The Permian-Triassic extinction event, occurring 252 million years ago, saw the death of 70% of all land vertebrates, and 96% of all marine species of any kind. This mass extinction - the largest the world has ever seen - took place in three great pulses spanning a million or more years. An early report describing the Permian-Triassic "Great Dying" was first published in the journal "Science" on this date in 1979.
It is estimated that by the year 2100, the current Holocene Extinction Event may lead to the loss of as many as 50% of all species alive at the beginning of the industrual era - a smaller loss, by that point, than took place in the Permian-Triassic dying, but occurring almost instantly by comparison.
