According to a study, humanity has eliminated a great part of the wild mammals that have existed on our planet to make more space for domesticated livestock.
Humans are only about 0.01% of the biomass of living beings on Earth. However, despite being the least abundant, we sure are the most destructive species to have stepped into this world.
Research suggests that we’ve eradicated at least 83% of wild mammals. It doesn’t get any better when we talk about flora, as humankind has destroyed half of all the plant species that have existed in the world.
This unique study is the first that tries to “estimate” the total weight of every type of living creature using percentages.
To no one’s surprise, plants and bacteria are the most common lifeforms on our planet. They represent 82 and 13% of the biomass on Earth, respectively. Contrary to this, the remaining 5% would belong to animals and fungi.
Still, a great part of the animal population is domesticated, and humanity has wiped out a very prominent part of wild animals, according to the study.
As of now, only 30% of birds are wild. The remaining 70% are farmed poultry. Things get even worse if we take a look at mammal statistics, as 60% of them are living stock, 36% are human beings, and the remaining 4% belong to wild animals.
Humanity has had a destruction streak since we stepped into this planet. Some scientists believe that we’ve already started the planet’s sixth mass extinction, as half of the animals have existed in the last 50 years.
Fish, viruses, and fungi continue to be the most common biomasses on Earth.
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