Conservationists predict mass extinction of wildlife like dinosaurs

Conservationists are worried about the fate of wildlife and have warned that nature is facing a global "mass extinction" for the first time ever since the demise of the dinosaurs. It is an alarming situation because figures paint a very grim picture. It seems global wildlife populations are set to fall by more than two thirds on 1970 levels by the end of the decade.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 27 October 2016.

The figures of 14,152 populations of 3,706 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles from around the world shows a 58% fall between 1970 and 2012. There is no indication that the average 2% drop in numbers each year will slow. This is based on a Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The report goes on to caution that by 2020 populations of vertebrate species could have fallen by 67% over a 50-year period unless corrective action is taken on priority to reverse the damaging impacts of human activity. The main reasons for this trend is over-exploitation, loss of habitat, climate change and pollution.
A few examples are - loss of African elephants in Tanzania due to poaching, drop in numbers of maned wolves in Brazil because of grasslands being turned into farmland. Some other species under threat are the orcas or killer whales, leatherback turtles, the European eel and vultures in south-east Asia.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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