The population has grown more than tenfold, with the most recent count in 2020 showing over 1,100 are currently alive. One of the rarest big cats in the world, the Iberian lynx, saw a "successful comeback" in Spain and Portugal. The WWF noted that there were some "rays of hope" in the world of environmental conservation this year. Lucky Bustards and other 2021 animal 'winners' Grey cranes and migratory fish that move on land also earned a spot on the 2021 "losers" list, as well as the noble pen shell - the largest clam in the Mediterranean Sea. Unabated construction is limiting their habitats while roads have become death traps. The familiar green faces and loud summer chirping of Germany's tree frogs and toads are also under threat - with 50% of Germany's native amphibian species currently listed as endangered on the national Red List. Experts estimate the Arctic Ocean could be completely ice-free in the summer of 2035, WWF Germany said. Polar bears made the list as well, as the rapid melting of pack ice in the Arctic Ocean is making it impossible for the animals to adapt. Polar bears and other species on thin ice in 2021Īmong the animals most acutely threatened - and among the "losers" on this year's WWF list - are the African forest elephant, whose population has declined by 86% within just 31 years. "Species conservation is no longer just about defeating an environmental problem, but is rather about the question of whether or not humanity will eventually end up on the Red List in an endangered category - and thereby become a victim of its own lifestyle," he said. WWF Germany director Eberhard Brandes said decisive environmental protection policies were urgently needed, particularly in the fight against climate change. The event is so striking that it signals a major turning point in Earth's history, marking the end of the geologic period known as the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary period.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The extinction that occurred 65 million years ago wiped out some 50 percent of plants and animals. "C" is shorthand for an earlier period, the Cambrian. Why not C-T? Geologists use "K" as a shorthand for Cretaceous. Scientists refer to the major extinction that wiped out nonavian dinosaurs as the K-T extinction, because it happened at the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary period. Cretaceous-tertiary Extinction: 65 Million Years Ago What to Call It? The extinction of other vertebrate species on land allowed dinosaurs to flourish. Triassic-jurassic Extinction: 210 million years ago The largest mass extinction event in Earth's history affected a range of species, including many vertebrates. Permian-triassic Extinction: 250 million years ago Many tropical marine species went extinct. Devonian Extinction: 365 million years ago Top Five Extinctions Ordovician-silurian Extinction: 440 million years ago The largest mass extinction event happened around 250 million years ago, when perhaps 95 percent of all species went extinct. Mass extinctions-when at least half of all species die out in a relatively short time-have occurred only a handful of times over the course of our planet's history. A Brief History of EarthĮarly life forms began to flourish during the Cambrian Explosion, 540 million years ago. rex and Triceratops some 65 million years ago wouldn't be especially noteworthy-except for the fact that around 50 percent of all plants and animals alive at the same time also died out in what scientists call a mass extinction. Scientists estimate that at least 99.9 percent of all species of plants and animals that ever lived are now extinct. A wide range of animals and plants suddenly died out, from tiny marine organisms to large dinosaurs. Around 65 million years ago, something unusual happened on our planet-we can see it in the fossil record.įossils that are abundant in earlier rock layers are simply not present in later rock layers.
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