21st Century - Artensterben

Qutang-Schlucht am Jangtse (Changjiang) in der Drei-Schluchten-Region in China

The Qutang Gorge on the Yangtze (Three Gorges region): heavily burdened for decades—a study now shows the first signs of ecological recovery. (© Tan Wei Liang Byorn, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

21. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Hope for the Yangtze: study shows how a fishing ban is reviving the river

The Yangtze River is Asia’s longest river at over 6,300 kilometers and the third-longest river in the world. For millennia it was among the world’s most species-rich freshwater ecosystems. It supplied people, animals, and entire cultures with water, food, and habitat—and formed the ecological backbone of large parts of China.

Biophobia and the Alienation from Nature

4. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

When Nature Becomes Alien: How Alienation and Fear Accelerate Species Extinction

The loss of biodiversity is one of the greatest ecological crises of our time. Yet, while threatened species, habitat destruction, and climate change are intensely debated, one aspect often remains unnoticed: the waning relationship between humans and nature. Two recent studies reveal the depth of this alienation – and its

Female morphotype specimen of Franklin's bumblebee: collected on May 20, 1972 west of Oregon City. The specimen is preserved in the entomology collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (© USNMENT01006817 - Bombus franklini (Frison, 1921) Collected in United States of America, CC0 1.0, via GBIF)

24. October 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Franklin’s Bumblebee—the first extinct bumblebee in North America?

Franklin’s bumblebee had the unfortunate distinction of having the smallest range of all bumblebee species in North America—and probably even worldwide. It occurred only in a narrow strip between the Pacific coast and the mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range to the east, in southern Oregon

The Christmas Island pipistrelle was Australia's smallest bat and occurred exclusively on the remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. It had dark brown fur, hunted insects in flight, and showed no striking sexual dimorphism — males and females looked alike. (© Lindy Lumsden, verwendet mit freundlicher Genehmigung)

20. August 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Christmas Island pipistrelle – an avoidable extinction

In the middle of the Indian Ocean, around 350 kilometers south of Java, lies remote Christmas Island—an Australian external territory just 135 square kilometers in size. Despite its small size, it once harbored a remarkable diversity of endemic species found nowhere else on Earth. One of them was the Christmas

Illustration of the Chinese river dolphin (baiji)—once a characteristic resident of the Yangtze. With its long, narrow snout and the sickle-shaped dorsal fin, the baiji was unmistakable. Today, the species is considered “functionally extinct”. (© Doc Taxon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. August 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chinese river dolphin: Is the baiji still alive?

The last confirmed sighting of the baiji, also known as the Chinese river dolphin, is now more than 20 years ago. The IUCN therefore classifies the species as “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)”. Scientifically, its continued existence is considered extremely unlikely, but occasional sighting reports and video recordings at least leave

Dünnschnabel-Brachvogel (Numenius tenuirostris)

Since the 1980s, populations of the slender-billed curlew have shrunk—it was last sighted with certainty in 1995. (© Numenius tenuirostris, via Wikimedia Commons)

19. November 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Slender-billed curlew: First bird extinction on the European mainland in modern times

A study published on November 18, 2024 in the journal IBIS confirms the extinction of the slender-billed curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). This migratory shorebird is the first continental bird species in Europe to have gone extinct in modern times due to human influence. Until now, only two other European bird species,

Überreste des Beutelwolfs im UCL Grant Museum in London

Remains of the thylacine, which was exterminated by hunting in the early 20th century. (© Doreen Fräßdorf, fotografiert im UCL Grant Museum of Zoology in London, England, 2024)

22. July 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Extinctions: How Many Animal Species Have We Already Wiped Out?

There have been five mass extinction events in the history of Earth’s biodiversity, all caused by natural phenomena. It is believed that the sixth mass extinction is currently underway, this time solely driven by human activities. The Thylacine, the aurochs, and the dodo are just a few of the most

Neu entdeckte Tiere 2023: Krokodilsmolch Tylototriton ngoclinhensis

The species name ngoclinhensis refers to the type locality of the newly discovered Ngoc Linh crocodile newt (Tylototriton ngoclinhensis): Ngoc Linh Mountain in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. (© Phung TM, Pham CT, Nguyen TQ, Ninh HT, Nguyen HQ, Bernardes M, Le ST, Ziegler T, Nguyen TT (2023) Southbound – the southernmost record of Tylototriton (Amphibia, Caudata, Salamandridae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam represents a new species. ZooKeys 1168: 193-218.)

9. November 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Newly discovered animals 2023

It is said that between 11,000 and 58,000 animal and plant species irreversibly go extinct each year, but there is also good news: around 18,000 new species are described and named by taxonomists each year; this number includes extinct or fossilized organisms, as well as bacteria and viruses. Even in

The extinct tree snail Achatinella apexfulva (top) at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. The species epithet apexfulva means “yellow tip” and refers to the color of the shell. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

29. April 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail

Hawaii’s first scientifically described snail The yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail (Achatinella apexfulva) is not only the first scientifically described snail of the Hawaiian archipelago but also the first officially declared extinct. The species was first described in 1789 by British sailor and explorer George Dixon, who acquired a traditional necklace

Reptiles endemic to Christmas Island: Lister's gecko (left), Christmas Island forest skink (center), and Christmas Island blue-tailed skink (right). While the Christmas Island forest skink has been completely extinct since 2014, the other two species are extinct in the wild and survive only thanks to captive breeding programs. (© Biodiversity Heritage Library, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

26. April 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Christmas Island forest skink

Another loss for Australia’s fauna The Christmas Island forest skink is, alongside the Christmas Island pipistrelle (2009) and the Bramble Cay melomys (between 2009 and 2011), among the most recent losses suffered by Australia’s wildlife. The last known Christmas Island forest skink was named Gump—a female that died in human