Description
Mass extinctions are not rare events in the earth's history: there have been about fifteen of them. Five of these have involved the death of fifty per cent of the species then living, and two of them altered the global eco-system out of all recognition.The first major mass extinction took place 250 million years ago, and its causes, relating to the drift of the continents, are largely unresolved. The second, at 65 million years ago, brought an end to the Age of Dinosaurs. Again the causes were complex, but the culminating factor was one or more asteroids crashing into the Earth, unleashing fires, tidal waves and poisonous gases.
Now it seems that another mass extinction is under way, which will bring to an end the third great era of life on earth, the Age of Mammals. The global ecology was already under immense stress from the rapid climatic changes in the Ice Ages. And then, 100,000 years ago, another great asteroid hit the Earth: that asteroid is Homo sapiens.
Paleontologist Peter Ward searches for the clues to catastrophic extinctions and documents signs that a third mass extinction has already begun on our planet. With contagious enthusiasm for fossil-hunting and love of the land and sea, Ward documents the rich diversity of life past and present, bringing home how fragile the balance of life on earth is, while projecting into the future to show the best, and worst, possible scenarios we can hope forโand work toward.
ISBN:9781857993684
Paleontologist Peter Ward searches for the clues to catastrophic extinctions and documents signs that a third mass extinction has already begun on our planet. With contagious enthusiasm for fossil-hunting and love of the land and sea, Ward documents the rich diversity of life past and present, bringing home how fragile the balance of life on earth is, while projecting into the future to show the best, and worst, possible scenarios we can hope forโand work toward.
ISBN:9781857993684
