The rapid extinction of many mammalian species could be a sign of the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history, which is approaching at an intense pace and may occur in 3-22 centuries
Whales are increasingly being washed ashore, and there are very few of them left
However, the situation is not too late to "turn back", scientists say. A team of scientists from the University of California at Berkeley has compared data on the five extinctions with estimates of the current situation. Experts believe that the dramatic decline in populations of many species that is being observed today may be a wake-up call for the sixth mass extinction that is looming. The first of these - the Ordovician-Silurian - destroyed about 86 percent of the species 440 million years ago.
And the most significant is considered the "Big" Permian extinction: about 251 million years ago, more than 95 percent of all living things inhabiting the planet disappeared. The "recent" extinction, Cretaceous-Paleogene, about 65.5 million years ago, led to the death of dinosaurs, along with a sixth of all species.
“If we take only critically ill mammals, for which the risk of extinction in the next three generations is at least 50 percent, and we assume that they all disappear in the next thousand years, this already takes the situation beyond the norm and indicates that we are heading towards mass extinction,”said scientist Anthony Barnoski.
According to scientists, if mammalian species, which today are officially classified into three risk groups according to the classification of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - "in critical danger", "in danger" and "in danger" - will die out, and the rate of extinction will remain the same, the sixth mass extinction will occur in 3-22 centuries. At the same time, the authors of the study note that the process has not yet passed the "point of no return" and it is still possible to save most of these species. Earlier it was reported that the Earth is currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction in its history, which is mainly caused by disease and human activity.
Most of the Southern Hemisphere is currently in a particularly threatening state; Australia, New Zealand and neighboring Pacific Islands may be the first hotbeds of extinction. At the same time, biologists from the University of Chicago in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the massive extinction of fish, which happened 360 million years ago, gave impetus to the development of vertebrates and, ultimately, humans.
Recently it was also noted that, as Albert Einstein wrote, if the bees die out, then four years after that, people will also die out. In addition, the disappearance of bees on our planet could exacerbate the food crisis that has already begun.
So, the extinction of bees intensified in 2006. Every winter in the United States, 30-35% of bee colonies die out, although usually the cold season cannot survive only 10%. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 48% of all primates that live on Earth are endangered. In addition, the UN recently added 21 more animal species to the international list of species that are on the verge of extinction.
In particular, the cheetah, Irrawaddy dolphin, African manatee, gray-blue shark, herring shark, African hyena dog, common vulture were included in the "black" list. Polar bears were also recognized as an endangered species.
These animals were on the verge of extinction due to the reduction of their natural habitat. In addition, due to global warming, extinction is threatening tropical insects and giraffes.