Sixth Extinction: Chapter 2

The concept of extinction was first proposed in the 18th century by Georges Cuvier, a naturalist, who after studying the American mastodon, concluded that similar animals have died out in the past. After the mastodon was discovered and shipped to France, French scientists disputed over its origins. Theories ranged from that “ the unknown animal from Ohio wasn’t an animal at all but rather two animals” while others claimed it was a hippopotamus. After studying the bones, Cuvier proposed that they belonged to a species that recently died out; however, he didn't know what caused their demise. In order to bolster his claim about extinction, Cuvier traveled through Europe to give lectures and identified more extinct species. This connects to the theme that science is a process used to learn more about the world; by traveling, Cuvier was trying to popularize and prove this theory, which is an important step in the scientific method.

Even so, Cuvier dismissed Jean Lamarck’s notion of biological evolution and that it wasn’t possible for animals to mutate over time. Although he didn’t know why animals went extinct, he developed the theory that ancient, cataclysmic events - such as Noah’s flood - wiped out several species. This drew my attention because, it’s interesting how in this era, scientists and the general public utilized scientific theories to support Biblical accounts; in essence, mixing religion and science does not make for efficient results.