There have been 5 mass extinctions throughout Earth’s tumultuous history. 99.9% of all species which have ever lived on Earth have gone extinct. 252,000,000 (252 million) years ago, Earth suddenly turned toxic to life. Nearly 96% of species worldwide, rapidly became extinct, a period referred to as the “Permian-Triassic Extinction Event”, and less often called the “Great Dying”. This mass extinction was caused by the eruption of super volcanos, leading to the land drying up, the ocean acidifying, every forest dying, and nearly all plant life perishing. Everything alive today is descended from the species which made it through this age