The Sixth Great Extinction The Earth Policy Institute is tracking rates of animal extinction and comparing them to the great extinctions of the past, 65 million years ago (meteorite wipes out the dinosaurs), 208 million years ago, 245 million years ago (massive volcanic eruptions), 367 million years ago, and 440 million years ago (ice age). In each great extinction, 70-95% of all species of land or sea creatures suddenly (within a few thousand years) disappear. Current annual rates of species extinction are between 1,000-10,000 times greater than average extinction rates since the dinosaurs disappeared, indicating that the sixth known great extinction is underway. This will be the first known extinction precipitated substantially by a single species, and the first one that a single species could act to prevent.

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