The ebb-and-flow of the Ice Ages and Interglacial periods over the past two+ million years has resulted in some species extinction as the climate change was too rapid for natural speciation to take place. Woolly mammoths are a well-known example.
Are we living in a current mass extinction era? Despite the efforts of global organisations such as World Wildlife Fund and Compassion in World Farming the answer is ‘yes’. The scientific name for the current high rate of extinctions is the ‘Halocene extinction’. The reasons behind this mass extinction are mostly not forces of Nature, although Climate Change’ may well play an increasing role. The reasons mostly follow from the domination of the planet by one single species Homo Sapiens (Man), the needs of this single dominant species for living space, food, shelter and recreation can rapidly habitat degradation if not complete loss of habitat. Once species’ populations become very small and/or very dispersed then the genetic health of that species is compromised, this resulting in more rapid decline. Unrestricted hunting and the consumption of a natural feature for excessive human consumption also contribute. There are many examples of the latter, one being the ‘delicacy’ birds nest soup which has as its basic ingredient the nests of Asian swifts (spb) where the bird uses its saliva to bind the nesting material. The above image is of a Bengal tiger, an ‘Endangered Species’.
Not only has the homo sapiens come to dominate and manipulate the natural environment but also ‘he’ has devised a means of global self-destruction in the form of nuclear weapons.
So has Man overcome Evolution?