Richard Leakey, a distinguished conservationist, has warned that "unless the present trend is reversed the world could lose about 55% of its species over the next 50 to 100 years."
From the depths of South Asian rain forests to the shrinking patches of wilderness tucked in California's megalopolises, automated cameras have become a preferred tool of conservation biologists trying to study and protect rare and reclusive animal species.
Kevin Kelly discusses the work of the All Species Foundation which has the very ambitious goal of recording, naming and taking a genetic sample of every living thing on Earth within 25 years.
Centuries of overfishing by man have emptied the world's oceans of giant fish, whales and other large sea creatures, destroying coastal environments.
The destruction of the Amazon rainforest could be irreversible within a decade, according to a US scientist. James Alcock, of Pennsylvania State University, says the forest could virtually disappear within half a century.
Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History are building a 21st century version of Noah's Ark. Except this time, instead of two by two, the animals will go in little bits and pieces, deep frozen. The tissue specimens - from whole insects to leeches to small pieces of whales - will be a treasure trove for researchers using genetic techniques to study wildlife, and perhaps one day will become the source material for creating clones of endangered or extinct animals.
A report by two international scientific groups says global wildlife faces the greatest extinction risk since the dinosaurs disappeared. It says conservation strategies are failing, with nearly half the world's major nature reserves being heavily used for agriculture.
Some 11,046 plants and animals risk disappearing forever, according to the most comprehensive analysis of global conservation ever undertaken, the World Conservation Union's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species. The report examined some 18,000 species and subspecies around the globe.
Iowa State University researchers have reported that they found more evidence that pollen from bioengineered corn could be deadly for Monarch butterflies, prompting environmentalists to renew demands for tighter restrictions on the crop.
A sign by the small enclosure near the Bonorong Park Wildlife Center entrance says ''Tasmanian tiger'' but the fabled carnivore is nowhere to be seen. The last known Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, died in captivity in 1936, but a team of Australian biologists believes the animal's extinction may simply be a 70-year hiccup. DNA from a Tasmanian tiger has been found and cloning is underway.