| On the recemt television programme on Darwin the remark was made that
| over 99% of the species that have existed on this planet are now
| extinct, or did I hear that right. (No implication that this was a
| recent phenomenon)

That sounds reasonable, given that recognisable species have
existed for hundreds of millions of years.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,

If you consider the dinosaurs, and eveything that's been around before and
since, it's at least 99% of all species that have become extinct at one time or
another. Not really something to get excited about.

75% or there abouts (if I remember correctly) of all life on earth was killed
off at one time when the earth was hit by an asteroid. It's happened several
times. Species die out and are replaced by others. It's what gave the mammals
the edge over the dinosaurs (or should that be the thing that tipped the scales
in their favour?).

Anyway, basically the figures are correct.

Dave.