Background dying

The term background extinction describes the normal extinction of animal species over certain periods of time: mammalian species usually exist (without human influence) for about ten million years. Paleontologists estimate that 99 percent of all species that have ever lived on earth have disappeared; In contrast, the current human-induced mass extinction rate is around 1,000 to 10,000 times the normal background extinction rate.

It is estimated, based on paleontological findings, among other things, that most species survive around 1 to 10 million years. If the total number of all species is conservatively estimated at 10 million, the “background death” is 1–10 species per year (0.00001% to 0.0001% per year).

See also

• Anthropocene

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Jacob: The sixth catastrophe . Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 31, 2014.
2. ↑ above: Extinction: a natural versus human caused process , accessed on November 25, 2014.