Endangered: Wildlife on the Brink of Extinction

Science News,  Jan 6, 2007  

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ENDANGERED: Wildlife on the Brink of Extinction

GEORGE C. MCGAVIN

Extinction, like evolution, is a natural process. However, since the Industrial Revolution, increasing numbers of animals have become endangered not so much as a consequence of nature but as a result of the actions of human beings. McGavin explores extinction and how it progresses. Life on Earth has been witness to five great mass extinctions--events that obliterated more than 50 percent of living things. McGavin, an Oxford University research lecturer, writes that human influence is now causing the sixth great extinction. McGavin details how people have learned to change their environments to suit their needs, yet their evolving methods of farming and hunting have led to the destruction of many other species. He details how the Industrial Revolution and accompanying pollution have contributed to climate change and its ongoing actions on animal species. Finally, McGavin reviews the actions that people can take now to stem the tide of destruction. Firefly, 2006, 192 p., color photos, hardcover, $35.00.

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