The Holocene Extinction Event is the ongoing extinction of animal species due to human activities. It has two main pulses, one from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago and a recent one since 1950. Many species became extinct due to human activity, and the current rate of extinction is several hundred times higher than usual.
The Holocene Extinction Event is a term used to refer to the ongoing extinction of numerous animal species due to human activities. It takes its name from the Holocene geological period which began 11,550 years ago (about 9600 BC) and continues to the present day. The Holocene extinction eliminated between 20,000 and several hundred thousand species over the past 12,000 years. The Holocene extinction is composed of two main pulses: a pulse from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, during the end of the last glacial period, when much of the Pleistocene megafauna became extinct, and a recent pulse, which began around 1950 , when mass deforestation and other human activities led to the extinction of many species.
Animal species extinct since the first spurt of the Holocene extinction include several species of mammoth, dire wolf, short-faced bear, cave lion, cave bear, cave hyena, dwarf elephant, giant swan, giant rat, mastodon, American cheetah, ground sloths, marsupials of many species, numerous giant flightless birds and many other animals. Most scientists agree that these animals became extinct due to human activity, as many of them disappear within 1,000 years of humans introducing them to an area. Some of the most accurate results come from trials in Australia and the Americas, which were relatively isolated until humans arrived.
Animals that went extinct recently, during the last impulse of the Holocene extinction, include the dodo, aurochs (a large horned type of cattle), tarpan (a small horse), Tasmanian tiger, the quagga (a relative of the zebra), Steller’s sea cow (relative of the manatee and dugong), the giant Aye-aye (a nocturnal primate), the great auk (penguin-like bird of the Atlantic region), the homing pigeon (with about five billion birds in North America, it was formerly one of the most numerous birds on the planet), the Costa Rican golden toad and many others. Biologists agree that the current rate of animal species extinction is several hundred times higher than the typical background level.
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