The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. […]
Tag: mass extinction
As the mammal tree of life suffers hits, should we prioritize which species to save?
The current mass extinction is eliminating whole branches of the mammal tree of life, which will take millions of years to replace, according to a recent study. Some researchers suggest focusing our conservation efforts on mammal species that sit on the tree’s most distinct and precarious limbs. How we choose to save one species over […]
Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation. The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across […]
This crab could save your life – if humans don’t wipe it out first
Few people in the world are aware their wellbeing may one day depend on a blue-blooded crab that looks like a cross between the facehugger from Alien and a gigantic louse. Fewer still realise this ancient creature now faces its greatest threat in more than 450m years. The American horseshoe crab outlived the dinosaurs and […]
It Could Take 5 Million Years for Mammals to Recover From Our Impact
Evolve or die, as the saying goes, but for mammals it isn’t going to be quite that simple. At least not according to a new study that concluded we’re wiping out so many of them so quickly that it will take millions of years for them to recover. Over millions of years natural disasters have […]
Humanity is ‘cutting down the tree of life’, warn scientists
Humanity’s ongoing annihilation of wildlife is cutting down the tree of life, including the branch we are sitting on, according to a stark new analysis. More than 300 different mammal species have been eradicated by human activities. The new research calculates the total unique evolutionary history that has been lost as a result at a […]
Become a “Wildlife Champion” and actively defend the “Biodiversity of Planet Earth”
Earth is most likely experiencing its sixth mass extinction. The planet has been through at least five such catastrophes before, but this is the first one in human history — and the first one with human fingerprints. 58 percent of Earth’s vertebrate animals have been lost since 1970. Habitat loss and wildlife crime are the […]
POLL: Do We Need an International Agreement to Halt Mass Extinction?
We are in the midst of the sixth major extinction event in the history of the planet — one that is entirely human-caused. And this alarming and ever increasing rate of extinction shows no sign of halting. Based on estimates of total global biodiversity and annual rate of species loss, well over 10,000 species could […]
