Warning: file_put_contents(/opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/storage/proxy/cache/c367448df4182897478d964afc499518.html): Failed to open stream: No space left on device in /opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/app/src/Arsae/CacheManager.php on line 36

Warning: http_response_code(): Cannot set response code - headers already sent (output started at /opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/app/src/Arsae/CacheManager.php:36) in /opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/app/src/Models/Response.php on line 17

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/app/src/Arsae/CacheManager.php:36) in /opt/frankenphp/design.onmedianet.com/app/src/Models/Response.php on line 20
The age of extinction | The Guardian Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Newsletters
Sign in

Reporting on our catastrophic species loss, and ways to tackle the biodiversity crisis

The age of extinction is supported by

The age of extinction is supported by

The age of extinction

About this content
  • Aerial view of a smallish island with dark soil and patches of green along a spit of flatter land in front of two peaks

    Iceland
    A new island erupted from the sea – can it show us how nature works without human interference?

    The volcanic island of Surtsey emerged in the 1960s, and scientists say studying its development offers hope for damaged ecosystems worldwide
  • A male Schlegel’s asity bird perched

    IUCN congress
    More than half of world’s bird species in decline, as leaders meet on extinction crisis

    Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’
  • A spit image showing: left, an old piece of paper with handwritten notes on either side of an engraving showing a village and a route up a mountain and on the right a person bending over a patch of grass enclosed by a rigid red square

    Switzerland
    Century-old papers saved from the bin reveal changes in Europe’s plant life

  • A blue and brown butterfly on a black background

    Adaptation
    As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours

  • Jane Goodall kneels on the ground facing a chimpanzee

    Jane Goodall 1934-2025
    ‘A remarkable ability to inspire’: global tributes pour in for Jane Goodall

  • A tiger shark just above the ocean floor

    Sharks
    Is there such a thing as a ‘problem shark’? Plan to catch repeat biters divides scientists

  • Portrait of a mountain gorilla's face

    Endangered species
    Mountain gorillas are back from the brink. But what happens if they run out of room?

  • Aerial photograph of Arusí, Colombia, on Colombia's Pacific coast, showing a couple of small Afro-descendent villages.

    Latin America
    ‘Food forests are everything’: creating edible landscapes helps nature thrive in Afro-descendant lands

  • A path leads through bushes; an island can be seen in the distance

    Bees
    The island that banned hives: can honeybees actually harm nature?

  • Wildlife officials catch a lizard to be relocated in Lumphini Park, Bangkok.

    Thailand
    ‘You’re going about your day and suddenly see a little Godzilla’: Bangkok reckons with a giant lizard boom

Explore

  • A women with grey hair reaches up to free a bird trapped in a net

    ‘A little bit of joy’: can tiny rafts save endangered sparrows from rising seas?

  • A woman injects a green bird being held by another woman in a leafy setting

    Saving the world’s fattest parrot: can we vaccinate our rarest species before bird flu gets to them?

  • Closeup of an Asian hornet with a tracker attached

    Post-it notes and tiny trackers: behind the race to stop Asian hornets thriving in the UK

  • A gibbon in the tree tops in Vietnam

    The genius of trees: how forests have shaped humanity, from chocolate cravings to our ability to dream

Explainers

  • Illustration of a butterfly, a worm and a fish overlaid with pink to connote a plastic thread moving through the ecosystems.

    The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you

  • Researchers investigate the spread of bird flu, on Beak Island in Antarctica, March 2, 2024 in this handout image. Ben Wallis/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

    Explainer
    Forgotten epidemic: with over 280 million birds dead how is the avian flu outbreak evolving?

  • The biggest threats to our natural world

    The five biggest threats to our natural world … and how we can stop them

  • A bee lands on a purple flower

    Food, soil, water: how the extinction of insects would transform our planet

Wild world

  • A mantis rests under barbed wire

    ‘Landmines have become the greatest protectors’: how wildlife is thriving in the Korean DMZ

  • An aerial photograph showing a vast sea of trees.

    In Ukraine’s bombed out reservoir a huge forest has grown – is it a return to life or a toxic timebomb?

  • Barn owl sits on a fence post at night in the Croydon area

    What a hoot! Owl sightings increase in London – and not just in the leafy suburbs

  • A female stonechat with a caterpillar sitting in a hawthorn tree

    Bringing back the birds: the ‘ghost woodlands’ transforming England’s barren sheep fells

Nature heroes

  • A woman with her eyes closed crouches down and holds an elephant’s leg as other elephants stand over her

    Thailand
    The elephant whisperer: one Thai woman’s lifelong quest to protect a rescued herd

  • A man sits on a rock that is covered with wild flowers. He is putting plant samples into a collection book

    ‘Best job in the natural world’: seed collector enlisted as modern-day Darwin to document the world’s plants

  • An older woman in a beekeeper's protective clothing and helmet peering at a wooden tray with honeycomb and bees in a field with hives

    I’m a vet for bees – I think I might be the only one in the US

  • Three children, two on scooters, one running, pass buildings with peeling paint.

    ‘Our community deserves beauty’: one man’s mission to green a UK tree desert

Negotiating nature

  • A fisher paddles through wetlands in Accra, Ghana.

    Cop16
    Cop16 nature summit agrees deal at 11th hour but critics say it is not enough

  • Aerial view of seven people doing a giant jigsaw puzzle showing a jaguar and what looks like a panda

    Cop16
    Crucial UN nature talks are about to reopen in Rome – but will enough countries turn up?

  • A gibbon sits in a rainforest tree

    30x30
    More than half of countries are ignoring biodiversity pledges – analysis

  • Hundreds of people sit at desks looking towards the stage, were a row of people sit behind microphone in front of a screen showing them in closeup ad the Cop16 logo.

    Biodiversity summit
    Meat, oil and pesticide industry lobbyists turned out in record numbers at Cop16

Watch, see and listen

  • A small sloth clings to a barbed-wire fencepost where a path meets farmland

    Wildlife photographer of the year 2025 – in pictures

    Gallery15

  • Best of 2025 … so far: the great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear? – podcast

    Podcast36:18
  • Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn't prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow, which risks becoming extinct by 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost 'ark' to try to raise vulnerable sparrow nests to safety. Will this be the year they manage to save them?

    Between Moon Tides: hacking nature to save the saltmarsh sparrow

    Video25:24

  • Streams of medicines: how Switzerland cleaned up its act – podcast

    Podcast15:54

Most viewed