Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

Schoolchildren look at a lifelike animatronics display of a dinosaur at the dinosaur-themed Zoo-rassic Park in Singapore on November 16, 2016. To raise awareness on the sixth mass extinction, the Singapore Zoo and River Safari displayed lifelike dinosaur animatronics where visitors can trail along the Dinosaur Valley which does not involve living animals. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

An injured vulture is treated at the VulPro Vulture Rehabilitation Centre in Hartebeepoortdam in the Magalisburg region on September 15, 2015. Confined to southern Africa, just under 4,000 breeding pairs of Cape Vultures remain in the wild, mostly in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana. Unless conservation efforts are successful, Africa's largest vulture species may be facing eventual extinction. (Photo by Mujahid Safodien/AFP Photo)

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz emblems stand ready for attachment to vehicles at the factory on January 30, 2012 in Sindelfingen, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images)

Men from the Kenyan Maasai tribe perform a traditional jumping-ritual among fellow members of a common age-set as they observe a rite of passage to mark the transition of an age-set to cultural junior elder from Moran (Maasai for warrior age-set) at a manyatta or traditional homestead built specifically for the ceremony near Lemek town within the Masai-Mara National Reserve ecosystem in Narok county February 27, 2021. (Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP Photo)

This July 2014 image provided by the Bureau of Land Management shows the interior of the Natural Trap Cave in north-central Wyoming. The cave holds the remains of tens of thousands of animals, including many now-extinct species, from the late Pleistocene period tens of thousands of years ago. Scientists have resumed digging for the first time in more than 30 years. (Photo by AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management)

A topless climate activist Laura Amherst, 31, from Extinction Rebellion protests in Soho, London, United Kingdom on August 25, 2021. The event is part of the “Impossible Rebellion” protest to “target the root cause of the climate and ecological crisis” and are ongoing for two weeks until the Government agrees to stop all new fossil fuel investments. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Alamy Live News)

French performer Maud'Amour applies a makeup backstage before the Parisian transvestite cabaret show at “Madame Arthur” in Paris, on September 29, 2023. Open since 1946, Madame Arthur is the oldest transformist cabaret in Paris. Threatened with extinction the cabaret is undergoing a renaissance, attracting younger customers by returning to the fundamentals of the lie: baroque and queer performers who play with genres and conventions, and sing French hits live. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)