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Alex Reilly
Mrs McGovern
English Foundations I
9th May 2016
The Death of Life
Ever since the first unicellular organism was created, it was fact that life would
eventually end. Over the course of the past 500 million years life has been tormented by the
environment, being that there have already been 5 mass extinctions and thousands of unique
species have all died out. In each of these mass extinctions, at least over 50% of the present
species have died out and would never be seen again. Over these mass extinctions, only the
strongest and fastest to survived, being only those with the ability to evolve based on the needs
of the dangerous world they had lived in. In the film Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce,
three little indigenous girls living in a British world were taken from their parents. With instincts
and thoughts based off ancient genes that were introduced to humanity during the nomadic
periods, the girls were able to escape and make it home. These girls were also forced to evolve
or change according to the new culture, but instead they decided to help it survive and fought this
extinction, preserving it for the future generations. Extinction has taken many, some had survived
due to extreme factors, and the future can hold our ultimate demise; be it tomorrow or thousands
of centuries from now. In the end however, humans are ultimately the sixth mass extinction.
Thousands upon thousands of forms of life, even forms more superior than the
modern day human have gone extinct since the existence of life itself. Because of immediate
threats, only those that are evolved to fight it will survive; proved by the fact that in one mass
extinction only about 4% of total life at the time was able to survive a super eruption of multiple

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massive volcanoes. One example of a species that was killed off due to a failure in evolution was
the woolly mammoth. The woolly mammoth was a massive elephant like mammal that roamed
from Russia to the Americas from 300,000 BC all the way to 1700 BC. While many believed that
humans may have killed off the woolly mammoths, they are ultimately incorrect. The article
What Killed Off the Woolly Mammoths states The idea that the presence of humans alone
is fully responsible for the extinction is not tenable, (Abbasi 1). This article shows how humans
have not directly killed off all species, and in this case it was the environment. After the meteor
impact in 13,000 B.C. the Earth's temperature was said to increase dramatically for a short period
of time. The woolly mammoths were unable to adapt to this change and all slowly died out in
less than 12,000 years. In the more modern era however, humans have also had an impact on
extinctions. In China fisherman and common people using boats had ended up destroying the
numbers of the Baiji White Dolphin. The article Top Ten Extinct Animals by Onekind, the
author states A dwindling food supply, massive pollution and boat propeller accidents were
wiping the creatures out. (Onekind 1). This species had survived for over 50 million years, and
ended with the introduction of human technology in less than 50. From this and accounts of
humans ending a multitude of other existences, it can be fairly concluded that humans will have
an influence in the sixth mass extinction.
Extinctions happen when the environment in which one species has adapted to changes
rapidly due to artificial or natural reasons. One example of a species that had fought through the
process of evolution and evolved is the human race. During the recurring ice periods, man was
forced to develop habits according to the extreme lack of food and tougher natural enemies.
Towards the end of the pliocene ice age, many of the Earth's mammals began to die out along
with loads of plant life due to extreme amounts of ice melting in a rapid time frame. This lead to

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many humans in different areas without food or shelter, killing off many and almost killing the
species off completely. However, humanity was eventually able to pull through these tough
times. The Article Early Human Evolution states In response to this, our ancestors became
more proficient at hunting animals, especially large ones that provided more calories. (ONeil
1). This shows that the human race when threatened with lack of resources was able to evolve,
changing our mindset in gathering food sparking the nomadic period. Along with humans
hunting tactics evolving during the ice age period, the human infrastructure did as well. The
article also states Humanity survived primarily by becoming more intelligent and adaptable.
(ONeil 1). This shows how the modern day human was shaped by the ice age; we took a path of
intelligence rather than physical strength. Humans began to develop shelters and clothing from
the animals they hunted, along with new weaponry. This proves that mass extinctions may be
overall quite bad for the world, but in the end are essential for developing intelligent life forms.
Without the ice age the human race could still be trapped in the prehistoric hunter-gatherer
period.
Through the mass extinctions so far, it has discovered that at least 4% of life has always
survived, just like humans had due to evolution. It is already known that the ice ages and other
extinctions have re-occurred on multiple occasions. Based off of what is known of the past,
humans can make predictions on what may happen in the future, but it is impossible to know
what exactly may happen. The most common theory on what will happen is that the human race
itself will cause the sixth mass extinction. According to data, humans have raised the carbon
concentration in the atmosphere immensely since the industrial revolution, fast forwarded
climate change, destroyed thousand of natural ecosystems, etc. Multiple studies have been
conducted in South America to see the human effect on some of the native species, and the

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results were frightening at best. In the article Are We Headed for a Mass Extinction, the author
states Within a few years, dozens of amphibians had disappeared from the wild, including the
Panamanian golden frog, famous for being so toxic that the poison on the skin of just one animal
could kill 1,000 mice. (Kolbert 1). The author then goes on to explain how usually only one
amphibian species goes extinct every thousand years, meanwhile the human race is killing out
multiple species in just a decade. A mass extinction defined as a rapid decrease of life forms in a
small amount of time, and that fact alone proves that we have started one already in the
amphibian world. Kolbert continues her argument by explaining how human activity is killing
out other species around the world as well, further supporting the prediction that if this trend
continue mankind will cause a mass extinction that includes an even wider range of species.
Mass extinctions will occur every so often on Earth for the rest of time, and humanity
might be the next culprit. Life has survived through ice ages, volcanic eruptions, and even
meteor impacts. Sadly, however they have proven that they cannot endure human created
phenomenons. Humans are destroying our planet in so many different ways every second, and if
mankind does not change it behaviour, it will end up killing off life completely in the next annual
mass extinction, and for all we know it may have already started due to our influence.

Works Cited
Abbasi, Jennifer. "What Killed Off the Woolly Mammoths." Discover 09 Sept. 2013: n. pag. 3
May 2016.
"Early Human Evolution: Climate Change and Human Evoluti." Early Human Evolution:

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Climate Change and Human Evoluti. Palomar, n.d. Web. 03 May 2016.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. "Are We Headed for a Mass Extinction." Junior Scholastic117.12 (2015):
20-22. Print.
"Extinct." Top Ten Animals | OneKind. Skyline, n.d. Web. 01 May 2016.
Rabbit Proof Fence. Dir. Phillip Noyce. Perf. Everlyn Sampi. Miramax Home Entertainment.,
2002. DVD.