Causes Of Animal Extinction

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years . Creatures across the land, rivers, and the seas are destroyed as humans killed them for food in unsuitable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats.

There are several hypotheses that are used to explain the causes of mass extinctions. Climate change, the warming or cooling of global environments over a short period of time, can lead to other occurrences. Shifts in climate can cause extinction by

Summarize: The result of one species extinction could potentially be fatal to the environment. In the animal kingdom, there is a food chain. Keystone animals, are the key ingredient to the food chain. When that keystone animals goes extinct, it sets off a chain reaction on the other animal’s food source. This causes one species to flourish and another to dwindle. The environment needs a healthy checks and balance system to keep each animal population under control (Stuart, 1990 ). Humans can cause the keystone animal to become extinct and therefore, responsible for rise and decline of other species, ultimately, throwing the food chain off balance.

In a summary, Kolbert explains the extinctions of a variety of different major animal species that became extinct. She also explains that if trends in the environment continue that the biggest extinction in history will occur soon. If global warming, deforestation, and glaciers continue to melt she says that more and more species will continue to become extinct. She explains how humans need to be more conservative and careful with what they’re doing to prevent extinction.

Throughout evolution, many species have come and gone. What causes a species to become extinct and what can the human race due to prevent it? Many species’ population decline has been linked to human causation. An endangered species is defined as “plant and animal species that are at risk for extinction” (Funk). Endangered species can be placed into two more specific categorizes. Threatened species are species at risk for endangerment, while endangered species are at risk for extinction. Despite the fact that many people believe extinction is a major issue, the Funk and Wagnall’s New World Encyclopedia states that, “extinction is actually a normal process in the course of evolution” (Funk). Over time, numerous species have become extinct, usually as a result of climate changes, inability to adapt, or predation. Another major cause of endangerment is the human population. Pollution, global warming, and hunting is all causing a decline in the population of numerous species. While the encyclopedia is entirely fact based, many authors have worked to sensitize people to threatened species. For example, renowned author Sharon Begley, has written numerous articles to inform people of the importance of many species that are often overlooked.

The main cause of endangerment is deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of trees and transforming a forest into clear land. This leads to habitat loss. Although it is very harmful to many species, the government does not punish anyone for deforestation. Poaching is also a huge problem. Jaguars are being poached for their unique coats. Also, jaguars are being taken into public zoos which results in death. If the jaguar did ever go extinct, the domino effect could go into action and the same thing would happen to other

Mammals, just like every other living organism on planet earth, are given the opportunity to live. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Many individuals believe that animal extinction is caused due to climate change or various other environmental issues. On the other hand, several others suppose that animal hunting, also known as "overkill," is the cause of animal extinction. But what exactly is the cause of animal extinction, overkill or climate change?

“Extinction means having no living representatives, having died out” (Dictionary.Com). We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago” (Center for Biological Diversity). Among all the species, there are still animals that have a hope of living the next generation. Despite being threatened they are not endangered. The orca whale, commonly known as the killer whale is a prime example. To date approximately 50,000 orca populations thrive though out the world. Previously the world wide estimate was double that, at 100,000 (Kirby). It has been found in resent studies that the orca population is decreasing due to many hardships they face such as toxins, captivity, and depletion of food.

How is this destruction happening? There are many causes for this crisis of animals habitats being destroyed. One is overflowing landfills, once these landfills are full people still stack and pile the trash on. This causes pollution for the animals to eat, which could make them very sick and possibly kill them. Animals can get trapped in the trash that these landfills make. Animals could swallow a piece of floating trash and choke or not be able to digest the trash. This is also an effect of littering, littering is just as bad and overflowing landfills. Littering is when people do not properly dispose of their trash and it floats on the water or blows across fields. According to the litter in america article about 51.2 billion pieces of litter are on roadways nationwide. People are careless about litter they see it but

Species are at risk from human activities and other things, one primary cause of human extinction is that humans are overpopulated on planet Earth. . From the land destroying, and people overfishing in oceans and lakes have driven half of the world's marine and land species to extinction. For humans

Since the beginning of life itself, some species have lived and prospered while other species have gone extinct never to be seen again by mankind. Because of this, some would claim that extinction is natural and not significantly problematic to the world that we live in. Others, however, understand that due to climate change, habitat loss, and poaching, more and more species are becoming endangered which leads to a chain reaction that can be devastating to ecosystems. Species such as the Chinook salmon, gorillas, tropical sharks, and polar bears are all directly affected by climate change, species such as northern spotted owls, Sumatran tigers, and lemurs are greatly harmed due to habitat loss, and species such as the sea turtle, Javan rhinoceros, African elephant, and the Red-Fronted Macaw are all affected by poaching driving them all closer and closer to becoming extinct.

An endangered species face a huge risk of extinction in the coming years. This could be due to habitat loss, natural occurring disasters, pressure from other species and climate change. Sometimes the biggest factors due to population decrease are Human Beings themselves. Some species that are facing a threat to extinction are Chimpanzees, Amur Leopard, African Wild Dog and of course the Mountain Gorilla.

It’s clear that a great extinction is coming from the evidence of the destruction of other species around us. The choices made by the human race have too often negatively affected the surrounding species. Tracy Wilson, the site director for HowStuffWorks.com, in an article for Animal Planet, states that

Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.

Have you ever thought of a world without animals? I believe it would be really different. Animals are really all around us. You have animals who keep people company, animals that make people money, animals that provide humans with food, and so much more. The problem that is happening in the world is that we are losing certain species. The causes of that is both from natural causes and human fault. One of the natural extinction causes is climatic heating and cooling (University of Wisconsin Eau Claire). The Earth isn’t able to keep up with the quick changes in climate and temperature. This affects the animals by not being able to last in the severe weather conditions and drawn out weather seasons. It doesn’t help when their surroundings get changed. It makes it very hard for the surviving animals to find food as other species die off. The second cause is changes in sea levels. The denser, saltier water sinks and forms the currents that marine life depends on. Ocean floor spreading and rising also affects sea level. A third cause is one that doesn’t happen often, but can be harmful: asteroids and cosmic radiation. Asteroids that hit the Earth do a lot of damage. The effects can be seen and felt throughout the world. This can easily destroy habitats. Cosmic radiation can be best described as, “radiation being emitted from outer space and the sun” (University of Wisconsin Eau Claire). Too much exposure to radiation can cause mutated genes. As time goes on,