Extinction

Humans are to blame

Humans may have wiped out around 1,430 bird species, almost 12 per cent, and twice as many as previously thought. This has major implications for the ongoing biodiversity crisis, according to a new study led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and published in Nature Communications.

The lost birds

Observations and fossils show 640 bird species have been driven extinct since the Late Pleistocene period — 90 per cent of these on islands inhabited by people. These range from the iconic dodo of Mauritius to the great auk of the North Atlantic to the lesser-known Saint Helena giant hoopoe. There have been further 790 unknown extinctions, meaning a total of 1,430 lost species, leaving just under 11,000 today.

New Zealand

Since humans arrived in New Zealand, we’ve lost nearly half of our native terrestrial bird species. It is the only place in the world where the pre-human bird fauna is believed to be completely known, with well-preserved remains of all birds there.

Islands of extinction

The largest human-driven vertebrate extinction event in history was during the 14th century, when about 570 bird species were lost after people first arrived in the Eastern Pacific, including Hawaii and the Cook Islands — nearly 100 times the natural extinction rate.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 6th, 2024