What is the Holocene?

The Holocene is the youngest geological age, beginning before 11,700 years. According to traditional geological viewpoints, the Holocene has continued to this day, but some people have suggested that it should be divided into the Anthropocene after the Industrial Revolution. Its name comes from the Greek "" (holos, complete) and "" (kainos, new), meaning "completely new".

The Holocene is the latest stage in the geological age.

Quaternary latest one. About 11,000 years ago to date. Its stratum is called the Holocene. The lower age is controversial. The International Stratigraphic Commission has set the end of the New Fairywood event in the Greenland GRIP ice core record as the beginning of the Holocene. According to the striatal count of this ice core, its age is about 11,700 years ago ("present" refers to 1950 AD) (Walker et al., 2009; see also the International Stratigraphic Table 2010).

Cause

It used to be thought that the Holocene began 10,000 years ago (10kaBP), which was based on ¹⁴ C

Dodo, travelling pigeon, wolf, European bison, heather, Carolina parakeet, puffin, Portuguese goat, spotted donkey, Java tiger, North manatee, Ruyi pigeon, Barbary lion, Japanese wolf, North American seals, Polynesian snails, bachelor savanna zebras, Dosso forest reindeer, Guadalupe American eagle, Corolla lana parrot, etc.

For most of the past 10,000 years, people lived in a world rich in plants and animals. At least where no modern human hunter settles. Just 200 years ago, a huge flock of travelling pigeons were flying over the North American continent. A huge herd of buffalo roams the wilderness, and large flightless birds inhabit the islands in the southern hemisphere. These creatures are not afraid of humans with guns, it would be nice if they knew the fear. Over the past 10,000 years, humans have been able to destroy animals faster than animals have disappeared at any time in Earth's history.

There are many causes of man-made extinction. Hunting and fishing for food, clothing and fun are just some of the most direct ways we destroy entire species. By introducing new strange predators, we disrupted fragile environments, especially those islands where creatures have evolved for long periods of time in isolation. But the greatest harm to all types of life occurs when we destroy animal habitats. Urban expansion, pollution, farming, grazing and logging have all destroyed the wilderness where thousands of animals depend.

Holocene extinct species

Today, we are in the middle of a huge extinction event. Animals are disappearing permanently at a rate of one hundred to one thousand times the normal rate in nature. Animal life is severely threatened worldwide, especially in tropical rain forests. The tropical rain forest occupies only 10% of the land area in a narrow strip-shaped distribution, in which more than half of the living organisms live. The rainforest is disappearing at a rapid rate. In the next 50 years, most rainforests are likely to disappear forever. If the rainforest is damaged, as many as 3 million species of animals can be destroyed.