What is extinction?
• The Red List considers a species extinct when exhaustive surveys in known or expected habitats fail to record any individuals. • The IUCN Red List documents 784 extinctions and 65 extinctions in the wild since 1500AD (when historical scientific records began), but this number doesn’t account for the thousands of species that go extinct before scientists even have a chance to describe them. • Previous extinctions were due to natural causes. Extinction is actually a natural phenomenon that we expect to occur at a rate of approximately 1 to 5 species per year, but nowadays experts believe we are losing dozens per day – that’s roughly 100 to 1000 times higher than background rates! • Current extinctions are generally brought about by humans. Extinctions caused by humans are considered to be a recent phenomenon: today 99% of threatened species are at risk from human activities.
