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HOW CLOSE THE EARTH IS TO 6TH MASS EXTINCTION
5 March 2024
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There have been five big mass extinctions in Earth's history - these are called the "Big Five"
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Understanding the reasons and timelines of these events are important to understand the speed and scale of species extinctions today
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Extinctions occur periodically, but time periods with much higher rates than normal are called mass extinction events
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In a mass extinction, at least 75% of species go extinct within a short period of time
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The earliest recorded mass extinction event, called Ordovician, happened 440 million years ago when small marine organisms died out
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Then came the Devonian extinction 365 million years ago in which nany tropical marine species went extinct
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250 million years ago happened the Permian-triassic extinction, which was the largest in Earth's history and affected a range of species
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The Jurassic extinction saw other vertebrate species vanishing and dinosaurs flourishing 210 million years ago
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The last mass extinction event happened 65 million years ago and wiped out some 50% of plants and animals, including dinosaurs
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All the "Big Five" were caused by dramatic changes in climate combined with significant changes in environments on land or the ocean
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With climate change impacts touching catastrophic levels, there are concerns if we are headed for a sixth mass extinction
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However, experts have said that we are currently far from that point
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