Animals are disappearing too fast for researchers to record all the extinctions caused by humans.
From dodos to Tasmanian tigers, many species have been wiped out by our actions.
But how many species have humans driven to extinction? Scientists don't have an exact answer, but it could be hundreds of thousands.
Confirmed Animal Extinction List and Human Impact
Since 1500, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has confirmed 777 animal extinctions.
While some could be natural, humans have influenced most of them due to our impact on nature over the last 500 years.
Humans began contributing to extinctions thousands of years ago, long before 1500, but scientists weren't around to study those extinctions. So, we'll focus on the past 500 years.
Woolly Mammoth | YT
The IUCN has assessed the extinction risk of only about 5% of the world's known species, so many more extinctions have not been recorded.
A 2022 study published in Biological Reviews suggested that 150,000 to 260,000 species might have perished.
This includes both recorded and unrecorded losses, highlighting the gaps in our knowledge.
Also read: 5 Extinct Animal Breeds Scientists Are Doing Everything to Revive
Estimating Extinction Rates
Robert Cowie, a research professor at the University of Hawaii, led the 2022 study.
His team estimated extinction rates by sampling 200 land snails and consulting previous studies and experts.
They found an extinction rate of 150 to 260 extinctions per million species-years (E/MSY).
Applying this rate to all known species suggests 100,000 of the roughly 2 million known species have gone extinct over the past 500 years.
When considering unknown species, which could number around 7.7 million, the estimate rises to 381,150 extinctions caused by humans. These figures, though rough, underline the severity of the crisis.
Challenges in Calculating Extinction Rates
John Alroy, an associate professor at Macquarie University, emphasizes the difficulty in calculating modern extinction rates.
Much of the world's wildlife remains unknown, especially in understudied regions like the tropics.
Insects, which have more species than any other animal group, are particularly under-researched.
Alroy suggests using museum data for certain representative groups to estimate losses over time. Despite these challenges, it is clear that humans are worsening the extinction rate.
The broad range of E/MSY estimates all show a rate much higher than the natural background rate, proving that human activities are harming Earth's biodiversity.
What is The Full Scope of Extinctions?
To recognize and understand the animal extinction list, we can better grasp the impact of human actions on wildlife.
The number of extinct animals in the world continues to grow, making it crucial to address the factors driving these extinctions.
The extinction crisis reminds us of our responsibility to protect the planet's biodiversity for future generations.
The broad range of E/MSY estimates put forward in studies so far also have one thing in common: They're all much greater than the natural background rate. That's enough to say humans are harming Earth's biodiversity, according to Cowie.
"Whether the extinction rate is 100 E/MSY or 20 E/MSY or 200 E/MSY, it's still a lot, and it's still really bad," he said.