Earth's sixth mass extinction is HERE: Humans caused disappearance of 260,000 ...

Earth's sixth mass extinction is HERE: Humans caused disappearance of 260,000 ...
Earth's sixth mass extinction is HERE: Humans caused disappearance of 260,000 ...

Earth has experienced five mass extinctions caused by natural phenomena, but a new study suggests a sixth event is underway and human activities are to blame.

The research, led by the University of Hawaii at Manoa, reveals our planet has lost 150,000 to 260,000 (7.5 to 13 percent) of all its two million known species since 1500.

Although some are in denial that the dramatic decline will amount to a mass extinction, billionaire Elon Musk is one who believes increased rates of species extinctions is inevitable.

Replying to a tweet announcing the release of the study, Musk commented: 'There is a 100 [percent] chance of *all* species extinction due to expansion of the sun.'

However, the tech tycoon also offers up a solution - humanity must make life multiplanetary.

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Although some are in denial that the dramatic decline will amount to a mass extinction, billionaire Elon Musk is one who believes increased rates of species extinctions is inevitable

Although some are in denial that the dramatic decline will amount to a mass extinction, billionaire Elon Musk is one who believes increased rates of species extinctions is inevitable

Musk's tweet echoes statements he made in December 2021 to Time magazine, which he proposed creating a 'futuristic Noah's Ark' to take animals to Mars in order to save them from extinction on Earth.

'The next really big thing is to build a self-sustaining city on Mars and bring the animals and creatures of Earth there,' he said.

'Sort of like a futuristic Noah's ark. We'll bring more than two, though - it's a little weird if there's only two.'

Although scientists have ridiculed Musk for the plan, the billionaire's stance on a sixth extinction could be accurate.

The study, led by Robert Cowie with the University of Hawaii, notes that the Red List of Threatened Species includes mostly birds and mammals, but leaves out most invertebrates - a group that has seen a dramatic loss

The study, led by Robert Cowie with the University of Hawaii, notes that the Red List of Threatened Species includes mostly birds and mammals, but leaves out most invertebrates - a group that has seen a dramatic loss

The study notes that the Red List seems to avoid Romeo Error and does not include all extinct species, thus underestimating how many have actually disappeared from the Earth. Pictured is recent extinct Endodontidae from Rurutu that are not on the Red List

The study notes that the Red List seems to avoid Romeo Error and does not include all extinct species, thus underestimating how many have actually disappeared from the Earth. Pictured is recent extinct Endodontidae from Rurutu that are not on the Red List

The study, led by Robert Cowie with the University of Hawaii, notes that the Red List of Threatened Species includes mostly birds and mammals, but leaves out most invertebrates - a group that has seen a dramatic loss.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, human activity is known to have forced 869 species to extinction in the last 500 years.

'Incorporating estimates of the true number of invertebrate extinctions leads to the conclusion that the rate vastly exceeds the background rate and that we may indeed be witnessing the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction,' reads the study published in the journal Biological Reviews.

Pictured is an Eskimo curlew from Audubon that disappeared around 1827, but is not listed as such, for fear of committing the ‘Romeo Error’

Pictured is an Eskimo curlew from Audubon that disappeared around 1827, but is not listed as such, for fear of committing the ‘Romeo Error’

The study notes that the Red List seems to avoid Romeo Error - uncritical acceptance of pronouncements and assumptions of extinction - and does not include all extinct species, thus underestimating how many have actually disappeared from the Earth.

And this is largely observed among invertebrate species, which are typically recorded only locally and sometimes only one specimen, making them impossible to assess with the Red List criteria.

'For instance, ~ 20% of Australian Neuroptera are known from a single specimen or a single locality; in a random sample of terrestrial molluscs worldwide,

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