How Many Animal Species Exist on Earth?

eight billion Many living species have existed in the human world from past to present. We have lived and continue to live on the same planet with countless living species, from plants to bacteria.

It is our natural right to wonder who we live with on our planet, which is flat at the poles and swollen at the equator. In this content so far how many animal species We will consider whether it exists.

Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun.

4.6 billion years ago the Sun was surrounded by dust and rocks. this is big dust and rock fragments, They began to collide with each other, coalesce and grow even larger. Then a big lava ball-like took a shape.

In the next process, this lava ball-like shape meteors are hitting and with it some water They were bringing it. Volcanic mountains, the formation of oxygen, the Rodinia continent and the formation of the ozone layer. 375 million years ago Life begins on earth. Our content explaining the formation of the Earth in more detail is right here:

At first, with the formation of mossy plants, it passed from aquatic life to land life. vertebrate creatures showed themselves.

As scientists begin to analyze our DNA, we begin to learn more about living species.

In order to better examine the existence of living things and obtain clear data, we must first We need to address DNA. After two scientists named James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, we learned that humans have 1 DNA molecule consisting of roughly 3 billion base pairs. Approximately 3 billion letters of information are encoded in the DNA found in humans, and only a certain amount of them is known to be fully functional.

After this DNA discovery, dealing with animal species becomes relatively easier. Although new species such as new whales, monkeys and deer species have continued to appear in the literature in the last few years, Discovering new animal species and naming them is still continuing.

Now let’s get to the main question. How many animal species have emerged since that period?

According to IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature) By 2022 approximately 2.16 million The animal species was officially recorded. According to an article published in Science magazine, recorded animal species about 20% It is said to have been documented by different scientists. Thus, the number of existing known animal species decreases slightly. You can access the article here.

Assuming these documents are accurate, the number of known animal species drops to approximately 1.7 million. Of course, these data are not absolute, because every year approximately 14,000 to 18,000 New animal species ranging from to are being documented. This shows that we are only looking at the tip of the iceberg.

Another data obtained shows that half of the animal species are insects!

Camilo Mora, a biogeographer at the University of Hawaii, and his colleagues found cells with a single nucleus, i.e. eukaryotes They published an article containing approximate numbers. According to this article, the total number of living things was around 8.7 million, and almost half of them were insects.

But this information does not seem to be sufficient. Because the data obtained and the estimated number of animal species do not match well. That’s why it was recorded looking at fossils It is necessary to obtain more extensive data.

Organisms form long after the formation of the Earth 4.6 billion years ago.

These organisms were very simple cells. It took 1.4 billion years for multicellular life to emerge, and approximately 800 million years ago animals began to evolve. Very few of these early animals have been preserved.

Because it was not possible to preserve soft-bodied species, fossilization of these species was not possible. special conditions It is necessary. Just like plants turn into oil by waiting underground.

We’ve covered a lot of information up to this point, and we’re getting closer to a clearer conclusion. Now let’s make a calculation.

Our planet hosts approximately 8 billion people. These 8 billion people are approximately 130 million mammals, 428 billion birds, 3.5 trillion fish And 10 quintillion insects It shares the same nature with.

Now let’s assume that living species are multiplying steadily and we already have current animal species Let’s make a calculation based on the number.

For example, on Earth right now 3.85 million insect species if any; This equates to 385 million species of insects in the past. this too 3.85 x 10^27 It means insect. When we include other invertebrates, vertebrates and arthropods, approximately 4.5 x 10^27 It can be said that the animal was found.

We did the math, but why did we go to so much trouble to obtain the number of animal species that have ever existed?

Learning about animal species that have existed for billions of years and continue to exist, biodiversity and it is important for us to learn how this diversity takes shape.

What is behind climate change, environmental pollution, global warming and many other global problems and what may even happen? It is necessary to foresee.