mountain quail
Painting of a pair of Himalayan Quails by John Gould from 1883. Females are smaller and lighter; males have darker feathers, a white forehead, and white spots near the eyes. The genus name is derived from Ophrys, which refers to the eyebrow. (© John Gould, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Himalayan Quail

A mysterious bird The Himalayan quail is one of the mysteries of avian fauna. It was last conclusively sighted in 1876, and all subsequent search expeditions have been unsuccessful. However, many scientists believe that it may still survive to this day. The IUCN also lists the bird, belonging to the

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Key Largo tree cactus Pilosocereus millspaughii
The Key Largo tree cactus is now considered extinct in the United States. Small populations of this very rare plant species still exist in the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. (© Luke Padon, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Loss in the USA: Key Largo Tree Cactus Eradicated by Climate Change

Scientists have documented the first local extinction of a species caused by climate change and the associated rise in sea levels. The up-to-seven-meter-tall Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii), which was found only in the Florida Keys in the USA, has disappeared. The rare tree-like cactus species has gone extinct

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Berezowski’s reed snake
The rare Berezowski's reed snake has not been sighted for at least 26 years. (© Liang Y-T, Huang Z-D, Ding L, Vogel G, Ananjeva NB, Orlov NL, Shi S-C, Wu Z-J, Chen Z-N (2024) Revalidated after having been described more than a century ago: Calamaria berezowskii Günther, 1896 (Squamata, Colubridae) from Sichuan, Southwestern China. Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(3): 897-911. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.125798)

South China: Mystery of Berezowski’s Reed Snake Solved

The snake species Berezowski’s reed snake (Calamaria berezowskii), described as a new species in 1896, puzzled scientists for a long time, as it was unclear whether it even existed. Due to a lack of sightings, it was assumed that the missing Berezowski’s reed snake was not a distinct taxon but

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Preventing the Sixth Mass Extinction by Protecting the Kazakhstan Steppe
The Kazakh Steppe in the western part of Central Asia is considered the largest dry steppe in the world. According to the latest study, this area is among the top 10 ecoregions in the Palearctic. (© Radosław Botev, CC BY 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons)

Sixth Mass Extinction Can Be Averted by Protecting Certain Areas – New Study Reveals

In a new study published in Frontiers in Science, conservationists and scientists demonstrate that preserving biodiversity hotspots, which comprise only 1.22 percent of the Earth’s surface, could protect the remaining biodiversity and prevent a sixth mass extinction. This strategy could save endangered species from extinction and secure the planet’s wildlife

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Mosquitoes in Hawaii to dave the ʻAkiapolaʻau (Hemignathus munroi)
The ʻakiapolaʻau (Hemignathus munroi) is among the species in Hawaii threatened by avian malaria, against which they have no natural immunity. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the bird as "critically endangered." (© Photographer: Carter Atkinson, U.S. Geological Survey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Saving the Last Honeycreepers: Millions of Mosquitoes in Hawaii to Prevent Extinction

For the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, the ʻula-ʻai-hāwane, and the black mamo, any help comes too late, but the still existing honeycreepers (Drepanidini) and numerous other bird species on the Hawaiian Islands can still be saved. An unusual measure could now secure the survival of the endangered species. The problem: Avian malaria

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aurochs (Bos primigenius)
This illustration of the aurochs was created between 1700 and 1880. The banteng, the gaur and the extinct kouprey are related to the wild cattle. (© Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Aurochs

How the wild animal became a domestic pet The aurochs, or urus, is considered the first wild cattle domesticated by humans to ensure a steady supply of meat and milk and to provide draft and work animals. Domestication always involves physical changes: over time, the animals become smaller, their horns

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IUCN Red List 2024: Pygmy Elephant from Borneo (Elephas_maximus_borneensis)
Over the past 75 years, the number of dwarf elephants living in Borneo has dramatically declined. The lowland forests they inhabit are being extensively logged, leading to the elephants now being classified as endangered. (© Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons))

IUCN Red List 2024: One Thousand Additional Animal and Plant Species Threatened with Extinction

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has released its latest Red List of Threatened Species. In its 60th year, the list, which now includes more than 163,040 species, warns of a concerning rise in the number of animals and plants threatened with extinction. Over 45,000 species are now

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Animals declared extinct in 2023: Epioblasma torulosa
Two subspecies of the freshwater mussel Epioblasma torulosa were delisted from the Endangered Species Act by the FWS and officially declared extinct in 2023. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Animals declared extinct in 2023

In 2023, scientists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) officially declared 21 species, including ten birds, eight mussels, two fish, and one mammal, to be extinct. Additionally, the international conservation organization IUCN changed the status of the Java stingaree (Urolophus javanicus) on its Red List to “extinct.” This

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Chestnut casebearer moth (Coleophora leucochrysella)
A photo of the chestnut casebearer moth, published on iNaturalist in June 2020, shows that this species is not extinct as previously believed. Scientists had thought that the insect from the casebearer moth family had disappeared between 1904 and 1950. (© Steven Whitebread, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Chestnut casebearer moth

Chestnut blight from East Asia devastated more than just the American chestnut The American chestnut casebearer moth relied on the native American chestnut (Castanea dentata) for survival. This hardwood tree was the sole host plant for its larvae, ultimately leading to the highly specialized moth species’ downfall. Once one of

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Birds lost to science: White-breasted Zosterops (Zosterops albogularis)
The white-chested white-eye is also on the list of lost bird species. It was native to Norfolk Island and the last sighting of a specimen was in 2005. (© Rawpixel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

New Analysis: 126 Birds Lost to Science – no Confirmed Sighting in at Least a Decade

As part of the project The Search for Lost Birds, a collaboration between Re:wild, the American Bird Conservancy, and BirdLife International, the most comprehensive listing of bird species considered lost to science has been created. A newly published study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment reveals that

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