'We are entering a mass extinction' as animal species disappear

Animal species are disappearing at an accelerating rate — portending the sixth mass extinction in the 4.5-billion-year history of the Earth, a study concludes.

“We are entering a mass extinction equivalent to what happened to the dinosaurs” unless conservation efforts are intensified, said Anthony Barnosky, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a study author.

http://www.startribune.com/we-are-entering-a-mass-extinction/310278891/