Science & Tech
extinction
biology
Category:
Science & Tech
- Key People:
- Loren Eiseley
- Walter Alvarez
Recent News
Jan. 25, 2024, 3:00 AM ET (CNN)
World first IVF rhino pregnancy could save northern white rhinos from extinction, scientists say
Jan. 11, 2024, 12:32 AM ET (ABC News (U.S.))
The largest great ape to ever live went extinct because of climate change, study finds
Jan. 7, 2024, 11:39 PM ET (VOA News)
Climate Change Drove Great Ape Species to Extinction, Study Finds
Top Questions
What is extinction?
Are mass extinctions common?
How do humans cause extinctions?
extinction, in biology, the dying out or extermination of a species. Extinction occurs when species are diminished because of environmental forces (habitat fragmentation, global change, natural disaster, overexploitation of species for human use) or because of evolutionary changes in their members (genetic inbreeding, poor reproduction, decline in population numbers). (Read E.O. Wilson’s Britannica essay on mass extinction.) Rates of extinction vary widely. For example, during the last 100,000 years of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), some 40 percent of the existing genera of large mammals in Africa and more than 70 percent in North America, ...(100 of 778 words)