‘Mass extinction event’ across planet may have been unleashed by humans, scientists warn
by: Jonathan Benson
NaturalNews.com
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Planet Earth is on the verge of another mass extinction event, say scientists, and this time the cause is humans. A new study by researchers from Stanford University claims that losses to animal and plant life are reaching a tipping point that could signal an approaching mass die-off event, the sixth ever to occur, they say, in the history of the world.
Published in the journal Science, the review explains that more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates — that is, land animals with limbs and spines — have gone extinct since 1500. And among those that remain, their overall population numbers have declined by about 25 percent. Similar declines have also occurred among invertebrates, a phenomenon that the study’s lead author says is attributable to human activity.
As far as vertebrate populations, up to 33 percent of all currently living species are either threatened or endangered, claims the study. And like the dinosaurs before them, large vertebrates like elephants, rhinoceroses and polar bears are most vulnerable to extinction, a trend that matches the lead-up to previous extinction events.
As go the large animals, so go the small animals
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