- Have you ever wondered what would
happen if we all went extinct?
(party horn blows)
- Most people want the human species
to continue forever, right?
I mean that's not a crazy assumption.
So what if I were to tell you that we,
the human species,
are facing a mass extinction right now?
All it takes is 75 percent or more of our
species to go extinct in less then
two million years.
And while that might seem like a long-long time,
looking at the big picture gives us several
signs that we are living a modern mass extinction.
When we talk about habitat loss,
most people assume its on land.
But there are major changes in our ocean
that could lead to mass extinction.
As of 2012 half the coral reef's on earth have
already been destroyed.
And about a third of the Maine grow forest,
that are home to both land and sea animal's,
also went caput.
In addition,
over fishing has led to two thirds of the worlds
marine fisheries being tapped too,
and arguably passed, their limits.
Do you remember ye' old Irish
potato famine in 1845?
That's the way we wrote it.
It was caused by an airborne fungus
when Ireland faced a lack of biodiversity.
Again, this was tied to habitat loss.
When the smaller environment leads to a lower population,
and less genetic diversity.
Industrialized farming or mono agriculture
still plays a role in this today by replacing
diverse populations of plants with a single crop.
Invasive species.
We did a video on this earlier.
Here's the jist.
When nonnative species are introduced to
an ecosystem,
they can make some contributions,
but if they don't have a natural predator,
then they consume all of the areas resources,
and they grow out of control.
In fact, invasive species contribute to the decline
of 42 percent of the worlds threatened and
endangered species.
The kudzu plant is a perfect example.
It's been taking over chunks of the United States
since the late eighteen hundreds.
Of the five mass extinctions that earth
has already experienced,
at least one was contributed too by
a giant asteroid colliding with the planet.
You know, the cretaceous period
where all those dinosaurs that used to hang out
were just obliterated.
Well NASA says that asteroid's like this
strike earth every million years.
And our due date is coming up.
So live it up people.
But NASA's got an eye on things
so we can all go Armageddon,
hopefully,
if it happens soon.
This is where we run into the most well
known habitat killer.
Global warming.
Despite the debates over it's origin,
most scientist agree that the planets
temperature is rising.
And some research indicates that a quarter
of all plants and land animals could go extinct
from global warming.
And it could only take a shift from one degrees
Celsius to lead to 30 percent of earths species
to be wiped out.
Forever.
So, what do you think?
Are these signs that we're at mid to mass extinction?
Or are these just natural changes to earths ecosystem?
Let us know in the comments below.
Throw a like my way.
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For more in depth facts on earths impending doom,
visit us at howstuffworks.com.
You know while the uh,
internet is still around.
- Have you ever wondered what would happen
if we all died at once?
Woah, too dark.
Let's just do the show.
(party horn blows)