Island endemic - Artensterben

Tokara-Laubsänger / Tokara leaf warbler (Phylloscopus tokaraensis)

A singing male Tokara leaf warbler (Phylloscopus tokaraensis). The species is restricted to a few islands of Japan's Tokara Archipelago south of Kyushu. Such island endemics often occupy only very small habitats and are therefore especially vulnerable to environmental change. Image: Per Alström, Uppsala University, CC BY, via EurekAlert!

28. April 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Hidden diversity: Four newly recognized bird species from 2026

Even today, new bird species are still being discovered and described, although birds are among the comparatively well-studied animal groups. In many cases, however, these are not completely unknown animals, but species that were overlooked or misclassified for a long time. Only modern methods such as genetic analyses and bioacoustic

Extremely rare species: northern sportive lemur, Devils Hole pupfish, and cherry-throated tanager (© Wikimedia Commons – Lemur: Edward E. Louis, Jr, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Fish: Olin Feuerbacher, Public Domain / Bird: Jens Bokelaar, CC BY-SA 4.0)

7. April 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Which animals are threatened with extinction? These 8 species have fewer than 100 individuals

Species extinction is rarely an abrupt event. In many cases, the decline stretches over decades until only small, isolated remnant populations remain. Some of these species now survive with fewer than 100 individuals worldwide. Such extremely small populations are especially vulnerable to chance events, genetic impoverishment, and ongoing habitat loss.

Der Sulu-Raupenfänger galt lange Zeit als Unterart des Bindenraupenfängers (Bild).

For a long time, the Sulu cuckooshrike (Coracina guillemardi) was treated as a subspecies of the much more widespread bar-bellied cuckooshrike (Coracina striata, shown here) because of morphological similarities. (© Coracina striata (Boddaert, 1783), Observed in Philippines by dmalerta, CC BY-NC 4.0, via GBIF)

20. March 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chance discovery in the Sulu Archipelago: Long lost cuckooshrike documented after nearly 20 years

In November 2025, the Sulu cuckooshrike (Coracina guillemardi) was documented again for the first time in almost two decades in the remote forests of Tawi-Tawi in the Sulu Archipelago in the southwest of the Philippines. The species was considered lost—not officially extinct, but without any confirmed records for years. The

Illustration of the Floreana giant tortoise — once one of the most distinctive giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands, today probably extinct in its original form.

16. March 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Floreana giant tortoise: From extinction to return

A subspecies of the Galapagos tortoise When the Floreana giant tortoise was still alive, it was part of the extraordinary tortoise fauna of the Galapagos Islands. Hardly anywhere else on Earth did a comparable diversity of giant land tortoises evolve—adapted to different islands, volcanoes, climate zones, and food resources. Today,

Threatened by invasive species: Partula radiolata

The endangered tree snail Partula radiolata from the island of Guam. A recent study shows that snails are particularly often victims of invasive species: since the 1970s, the introduction of the rosy wolfsnail has led to the extinction of more than 50 Partula species on Pacific islands. (© USFWS - Pacific Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

17. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Invasive species & extinction: What role do non-native animals and plants play?

Whether rats on tropical islands, introduced snails in the Pacific, or feral cats in remote bird colonies – invasive alien species (IAS) can throw entire ecosystems off balance and push animal and plant species to the brink of extinction. In 2023, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Historical depiction of Aepyornis maximus. Our knowledge of the elephant birds’ external appearance is incomplete: there are no preserved specimens, only bone finds and eggshells. Reconstructions therefore rely on anatomical inferences and comparisons with modern ratites. (© http://www.50birds.com/gextinct5.htm, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

3. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Aepyornis maximus – the largest elephant bird and the mystery of when it went extinct

There wasn’t just one elephant bird The elephant bird is probably one of the best-known of all extinct birds. Hardly any other animal so strongly embodies gigantism, enigmatic traditions, and the fascination of a world of animals that humans now know only in fragments. But the name already misleads: there

Moas: An extinct avian world of New Zealand. (© Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

26. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Moas: New Zealand’s extinct giant birds

The moa is among those extinct animals that continue to fascinate and disturb in equal measure. Not only because of its enormous size, but above all because its disappearance is comparatively recent. Just a few centuries ago, these flightless birds roamed the forests, moors, and grasslands of New Zealand. Today,

Riesen-Heidelibelle / St.-Helena-Heidelibelle (Sympetrum dilatatum)

One of the few museum specimens of the extinct Saint Helena darter in the Natural History Museum in London—an adult male. (© BMNH(E)1241597 Sympetrum dilatatum dorsal - Sympetrum dilatatum (Calvert, 1892) by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0, via GBIF)

20. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Saint Helena Darter—the only dragonfly of St Helena

A hotspot of insect endemism Many people know the remote island of St Helena primarily from history: as Napoleon’s place of exile, where he was interned in 1815 and died in 1821. Beyond this prominent episode, however, the small volcanic island in the South Atlantic—around 1,800 kilometers west of the

Dodo reconstruction at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France

This replica of the dodo is the result of interpretative work based on historical and scientific research: accounts, depictions and bones. No taxidermied specimen of the species exists. The bird was created by the artist Camille Renversade and realised in collaboration with the museum’s taxidermy workshops. (© Doreen Fräßdorf, photographed at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, France, 2024)

17. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Dodo – Dead as a dodo

The dodo, related to pigeons (Columbidae), is probably the best-known example of an animal species exterminated by humans. References to the bird in literature and painting are common—for example in chapter three of the children’s book Alice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll or in the paintings of the Flemish

15. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Guadeloupe ameiva—isolation, colonization & the end of an island species

Islands under pressure The West Indies—including the Lesser Antilles—are among the most species-rich regions in the world. Many lizard and snake species are found exclusively there. These endemic species have adapted over millennia to the conditions of individual islands. Yet this very specialization makes them particularly vulnerable: when habitats are