How would our life without animals be ?, I am sure that more than one person here has been asked this at least once in his life, and today steemians will clarify this existential doubt that you have done.
Imagine our planet earth without animals would be like watching a horror movie or science fiction. For many it may be a utopia, but the truth is that we are quickly heading towards it. Every year about 10,000 to 50,000 species of flora or fauna disappear from the face of the Earth. Among them, some animals that we knew and were part of our nature, unfortunately my grandchildren will not know them. Plants, flowers or beautiful trees that gave us so much welfare will soon be just a memory. Some photo will remember them, in some museum we will find their remains. Maybe some specimen is embalmed to keep the memory of its existence, but we can never see it again or enjoy its habitat, take care of its young, populate our oceans, or show us their abilities and characteristics to learn from them, it will be impossible because they started a road without return.
Are we facing the sixth extinction today?
The first happened 440 million years ago, due to glaciations and the overheating of the planet. The Earth managed to recover and new species were born that did not last long, since 60 million years later the second extinction occurred, this time as a result of the cooling caused by the fall of several asteroids.
The third occurs as a result of the movements originated in tectonic plates 350 million years ago in which much of the planet is destroyed, without being the last one; 200 million years ago, the fourth extinction was caused by the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, where large areas of land were covered by water and many other species disappeared, but even so, large animals could continue to live dominating the face of the earth, they were the owners and masters of the planet, the dinosaurs traveled freely, multiplied and many other species were born.
Again, nature played an important role, a great asteroid or comet collided with our planet and these great animals disappeared completely, however a different species began to populate the face of the earth, was the beginning of our existence, mammals would populate the planet, we would dominate the earth we would multiply and enjoy our existence.
It is supposed that here begins the era of Mammals, being the beginning of a happy story to not live with giant predators, but the sad reality was another. The sixth extinction was approaching and it would not be the product of a natural disaster, but its origin would be initiated by one of the species still in development, Homo Sapiens. The evolution of this species, faster than that of the others, allows it to satisfy its needs by taking over the environment, restricting the space and / or natural habitat of any other species that will cross it on the way, but the contradictory is in turn that this is the only one capable of changing the history of the planet.
As an example, I want to name a species known to all as a faithful reflection of a latent reality, the tigers. It is the largest of the cats, but very soon it will be just a memory. 100.00 years ago, 100.00 of them wandered around the face of the earth, at the beginning of the eighties their number did not exceed 20,000, today there are only 3,200. If I could list the number of species that do not exist today, I would be lacking in paper, I can only say with amazement how each day the list grows more and more.
The European Biodiversity Conference, which began last week in Madrid, brings together representatives from 48 countries. I hope they can join forces and establish multinational policies to put a brake on this debacle, because if the whole world does not act towards a common goal that horror movie 'A Planet without Animals' will not be fiction, but rather a sad one reality.
All of us who inhabit this planet need each other. We must maintain balance, life depends on optimizing the use of natural resources. We have advanced so much in knowledge that we must focus our efforts on protecting the planet, we do not have more spare parts. We want our grandchildren to enjoy it, but also the grandchildren of the tiger, the lynx, the capercaillie, the brown bear and many other species that today are in danger of starting a trip without return. They were not born to fulfill a cycle, as any living being has the right to exist, they are as much owners as everyone on the planet. For them and for those who are not, let us take conscience, allocate the necessary resources to look for alternatives, that allow us to continue developing but without destroying what so many years nature cost to build.
Friends I hope you enjoyed my post, which was a report I made a few years ago.