Species

We're on the brink of a sixth major extinction event, largely thanks to human activity and climate change. The least we could do is try to prevent some of them, and now a study has quantified how many species we may have saved in the last few decades.

It can be hard to determine if an animal is extinct or just really good at hiding. A new study shows how environmental DNA can help the hunt, with several missing frog species rediscovered in Brazil, including one that hasn’t been seen in 50 years.

A long-lost species has been rediscovered alive and well. The Somali sengi, an insect-eating mammal that hasn’t been seen in over 40 years, has turned up in East Africa, with researchers snapping the first-ever photos and video of them in the wild.

All kinds of fascinating discoveries are waiting in the deep sea. Now scientists have pulled a new monster out of the waters off the Indonesian coast. The creature is a new species of “supergiant” isopod, a huge marine relative of the common pillbug.

Forget space – the oceans are Earth’s final frontier. The latest case in point is a diving expedition off the coast of Western Australia, which has discovered up to 30 new species plus what may be the longest animal ever recorded.

Spiders may seem like they sit on top of the food chain in the bug world, but they’re vulnerable to an even worse fate: parasitic wasps that infect and essentially “zombify” them. And now, researchers have discovered 15 new species of these wasps.

Scientists have now re-discovered a species that has long been missing. The silver-backed chevrotain, a tiny deer-like creature that hasn’t been seen in the wild in almost 30 years, has been captured alive and well on camera traps in Vietnam.

A new species of microscopic worm found in Mono Lake in California is able to survive huge doses of arsenic, and is divided into three sexes.

You might think we'd have discovered of all the big animals by now, but Japanese scientists have found a previously-unknown whale species.

​It may not be a Bigfoot or a Loch Ness Monster, but a somewhat creepy new animal species HAS recently been discovered. Named Macrobdella mimicus, it's the first medicinal (human-blood-sucking) leech to be described in North America in over 40 years.

An expedition to the “Lost City of the Monkey God” in Honduras has revealed a trove of natural treasures. The pristine forests house an incredibly rich ecosystem, including species new to science, some unknown in the area, some that haven’t been seen in decades and others that were believed extinct.

Researchers from the California Academy of Science (CAS) have discovered a new species of fish that looks pretty hard to miss with its neon green, pink and yellow coloring.