Endangered Species

Part of Hall of Biodiversity.

In the past, natural events caused large-scale transformations of the environment and five global mass extinctions. Now, ecosystems are again undergoing a massive loss of biodiversity. This time, the changes are caused mainly by human activity.

Even in prehistory, humans eliminated other species as they spread across the world. But following the invention of agriculture around 10,000 years ago and the resulting population boom, our impact has intensified.