Are We going to Face Another Animal Mass Extinction?

Over the past few centuries, there has been a drastic shift in nature. This change is very real and it’s affecting not only humans, but animals as well. Our current biodiversity which is the result of more than 3.5 billion years of changes and adaptation in evolution may be in danger.

Biologist at Stanford warns that we could be facing a mass extinction event, which has already happened 6 times throughout the earth’s history. By reviewing the recent scientific analysis and literature of data published by Science, scientist all over the world are saying that the decline and loss of a number of animal species is underwriting to what seems to be the making of the earth’s sixth mass extinction event.

Since the 1500, there have been more than 320 types of land animals which have been marked as extinct. The populations of all the other remaining species are showing a 25 percent decline. If this trend continues, it could cause a lot of problems for all animal life.

Rodolfo DirzoStanfordbiologyprofessor says that although the previous mass extinctions where caused by natural changes of the earth’s crust or catastrophic events like asteroidstrikes, what we are currently facing today can strongly be linked to human activities.

Across the list of all vertebrates, 16 – 33 percent are labeled endangered or threatened. Large animals, called megafauna, such as polar bears, rhinoceroses,and elephants and a number of other animals found worldwide are the most prone to population problems because of fewer offspring, habitat changes, and poaching.