endangered animals

Need a break from politics? Marvel at the 'Vanishing Treasures' of the natural world

11:56am November 07, 2024

With 23 short essays on creatures ranging from the wombat to the spider, Katherine Rundell's new book is essential reading for anyone whose wonder could use a jumpstart.

Queue Listen Now

Environment

With freshwater mussels threatened by habitat loss and climate change, researchers look for ways to protect them

4:49pm April 19, 2024

by Paul Garber

They provide essential water-quality functions and have great names like Atlantic pigtoe, Appalachian elktoe and Carolina heelsplitter. Freshwater mussels are among the most endangered groups of animals in the world — but in North Carolina, there's an effort to save them.

Queue Listen Now

Ninety-seven percent of migratory fish species are facing extinction. Whale sharks, the world's largest living fish, are among the endangered.

Across the world, migrating animal populations are dwindling. Here's why

7:00pm February 12, 2024

by Nathan Rott

In a landmark UN study, researchers found nearly half of the world's threatened migratory species have declining populations. More than a fifth of the assessed animals face extinction.

Devils Hole pupfish gather on the precious rocky shelf that supports their entire fragile existence in the wild.

Against all odds, the rare Devils Hole pupfish keeps on swimming

5:00am July 07, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The Devils Hole pupfish's natural habitat is a single water-filled hole in a cave in the Nevada desert. Its numbers at one point dwindled to just 35 animals. How does it manage to survive?

Queue Listen Now

There are fewer than 16,000 white rhinos around the world and are classified as "near threatened." John Hume, owner of the Platinum Rhino Project, is estimated to own somewhere between 13% to 15% of the population.

World News

2,000 'near threatened' white rhinos are up for auction

5:06am April 27, 2023

by Vanessa Romo

On Wednesday, John Hume, owner of the Platinum Rhino Project, launched an auction to sell off the 2,000-strong herd in an online sale that's starting at $10 million.

A new study finds that orca mothers still feed their adult sons. It's a bond that may come with costs, researchers say.

Killer whale moms are still supporting their adult sons — and it's costing them

5:05am February 09, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Orca moms spent precious resources feeding their fully grown adult male offspring. A new study finds that this may limit how many more young they produce.

Environmental activists protest outside the National Press Club, where minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, is scheduled to speak, in Canberra, Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

Environment

A report warns that Australia's endangered animals will increase because of wildfires

3:03am July 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

The wide-ranging report found the number of Australian species listed as threatened had increased since the 2016 report.

Researchers were able to detect DNA from elephants at the Copenhagen Zoo simply by sampling the air nearby.

Scientists vacuum zoo animals' DNA out of the air

7:00am January 09, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

Researchers who detected that detecting environmental DNA, or eDNA, in two zoos say the technique could one day be used to look for endangered species in remote locations in the wild.

A male bonobo at Lola yo Bonobo sanctuary. Only about 20,000 wild bonobos are left, and they are found only in the central rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Saving Endangered Bonobos Teaches A Lesson In Empathy

7:05am April 03, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

At an animal sanctuary in the Congo, young students are learning why the gentle, endangered apes known as bonobos should be seen as a national treasure.

A redwood forest caught in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire on the Northern California coast.

Wildfires Hit California's Redwoods And Condors, But There's Still Hope

7:56pm August 23, 2020

by Lauren Sommer

Growing wildfires have overtaken old-growth redwoods and endangered condor nests, but biologists say they could survive.