A new report out by 'The Conversation' says that bird species are going extinct 100 times faster than previously thought.
The report monitored bird species and their conservation status. They found that hundreds of birds could become extinct within the next few hundred years - they found that a total of 471 bird species could face extinction in the future.
This is in addition to the bird species which have already become extinct within the last few hundred years. The most famous of which, is the Dodo.
A total of 187 bird species have already became extinct.
There are many species of birds which have already become extinct in the 21st century. The Bahama Nuthatch, a species of bird which is found in the Bahamas, may have became extinct when Hurricane Dorian hit. These tiny little birds where already critically endangered before the hurricane hit, there population was estimated to only be 1-49 birds left in the Bahamas.
The Bahama Nuthatch shows how vulnerable to extinction critically endangered and endangered animals can be - one event can literally wipe them out. We are seeing the same in Australia right now, where endangered species could now be extinct because of the Australian bushfires.
Bahama Nuthatches don't seem to be officially declared extinct yet, but as of September 2019, there was speculation that they were extinct.
Another bird species which has been declared over the last few recent years is: the Blue Macaw. The Blue Macaw was declared extinct in 2018 and was the star of the cartoon 'Rio'.
These two bird species are just two examples of extinctions, or potential extinctions, which have already happened to birds. This new report says that we could see many more bird species becoming extinct - hundreds more bird species becoming extinct in the future and 100 times faster than expected.
This report analysed data from the IUCN Red List for bird species all over the world. They analysed bird species data from the last 28 years. They found that the extinction rate of birds was six times higher than it was in 1500. They also found that thanks to conservation, extinctions have reduced by 40%.
Sadly, birds are not the only species that are in decline and are at risk of extinction: all of nature is, as we are currently in a Sixth Mass Extinction due to human activity. This human activity has resulted in climate change and biodiversity loss. If humans do nothing to stop climate change and the destruction of our natural world, the UN estimates that we could see as many as 1 million wild animals become extinct.