ExtinctZoo - The Closest Life Has Ever Come To Going Extinct

Episode Date: November 3, 2024

Of the 31 extinctions (give or take) that life has faced, you may have only been taught in school about the kt event, aka the extinction that took out the dinosaurs. And you might've been led to believe that it was the worst day for life ever... you've been lied too.

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Co-Pilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365Copilot.com slash work. In the approximately 3.7 billion years that Earth has harbored life, it is experienced its fair share of some pretty messed up stuff. This has included asteroid impacts, solar storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, fires, droughts, and everything in between. Most of the time, such events don't actually have any profound impacts on life. But a few times they do, resulting in an extinction event, which can be simply described as being a widespread and rapid loss in biodiversity. And so far, scientists have identified about 31 extinction events that have taken place in the last few billions of years. Obviously, we are most likely missing a few.

But suffice to say, 31 is quite a bit. And of those 31, there are five that really stick out in terms of devastation and scale, being referred to as the Big Five. These, according to most, refer to the worst extinction events the world has ever seen. with each one being responsible for the eradication of at least 50% of all species. Of these five, the most famous and talked about is by far the KT extinction event, better known as the day the dinosaurs died. This extinction was heralded by a giant asteroid that struck Earth with the force of 10 billion World War II atomic bombs,

bringing the reign of the dinosaurs to a close and killing roughly 75% or more of every single species alive at that moment. It's often regarded as being the most sudden mass extinction event to have ever occurred, with most of the deaths happening pretty much on day one. And to many, namely the mainstream public, it's the worst event life has ever endured. But this isn't really the case. Because of the Big Five Extinction Events, the KT Extinction was not the deadliest, and perhaps surprisingly, it's not even close to being number one.

As that title goes to an event that saw so much life die, that it took Mother Nature about five times longer to fully recover from it than it did following the asteroid. This was the Permian Triassic extinction, also known as the Great Dying. To go back and witness this apocalyptic event, you'd have to travel a mind-numbing amount of time into the past, approximately 251.9 million years, to be exact, which would have brought you to the final days of the Permian period. Even before the Great Dying had begun, things weren't getting to be able. going so well. For starters, the world was still recovering from yet another extinction event that had taken place about 10 million years prior, the Capitanian extinction, which had decreased

species richness and contributed to a major decline in sea levels. On top of this, the general state of the climate was quite messed up as well, as Earth was significantly hotter than it is today. And near the equator, it's thought that the temperature could sometimes soar to around 74 degrees Celsius or 165 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to literally cook a chicken. And thanks to the geography of Pangaea, with nearly every landmass being strung together, large swathes of land were simply inhospitable and brutally dry. And to add fuel to the fire, there was also a giant mountain range that cut across the supercontinent, which deprived many areas of rain, and thus creating pockets of death and contributing to major droughts. Therefore, it's fair to say that some of the

simply staying alive was not a walk in the park. So it definitely was not helpful when the great dying suddenly sprung up and took out the vast majority of life. For a long time, paleontologists were aware that something unprecedented happened during the end of the Permian, but no one knew exactly what had transpired, and many different ideas were thus put forth, including asteroid impacts, interstellar dust storms, and even that the weather was just that brutal. It wasn't until very recently that paleontologists finally came to the conclusion that the perpetrator all along had been volcanic eruptions. Though these ones were unlike anything ever experienced by humanity, and its mark on the earth can still be clearly seen today,

in a place not really associated with volcanoes, Russia. It's there that you can find the Siberian traps, a sprawling region of volcanic rock that covers an area equal to 68% of of Europe's total landmass, and is believed to be the byproduct of the very eruptions that created the worst extinction event ever. And the scale of such eruptions would have been hard to comprehend, with estimates suggesting that they were around 4 million times larger than the Mount St. Helens eruption, and that they even outclassed Yellowstone's largest discharge, having spewed out 4,000 times the ejected volume.

And if the Siberian traps had been located in the U.S., the lava flows alone would have covered the entire country in a layer of magma three times the height of the Empire State Building. At this point, you may be imagining some sort of eruption seen straight out of the movie 2012, but the eruption of the Siberian traps wasn't actually all that violent, and would have been instead more gentle but persistent and massive, with consistent giant lava flows that took place over an extended period of time. And when I say time, I'm not talking about a few years or even a few decades, but rather hundreds of thousands of years, possibly millions, with the most recent estimates suggesting a duration of around 200,000 years. During this time,

the eruptions slowly turned Earth into a literal hell, putting extreme pressure on all that lived. Of course, those closest to the eruptions got the shortest end of the stick, and in the worst case, could have been completely encircled by the lava, as there is a chance that Siberia was actually detached from the rest of the world. And thus, given just how much lava was released, animals marooned in Siberia might have found themselves slowly overwhelmed as the sea of lava spread out and engulfed the entire landmass, incinerating everything in its path, with the temperature of the lava flows reaching up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,200 degrees Celsius, hotter than a cremation chamber. Although with that said, animals in Siberia likely would have died well before the

lava ever reached them. As the eruptions led to a drastic increase in forest fires that were so rampant that they had been inferred in the extinctions of specific genera, such as the seed plant, gigantopterus. And we know because of fossil records that many gorgonopsids and therapsids would have been severely affected as well due to their high presence in Permian Siberia. But the rest of the world was by no means off the hook, because as the eruptions prolonged, their deadly effects became universal, with no corner of the earth being untouched. And yet ironically, it wasn't the constant lava flows per se that brought their devastation, but rather it was the result of what the eruptions released.

As throughout this ordeal, volcanoes were letting out untold amounts of carbon dioxide, ash, sulfur, and chlorine, among other materials as well, which together contributed to well over 200,000 gigatons of erupted material. In other words, more than 1,000 times the weight of Mount Everest. And this year, volume led to not just one, but multiple disastrous effects. And each one likely could have been considered an extinction event within its own right. So, it really couldn't get much worse than this. Yet, in typical fashion, it did.

And it actually got so much worse, as the eruptions happened to take place in the worst location possible, as they were situated right above huge amounts of combustible organic materials. material and vast coal beds. It's not 100% confirmed, but the idea is that the eruptions eventually infiltrated and set alight these coal fields and material, which brought even more carnage upon the world. What's interesting, though, is that studies on this disaster indicate that it was not a progressive extinction, in that it slowly got worse and worse, but rather it had its ups and downs, with distinct nightmarish pulses where the majority of the dying occurred. During these quote-unquote But pulses, Earth was basically transformed into an unrecognizable wasteland, where animals endured and suffered in many ways.

And if you somehow found yourself transported back then, you'd quickly realize that nothing was okay. But what would have probably stuck out the most was the extreme heat. As mentioned, the late Permian was already very hot. And yet, the Siberian traps brought these temperatures to a new height, as the gases and abundant wildfires warm the atmosphere, resulting in a global average surface temperature of above 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. And to just put that into perspective, the current global average is just 15 degrees Celsius or 59 degrees Fahrenheit. So far, no conclusive study has suggested just how hot the equator regions could have gotten. But considering the equator today is about 100% hotter than the

average, it's not a pretty thing to imagine. And imagining what would have happened to humanity if they experienced such temperatures is another very ugly thought, as we have tended to fare quite poorly when dealing with such extremes. For example, in 2010, Russia experienced a heat wave that brought the average temperature for the month of July up to 30 degrees Celsius or 87 degrees Fahrenheit.

And while these highs did not last long, the heat still resulted in over 50,000 deaths. Additionally, the hottest place on Earth, a town of Dallol in Ethiopia, doesn't even reach the Permian average, as it stands at around 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. And despite many attempts, the town, or rather ghost town, does not have a permanent population, as every attempt to establish a full-time settlement has failed due to sheer heat. Therefore, it's safe to assume that we would not last long, and without any coverage,

someone could very likely experience death within less than 24 hours. This heat would have also contributed to forest fires separate from the ones created by the lava flows. In fact, fires started by the heat are actually believed to have been directly responsible for destroying the very last remnants of coal swamps, which had at one time been the dominant ecosystem on earth. The forest fires and heat also wound up making another existing problem much worse, a ratification, as slowly but surely much of the world turned into a shrubland or desert biome, and there could even be hundreds of miles in any direction without sufficient fresh water. With some studies even proposing that the aridity was the main killer of terrestrial vertebrates during this event. But the world

turning into one giant desert still wasn't the full picture. As even if you manage to find shelter, you'd still have to deal with the constant spewing obnoxious gases that slowly suffocated the world, with oxygen plummeting at the very end of the Permian to run 15%, which is by many standards low enough to harm humans, as despite the atmosphere currently being at 21%, it only takes a drop to 19.5% to render us oxygen deficient. And things were actually more grim for Permian animals, as many were accustomed to very high oxygen levels, as the Permian had at one point seen in oxygen percentage as high as 30%. It's also very likely that there would have been moments where the oxygen dropped even lower, which highly implies that any animal that did survive must have been

located in low altitudes. In one interesting study, actually took estimated oxygen levels from around that time, and used them to overlay a map of present-day earth to see exactly where animals would have had a chance of at least surviving from a breathing standpoint, with the red areas representing land where life was unsuitable, while the green areas represent places where life could maybe be supported. Between burning to a crisp and choking to death during the end days of the Permian, you may not have had the opportunity to acknowledge yet another pleasantry of this extinction event. Radiation. Lots and lots and lots of radiation. Because it wasn't only life that was being banged up by the eruptions. Specifically, the massive amounts of halogens being released ended up causing a severe chemical depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer,

leading to massive spikes in ultraviolet radiation. The very same radiation that can give you sunburns or skin cancer today. and you would have needed buckets of sun tan lotion to stay safe. A studies estimate that ultraviolet radiation may have ballooned by 400% at the equator. While the polar regions, they could have seen an obscene increase in radiation of 5,000%, meaning that simply standing outside for a day would kind of be like being trapped inside of a tanning bed for four days straight. At this level, the radiation was so potent that it even left direct evidence behind, as researchers discovered that plants bores from the extinction event were mutated due to the UV radiation. And currently it's thought that the majority of these plants actually died because of these mutations.

But it wasn't just forest fires and radiation that flora had to worry about. As the eruptions subsequently led to a rampant dust cloud that highly disrupted photosynthesis and acid rain that caused soil erosion. So clearly, life on land got it rough. Yet things were not much better in the water. In fact, marine life actually suffered worse, and the waters got so heated during the volcanic activity that the average surface temperature rivaled the temperatures seen in commercial jacuzis. And again, you had all the other effects to worry about, too, as the oceans dealt with drops in oxygen, high radiation near the surface, and ocean acidification. And this acidity was way worse underwater, as the oceans and seas absorbed more of the emissions, leading to more permanent conditions and a greater drop in pH life.

levels, with studies indicating that in certain areas, the waters were about 32% more acidic than they are today. This increased acidity is thought to have played a huge role in killing vast amounts of marine life worldwide. And its deadliness was not helped at all by the warm water temperatures and made the acidity all that more reactive. You'd think that after naming over five different ways that the Permian extinction could kill you, that the list would come to an end. yet this extinction still had some sinister tricks up its sleeve, so to speak, with one of the scariest things having been the hypercains, also known as Super Hurricanes. Now, this is more of a hypothetical event,

but the idea is that if sea temperatures reached around 50 degrees Celsius or 122 degrees Fahrenheit, then an extreme class of cyclone could form, which would have been so violent that it would have brought untold devastation to both terrestrial and aquatic. environments. And while the average temperature did not hit this threshold during the Great Dying, fluctuations in hotspots very well could have, leading to the creation of hypercains that may have grown to be larger than the biggest storms on record, and if over the mainland U.S. would

have covered half of the country. And it wasn't just their potential size that was terrifying, as hypercanes had much stronger winds than normal storms, with a strong one possibly attaining sustained winds of over 800 kilometers or 500 miles per hour, fast enough to completely erase reinforced concrete structures and unroot any kind of tree with ease. And these larger hypercanes could likely bring devastation to areas larger than certain continents if on the right path. And even if they did miss you, you were not completely safe, as they were so powerful that their very movements alone were enough to damage the ozone and create dust clouds large enough that they had a noticeable impact on the climate.

And on top of all of this, thanks to their central pressure, hypercains would have had a ridiculous lifespan too, lasting for at least several weeks. And I'm trapped inside one, it would be like standing at 3,000 meters or 9,800 feet in elevation due to the barometric pressure. So you'd have that problem to worry about too. Though, to be honest, I doubt you'd notice,

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now streaming only on Disney Plus. Naturally, with all these problems, the Permian extinction was an absolutely terrifying and catastrophic event, made even more grisly by the notion that this all went on for thousands and thousands of years on end. And when the dust finally did settle, almost nothing remained. And the few who did survive found themselves in an empty and permanently changed the world. There is no doubt that all of the Big Five extinction events have been bad, but the Great Dying really took things to the next level, especially when it came to the pure numbers. as some studies suggest that up to 96% of all species died, making it 10% worse than the second

deadliest extinction we know of. And while this number is definitely a crazy one, it doesn't do a great job at showcasing just how much worse it was than the other mass extinctions, with a better statistic being the amount of biological families that went extinct, as around 57% were fully eradicated. Which may not sound as bad as the 96%, it definitely is once you consider that the second worst extinction, which saw a species lost, of 86%, only witnessed the disappearance of 27% of families, so less than half is bad. And to put this into perspective of the KT extinction, the dinosaur's extinction was not even close to as bad, as the earth only lost 17% of biological families.

And because the Permian extinction was the deadliest ever, it's no surprise that many well-known and then-thriving groups vanished. On land, the Gorgonopsids, Meganisoptera, Vigal Tesoridae, and Piraeusaromorpha, were among the most iconic groups that died off, while lesser-known victims included many families of temnospondals and untold amounts of therapsids. In the water, the situation was even grimmer, and notable victims included the blastoids and Akhanthotians,

the latter of which are commonly referred to as the spiny sharks. The world also saw the loss of sea scorpions, who at various times in history had been the primary apex predators in the waters. And on top of that, the well-known trilobites succumbed as well. Quite the historic loss, as these guys were a symbol of success and persistence, and had existed for over 250 million years at the time, surviving two other mass extinctions, and were represented by over 22,000 species, making them one of the most diverse, if not the most diverse, now extinct group of animals to have ever lived.

And while extinction was the worst fate an animal could have suffered, it doesn't necessarily mean that the survivors were much luckier, as virtually every group was survived still took extreme losses. with the majority having experienced an extinction rate of over 95%. And for some, the damage proved too severe, and despite initially surviving, they wound up going extinct, not much later. An example of this can be seen in the Kedonathodei, one of the most successful families to have existed during the late Permian. They, like some others, had originally managed to survive,

but were reduced to only a handful of genera, and were far less diverse than they had once been, and the survivors also suffered from stunted growth. and while they continued to live on for another three to four million years, they never managed to really fully establish themselves, with many paleontologists believing that if the extinction had never occurred, it would have lasted for much longer. But ironically, despite most getting a bad deal out of this event,

there were a tiny handful that actually benefited from it in the long run, namely the Lestrosaurus, a rather small, unassuming dicinodont. Like most, it came within the brink of extinction, but managed to persist thanks to its borrowing talents, and possibly its ability to hibernate, which might have allowed it to survive in greater numbers than its competitors. Therefore, once the worst was over and it found itself in an empty world, it began to rapidly recover and diversify,

and within a shockingly short amount of time, the Listerosaurus became the most dominant animal in the Triassic Pangaea. At its peak, the Listerosaurus accounted for 95% of all vertebrates on land, a feat that no other animal has ever achieved. technically making it the most successful vertebrate of all time, at least in a certain way. Yet despite this accomplishment, life still wasn't easy for this new king, as the Great Dying had left the world in an abominable state, with extreme heat and aridity still being a massive problem.

There would continue for millions of years after. With some studies even reporting the subsequent extinction events tied to the Great Dying, likely happened well after the Permian had came to a close. Overall, the carnage and chaos that the Great Dying had rocked. was no doubt beyond anything ever experienced before or after. And recovery ended up being an extremely slow process, as it took life approximately 50 million years to fully recover, meaning that for the entire duration of the Triassic,

nature was still picking up the pieces. And for 5 million of those 50 million years, it's believed that there were virtually no animals at the top of the food chain, a strange idea to think about. But alas, things did eventually stabilize, and the world once again became a place filled. with life, with the early Jurassic being about when you can no longer tell that a great catastrophe had taken place. And hopefully for both Mother Nature and our sake, no such event will ever take

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