Extinction VCC News
[Jun 13, 2026] Wildfires Increase Extinction Risks: In her article “‘Flamin’ cockatoos’ have lost much of their habitat to bushfires. Can the species survive? published in the Guardian, Petra Stock points out that two fires in 12 years wiped out all but a handful of the mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld national park. This area is a key breeding ground for endangered pink cockatoos. The author asked the important question whether the damage done by increasing wildfires will lead to the extinction of the species.
[Jun 10, 2026] Loss of Pollinators Threatens Human Health : A study underlines the inherent connection between biodiversity and human health. The authors find that biodiversity loss threatens human health and welfare through the degradation of ecosystem services like pollination. Gloria Dickie comments on the study in her article “Pollinators in peril: scientists reveal the hidden human health costs of the world’s disappearing bees” published in the Guardian. Jennie Durant in her Opinion piece “Big agriculture is killing our bees. We’ll all pay the price” emphasizes that the thinking about the crisis facing pollinators is flawed, and that we are in a crucial moment in which the losses of pollinators destabilize the food system.
[Jun 10, 2026] Extreme Rain and Landslides push Species Towards Extinction: A new study published in Current Biology finds that 58 of the remaining 800 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) were killed in November 2025 when extreme rain of more than 1,000 mm fell over four days in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, which also caused many landslides. The extreme rain is attributed to modern climate change. Katie Ward comments on the study in her article published in the Guardian.
[Apr 25, 2026] Wildlife bridge in California close to finish: Katharine Gammon reports in her article “California’s wildlife bridge became a target for the right. Now it’s eyeing the finish line” published in the Guardian that this important wildlife bridge over a very busy 10-lane part of the 101 Freeway came under attach by the Murdoch-owned California Post, which “published an op-ed in March, penned by two writers from the conservative Manhattan Institute, that criticized the $114m project for going over budget, calling it a “jobs program for environmentalists” and a “multimillion-dollar bridge to nowhere”. Other conservative commentators piled on; from Fox News to Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy.” Despite all this rightwing hate, the bridge is already occupied by wildlife and will be fully operational in December 2026.
[Apr 25, 2026] Sumatran orangutan use canopy bridge first time: This certainly is good news: Isaaq Tomkins reports in his article “‘Cries of delight’ as Sumatran orangutan filmed using canopy bridge to cross road for first time” published in the Guardian that after a wait of two years, a young male of this endangered species was filmed for the first time crossing the bridge over the Lagan-Pagindar road, which provides an essential route for local people but which became a barrier for animals. Beautiful to watch the video, but is there really hope in this?
[Apr 09, 2026] Rice's whales are on the course to extinction: As emphasized by Oliver Milman in his article “Rice’s whales existed before humans. Now Trump could make them extinct published in the Guardian, there are only 50 of these whales left, and all of them are in the Gulf of Mexico. The scraping of all protections for these whales by the U.S. President puts this small group of high risk.
[Apr 09, 2026] Climate Change Can Cause Extinction: In an article titled “Mass drowning of chicks puts emperor penguins at risk of extinction” and published in the Guardian, Damian Carrington reports about a mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks that resulted from massive melting of sea ice in the course of a changing climate. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared the species officially in danger of extinction.
