New findings from the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California suggest human-caused wildfires in the region, along with a warming climate, led to the loss of most of the area’s large mammals.

A forensic technique more often used at modern crime scenes identified blood residue from large extinct animals on spearpoints and stone tools used by people who lived in the Carolinas millennia ago.

A puzzle over the identity of an extinct bird that laid eggs across Australia has been solved.

Polar bears and wolves may get the glory, but small predators like weasels, foxes and their cousins play outsized ecological roles. And many of these species are declining fast.

The extinction of large mammals like wooly mammoths between 50,000 and 6,000 years ago led to more wildfires across the globe's grasslands.

The historical record is full of surprises – and it could encourage conservationists to think more creatively.

Why do we have coyotes in America but not saber-toothed cats? A look at the teeth of ancient creatures trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits may clear things up.

In a Chilean suburb, researchers discovered additional evidence for a fragmented astroid strike that changed our planet around 13,000 years ago.