Wikipedia:WikiProject Extinction

This WikiProject, an open group of Wikipedia editors, is believed to be semi-active. Although there may be fewer editors here than in the past, anyone is welcome to participate in the group or to leave a message for us. Remove the |Semi-active parameter from this template if activity resumes or if this tag was changed in error. If almost no activity occurs in this WikiProject, consider replacing this tag with {{WikiProject status|Inactive}}. Guide to WikiProjects Directory of WikiProjects

Quick Links

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  • Expansion needed
  • Citations needed
  • Create articles

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Project Templates

• {{WikiProject Extinction}} - Add to article, image, catergory or template talk pages that are Extinction related.
• {{Dinosaur-stub}} - Notice placed on a dinosaur related stub.
• {{Paleo-stub}} - Notice placed on a paleontology related stub.
• {{Paleontologist-stub}}- Notice placed on a paleontologist's stub.
• {{User WikiProject Extinction}}- Add to participant's userpages.

This WikiProject covers recently extinct and endangered organisms, and extinction in general.

WikiProject Palaeontology covers organisms which became extinct before the arrival of modern humans (>100,000-50,000 years ago, depending on location).

A few Wikipedians have gotten together to discuss how we might organize data in extinction-related articles. These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the below guidelines may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles! Please feel free to add yourself to the list of participants below.

Article alerts and project statistics

Extinction articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	4	7	9	36			56
FL		1	1				2
GA		3	1	15			19
B	8	13	12	30		1	64
C	1	31	33	92		5	162
Start	1	21	54	258		8	342
Stub		19	14	400		3	436
List		9	13	40		2	64
Category					691		691
Disambig					1		1
File					7		7
Project					14		14
Redirect		2	2	22	57		83
Template					31		31
Other					3		3
Assessed	14	106	139	893	804	19	1,975
Unassessed						1	1
Total	14	106	139	893	804	20	1,976
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 5,204			Ω = 4.82

Article alerts Good article nominees

• 14 Oct 2026 – Environmental impacts of prehistoric humans (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Noleander (t · c); see discussion
• 09 Oct 2026 – Christmas Island pipistrelle (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Enwebb (t · c); start discussion
• 09 Sep 2026 – Diprotodontidae (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Thepharoah17 (t · c); start discussion

Peer reviews

• 03 Oct 2026 – Neanderthal (talk · edit · hist) has been put up for PR by ErnestKrause (t · c); see discussion

Related WikiProjects

This WikiProject descends from WikiProject Science and WikiProject Biology. Related or overlapping projects are Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life, WikiProject Mammals. WikiProject Birds, WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles, WikiProject Turtles, WikiProject Dinosaurs, WikiProject Arthropods, WikiProject Fishes, WikiProject Plants and WikiProject Palaeontology.

Recognized content

Taxobox

Dodo Temporal range: Holocene
Dodo skeleton cast (left) and model based on modern research (right), at Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Conservation status
Extinct (1662) (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Subtribe:	†Raphina
Genus:	†Raphus Brisson, 1760
Species:	†R. cucullatus
Binomial name
†Raphus cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Location of Mauritius (in blue)
Synonyms
Struthio cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758 Didus ineptus Linnaeus, 1766

Here an example of a taxobox:

{{Speciesbox
| name =
| fossil_range =
| image =
| image_upright =
| image_caption =
| status = EX
| status_ref =
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| display_parents =
| genus =
| parent_authority = [[]], [[]]
| species = 
| authority = ([[]], [[]])
| synonyms =
| synonyms_ref =
| range_map =
| range_map_upright =
| range_map_caption = Former range (in red)
}}

The full taxobox guide is located at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/taxobox usage.

Detailed taxonomic information, including notes on how taxa are defined and how they vary between different systems, belongs in the article proper. Where possible, however, a standard table will be provided to allow easier navigation between related groups and quick identification of what sort of organisms are being discussed. These are called taxoboxes. A typical taxobox is shown at right (it belongs on the top right of the page Dodo). For extinct plants see Hymenaea protera.

There are three main sections to the taxobox:

• A header showing the name of the group, sometimes followed by a representative image.
• A table showing the placement of the group in a typical classification system.
• A footer, whose content varies, showing the binomial name or a species, or a list of subgroups for higher taxa.

Some items that are often included, but are not (necessarily) standardized, include:

• Range map (see, for example, Orca)
• Synonyms (European lobster)
• Breeding organizations' classifications (Dingo)

Three different statuses can be used for extinct species:

1. | status = Fossil
2. | status = Prehistoric
3. | status = EX

Position: The taxobox generally belongs at the top right corner of the article, unless it has been decided otherwise on the relevant talk page - for instance, if the article is not primarily about the biological group.

Proposals, suggestions and discussions

• It has been suggested that List of extinct animals of Europe should be merged with List of extinct animals of Asia in order to create List of extinct animals of Eurasia. (May 2007)
• It has been suggested that New Zealand Pelican be merged with Australian Pelican.
• It has been suggested that Lions in Europe be merged into European lion. Discuss
• A Red List of Threatened Species Bot, a bot that would automatically add IUCN Red List classifications to taxoboxes, properly referenced. A bot to include any article having a scientific name in the IUCN Global invasive species database in the category "invasive species" might also be useful. Discuss

Articles needing attention

• Biology pages needing attention (cleanup, expansion, wikification, expert needed, etc.)
  • Conservation biology - I have added much to this article in the past year. Given the gravity of this topic it would be nice to have some editorial asssitance to get this particular article featured.Thompsma (talk) 00:19, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Ecology - Another biology article of top importance that needs lots of attention.Thompsma (talk) 00:19, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

• Extinction articles needing attention (cleanup, expansion, wikification, expert needed, etc.)
  • Extinction articles without image
  • Extinction articles that need expansion
  • Extinction articles that need citations
  • Extinction topics that need an article
  • Templates in need of attention

Templates

Project banner

Extinction

This article is a part of WikiProject Extinction, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use resource on extinction and extinct organisms. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.ExtinctionWikipedia:WikiProject ExtinctionTemplate:WikiProject ExtinctionExtinction ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

The {{WikiProject Extinction}} project banner template should be added (not subst:ed) to the talk page of every article within the scope of the project.

Barnstar

{{The Extinct Barnstar|put your message here ~~~~}}—an award placed at another users talk page for improving Extinction related-articles.

		The Extinct Barnstar
		{{{1}}}

Information sources

Here some internet resources with information on extinction or extinct species. Be Aware! Texts and images are most likely copyrighted and can not be used (unless otherwise stated). Write your own texts and use your own images or images that are in the public domain.

Tools

Main tool page: toolserver.org

• Reflinks - Edits bare references - adds title/dates etc. to bare references
• Checklinks - Edit and repair external links
• Dab solver - Quickly resolve ambiguous links.
• Peer reviewer - Provides hints and suggestion to improving articles.

Participants

• Wiki.cowboy
• Runne 10:21, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
• IJReid 8:04, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
• John Troodon
• Peter Maas 22:38, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
• BorgQueen 21:58, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
• Jkelly 20:27, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
• Dysmorodrepanis 19:42, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
• Melly42 16:02, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
• Matthias Macé 15:39, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
• Enlil Ninlil 03:31, 20 January 2007 (UTC) I love this subject.
• Sabine's Sunbird 20:21, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
• CheetahKeeper 03:47, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
• Philcha 00:42, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
• Cuddly Panda 11:49, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
• Brontoraptor
• Foxygramps 5:59, 10 November 2007
• Remaai 10:43, 7 Aug 2007 (UTC)
• Paleodude
• Blahark
• Maias
• Walkingwith08
• Wloveral --Wloveral (talk) 23:16, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
• JeanSolPartre^{Talk page} 22:23, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
• BoomBoxBuddy
• PrehistoricManiac08 (talk)
• User:Wilhelmina Will I called the Warner sister "Dottie" and lived to tell the tale! (talk) 04:35, 22 June 2008 (UTC)
• Sneaky Oviraptor18^{talk edits tribute} 22:01, 8 July 2008 (UTC) ^{don't tell.}
• Jordan Timothy James Busson
• Secthayrabe^{Talk page} 15:46, 13 September 2008
• Barbara Whelan
• Shrumster 22:40, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
• ThompsmaThompsma (talk) 07:03, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
• deign12 13:02, 8 January 2009 (UTC)
• Visionholder (talk) 02:33, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
• Warrah I would like to help
• Matt (talk) 19:26, 18 November 2009 (UTC
• Roozie12 (talk) 23:59, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
• Roozie1219 (talk)
• Bruinfan12 July 5, 2011
• Faendalimas ^talk 05:10, 20 August 2011 (UTC) STSC
• Robert Beatty (talk) 02:39, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
• User:Birdaregood (talk)
• HLHJ (talk) 15:15, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
•   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  – Let me know if you're doing anything with marine mammals
• Adityavagarwal (talk) 16:19, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
• --Arcahaeoindris (talk) 21:28, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
• 좀비 브렌다 (talk) 8:26, 5 January 2022 (UTC)
• Charlie Teuthis 1:14, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Do you want to participate? Just add your name to the list!

TH Worthy - if someone asks I can provide them with papers that will allow update of relative fields eg flamingoes are missing many taxa etc (TH Worthy)