What is Extinction of Species?
When a species disappears forever, we lose all its genetic information. Species change and become new ones to cope with environmental or genetic changes. A huge number of species, more than five billion, have vanished over Earth’s history. Now, we estimate there are between 10 to 14 million species, but we’ve only studied around 1.2 million. That means over 86% of them are still unknown. Extinctions can happen naturally, like when the climate changes, or because of human actions, such as hunting too much or destroying habitats.
Even though it’s not always clear, extinction has three main parts:
- For a group of species, extinction is likely if the things causing harm are so rare that the species hasn’t dealt with them before. This makes it hard for natural selection to help.
- Big extinctions can shake up life on Earth. Some successful groups may disappear, making room for smaller groups to grow.
- Sometimes, extinction seems to happen selectively, as argued by Darwin. But it’s tough to predict which species will be the next to go extinct.
Extinction of Species
Extinction of Species: As per the definition, “Extinction is the process of evolution that leads to the disappearance of a population or species.” In simpler words, Extinction is the death of all members of a species of plants, animals, or other organisms.
In this article, we will study in depth the Extinction of Species. We will take a look at a list of some of the Extinct Species and learn about the cause of Extinction as well.
Let’s explore.
Table of Content
- What is Extinction of Species?
- List of Some Extinct Species
- Causes of Extinction of Species
- Extinction Rates
- List of Extinct Species of Animals