💀 FIVE MASS EXTINCTIONS OF EARTH
PAGE 1 OF 5 — LIFE'S CLOSE CALLS
500 MA
FIVE TIMES THE WORLD RESET
Life on Earth has been shaken by five great mass extinctions, global crises that erase huge fractions of species, not just one unlucky valley. Dinosaurs appeared after the Permian catastrophe, ruled for 165 million years through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous, and vanished in the fifth extinction at the K-Pg boundary. Each event reshuffled who gets to dominate the planet, and recovery often takes longer than the reign of the losers.
🌋 THE GREAT DYING
🌋 Permian–Triassic: ~96% marine species lost
☄️ K-Pg: asteroid ends non-avian dinosaurs
⏱️ Recovery can take 10+ million years
☄️ K-Pg: asteroid ends non-avian dinosaurs
⏱️ Recovery can take 10+ million years
"Five times, life nearly lost the game."
FIVE!
SCALE
🌍 Whole planet affected at once
📉 Most species vanish, not one town
⏱️ Fast on a geological clock
📉 Most species vanish, not one town
⏱️ Fast on a geological clock
DINOS
🦕 Dinosaurs rose after Permian
☄️ Dinosaurs fell at K-Pg
🐦 Only bird-line dinosaurs remain
☄️ Dinosaurs fell at K-Pg
🐦 Only bird-line dinosaurs remain