• Question: what causes mass extinctions?

    Asked by maariyah to Indi, Jarv, John, Ken, Vicky on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Vicky Young

      Vicky Young answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Oh this is a big question!!

      There are lots of things that can cause mass extinctions. For the dinosaurs this was a meteor landing which wiped out almost all the dinosaurs – except a few species which we are descended from. But other things such as infections can kill large numbers of people and animals in a short space of time. Then there are environmental factors like crops failing or water droughts so people or animals cannot get enough food. Environmental disasters like tsunamis can wipe out entire ecosystems and all the animals which live in it. Its unlikely that we will ever see an event which will wipe out nearly every species like we saw with the dinosaurs, but we can never be sure.

    • Photo: Jarvist Moore Frost

      Jarvist Moore Frost answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      The current mass extinction would appear to be caused by us.

    • Photo: John Prytherch

      John Prytherch answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      As Jarvist says, human activity (things like chopping down rainforests and overfishing the seas) is already causing massive species loss. This is likely to increase as the world warms, again due to human activity. I hope that in the future, people (like you!) may help to stop this.

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