Even some species that are found while they are still alive are already on the brink. In fact, research suggests that it’s precisely the newly described species that tend to have the highest risk of going extinct. Many new species are only now being discovered because they’re rare, isolated, or both—factors that also make them […]
Read MoreEvery living thing spreads an invisible signature across its landscape, whether it’s a badger ambling through the grass, an oak growing in the forest, or an eagle soaring overhead. Fur, feathers, skin cells, spores, pollen—all of it is loaded with genetic information that floats away into a data-rich atmospheric soup. Scientists call this information environmental […]
Read MoreBecause of this history, Novak says scientists waited to announce this latest horse’s birth until he survived infancy. Even now, they’ll have to monitor his health for the rest of his life. As for Kurt, he’s in “great health,” Novak says. He now lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with a female Przewalski’s […]
Read MoreThink of the worst invasive species you know. Kudzu: smothering trees and houses, growing a foot a day. Burmese pythons: stripping the Everglades of small animals. Asian carp: hoovering streams clean of plankton and swimming toward the Great Lakes. They all came from somewhere else, arrived with no natural predators, outcompeted local flora and fauna, and […]
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