Take the Extinction Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

Study Notes

Understanding Extinction

Notable extinct species include the Dodo Bird, Wooly Mammoth, Eurasian Aurochs, Sabre-tooth Cat, and Steller's Sea Cow, with causes including hunting, climate change, and disease.
There are two main types of extinction: mass extinction, which is rare and sudden, and background extinction, a natural, long-term process.
Mass extinction occurs when a major catastrophe leads to the death of over 50% of plant and animal life on Earth.
Five mass extinctions have occurred on Earth, including the Ordovician-Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous extinctions.
Fossils are crucial in studying mass extinctions, providing insights into the species that became extinct and the events that led to their extinction.
Background extinction, or the normal extinction rate, occurs over a long period due to natural factors such as climate change, population control, and predation.
The natural extinction rate is one species out of every one million species per year, but human causes have accelerated this rate to 100-1000 times higher.
Some scientists believe that the Earth is heading towards a sixth mass extinction, primarily due to human activities and climate change.
Human practices like manufacturing, logging, fishing, pollution, habitat loss, and overhunting have significantly contributed to species extinction.
Human-led extinction could be considered a third type of extinction, with impacts including sea level rise and a warming climate.
Fossils are essential for understanding mass extinctions, providing insights into the species that became extinct and the events that led to their extinction.
The Cretaceous extinction, the most recent and studied mass extinction, occurred 65 million years ago, and ongoing research aims to determine its exact dates and causes.

Description

Test your knowledge about extinction with this quiz covering notable extinct species, types of extinction, mass extinctions, background extinction, human impacts, and the importance of fossils in understanding extinction events.