PREVIOUS
✖
Threat of a sixth mass extinction
September 28 , 2023
295 days
393
0
- Humans are driving the loss of entire branches of the “Tree of Life,” warning of the threat of a sixth mass extinction.
- The study is largely based on the species listed as extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and focuses on vertebrate species (excluding fish).
- Out of some 5,400 genera – which comprises some 34,600 species – 73 had become extinct in the last 500 years.
- Based on the extinction rate in the previous million years we would have expected to lose two genera. But we lost 73.
- A mass extinction defined as the loss of 75 per cent of species over a short period of time.
Leave a Reply
Your Comment is awaiting moderation.