Question: I heard that 150 species die each day, but how many are born?

Kevin Mahon answered on 13 Jun 2012:

That figure is relatively accurate – many scientists believe we are at the beginning of a 6th wave of mass extinciton – the last one was the event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. While waves of extinciton are natural events, this most recent wave is mostly down to humans.

With regards to how many species are born? It is a difficult figure to calculate, mainly as there are so many species we don’t know exist yet – Bear in mind, A new species being discovered and a species being born are two very different things!

But the rate of extinction is most definately greater than the rate of speciation. We are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate all across the planet.