Many Animals Being Eaten to Extinction

According to a study published in Conservation Letters, at least 200 species of megafauna (a fancy term for “large animals,” mostly consisting of mammals) are decreasing in population all over the world, and it’s mostly us to blame. According to researcher William Ripple, humans are eating the animals to extinction, not to mention hunting them for sport and resources. These animals not only include cows, pigs, and other large animals bred for the food industry, but also animals like elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, gazelles, and all sorts of others.

A study of over 300 megafauna was conducted, and it was discovered that nearly 70% of these species had a population decline. In addition, 59% are threatened with extinction. Imagine a world without many of these animals that we consider to be staple models of the animal kingdom.

Within the last five centuries or so, nine species have gone extinct for these reasons. This is 0.8% of all vertebrate species. This may not seem like a lot of time, but there has been life on Earth for 4.1 billion years. To put that into perspective, if you compared the length of time there was life on Earth to the length of your arm, there has been life on Earth since your elbow extending down to the tips of your fingers. Your overgrown fingernails are the length of the time that we as humans have been around. Already, we’ve killed off nine species. A billion is a big number. Scientists throw large numbers around, so it desensitizes us to the vast amount of time it actually is. Try counting to a billion, and I bet you won’t get very far. It’s a big number.

Not to mention, there have been five mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth, where a great percentage of life died off for various reasons. Humans are causing a sixth. Humans have, as a species, single-handedly created a sixth apocalypse for life on Earth, and we’re only at the beginning.

One of the species that is currently on its way to extinction is the Chinese giant salamander, which is one of only three living amphibians in a genealogical family that goes back 170 million years. The salamander is considered a delicacy in Asia and is now being pushed to the brink of existence due to overhunting, deforestation, and pollution.

Ripple predicts that in future years there will be economic arguments against preserving these megafauna. It’s something we’re going to have to do at some point if we want to keep life on Earth going and avoid the next imminent mass extinction.

However, it’s not all bad. As awareness of this problem rises, we get better and better at saving the planet. And as science progresses, scientists continue to discover new things that will help us preserve the Earth, or at least the human race.