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News Release 11-046
Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction: Is It Almost Here?
Steep decline of many animal species warns that Earth is on the brink
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![Forg and forest in a sphere with a fungus, spores and thermometer with rising temperature outside.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction1_f.jpg)
Earth's warming climate is contributing to an infection responsible for tropical frog extinctions.
Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
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![Photo of a female polar bear walking along the shore of Canada's Hudson Bay.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction2_f1.jpg)
A female polar bear walks along the shore of Canada's Hudson Bay, waiting for ice to form.
Credit: Steven Amstrup, Polar Bears International
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![Earth with a purple border and red area extending across equatorial region.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction3_f2.jpg)
A burst of gamma rays reaching Earth may have caused an extinction 440 million years ago.
Credit: NASA
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![Illustration of life in the Devonian ocean.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction4_f.jpg)
The ocean in Devonian times: is past prologue in biodiversity collapse?
Credit: University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology
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![Photo of ancient fossil leaves.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction5_f.jpg)
Ancient fossil leaves tell a story of sudden loss of biodiversity that may have future parallels.
Credit: John Weinstein, The Field Museum
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![Illustration showing life in a pond.](/news/mmg/media/images/extinction6_f.jpg)
The future in a drop of water? Ponds bear lasting imprints of events in their pasts.
Credit: State of Texas
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