Is animal extinction considered a natural disaster or a disaster of any kind?
Mar 06, 2010
in
Disaster
it’s for an illustration project on disaster.
It’s for an illustration assignment, and the instructor won’t give me a straight answer on it. I feel it is, and I can represent it as such, but I’m looking for opinions to include in my research of the topic
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6 comments
Richard on March 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm
About 95% of all species that originally existing over the past 4 billion years has become extinct. It is not a disaster — extinction is basic nature — survival of the fittest over time. Dinosauers, Dodo birds, Passenger Pidgeons have all come and gone. New species are continually evolving to replace the ones that passed previously. Earth has been around for 4,000 Million years — Humans have evolved as a species in just the past 100,000 years. Humans did not exist in the beginning 4 Billion years ago. So humans themselves has been around for only 1 / 40,000th of the Earths existence. A good analogy — if you have $400.00 — humans have existed for a time similar to 1 penny of the $400. Not long at all compared to Earths existence.
Humans may become extinct as well in 10 thousand years, and likely another living species may take our place as well.
tummy acher on March 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm
natural disasters can cause extinction but i dont think an extinction is considered a natural disaster. it is sad and tragic though
Bubba on March 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm
its completely normal for 1-4 species to go extinct a year naturally. not a disaster.
currently thousands of species are going extinct per year, and it is not a natural disaster, it is a disaster. period.
xLA NENA . on March 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm
it is a disaster but if it’s ever considered a natural disaster it is rare in the common era because usually humans are the direct or indirect cause of animal extinction, whether overhunting or destroying their habitat. It is very much a disaster becuase ecosystems are balanced equations. when one thing is taken away, the fragile pyramid collapses and EVERYTHING in the ecosystem is affected in one way or another.
Memieko on March 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Well, it wouldn’t be considered a natural disaster since natural disasters are only labeled if they cause an effect and extinction doesn’t cause anything it’s just the name of a natural event. It would be better to call extinction a part of evolution because as a species dies it means it couldn’t evolve fast enough with it’s environment, but it creates a chance for another species to gain strength. That may sound cruel, but it’s true. (i.e. Polar Bears are going extinct because they can’t evolve fast enough to be used to the warm weather and less ice.) It’s not really evolution, but it is a part of evolution.
Animal Annie on March 8, 2010 at 9:14 am
I wouldn’t call it a disaster. It’s the nature of evolution for some species to become extinct and others to arise to take over their niches.
If animals before us hadn’t become extinct, human beings wouldn’t be able to exist.
I suppose it would be a disaster for the animals that became extinct, and for the animals that eat them.