Photo: The ever decreasing population of wild elephants

Humans and livestock account for 96 percent of mammal biomass on planet Earth. Images on Discovery Channel leads us to believe that there is thriving wildlife out there. How does that compare to reality, when it comes to the landmass of humans, the species we raise for food, or keep as companions and the wildlife?

Reference:
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506

– 60% of primate species are threatened with extinction

Source: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/1/e1600946

– The extinction rate of plants and animals is 1000 to 10,000 times higher than before humans came along

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6187/1246752.abstract

One of the countless examples to illustrate how humans directly affect the decline of the number in species is the American Bison. An estimated 30 to 60 million bison lived in North America in the 1500s. During the next centuries mass killings, cattle diseases, loss of natural habitat caused their numbers to plummet. There were around 325 wild bison left in the United States, including 25 in Yellowstone in the year of 1884.

Source: https://www.fws.gov/bisonrange/timeline.htm

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