Environment / Endangered Species

#63: How Many Species Inhabit the Earth?


It's a tough question, but we now have the best answer yet. 12.22.2011

#43: Skin Cells Could Help Revive Rare Species

Turning them into eggs and sperm, courtesy of stem cell techniques, could make all the difference. 12.22.2011

How Societies Slowly Rise—and Suddenly Fall

New models suggest groups of humans evolve following some universal rules, and not unlike how organisms evolve. 06.16.2011

Should Conservationists Allow Some Species to Die Out?


In the battle to save endangered animals, some environmentalists say we should ignore the charismatic pandas and condors and instead practice "conservation triage." 05.09.2011

What Is Killing America’s Bats?

Wildlife biologists seem to have a better handle on the fungus that's decimating bat populations. But some other groups of animals are facing similar steep declines. 01.07.2011

The 100 Top Science Stories of 2010

Every year DISCOVER sorts through the scientific accomplishments of the past 12 months, and assembles a list of the coolest experiments, most brilliant discoveries, and most world-changing events. As you page through the countdown to the #1 science story, we think you'll come to the same conclusion we did: 2010 was quite a year. 12.16.2010

7 Visions of Our Hot, Awful Future

A bounty of 2010 books predict the future in a globally warmed world. Among the forecasts: boom town Detroit, abandoned Miami, an Arctic black gold rush, and a weirdly strong dried fruit market. 12.13.2010

Will the Walrus Withstand a Warmer World?

As the Arctic warms, researchers are scrambling to predict whether the walrus can adapt to its rapidly changing home. 11.05.2010

Guantanamo Bay, Site of Important Ecological Research

Within the barbed wire and "Keep Out" signs that ring the Guantanamo Bay naval base, wildlife is thriving. So is scientific work. 08.06.2010

Extinct Birds Come Back to Haunt Us as Sculptures

Artist Christy Rupp reflects on the birds humans have driven to extinction by recreating them, one chicken bone at a time. 06.22.2010

Elephants Roaming America? A Big Idea for Rebooting Nature

A new theory suggests that the thick forests that we think of as wild may actually be an effect of human settlement. 05.05.2010

Serpents, Flyers & Hammers: Strange Fish That Rule the Open Sea

These magnificent wanderers of the open ocean have inspired sailor's legends and blockbuster movies. 04.12.2010

Impostors! Ten Species That Survive by Imitation

Disguises, fake sex, and eau de rotting flesh: These plants and animals use the weirdest ruses to get by. 01.26.2010

Stunning High-Speed Photos of Birds

Photographer Andrew Zuckerman earns the title of the new Audubon with his high-definition, high-speed avian portraits. 01.19.2010

#94: Ecological Surgeons Perform Successful Species Transplant

Two colonies of butterflies flapped their wings in northern England and the resulting debate was felt around the world. 12.17.2009

The Calculating Beauty of Butterflies

How butterflies' colorful wing patterns help them hide, lie, and impress the ladies. 11.11.2009

Field Notes: Stalking Fish in the Name of Science

An exhaustive new marine census is tracking everything that swims in the sea, one fish at a time. 10.17.2009

Brain-Saving, Mind-Blowing, Hi-Tech Medical Imaging

The names look like alphabet soup—CT, MRI, DTI—but the images look like science melding into art. 10.07.2009

Humans vs Animals: Our Fiercest Battles With Invasive Species

From Burmese pythons to Galapagos goats, these animals are threatening a hostile takeover—unless we can stop them. 09.24.2009

9 of Humanity's Greatest Environmental Successes

We're making some headway in restoring the environment—even if we caused the devastation in the first place. 07.10.2009

A Shad Situation

The population of American shad rebounded in the 1990s but is again on the wane. 05.17.2009

Man's Greatest Crimes Against the Earth, in Pictures

Humans rule the world… and destroy it in the process. 04.08.2009

5 Questions for the Finder of the Secret Gorillas

Biologist Emma Stokes protects endangered animals in far-off countries. 03.12.2009

#4: Slime Is Turning the Seas Into Dead Zones

Pollution, overfishing, and the rise of microbes spell doom for many bodies of water. 12.22.2008

#31: Fish Farming Threatens Wild Salmon

Lice, interbreeding, and contaminants are killing off the species. 12.16.2008

#37: Shorebird Population Is in Rapid Decline

Australian and Asian birds are a clear example of population collapse. 12.15.2008

#44: The Baffling Bee Die-Off Continues

Colony Collapse Disorder continues its relentless march. 12.14.2008

#45: Huge Population of Lowland Gorillas Found

For once, researchers come up with good news for an endangered species. 12.14.2008

#55: Polar Bears (Finally) Make the Endangered Species List

At long last, the government acknowledges the species is threatened. 12.12.2008

10 Studies That Revealed the Great Global Amphibian Die-Off—and Some Possible Solutions

In our planet's sixth great mass extinction event, amphibians are among the hardest hit. 11.04.2008

Are Frogs Hopping Straight Into Extinction?

A new study says yes, and here's why. 11.04.2008

Elephants Stomp eBay in Round 1 of the Animal-Auction Wars

Online auction giant bans sale of ivory. Next up: macaws, tigers, polar bears, etc. 10.23.2008

Are Efforts to Save the Panda a Giant Waste of Money?

Sure, they're magnificent beasts, but they may be sucking eco-dollars from other, more critical species. 08.12.2008

A First-Hand Look at the Grizzly Recovery

A weekend course sends visitors into the wild to see the bears up close. 07.23.2008

Wildlife Conservation 2.0

A new software-based approach may be the key to saving thousands of species. 05.12.2008

The Species That Put the "Danger" in "Endangered"

From poison frogs to river dolphins, these 5 species are hanging on by a thread. 05.05.2008

Recall of the Wild

Captive breeding may sound great, but the captives don't do so well in nature. 05.05.2008

The Latest Endangered Species: Vacation Spots

Check out these 7 amazing locales soon; they may not be around for long. 04.10.2008

One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird

An excerpt from The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw 03.07.2008

George Schaller's Grand Plan to Save the Marco Polo Sheep

"Obviously humans are evolution’s greatest mistake," says the conservationist. 02.21.2008

4 Robots That Are Saving the World

Smart machines help fix humanity's ecological screwups. 09.07.2007

Sage Grouse Bot

09.06.2007

Arctic Land Grabs Could Cause Eco-Disaster

After nations carve up the fast-melting region, will there be anything left? 08.30.2007

Jumbo Squid Invade California Coast

Human-caused environmental changes are a boon for the "red devil." 07.26.2007

How to Hunt People

DNA forensics puts poachers in the crosshairs. 07.23.2007

Better Planet: Beepocalypse

Can we save honey bees from Colony Collapse Disorder? 06.28.2007

Finding a Mammoth in Your Backyard? Priceless.

Selling it? Not so easy. 05.24.2007

Some Serious Spitters

Giant camels coincided with Neanderthals and humans. 02.25.2007

Sage Grouse Bot

02.02.2007

When All Whales Were Killers

An ancient fossil shows what came before baleen: big, nasty teeth. 12.08.2006

Oddities of the Outback

Platypuses are peculiar, but 20 million years ago, Australia was home to even weirder wildlife. 10.24.2006

Fossils of the First Life

New fossil analysis puts the beginning of life more than 3.4 billion years ago. 09.01.2006

How Life Got a Leg Up

Make way for land animals. 07.01.2006

Mammals Stake Their Place in Jurassic Park

Early mammals were big and bad. 06.25.2006

Still Extinct?

Experts deny ivory-billed woodpecker find. 04.03.2006

What Led to Australian Extinction?

What Led to Australian Extinction? 10.24.2005

Monsters on Ice

Gold-mining techniques in the Yukon offer up fresh DNA from the Ice Age 03.28.2004

Paleontology

01.02.2004

Sharks of Eden

01.02.2004

The First Spinners

Did a spider cousin spin silk tens of millions of years before real spiders could? 12.18.2003

But a Dodo Doesn't

07.01.2002

Politics of Science

Year In Science 01.13.2002

That is

04.01.2001

Old Gobi Bird

09.01.1998

Fossil Flies

08.01.1998

New Women of the Ice Age

Forget about hapless mates being dragged around by macho mammoth killers. The women of Ice Age Europe, it appears, were not mere cavewives but priestly leaders, clever inventors, and mighty hunters. 04.01.1998

A Secret History of Life on Land

Paleontologist Stephen Hasiotis is finding what his colleagues have long overlooked: nests, hives, and trackways that are tens of millions of years older than anyone thought they could be. 02.01.1998

The Year in Science: Animals 1997

Lost Pig Found 01.01.1998

The Year in Science: Evolution 1997

Hidden Unity 01.01.1998

Killer Sloth

06.01.1997

Tusk Tales

02.01.1997

First Fish

01.01.1997

The Face of an Ancestral Child

The remains of an 11-year-old who lived and died 800,000 years ago have been found in northern Spain, at a place called Atapuerca. The child's people may have been the ancestors of Neanderthals. But the child's face was ours. 12.01.1996

Soft Silurians

11.01.1996

Mega-monkey

09.01.1996

Cretaceous Park

01.01.1996

Coming Onto the Land

The evolution of fish into walking land animals was one of the greatest chapters in the history of life. Now a remarkable fossil creature shows that all the real excitement happened underwater. 06.01.1995

Masters of an Ancient Sky

For 160 million years reptiles flew above the Earth. For just over 200 years we humans have known something of their existence. But only recently have we really begun to understand their lives--or their looks. 02.01.1994

Saber-Toothed Tales

Perfect fossils from a smelly tar pit tell us what the saber-toothed cat looked like. But it's the pit's broken and mangled bones that tell us how the cat actually lived. 04.01.1993

Mysteries of the Orient

A half-billion years ago the remarkably complex forms of animals we see today suddenly appeared. A new bonanza of Chinese fossils may finally tell us why. 04.01.1993

Whose View of Life?

05.01.1992

Ruffled Feathers

A paleontologist going after the earliest bird may have ended up with a mouthful of worms. 05.01.1992