extinction: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026

News •

Scientists challenge the dream of bringing extinct species back to life • Nov. 11, 2026, 2:30 PM ET (Phys.org)

A Giant Bird Declared Extinct 150 Years Ago Was Hiding in Plain Sight • Nov. 2, 2026, 6:02 AM ET (ScienceAlert)

Photos and Videos

Illustrations of four extinct species: a dodo, a Tasmanian wolf or thylacine, a passenger pigeon, and a mamo, with the birds shown larger for detail. Scientific names are included.

Illustration of the extinct Jamaican flightless ibis, Xenicibis xympithecus, showing a pale bird with long legs, a curved bill, and one wing raised as if in motion.

This infographic presents a timeline of the five major mass extinction events in Earth's history-Devonian, Ordovician-Silurian, Permian, End-Triassic, and Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T or K-Pg)-with descriptions of each event's timing, causes, and impact on marine animal families, illustrated by a graph showing the diversity and decline of marine animal families over geologic time.

The Chicxulub asteroid

World map highlighting the locations of the most endangered coral reefs, shown in pink along tropical and subtropical coastlines. Notable concentrations appear in the Caribbean Sea, eastern coast of Central America, eastern Africa, the Red Sea, South and Southeast Asia, the South Philippine Sea, and around northern Australia and the South Pacific islands.

confiscated ivory

Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)

Passenger pigeon

What are the Different Types of Extinction?

Know about Earth's mass extinctions

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What Happened to the Dodo Bird?

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Topics

background extinction rate secondary extinction human-induced extinction extinction rate Extinct in the Wild Extinct 6 Animals We Ate Into Extinction mass extinction event Permian extinction Major Mass Extinctions heredity adaptation coevolution Speciation emergence natural selection selection Variation mosaic evolution Creative evolution

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Key People

Walter Alvarez

Walter Alvarez

American geologist

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Loren Eiseley

American anthropologist

greylag. Flock of Greylag geese during their winter migration at Bosque del Apache National Refugee, New Mexico. greylag goose (Anser anser)

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