The 5 Times Life on Earth Almost Ended

the circle of life always continues 99% of the species that ever lived on Earth have died out again since Let’s have a look at the five mass extinction events that caused most of that carnage One the earliest extinction Around 445 million years ago most species lived underwater The order extinction killed off almost 90% of them like many species of lampshells moss animals and anthropods The reason was probably the onset of a global cooling phase and drops in ocean levels Two the algae annihilation The next drop in species diversity might actually have been caused by a growth boost 360 million years ago In the Devonian extinction algae populations suddenly ran rampant on huge scales and depleted oxygen levels in the oceans This might have been due to the fact that the evolution of trees and flowers with roots made the soils more nutrient-rich Marine animals suffocated and food chains were messed up Around 75% of all species like the massive dunlostas died Three the biggest breakdown Fast forward to 250 million years ago to the perian extinction also called the great dying It killed off more than 90% of all species among the many insects fin reptiles sea urchins starfishes and most of all corals This extinction was likely caused by a huge outburst of volcanic activity It led to global warming changing living conditions over vast areas Four the dawn of the dinosaurs Another surge of global warming 200 million years ago heralded in the Triacic extinction Bummer for about 80% of species from marine invertebrates to large reptiles like phytosaurs but a huge win for everyone’s prehistoric favorite dinosaurs This extinction likely allowed them to become the dominant inhabitants of Earth Five the dinosaur demise Easy come easy go The next extinction then wiped dinosaurs off the planet around 66 million years ago The Cretaceous extinction was caused by an asteroid hitting Earth That impact burned everything in a 1,500 km radius and triggered earthquakes and volcanic activity Around 75% of all species died out And since then right now we seem to be on the verge of the next mass extinction And this time we humans are the cause Today species are going extinct between 100 to 1,000 times faster than expected But who knows maybe the next extinction event will be ours Too bad for us but the planet won’t care much