And Then There Were Some....the 6th Mass Extinction?

(Video: Euronews)

(HN, 3/3/12) - Scientists are calling it `The Sixth Mass Extinction'; species are dying off faster than at any time since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago. It is estimated that around 30,000 species become extinct each year.  Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species in a geologically short interval, as has happened only five times in the past 540 million years or so. Biologists now suggest that a sixth mass extinction may be under way, given the known species losses over the past few centuries & millennia. Here, a review how differences between fossil & modern data & the addition of recently available information influence our understanding of the current extinction crisis. Results confirm that current extinction rates are higher than would be expected from the fossil record, highlighting the need for effective conservation measures. (Read More at Nature)