Over 500 Animal Species Are Facing Extinction, All Thanks To Human Activities

One can argue that human progress has come at the direct cost of destroying the planet of its other inhabitants.

From the way we¡¯re polluting the environment and causing climate change, to the intensity of deforestation activities that are destroying natural habitats for animals and birds, we¡¯re actually leaving no stone unturned.

Reuters

And now, a new study finds further evidence that our actions will result in world¡¯s sixth mass extinction.

This is according to a paper published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. The paper focussed on terrestrial vertebrates, amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. The researchers have found that over 500 species are on the brink of extinction.

Paul Ehrlich, from Stanford University in California and one of the authors on the study, said we are only digging our own grave by not doing anything about it.

World's sixth mass extinction

He explained, ¡°When humanity exterminates populations and species of other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system. The conservation of endangered species should be elevated to a national and global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to climate disruption to which it is linked.¡±

World Wildlife Organisation

In the last century, 400 vertebrate species have gone extinct -- a number that would have otherwise taken 10,000 years, through normal evolution.

The researchers looked at the distribution and population of critically endangered species around the world. For this, they relied upon the data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Red List of Threatened Species as well as Birdlife International.

Their analysis revealed that 515 (which is roughly 1.7 percent) of total 29,400 species analysed are on the verge of getting extinct. Each species has less than 1000 individuals remaining in each species. Species include Sumatran Rhino, the Clarion Island Wren, the Espanola Giant Tortoise etc.

Most of these species are located in tropical and subtropical regions -- areas with severe human activity.

The analysis also highlighted the fact that over 237,000 populations of birds and mammals that were on the brink have actually disappeared since the year 1900.

Nature Pictures Library

Researchers feel that this could eventually lead to a much greater problem for humanity to survive on this planet. Lead author Gerardo Ceballos, from the University of Mexico, said,

¡°What we do to deal with the current extinction crisis in the next two decades will define the fate of millions of species. We are facing our final opportunity to ensure that the many services nature provides us do not get irretrievably sabotaged.¡±

Coauthor Peter Raven concluded stating, ¡°It's up to us to decide what kind of a world we want to leave to coming generations - a sustainable one, or a desolate one in which the civilization we have built disintegrates rather than builds on past successes¡±.