Cross Breeds

How many animals go extinct in one year?

How many animals go extinct in the average year? Well I don't want to include plants and animals. the reason I want to know is because this guy and I bet on how many it was because I was telling him about how the polar bears are dying because of global warming and he thought that it wasn't a big deal cause he thought lots of animals go extinct in a year so I told him I would do some research

Public Comments

1. none
2. i dont actually know the answer but i certainly hope not very many if not none at all!! =[
3. that is a very tough seed to know off the top of the bat- usually about 2.3 specieds saus my great uncle
4. this answer is impossible to know and/or keep track of. Some people think it is anywhere from 5 to a couple thousand a day. Those numbers are mostly bugs and plants.
5. The estimate is pretty wild. The error factor is two magnitudes. Between 1,400 and 140,000 per year. http://en.allexperts.com/e/h/ho/holocene_extinction_event.htm Edit to your details. The extinction of key species can have extreme effects. The key species might not always be the top predator but a fundamental link in the food chain. The Sharks of Chesapeake bay are effectively extinct. 99% gone from overfishing. The sharks fed on Cow nose Skates. With no predator the Skate population exploded. The Skates feed on Oysters and Scallops. The Scallop fishery collapsed. The skates are also destroying the Eel grass beds. The Polar Bears are not only a key species but the same changes driving them into extinction effects many other Arctic species. Polar bears going extinct from climate change is a huge deal. The same environmental changes have totally collapsed the Alaskan Crab fisheries already.
6. It is a sad story but yes lots of animal species go extinct in a year. People answering are right, there is no way to know exactly. Just from studies of species in the tropics this is what we know. Mostly this is insects or someother type of arthropod, and most are in the rainforest. A single tree in the rainforest can contain thousands of species of just, beetles, this is not counting ants, spiders, etc. Often these guys live in only 1 species of tree. So destroying a single tree in a place like that with high biodiversity can potentially destroy many species. Your friend is partly correct - but it is not that we shouldn't care about polar bears. We are losing all kinds of species. Who is to decide what species is best to conserve. But the point is people need a cause, the threatened animals need a charismatic spokesperson - and whether good or bad, its almost always only the cute and furry guys like the polar bears that get all the attention when threatened. Also, the fate of the polar bear is a direct result of global warming - sending a big message to everyone that yes it is occuring now and already causing big changes. That is why the polar bear gets all the press.