New Study: 95% Decline in Wildlife in Latin America & Caribbean since 1970
Posted by wanton_wonton_@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 50 comments
Posted by wanton_wonton_@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 50 comments
Federal-Ask6837@reddit
And for what?
Top_Hair_8984@reddit
Wow. 95%.🙁
SRod1706@reddit
Two things to put this into perspective. First this is only since 1970 after 30 years of DDT and thousands of years of human occupation. Second the reason it is 73% globally is because humans have been other places longer than they have been in Latin America and the 1970's number was already much lower.
The number is probably close to 98% globally.
diedlikeCambyses@reddit
I'm a 70's child. In my lifetime the human population has doubled and the biomass of insects has halved. Bloody terrible
AggravatingCricket61@reddit
Elder millennial here, and same. Remember cleaning the bugs off your windshield?
duckduck-a-go-go@reddit
I'd rather have the bugs.
Strenue@reddit
Same. Devastating
Jovan_Knight005@reddit
We screwed big time and we don't even realize it. It's a horrifying revelation after i've read the article.
totalwarwiser@reddit
And people are afraid that human population might decline...
summercookiess@reddit
Not the human population, just specific populations (of certain countries and races)
Sarah_Cenia@reddit
Don’t listen to that rude person. Everyone is welcome here, at whatever stage of finding things out that you may be.
Thanks for opening your eyes to this important information. It takes courage.
Jovan_Knight005@reddit
You're welcome. It's a welcoming comment in a way because my family doesn't want to discuss collapse in any way. Not to mention people that are attending the college that i am attending don't want to talk about it, either.
Celestial_Mechanica@reddit
If this is news/revelatory to you, you are part of the problem.
This sub has gone down the drain.
Sarah_Cenia@reddit
I can’t believe you would disparage someone for LEARNING. WTF? Shame on you.
Minimumtyp@reddit
Can you explain this mindset? The mainstream news (except the Guardian) avoids publishing anything like this so most people just don't know.
Jovan_Knight005@reddit
They're doing so on purpose, don't they?
Jovan_Knight005@reddit
It's not really news to me since i've been reading about a potential collapse in an encyclopedia that i have read a decade ago.
xXXxRMxXXx@reddit
Love how people are just so confident we can turn back to a foraging species lmao
ToastedandTripping@reddit
Looks like we've fucked it all up...
ttystikk@reddit
The Sixth Great Extinction and humanity has only itself to blame.
LouDneiv@reddit
The current biodiversity collapse is unfolding so much faster than any previous extinction event that “extinction” is no longer an adequate term. Contemporary species are vanishing at least an order of magnitude faster than the natural background rate, and possibly hundreds to thousands of times faster, so we can neither meaningfully compare this crisis to past mass extinctions nor describe it with the same vocabulary. What we are witnessing is less a sixth extinction than a chaotic, human‑driven annihilation of life on Earth, something closer to a systematic extermination or sterilization of the biosphere than to the slow, diffuse extinction events of the geological past
ttystikk@reddit
I'm not sure what difference speed makes; the end result is the same. I'm interested in your thoughts on this?
Also, a minor quibble; we don't know how fast past mass extinctions happened but if they were a result of massive volcanic activity or an asteroid impact, it's safe to say those extinctions happened very quickly as well.
LouDneiv@reddit
We actually have fairly reliable estimates regarding the time scales of the five major mass extinctions of the past. Even taking uncertainties into account, these generally unfolded over periods ranging from tens of thousands to several million years, not just a few decades. https://www.britannica.com/list/major-mass-extinctions
This is why I emphasize the speed: on a geological scale; it is an extremely brutal, human-induced shock striking the biosphere in real time, and likely at a pace with no clear equivalent in the fossil record.
ttystikk@reddit
Soooooo much winning...
Monsur_Ausuhnom@reddit
At least the plastic, transhumanism, and AI not the original though designed by those devoid of empathy and a vacuum of a soul will come to replace it. A lot to look forward too.
VIK_96@reddit
6th mass extinction?
HumbleLeader2460@reddit
Just finished this book:
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert argues that human activity is causing a rapid, catastrophic mass extinction event—the sixth in Earth’s history—threatening biodiversity and our own survival. Kolbert documents how deforestation, fossil fuel consumption, and pollution are accelerating the loss of species across the globe.
Slamtilt_Windmills@reddit
Whee, and I cannot stress this enough, eeeeeeeeeeeee
sodook@reddit
Comment of the century over here. Wish I had an award for you.
One-Environment-1444@reddit
That sounds like a problem.
GovernmentOpening254@reddit
Y’think?
(I don’t mean that to be rude to you, more as “matter of fact.”)
Low_Complex_9841@reddit
This is not G-word when it applies (mostly) to non-humans? Cries in Black Sea dolphins ... {there was whole thing in 90x with their population collapsing so they were supposedly put on this international red list ("protected species" blah, blah ..actually sub-species, but even this is so broad category it feels actively DENYING any individual life..you crashed to 1/10 of your numbers but recovered? Ha, no loss then! Who cares about (hypothetical but may not so unreal) language and culture ... .as long as you can't sell it! ) , yet this surely not stopped their exploitation by various shady figures ... This is a bit weird because i started from narrowish issue of dolphin captivity and this lead me to ..various other problems. Including this little problem of human not given a T about their surroundings until it all come down crashing ...)
Peripatetictyl@reddit
E. O. Wilson wrote a book called ‘The Creation’ that I read at a young age, already a curious lad concerned about pollution, and ready to help Captain Planet.
The book details many things related to earth’s biodiversity, but why it came to mind this morning was I remember him detailing how we were on track to cause the extinction of 40-50% of all flora and fauna by the end of the century (maybe more, maybe sooner, it’s been a long time). It was shocking, and perhaps outlandish, at the time, but as I’ve grown older and more misanthropic, I know how much worse we collectively have done.
“The original level of biodiversity is not likely to be regained in any period of time that has meaning for the human mind.”
-E. O. Wilson
“The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.”
-E. O. Wilson
victoriaisme2@reddit
What a perfect insight. Tragic that so few heeded that warning.
Financial_Long_1588@reddit
Jaw dropping shit. It's legit going to be rare to see, like, any wild animal by 2040.
wanton_wonton_@reddit (OP)
Monitored wildlife populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have declined by an average of 95% between 1970 and 2020. To put this in context, this means that for every 20 animals that existed in the region in 1970, only one remains today.
This unprecedented collapse far exceeds the already concerning wildlife population declines in other regions: Africa has lost 76% of its wildlife populations, Asia-Pacific 60%, and the global average stands at 73%.
Additionally, the amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined.
huehuehuehuehuuuu@reddit
That’s industrialization for you. It improves human lives in some aspects, but also kills. A lot. Over long term. For the future too.
Mr_Lonesome@reddit
Although worthwhile to repeat, the "new study" is relative given these are dated links from Medium in 2025 and WWF Living Planet Index report of 2024 (though at first I thought you were posting WWF's 2026 report). I believe r/collapse rules require dates in title for retrospective pieces.
Top_Hair_8984@reddit
Incredible numbers, staggering.
SubstanceStrong@reddit
Come on dude, it’s only Monday…
03263@reddit
Only the ones that can successfully live in human environments survive. Whoever needs dense, undisturbed habitat or maintains a significant fear of humans and their machines is already gone or suffering greatly.
itsmemarcot@reddit
Well it was either have wildlife (and functioning ecosystems) or meat consumption, and we have chosen meat consumption.
Jovan_Knight005@reddit
Out of those two options, we have chosen the second option.
horsewithnonamehu@reddit
This doesn't concern me, I don't get my salary in wildlife!
Spiritual-Entrance59@reddit
And people worrie about gas price, fuck then
TheArcticFox444@reddit
Collapse of high-tech civilization...the sooner the better!
HassanAchievedIt@reddit
In my neighborhood I used to see sparrows, crows, mongoose, and kingfisher birds on some foliage but now only handful of sparrows are left and everything else is gone.
trivetsandcolanders@reddit
This is so sad, especially knowing how much certain groups (especially indigenous peoples) in Latin America have fought for the environment. But the huge businesses like mining companies and agriculture giants seem to always have the upper hand. They are the biggest cause of this terrible decline.
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/wanton_wonton_:
Monitored wildlife populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have declined by an average of 95% between 1970 and 2020. To put this in context, this means that for every 20 animals that existed in the region in 1970, only one remains today.
This unprecedented collapse far exceeds the already concerning wildlife population declines in other regions: Africa has lost 76% of its wildlife populations, Asia-Pacific 60%, and the global average stands at 73%.
Additionally, the amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1t37vsn/new_study_95_decline_in_wildlife_in_latin_america/ojt7zcm/
ItilityMSP@reddit
The study was from 2024, and medium piece from 2025, regardless a devastating statistic for the age of the great dying.