Mass Extinction Event Well Underway

The Sixth Mass Extiction Event

A new study has reported what many have been suspecting for years; the sixth mass extinction event is well underway.

According to a paper released on March 2, 2011, by the science journal, Nature, and reported on Yahoo!News, mankind is the likely cause of the current rate at which species are becoming extinct.

Known as the Holocene Extinction Event, this extinction event is unique in that it is 100 percent human caused. In the last 5000 years over 80 percent of all mammal species have become extinct,

Some species have been eliminated intentionally, albeit with ignorance, such as the Passenger Pigeon, which was hunted to extinction. Other species have been driven to extinction though habitat loss, introduction of foreign species, pollution, and overfishing.

Nobody knows how many species have really become extinct since the rise of man, some species may have become extinct without ever being known to biologists. It is that estimated anywhere between 20,000 and two million species have become extinct during the 20^th century.

Many species are now listed by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as being extinct, or extinct in the wild, meaning the only known examples are those living in zoos or greenhouses. The IUCN extimates that as high as 40 percent of all organisms on the earth are endangered.