September 20th, 2007 - Extinction: Natural Causes or Not?

So this is my first blog for biology...and I'm not sure how long it is supposed to be but we'll see!

First of all i read the article and initially the thing that stood out to me was the extinction rate of animals that we live with everyday. Living in, what biologists call the 6Th Great Extinction" is weird because I can't imagine not having some of the species that we have now and thinking about the next couple of generations, it will be weird that they may not even know some of the animals we live with everyday. To a degree, it will be like dinosaurs to us (but not as extreme because of the time differences). One fact i thought was interesting and shocking was one about the estimated animals who will be extinct.

"...1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 8 birds, 1 in 3
amphibians, 1 in 3 conifers and other gymnosperms are at risk of extinction... fully 40 percent of the examined species of planet Earth are in danger,
including up to 51 percent of reptiles, 52 percent of insects, and 73 percent of flowering plants..." (Whitty).


I think one of the reasons I'm taken away by this article is because I can't imagine myself being in "history" or having something that i take for granted now, being gone. With objects it's a completely different story because taken material things for granted is easy but when it deals with animals and other living organisms, you don't really think about them until they are gone.

This is the end of my blog...I hope it's long enough!! : )