Extinction

There is a holocaust happening. Right now. And it's not confined to one nation or even one region. It is a global crisis. Species are going extinct en masse. Every 20 minutes we lose an animal species. If this rate continues, by century's end, 50% of all living species will be gone. It is a phenomenon known as the sixth extinction. The fifth extinction took place 65 million years ago when a meteor smashed into the Earth, killing off the dinosaurs and many other species and opening the door for the rise of mammals.

An environmental group has warned that a federal agency's plan to designate 98.4 acres as critical habitat for an endangered plant in western Riverside County is inadequate and could result in the extinction of the species. In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this month designated the small area just west of Lake Elsinore as critical habitat for Munz's onion. The wildlife agency also rejected the center's request for it to protect habitat for the endangered San Jacinto Valley crownscale, which inhabits portions of the San Jacinto River flood plain near Hemet.

Lately I see fewer and fewer songbirds, honeybees, butterflies, moths, aphids, wasps, lacewings, beetles and even spiders--all formerly abundant in our Woodland Hills environment. Also, our unpollinated fruit trees produce less and our mockingbirds are mute. It looks as though the poison sprayers are finally winning big. Soon they'll poison us to extinction too. Don Kephart Woodland Hills

Will scientists soon be able to revive the long-extinct woolly mammoth? What about the dodo, the Chinese river dolphin or the saber-toothed cat? With the great technological leaps forward over the past decade, bringing back dead-and-gone species using DNA preserved in fossils might be possible in the near future, researchers said this month at a TEDx event in Washington, D.C. That doesn't mean Jurassic Park will ever become a reality; ...

Well, here it is, or almost, the specter that environmental scientists warn about: that we wind up killing off the one creature that can save us as a species. The ajolote , a 9-inch-long aquatic salamander, has been swimming around the waterways of Mexico City since before there was a Mexico City, since even well before the Aztecs. And it's been a powerful symbol in the legends of ancient Mexico itself. Now that long run may be coming to an end, as the canals of Xochimilco are too polluted, too full of non-native species and too degraded to support this ancient creature.

A massive asteroid may have collided with Earth 251 million years ago and killed 90% of all life, an extinction even more severe than the meteorite impact believed to have snuffed out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. A new study, based on meteorite fragments in Antarctica, suggests that the greatest extinction in the planet's history may have been triggered by a mountain-sized space rock that smashed into a southern land mass.

Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis published Thursday in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The report noted that a separate study estimated that the number of early humans may have fallen as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again.

A layer of rock as thin as a finely honed knife blade has led researchers to conclude that a meteor impact is responsible for a massive global extinction 380 million years ago, similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Brooks B.

An environmental group has warned that a federal agency's plan to designate 98.4 acres as critical habitat for an endangered plant in western Riverside County is inadequate and could result in the extinction of the species. In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this month designated the small area just west of Lake Elsinore as critical habitat for Munz's onion. The wildlife agency also rejected the center's request for it to protect habitat for the endangered San Jacinto Valley crownscale, which inhabits portions of the San Jacinto River flood plain near Hemet.

I read your article about the new dinosaur water ride, Jurassic Park, at Universal Studios ("Where Dinosaurs Rule," June 15) and waited in eagerness to ride it. I've read the articles and watched the shows and viewed the commercials about what I would see and the millions of dollars that went into the construction. My head reeled with anticipation. Finally, the day arrived and I made it through the park, down the hill and got into the Jurassic Park line. OK, I'm in my big yellow boat; I'm climbing the hill; the gates open.

Nearly two-thirds of American voters believe that human population growth is driving other animal species to extinction and that if the situation gets worse, society has a "moral responsibility to address the problem," according to new national public opinion poll. A slightly lower percentage of those polled - 59% - believes that population growth is an important environmental issue and 54% believe that stabilizing the population will help protect the environment. The survey was conducted on behalf of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which unlike other environmental groups has targeted population growth as part of its campaign to save wildlife species from extinction.

EUREKA, Calif. - Carole Lewis throws herself into her work as if something big is at stake. " Pa'-ah ," she tells her Eureka High School class, gesturing at a bottle of water. She whips around and doodles a crooked little fish on the blackboard, hinting at the dip she's prepared with " ney-puy " - salmon, key to the diet of California's largest Native American tribe. For thousands of years before Western settlers arrived, the Yurok thrived in dozens of villages along the Klamath River.

California plant life is unusually rich and diverse. The state has more than 5,500 native plant species, more than any other state. Roughly 40% of them are found nowhere else. A new study offers an explanation for that incredible variety: The state's climate, latitude and complex topography created plant refuges that reduced extinction rates. Species that may not have survived elsewhere because of climate shifts during the past 45 million years could persist here in ecological niches.

First came the polar bear. Now, the federal government has added two other marine mammals to the list of creatures threatened with extinction because of vanishing sea ice in a warming Arctic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has officially listed bearded seal and the ringed seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The reason is not inadequate supplies of fish and other food for these seals, or excessive hunting by humans. It's the loss of their sea ice habitat.

MT. GERIZIM, West Bank - When Ben Yehuda Altif got engaged to his first cousin Mazal, there was no problem winning the blessing of their families or the Samaritan high priest, who leads their ancient Israelite sect. Marriage between cousins is common in the religious community. But there was still an obstacle. Like many Samaritan couples today, the pair had to pass a premarital genetic screening to predict the likelihood of having healthy children. Without the green light from doctors, the marriage would be off. "Doctors said OK, and now we have a healthy, handsome boy," said Altif, 33, reaching for his wife's cellphone to show off pictures of their son. Samaritans, who trace their roots back about 2,700 years, are best known for clinging to strict biblical traditions that have largely disappeared, including animal sacrifice, isolation of menstruating women and, until recently, a ban on marrying outsiders.

Republicans just lost eight seats in the House. But if you'd wandered into the House of Representatives last week without reading the election returns, you might have concluded that the GOP won big on Nov. 6. "We have the second-largest Republican House majority since World War II," California Rep. Tom McClintock told reporters last week. "The American people agree with the positions of the Republican Party and heartily disagree with the positions of the Democratic Party. " And if that's how you see things, why compromise?

Contemplating the fragility of life at the individual, racial and species levels, EM Lewis' new drama, "Song of Extinction," artfully balances its theme of mortality between the intimate and the macroscopic. Revolving around the tenuous connection between an alienated high school biology teacher and a troubled student, Lewis' lyrical text explores inner psychological states with remarkable eloquence and clarity -- ably depicted by a first-rate Moving Arts cast. The teacher, Khim Phan (Darrell Kunitomi)

Researchers in Grand Canyon National Park have discovered a prehistoric-looking sucker fish once thought to be extinct from the area. The fish, known as the razorback sucker, is the first of its species to be caught in the Grand Canyon in more than 20 years. The fish is characterized by a long, high sharp-edged hump behind its head. The creature was snagged by Arizona fish and wildlife officials in the Colorado River last week, in the lower part of the canyon system. So is this find one of those river monsters featured on cable television?

Well, here it is, or almost, the specter that environmental scientists warn about: that we wind up killing off the one creature that can save us as a species. The ajolote , a 9-inch-long aquatic salamander, has been swimming around the waterways of Mexico City since before there was a Mexico City, since even well before the Aztecs. And it's been a powerful symbol in the legends of ancient Mexico itself. Now that long run may be coming to an end, as the canals of Xochimilco are too polluted, too full of non-native species and too degraded to support this ancient creature.