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New study shows world is on the brink of sixth great extinction
This handout photo, taken Dec. 2012, in Brazil, provided by Stuart Pimm, Duke University, shows a baby golden lion tamarin. Once thought to be extinct, this tamarin is a success story because biologists have helped set aside land for them. Species of plants and animals are going extinct 1,000 faster than they did before humans, with the world on the verge of a sixth great extinction, a new study says. The study looks at the past and present rates of extinction and found a lower rate in the past than scientists had thought. Photo: AP Photo/Stuart Pimm, Duke University
Species of plants and animals are becoming extinct at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene, and the world is on the brink of a sixth great extinction, a new study says.
The study looks at past and present rates of extinction and finds a lower rate in the past than scientists had thought. Species are now disappearing from Earth about 10 times faster than biologists had believed, said the study’s lead author, biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University.
“We are on the verge of the sixth extinction,” Pimm said from research at the Dry Tortugas. “Whether we avoid it or not will depend on our actions.”
The work, published Thursday by the journal Science, was hailed as a landmark study by outside experts.
Bill Bard says:
Pity we can’t kill off all politicians, warmongers, and the rest of the useless bankers etc. World reset.
Source: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2014/06/new-study-shows-world-is-on-the-brink-of-sixth-great-extinction/
