entrance off the coast in an open skiff, ...
Ecology
Aug 22, 2026
0
76
In the last few centuries, mammals and other animals have been going extinct at least 100 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene. So who will be next? Which species are most likely to survive, and which ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2026
0
9
In British zoos and aquariums, fewer than 10% of vertebrate species are native to the UK, and just 2% are high conservation priorities, according to a study by Justin Lennon at the University of Brighton and colleagues, published ...
Ecology
Aug 19, 2026
0
11
Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the conservation action it so urgently needs.
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2026
0
26
Researchers have uncovered rainforest communities previously hidden within the rugged gullies of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area that are protecting vegetation not known to grow anywhere else.
Ecology
Aug 17, 2026
0
161
