Humans as a Force of Extinction
Around two hundred thousand years ago, modern humans appeared in Africa. They were not especially strong or fast, but they were unusually flexible, cooperative, and inventive. Over time they spread across the globe, entering lands and islands that had never known their presence before.
Wherever people arrived, other species often disappeared. Large mammals that had survived ice ages and shifting climates vanished soon after humans reached new continents. On islands, birds and other animals that had evolved without fear of human hunters or imported predators were especially vulnerable.
That long expansion has now reached a planetary scale. Forests are cut, rivers are diverted, fossil fuels are burned, and the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans is changing. The result is not just local damage but a worldwide loss of species, so large that many scientists compare it to the great mass extinctions of the deep past.
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