Humans may fall victim as world undergoes 'sixth great mass extinction', warn scientists

The world is embarking on its sixth mass extinction with animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, scientists warned on Friday, and humans could be among the first victims.

Not since the age of the dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago has the planet been losing species at this rapid a rate, said a study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley.

The study “shows without any significant doubt that we are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event”. said co-author Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford University professor of biology.

And humans are likely to be among the species lost, said the study – which its authors described as “conservative” – published in the journal Science Advances.

“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” said lead author Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico.

The analysis is based on documented extinctions of vertebrates, or animals with internal skeletons such as frogs, reptiles and tigers, from fossil records and other historical data.

The modern rate of species loss was compared to the “natural rates of species disappearance before human activity dominated”.