What are the odds that elephants will become extinct in the next 30 years? [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Sep 11, 2009 - 5 answers

Could large land animals have died out due to the Earth's gravity increasing over millions of years? [more inside]
posted by OneCrayon on Jun 14, 2009 - 10 answers

Are there any species other than humans whose own success (at procreation, expansion, etc.) has threatened or ruined their habitat? [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco on Mar 3, 2009 - 18 answers

Has there ever been a case where humans have hunted (or gathered) a species to extinction, purely because that species caused inconvenience or danger to humans...and not mainly for food, sport, etc.
posted by Ziggurat on Mar 21, 2008 - 29 answers

So...let's say that some freak nuclear accident (or, in our current political climate, perhaps a purposeful nuclear attack) wipes out most of the world's population. How many people would have to survive to successfully re-populate the world? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by AlliKat75 on Nov 13, 2006 - 15 answers

extinction tracker? ... is anyone tracking the daily list of vanishing species from this planet? like some sort of online resource of known exctinctions as they happen?
posted by specialk420 on Jun 18, 2006 - 9 answers

What are the most important animals for your region of the country? [more inside]
posted by salvia on May 1, 2006 - 27 answers

I've been reading the ongoing series of articles in the New Yorker about global warming, and quite frankly, I'm freaked out. Further reading on the web only confirms this. So here's my question: is there any good news? [more inside]
posted by danny boy on Apr 28, 2005 - 19 answers

Several years ago, I had a photocopy of a cartoon entitled "Why the Neanderthals Became Extinct". There were two Neanderthals, one saying "I don't know, it just seemed easier when we went hunting" and the other one replying "Yes, but Og assures us this will keep us ahead of those Cro-Magnons in the valley". The rest of the cartoon was an insanely complicated hunting plan, with boxes and arrows and stages like "Hunt Readyness Review". I've been looking for a copy of this cartoon for years now. I don't suppose anybody knows what the hell I'm talking about?
posted by salmacis on May 17, 2004 - 6 answers