The sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared, scientists have warned. More than 30 percent of animals with a backbone — fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — are declining in both range and population, according to the first ...

The orangutan population on the island of Borneo has shrunk by a quarter in the last decade, researchers said Friday, urging a rethink of strategies to protect the critically-endangered great ape. The first-ever analysis of long-term orangutan population trends revealed a worrying decline, they said. An ...

Pop superstar Katy Perry has been slammed by animal activists for telling her pet dog to "chase some koalas" in a promotional video for the Australian leg of her global tour. The plug for Perry's "Witness" tour next year, which also pushes the country's top ...

More than 28,000 species of plants around the world have a medical use but poor documentation means people are not making the most of the health benefits, according to a survey released on Thursday. Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London recorded 28,187 species ...

The vaquita marina, a tiny porpoise native to Mexico, could be extinct by next year if urgent action including a ban on gillnets is not taken, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature warned. Fewer than 30 of the rare mammals (Phocoena sinus) still live in ...

A Japanese team becomes the first to grow the eggs and sperm of an endangered species using induced pluripotent stem cells, raising the potential to halt extinctions.

The crested black macaque shot to fame when one of the monkeys snapped grinning selfies and became embroiled in a U.S. court battle — but the tussle over copyright is the least of the rare animal's worries. In a remote corner of their native Indonesia, ...

Coral-munching crown-of-thorns starfish can be safely killed by common household vinegar, scientists revealed Thursday in a discovery that offers hope for Australia's struggling Great Barrier Reef. The predatory starfish is naturally occurring but has proliferated due to pollution and runoff at the World Heritage-listed ecosystem, ...