Why is the extinction of animals so important?

Question

I need it for a project and no stupid answers.please.

Answer 1

I'll give you an example: let's say the bats that live in Austin, Texas contracted a disease from the pollution in that area and they all died in an epidemic. Guess what would happen? The city would be overrun by mosquitoes, because there are millions of bats in Austin, and they each eat half their own body weight in mosquitoes every night. Or let's say that people killed off all the rattlesnakes in the west. Those snakes are venemous, so it might sound like a good idea, right? Wrong! Very few people get bitten by snakes in this country, and the few that do are usually drunk and keep messing with the snake. Even those people, if taken to the hospital, usually have full recoveries. Meanwhile, the loss of these snakes would result in an epidemic of rats, which the snakes eat in great abundance. Rats carry disease, eat our food, and damage houses and crops. Being overrun by rats would cost billions of dollars, and could even start an epidemic of diseases. My point- every animal is part of our ecosystem. They serve a purpose. Whales eat brine and plankton that would overrun the ocean in some places if they did not eat it. Bees spread pollen that helps trees and plants spread and grow, which in turn provide us with oxygen we desperately need to breathe. You lose animals to extinction, you lose a part of your own ecosystem. The eventual result will be our OWN extinction.

Answer 2

It allows the evolution of new species to replace the species which have gone extinct. The new species are often more evolved than the ones which went extinct.

The fossil record shows earth has experienced many mass extinctions. The most dramatic was the evolution of photosynthetic organisms. Before these appeared, there was no oxygen in earth's atmosphere. Rising oxygen levels then poisoned nearly everything which wasn't photosynthetic. Only two other gasses support combustion like oxygen. These are chlorine and fluorine. This shows how toxic and corrosive oxygen actually is.

The next great mass extinction ocurred at the end of the cambrian period. The sea was dominated by a bizzare assortment of invertebratres. After the extinction, one of the survivors was a worm-like creature with a stiff rod of cartlidge in its back. This was the ancestor of fish.

The next mass extinction ocurred during the permian period. A group of reptiles which were the ancestors of mammals dominated the earth. These were mostly killed off by rising temepratures and expanding deserts. At the end of the permian, some of the survivors were the first dinosaurs.

The last great mass extinction is well known. At the end of the cretaceous period, it appears a massive commet hit the earth in what is now the gulf of Mexico. This killed all the dinosaurs and also eliminated the enormous sea reptiles and flying reptiles. The only survivors were lizards, turtles, crocodiles, birds and of course mammals. The first true mammals had evolved about the same time the dinosaurs did, but they could not compete with these giant reptiles and stayed small and nocturnal. Once the dinosaurs had gone extinct, the mammals were then able to evolve to fill the roles the dinosaurs once filled.

It appears the earth is now undergoing another mass extinction, this time caused by a single species, humans. Initially, humans were responcible for large herbivores, like giant ground sloths, elephant birds, mastadons and the wolly rhinocerous. The extinction of these creatures then led to the demise of saber toothed cats which preyed on them. When agriculture was developed, humans then began competing with other creatures for territory. Loss of habitat to humans is the major cause of global extinction today. However, a new factor has began to affect extinction, global warming. It is melting the polar ice caps and changing the temperature of the sea. Marine corals are now going extinct and over all, the earth is losing a great deal of its biodiversity.

Cusiously, humans may go extinct by replacing their own species with what was once themselves. If technology continues to evolve at its current rate, it is only a matter of time before humans merge with their own technology. Once outcome might be an organism which was animal, vegetable and mineral, and each individual would technically be its own unique species. These organisms could then fill every possible ecological niche imaginable, from the bottom of the sea and even far out into space. Evolution would no longer be a random process blindly seeking its own lowest level, but a carefully planned process with a concious goal in mind. It will certainly re-define the term "intelligent design".

Answer 3

Your question presumes as fact that extinction of animals is important. The truth is, scientists don't even know of all the species of animals in existence, much less all of the species that have become extinct at various times over the history of the earth. Regardless, an incredible variety of species, including homo sapiens, have not only survived, but have adapted to the extinction of other species and climatic changes. The complexity of changes that take place over time on a global scale is so great that it's easier to take a simple-minded approach of assuming that the extinction of a particular species will doom the planet, but the innumerable counterexamples testify against such fallacies.

Answer 4

Because of climate change, and changes in our natural environment.

Our planet has gone through many changes over the billions of years it's been spinning around our sun. Yet, Life has continued. This is because Life is able to adapt. It's pretty much evolve or die. Through mutation, variations occur in populations of animals. As these variations increase, and as different populations become isolated from each other, new species emerge. Some of these variations are adaptive, and some are harmful. And those animals which are able to adapt to the changing environment survive, while those that are not go extinct. There have been several mass extinction events over the course of Earth's history.

At this time, many species are dying off because of the actions of human beings and our impact on the environment. We need to think carefully about how we respond to the environmental problem in a way that reduces our impact without weakening our economy. A balanced and rational approach, based on good, unbiased science, is needed.

Answer 5

No one or nothing, for scientific and ethical reasons, has yet declared that extinction of animals is important. On the contrary, efforts have been exerted to protect endangered species (those animals threatened with extinction). I'm just wondering who said that to you that the extinction of animals are so important and why?

Answer 6

How Long Are you Gonna Last On Vegetation? Not To Mention The Cycle In Which All Animals Play A Role In Keeping The Others Under Population..... We Would All Die Of Disease and Illness, more germs n diseases will thrive if they are extinct.

Answer 7

Well, they might be a source of important genetic information - unique proteins and stuff like that. But for your project, consider challenging the premise too. If some rodent in South America, that you will never see or have any interaction with in your life, happens to fade away, so what? In reality, the extinction of animal species has very little direct effect on us. Which tells us that there are more noble reasons for valuing life forms than just asking "what have you done for ME lately?" Y'know?

Answer 8

Extinction is a natural process to give way to new species to inhabit the earth. Extinction is sad, but I'm kinda glad the dinosaurs aren't around anymore!

Answer 9

One word. FoodChain.
But if you need it for a project you are not going to do well copying other peoples answers, you need to do the research yourself. There is loads of information on Google and Wikipedia.

Answer 10

according to me, animal extinction creates ECOLOGICAL imbalance because it affects the FOOD CHAIN which promotes FOODWEB imbalance, these all changes will ultimately affects the humans and all living things either directly or indirectly.