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.
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.
Earth Sciences
Jul 11, 2017
0
20
Of all the species that have ever lived, more than 99% are now extinct. Most of them quietly disappeared during periods of "background extinction", whereby a handful of species become extinct every 100,000 years or so.
Earth Sciences
Jun 29, 2017
3
42
A large set of tracks made by archosauromorphs in the Pyrenees mountain range may include a new type of footprint made by reptiles that lived 247 million years ago, according to a study published April 19, 2017 in the open-access ...
Archaeology
Apr 19, 2017
0
34
Researchers studying marine fossil beds in Italy have found that the world's worst mass extinction was followed by two other extinction events, a conclusion that could explain why it took ecosystems around the globe millions ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 15, 2017
0
31
Iconic dinosaur shapes were present for at least a hundred million years on our planet in animals before those dinosaurs themselves actually appeared.
Archaeology
Oct 3, 2016
0
10
In the Mesozoic, the time of the dinosaurs, from 252 to 66 million years ago, marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were top predators in the oceans. But their origins and early rise to dominance have been ...
Archaeology
May 20, 2016
0
54
Long before the dinosaurs, hefty herbivores called pareiasaurs ruled the Earth. Now, for the first time, a detailed investigation of all Chinese specimens of these creatures – often described as the 'ugliest fossil reptiles' ...
Archaeology
Feb 19, 2016
0
721
Secondary sexual characteristics are features that appear at sexual maturity and distinguish the two sexes of a species. Studies of secondary sexual characteristics in a species are vital for fully understanding its behavior, ...
Archaeology
Feb 18, 2016
0
42
Stanford scientists have found that chronically low levels of oxygen throughout the oceans hampered the recovery of life after the Permian-Triassic extinction, the most catastrophic die-off in our planet's history. Also known ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 17, 2016
2
73
Earth's biosphere witnessed its greatest ecological catastrophe in the latest Permian, dated to about 251.9 million years ago. The current model for biodiversity collapse states that both marine and terrestrial animals were ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 22, 2015
0
16