Thursday, September 18, 2014

Debunking the Holocene 'Sixth Mass Extinction': 250,000 years from now at current rate

An article today titled "Here’s Every Single Animal That Became Extinct In The Last 100 Years (PHOTOS)" lists and shows photos of a total of only 127 animals that have become extinct over the past 100 years. 

There are a total of about 1,263,186 animal species documented on Earth, a count that increases by about 10,000 per year from new discoveries: 


Animal groupNumber of species
Vertebrates
Amphibians6,199
Birds9,956
Fish30,000
Mammals5,416
Reptiles8,240
Subtotal59,811
Invertebrates
Insects950,000
Molluscs81,000
Crustaceans40,000
Corals2,175
Others130,200
Subtotal1,203,375


Subtracting insect species, for which it is difficult to determine extinctions, gives a total currently known non-insect animal species of ~313,386. 

Thus, the 127 animal extinctions over the past 100 years amounts to 0.04% of the currently known [and increasing] non-insect animal species. 

At this rate of extinctions of 0.04% per century [which by the list below is not accelerating], it would take ~250,000 years to cause the "sixth mass extinction" that the usual alarmist outlets are crying wolf about, far longer than the onset of the next ice age [which would truly produce a mass extinction]. The fact is mass extinctions have naturally occurred 5 times before, well over 99.9% of the living species to have ever inhabited the Earth are now extinct, and it's not your fault. 

Selected alarm:


  • Biologist warn of early stages of Earth's sixth mass extinction ...

    www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/.../140724171956.ht...

    Science Daily
    Jul 24, 2014 - The planet's current biodiversity, the product of 3.5 billion years of evolutionary trial and error, is the highest in the history of life. But it may be ...
  • Study: Earth in the midst of sixth mass extinction - USA Today

    www.usatoday.com/story/tech/.../mass-extinction.../1309644...

    USA Today
    Jul 24, 2014 - The loss and decline of animals around the world -- caused by habitat loss and global climate disruption -- mean we're in the midst of a sixth.
  • The Extinction Crisis - Center for Biological Diversity

    www.biologicaldiversity.org/.../extinction...

    Center for Biological Diversity
    It's frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years  ...
  • The Sixth Great Extinction Is Underway—and We're to ...

    time.com/3035872/sixth-great-extinction/

    Time
    Jul 25, 2014 - The Earth has been stripped of up to 90% of its species five times before in the past 450 million years. Now it's happening again—and this time ...
  • Fact or Fiction?: The Sixth Mass Extinction Can Be Stopped ...

    www.scientificamerican.com › ... › Fact or Fiction

    Scientific American
    Jul 25, 2014 - In the jargon it's an "Anthropocene defaunation," or sixth mass extinction, and one caused by humans. Scientists can't be sure of the current ...
  • Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Is Now Underway, Wiping Out ...

    www.weather.com/.../earth-middle-sixth-mass-exti...

    The Weather Channel
    Jul 28, 2014 - It all adds up to the sixth mass extinction in the planet's history, the editors of Science Magazine report in a special series of scientific studies ...

  • Here’s Every Single Animal That Became Extinct In The Last 100 Years (PHOTOS)

     ...excerpt:

    Extinction Year: 1920 – Arcuate Pearly Mussel, Epioblasma flexuosa


    (Source: Extinct.minks-lang.de)


    1919 — Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus


    (Source: By Scherer)

    1918 — Carolina Parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis


    (Source: Cephas)


    1918 — Lord Howe Island Flycatcher, Gerygone insularis


    (Source: “Gerygone insularis” by Henrik Grönvold)


    1917 — Rodrigues Day Gecko, Phelsuma edwardnewtoni


    Source: (“Phelsuma edwardnewton“)


    1914 — Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius


    Source: (“ROM-BirdGallery-PassengerPigeon” by Keith Schengili-Roberts)


    1914 — Laughing Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies


    (Source: “Athene albifacies” by Charles Joseph Hullmandel)

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