Animals Extinction

Animals Extinction

Animals are a vital part of our ecosystem. They are critical for a balanced and healthy ecosystem, and therefore, are vital to a healthy biosphere and our environment. For the 3.5 billion years that life has existed on earth, species of plants and animals have come and gone. More successful types of animals replace less successful types of animals by survival of the fittest.  However, now animals are going extinct faster than ever before besides the five mass extinctions on record which were caused by transient cataclysmic events that have occurred, such as an asteroid impact.

As the human population increases, the number of animals decrease and go extinct. Examples of animals that are already extinct due to human activity are the Dodo bird and Tasmanian Tiger. Extinction occurs naturally, but human activity has dramatically increased the rate of extinction. Due to man-made causes, the current rate of extinction is thousands of times greater than it would be naturally. Shouldn’t we do something to protect these endangered animals?

According to the National Geographic, extinction rates are difficult to calculate because nobody knows exactly how many species are in the world. However, scientists identified that about 1.9 million animals exist on the Earth today, and over millions that have not even been discovered yet. Some estimates are as high as 10 million animal species! Also, according to their study, at least 450,000 plants species are exist.

Animals play an important roles in an ecosystem. Especially in our lives. One of the main causes of animal extinction are caused by human activity. As the human population increases, the animals extinction rates will increase exponentially due to our greater need for resources and energy from fossil fuels that will ultimately warm our atmosphere and damage animal habitats. Therefore, we need to protect these endangered animals.