Studies have indicated that thousands of birds and mammals could possibly become extinct in the years to come. If the studies are proven to be true, it means that a lot of the diversity on Earth will be gone and many larger animals known to us could be gone soon. Scientists believe that certain animals are more prone to extinction because of their dependence on their habitat and environment. Certain characteristics of species that may become extinct include that they "live at a high tropic level, low population density, long gestation length, and a small geographic range size". .
To figure out why certain animals were going extinct, they had to look at nearly 1,000 phylogenies. Their estimations from the phylogenies were much less then what was happening in real life all around them and us. Because the rates are much higher there is a greater problem on how certain extinctions will effect other species. Also, if certain species become extinct we would loose important genetic history. .
Species that do not have many close relatives are more prone to become extinct then those that do. The reason for this is because without any relatives around the animals, they are alone and may have fewer of their own kind around them. Because of this, if a unique species becomes extinct, a piece of our evolutionary history is gone too. .
Many of the animals are also becoming extinct due to human activity such as farming or city development, which would ruin animals" habitat. Also, chemicals and pollution contribute to the extinctions. If we do not protect these animals that we are killing off then a part of the earth's history will be gone forever. Nature and life is very unique and beneficial to our home, why kill it off when we don't have to? .