Abstract
Until recently, animal and plant extinctions were limited to ocean islands. Sadly, extinctions now have arrived on continents, as human populations have rapidly grown, enormous areas of natural habitat converted to agricultural land, hunting for food and poaching for “fake” medicines and jewelry increased, introduction of alien species expanded, and resource consumption and pollution have increased since WWII and exploded since the 1990s acceleration in globalization and global income disparity. Today 83% of all animals are domestic, while the loss and fragmentation of natural habitat and space is critically endangering much of the wildlife that is left. Poaching for elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, and helmeted hornbill’s casque is at all-time high. Additionally, bush-meat consumption is contributing to the emergence of new pathogens.
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Welford, M.R., Yarbrough, R.A. (2021). Extinctions. In: Human-Environment Interactions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56032-4_3
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