Caribou in North America
As tundra lichens disappear and temperatures rise, caribou are increasingly under pressure. Their populations have fallen by 65 percent in recent decades. (© Dean Biggins (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
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Arctic: Why the ice is melting and CO₂ emissions are rising

The Arctic, once a stable store of organic carbon, is now releasing more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than it absorbs. According to the latest NOAA Arctic Report Card 2024, thawing permafrost, increased microbial activity, and more frequent wildfires are chiefly responsible for this development. The Arctic, which long acted as a

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Channa amphibeus Foto
The first photograph of the snakehead fish Channa amphibeus. The species was already considered extinct after it had not been recorded since the early 20th century. (© Photo Credits: X/ @ranjeetnature)
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India: Lost Borna snakehead rediscovered after 85 years

The Borna snakehead Channa amphibeus, also known as the Chel snakehead, has been rediscovered in India’s Himalayan region. The species was regarded as one of the rarest and hardest-to-find snakehead species in the world, and scientists had already suspected that it was extinct. A research team led by Jayasimhan Praveenraj

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11 animals that have become extinct in the last 50 years
In the last 50 years, we have lost numerous animal species forever – a testament to the destructive consequences of how we treat nature.
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11 animals we lost in the last 50 years

The extinction of animal species is one of the most tragic consequences of human interference in nature. It not only means the irreversible loss of unique living beings, but also the collapse of ecosystems whose stability depends on these species. Estimates suggest that around 500 to 1,000 known animal species

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Omilteme cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus insonus) rediscovered
A camera-trap photo of an Omilteme cottontail in the Sierra Madre del Sur. (© Photo by Joe Figel, provided by Re:wild)
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Mexico: Omilteme cottontail rediscovered after more than 120 years

The organization Re:wild announced that the Omilteme cottontail (Sylvilagus insonus), a species lost for more than a century, has been rediscovered in Mexico’s Sierra Madre del Sur. This find is of great significance for conservation and research. A team led by José Alberto Almazán-Catalán, president of the Instituto para el

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Socorrotaube - ausgestorben in der Wildnis
The Socorro dove has been extinct on its home island of Socorro since the 1970s. Its current population amounts to fewer than 200 individuals in human care. (© Ltshears, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Ex situ animals

The Socorro dove and the race to reintroduce it on Socorro

Originally, the Socorro dove was widespread on the remote volcanic Pacific island of Socorro, part of the Revillagigedo Islands. But human influences such as introduced predators and the destruction of its habitat wiped it out in the wild. Today, only about 189 individuals still exist worldwide, kept in zoos and

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Truffles (Gallacea scleroderma) and moas
Gallacea scleroderma: a truffle-like fungus endemic to New Zealand whose spores were once dispersed by moas and which plays a central role in the forest ecosystem. (© Zac Sanson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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What links extinct moas, colorful truffles, and climate change?

New Zealand, known for its unique wildlife and flora, holds many secrets from the past. One of them was revealed by a recent study in Biology Letters: the extinct upland moas (Megalapteryx didinus) were not only majestic birds, but also played a central role in dispersing colorful, truffle-like fungi such

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Extinct or eradicated?
Left: natural extinction—the fossil of a dinosaur in a dried-out landscape. Right: human extermination—a dodo in a forest destroyed by deforestation. The contrast shows how humans bear responsibility for species extinction.
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Extinct or exterminated? – How humans make the difference

I don’t know whether it was because I got two books for Christmas about animal species wiped out in modern times, but someone in my family felt called upon to inform me that extinction is a perfectly normal process. “Animals have always gone extinct; that’s completely normal.” Of course that’s

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Rau quaggas
In a selective breeding program in South Africa, several plains zebras have been bred that strongly resemble the extinct quagga. The progress from one generation to the next is clearly visible: the adult animals have fewer stripes, while the foals already show the quagga’s characteristic brownish tones. Image: Photograph by The Quagga Project, CC BY 4.0., CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Extinct animals scientists want to bring back to life

What if the thylacine once again roamed Tasmania’s forests and the dodo made Mauritius its home again? Cutting-edge science and modern technologies are making it possible to bring extinct animals back to life. Although extinction is a natural process, human activity has dramatically accelerated it over the past 500 years.

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Wiederentdeckung: Lachskarpfen (Aaptosyax grypus)
The photo shows giant salmon carp at a market in Laos in 1997. This predatory fish species living in the Mekong had been considered extinct since 2005, partly due to overfishing and habitat loss. (© Peter Cunningham, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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Mekong: Giant salmon carp, thought extinct since 2005, rediscovered

A study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation documents the rediscovery of the giant salmon carp (Aaptosyax grypus) in the Mekong river system. The species had been considered possibly extinct since 2005 because no confirmed records were available for a period of 15 years. Between 2020 and 2023, however,

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Rediscovered animals 2024: Ptychochromis makira
The cichlid Ptychochromis makira, not recorded since 2003, was rediscovered in Madagascar in 2024 by experts with local support. (© John C. Mittermeier/American Bird Conservancy (@johnmittermeier))
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Leopard Barbel, Mussau Triller & Co.: Rediscovered Animals in 2024

From time to time, animals are rediscovered that were thought to have gone extinct for decades or longer—whether by chance or through targeted searches. These so-called Lazarus species not only highlight nature’s resilience, but also attract a great deal of public interest. They inspire people around the world to get

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