News

Today more than 42,100 species are threatened with extinction (IUCN) and more than 150,300 species are on the IUCN Red List including 41% of amphibians, 37% of sharks and rays, 36% of reef building corals, 34% of conifers, 27% of mammals, 16% of selected insects, and 13% of birds.

The Institute of Natural Sciences and the CETAF are celebrating on 23rd May 2024 the Taxonomy Recognition Day, which covers the diversity in nature, preservation of nature and knowledge sharing on nature !

In a warmer climate, summers warm much faster than winters. That is the conclusion of research into fossil shells by earth scientist Niels de Winter.

A young male minke whale that washed ashore in Ostend on May 13 most likely died of starvation. Although sightings of dead and living minke whales have become more frequent in recent years in the south of the North Sea, their washing up on a Belgian beach remains an exceptional event.

Paleontologist Pascal Godefroit tells the complete story of the Iguanodons of Bernissart in a hefty and beautifully illustrated book: from the discovery in the mining village to the latest insights into their cause of death. 

The region of the Belgian-Dutch Scheldt Delta has been officially recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark. The world heritage organization thereby acknowledges that the area is exceptional in terms of its geological, cultural-historical, and landscape features.

Citizen scientists have donated tens of thousands of fossil shark and ray teeth to the Institute. They were excavated at the clay quarry of Egem in West Flanders, and bear witness to the rich diversity in the shallow tropical sea around 50 million years ago in our regions.

On August 8, 1956, 262 miners died in the fire at the Bois du Cazier mine in Marcinelle (Charleroi). In 2023, a multidisciplinary team of researchers formally identified two of the 14 victims who couldn't be identified at the time. In March 2024 the team announced the identity of a third victim.

Palaeontologists have uncovered a fossilized tooth from a white shark embedded in the heel bone of a seal, shedding light on a dramatic event that unfolded 4.5 million years ago.