Theories of the Extinctions of the Dionsaurs: Dinosaurs became extincted 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, something so devastating that it altered the course of life on earth. It seems like it happened so sudden, as geologic time goes, that almost all the dinosaurs living on earth disappeared. So how did these dominant creatures just die off? Was it a slow extinction, or did it happen all of the sudden? These questions bring rise to many different
New York Times is an article that details the prospect of “de-extinction” and how scientists within the community have been forming arguments about how to best begin understanding what new technologies are capable of. “De-extinction” is the term given to the process by which scientists can bring back extinct animals, such as the wolly mammoth or the great auk, through genetic engineering. In order to ground the analysis of “de-extinction”, the author focuses particularly on the life of Ben Novak, a
Neanderthal Extinction Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for well over 100,000 years. Then suddenly Homo neandertalensis began to die out and surrender the earth to Homo sapiens. Paleontologists and anthropologists have entertained several possibilities to the causes of this event: interbreeding among Neanderthals and humans, competition for natural resources, and Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest.” What the real cause has been has plagued scientists for years. Now, due to
actions, many plant and animal species, including humans, could be driven to extremely small numbers and quite possibly extinction, due to the 6th mass extinction, caused mainly by human influence. It may be true that extinction can help the environment, though by lowering population sizes so overcrowding doesn’t ensue, or to give to the new, better species. However, extinction rates have skyrocketed lately as scientists have noticed, with species being lost at 1,000-10,000 times greater than normal
INTRODUCTION There were 5 mass extinctions in the past, with the latest one more known to man, the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction that caused the wiped out of the dinosaurs. Though the latest one happened 65 million years ago, something representing this phenomenon of mass extinction is underway in our era. While past mass extinctions were caused by natural forces, and asteroid, climate change and sea level’s changes were thought to be the culprit, this time the actor behind is not natural
were approximately one million chimpanzees in Africa. This number has declined down to 150,000. Mountain gorillas have halved in size over the last ten years, leaving only 320 to roam the trees of their homeland. Some say these great apes will face extinction within a decade. Why is this the case and should we let this happen? These apes lose areas of habitat on a daily basis. They are also constantly slaughtered for meat and body parts. These two enormous contributors of great ape depletion are just
De-extinction is a process that has been experimented with for many years, but has never been completely successful. The ethics and consequences of this idea have been questioned but, de-extinction has the potential to be truly helpful to humans and the environment, and many of the scenarios that people think could happen, are actually impossible. To actually revive a species, there are certain conditions that must be met, and the terrible situations that people think could happen, are unable to
Note: This is a general template; your outline my have different organization. I. Introduction A. Hook Extinction or survival? these are the two sides of life. B. Background Information *Over the last 300 years, more than 200 forms of birds and mammals have become extinct, with several hundred more forms are threatened with extermination. *There are differences between the natural extinction of species and the extermination caused by man. *A species becomes extinct when its mortality is continually
Instead of changing things to better the future, learning from the past and moving forward people believe they can just fix the problems with technology. The film, From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to extinction, touches on the de-extinction movement. De-extinction is a controversial concept that seeks to recreate a previously extinct species by using remnants of that species’ DNA, which could potentially increase genetic variability of species. This method is being studied with
The Sixth Extinction is a book about our world’s extinctions and mass extinctions. This book addresses how we are causing another mass extinction that we may fall victim to. The Sixth Extinction has been a very eye-opening read for me. I learned a lot about our world’s past and possible future. How It Changed Me and Recommendation The Sixth Extinction has taught me a lot of lessons I don’t want to take for granted. Elizabeth Kolbert sets up the book to where we learn about both modern and ancient
Major Causes of Extinction Hotspots are areas that have rich diversity of species, but many species have become critically endangered because of devastating human activities. The loss of biodiversity in many hotspots was mainly because of habitat loss and fragmentation which in turn have occurred due to pollution, overexploitation of resources, deforestation, increased human population, and introduction of exotic species (Background paper on Himalayan ecology, 2010). For Himalaya, deforestation
Throughout much of human history, human civilizations found food by the killing of animals whether it be mammals, reptiles, or amphibians. Humans have allowed the extinction of many animals by simply hunting them for food or hunting them for trade and commerce. Although humans play a vital role in the animal extinction process, they are not the sole contributor. Climate change affects the weather in terms of temperature or precipitation which in turn causes animal food sources to perish allowing
Wildlife Fund). This obscenely high extinction rate is dangerous not just to ecosystems directly affected by the loss, but also creates a domino effect that circles around the globe and up and down the food
also their loss of habitat due to industrial and residential development. The beauty and curiosity of wildlife captivates all of us for different reasons. For certain species, they are the link to our existence Animals are not being hunted into extinction because the government is protecting certain wildlife areas and are controlling the animal populations within those certain areas. While increasing a wildlife species population and removing from the endangered species list, a predator such as the
could have been caused by the collision. There were high amounts of Iridium (a metal that is very rare on Earth’s surface but more common in asteroids) and fractured crystals found near the crater. Therefore, an asteroid impact caused the dinosaur extinction. According to PBS.org, the levels of Iridium found near the crater is 30 times higher than the average found in the KT layer. This could have been caused by bits of iridium breaking off from the asteroid when it collided with Earth. In addition
ESCAPING EXTINCTION Much has been written, and even more said, about what constitutes the Canadian character, what identifies the quintessential Canadian. Two features clearly emerge as dominant elements in the make-up of both English and French-speaking members of our family: Canadians are constantly brooding over who we are, what gives us our Canadian character, and what makes us different from other nations. Most other nations never think about such things, or take the answers for granted. Secondly
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History details the continued loss of biodiversity that has occurred since the rise of mankind. Elizabeth Kolbert claims that we are now in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, and that, if precautionary measures are not taken, the loss of biodiversity would be catastrophic. Chapter one begins by describing the golden frogs in the town of El Valle de Antón, and how they were beginning to disappear. The frogs disappeared due to a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
numbers of species gone extinct. These extinctions are quite different from the rate of extinction, which occurs even when the diversity of life is increasing. Many species vanished from many ways of mass extinctions and today, almost of all species that have existed on Earth are extinct. Many species extinction risk studies require an accounting of both local and global threats. It is challenging to develop methods to make scientifically sound and unfailing extinction risk duties of species for which
neighbors within our very planet. Earth is in the midst of its sixth great extinction, keyed as the Holocene Extinction after the current epoch the planet is in. The Holocene Extinction, starting between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago, is the most recent since the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, during which the dinosaurs were wiped out (Heymann, Chibante and Brooks). Such knowledge of our current ongoing mass extinction event is not well known among the common populace. The simple fact is that
Presently, the rate of species extinction is occurring several thousand times faster than has been observed over geologic time. (Purvis, E., & Mace, 2000) Though they represent a minority of all species, island species make up 75% of animal extinctions since the 16 000's. Because of traits inherent to islands, including isolation and small geographic range (Purvis, E., & Mace, 2000), islands are more susceptible to extinction than the continents. This results in a disproportionate ratio of island