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1st Extinction: 450 - 440 Million Years Ago 

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1st Extinction: 450 - 440 Million Years Ago 

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2nd Extinction: 375-360 Million Years Ago

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2nd Extinction: 375-360 Million Years Ago

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3rd Extinction (Largest): 250 Million Years Ago 

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3rd Extinction (Largest): 250 Million Years Ago 

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Fifth and best understood mass extinction. This is when dinosaurs and other dominant vertebrates went extinct. Every animal that was about 25 kilograms disappeared. About 75% of species went extinct.

Possible Causes:

Extraterrestrial Activity: Impact of a large asteroid off the Yucatan Peninsula (roughly the size of Manhatten) wiped off the dinosaurs.

Iridium Rain (Toxic Rain) probably caused by the asteroid was detected in the strata of rock as detailed in the fossil record between the Cretaceous and Paleo periods.

Although dinosaurs were the main taxa to go extinct, several others went extinct with them.

It took 10 million years of recovery time. Several species went extinct, but those that didn't include Therapod clade which are responsible for the evolution of modern day birds.

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The possible 6th extinction is ongoing and has been going on for the past several years since the rise of humans about 150,000 years ago in Africa.

Plestocene Extinction: A more recent extinction that caused the extinction of several megafauna. Megafauna are substantially large animals.

The majority of the extinction has been caused by climate change, but it is also correlated with the arrival of humans, suggesting that humans hunted these animals to the level of extinction.

Occurred in North America and Eurasia during the glacial period. North America lost mammoth, mastodan, giant beaver, giant sloth, saber toothed cat, etc.

Anytime humans appeared in the picture, megafauna went extinct, suggesting overhunting.

Holocene-Present Time Extinction:

Extinction that was COMPLETELY the responsibility of humans. Particularly those in the European colonies.

Caused the death of Dodo Birds for example. They were both hunted by humans and affected by the exotic species humans brough to islands (pigs, rats, and dogs ate the eggs of the dodo birds).

Several other animals were hunted afterwards, from the periods of 1768-present time. They went extinct because humans wanted them for meat/oil, they were considered pests, humans overfished and overhunted, humans destroyed the habitats of the animals, and human travel introduced various toxic invasive species that caused the extinction of native species and took over the area.

Humans are responsible for the extinction of at least 800 different species. We don't know all of the species that may be affected, so the rate of extinction could be much larger than we expected. The rate for extinction is starting to grow, especially over the past century. If it continues to grow at this rate, it will result in the 6th next mass extinction with at least 50% of earth's species destroyed, particularly due to human activity.

Although it is too late for most species to be saved, humans have the ability to spearhead conservation efforts and cut back on the destruction they are doing to ecosystems. Biodiversity is important for humans too: it helps come up with new medicines and pharmaceuticals, food sources, health products, etc.

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First Mass Extinction which occurred during the Ordovican - Silurian Period. It was the second largest extinction, and caused the extinction of roughly 86% of organisms. All of the organisms were marine animal.

Possible Causes:

Climate Change - There might have been two different events of time, both related to climate change.

1. A rapid COOLING EVENT in which glaciation occurred at a drastic level.

2. Followed by a rapid WARMING EVENT in which the temperature rose quickly to become extremely hot.

Since both of these events were so fast and rapid, much of the marine life could not adapt quickly enough to the new changes. Those that could would have exprienced the quick rise and fall of sea levels, which impacts their lifestyle.

Another cause could be a gamma ray burst from a super-nova. The blast was so impactful that the UV light from it destroyed Earth's Ozone. These are considered extraterrestrial influences.

Took about 5-20 million years for Earth to recover from this event.

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Occurred over a much longer period of time. It affected marine species (especially jawless fish, and other invertebrates). Animals and other terrestrial species were not affected. Caused extinction of roughly 75% of species.

Possible Causes: There is little to no information about causes. Some theories include:

Ocean Anoxia: The ocean was depleted of oxygen (Particularly due to a volcanic event)

Extraterrestrial event like an asteriod impact could have also been a cause.

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Third and Largest Mass Extinction. Nearly caused Earth to be compltely devoid of life. 96% of marine species and 70% of acquatic species were lost. Roughly 96% of species went extinct.

Possible Causes:

Extreme volcanic activity. Volcanic activity released CO2 into the atmosphere, causing a drastic global warming event. Oceans became anoxic as a result (meaning they lost oxygen) and so marine life completely suffocated. The land abiding populations took 30 million years to recover.

After the Permian period, scientists notice a complete shift in the makeup and biodiversity of Earth. Due to the sheer destruction, Earth's biosphere was forced to rebuild itself. Therefore, many new species emerged. The Permian period forever altered the course of evolution by introducing a new array of common ancestors.

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Ocurred right before the breakup of super-continent Pangea, and occurred gradually.

Terrestrial Vertebrates were affected much more harshly than acquatic species. However, most dinosaurs were spared, and did not go extinct until a later period of time. Dinosaurs began to dominate during the Jurassic period after this extinction. 80% of Earth's species were lost.

Possible Causes:

Climate change: Occurred gradually over time. Therefore, some species that were quick to adapt survived while others went extinct. There were drops in sea level that could have affected marine animals.

Extraterrestrial Events: Asteroid impact, some minerals were identified.

Volcanic events