The primary research conducted by this study showed that 75% (n=15) (see Fig.

2) of the participants
were unaware that the amount of endangered species has sharply risen by 96% between 2007 and
2020 (Buchholz, 2021). When taking this into consideration it is important to note that of the 25%
(n=5) who answered that they know this information only a single person learnt this through
education (see Fig: 3) (n=1) whilst the rest were through social media or friends. The participants of
this study also held the opinion that education based around extinction and possible extinctions
should be increased with 70% (n=14) strongly agreeing and with 25% (n=5) just agreeing (see Fig:14),
this shows that even though they were priorly unaware many of the participants would like to see an
increase in overall education on the subject matter, as studies show (Knight, 2021) that many adults
are disillusioned when it comes to the endangerment of animals.

Similarly, Knight (2021) found in their poll of 2000 people that 90% (n=1800) of their participants
were unaware that the donkey is close to extinction, furthermore the same study showed that 60%
(n=1200) of these same participants did not know that Gorilla populations were in decline, while
64% (n=1280) were ignorant to the endangerment of bees. Comparing Knights results to the ones
gathered by this study shows a coloration. As 20% (n=4) of the participants were unaware that the
Gharial crocodile, Tapanuli Orangutan, Black rhino, Amur leopard, and the Vaquita were critically
endangered (see Fig:6), while 100% (n=20) of the participants were unaware of the Vaquita’s near
extinction, in contrast to this the animal with the highest amount of awareness was the Black rhino
at 80% (n=16), this matches Knights findings with their results showing that only 44% (n=880) of
their 2000 participants were unaware of the Black rhino’s status of critically endangered, this could
be due to the media attention the black rhino has gotten over the prior years much like the Northern
white rhino that 85% of this studies participants (n=17) knew was extinct in the wild, unlike the
Hawaiian crow where only 5% (n=1) knew of its status of being extinct in the wild. This could be
because of general media bias or more likely due to a lack of education when it pertains to near
extinct and critically endangered animals.

Of the participants who took part in this study 85% (n=20) believed that that urban expansion should
be cancelled if it was to impact an endangered species negatively (see Fig:8) and 0% responded
saying that it shouldn’t be cancelled. But when looking at the reasons why they answered this way
(see Table: 3) it is quite apparent at an initial glance that many of the participants have an
environmentalist point of view as well as few having a political bias, this does not invalidate the
results but it something to consider when viewing them. Though when these answers are further
analysed is can be seen that 64% (n=9) believe that ecosystems take precedent over urban
expansion (see Fig:9) this view is shared by Powers and Jetz (2019, cited by Teare, 2019) where they
state that by 2070 the increase in land use by humans is predicted to shrink the natural habitats of
1700 amphibians, mammals, and birds which would drastically increase their extinction risk. This
means that even at current expansion rates a large amount of animals will become endangered, with
a portion of them going extinct, overall, this shows that urban development and expansion would be
unsustainable and would be damaging to the ecosystems they could replace or border.

This study gathered the opinions of its participants regarding the overshadowing of less major but
more frequent extinctions when compared to Chicxulub, also referred to as the End cretaceous
extinction event, overall, it was a divisive question but the majority thought that it did, with 10%
(n=2) strongly agreeing and with 40% (n=4) agreeing overall. This sentiment is shared by Ritchie and
Roser (2021) where they state that “What worries ecologists is that extinctions today are happening
at a much faster rate than nature would predict.” This means that the rate at which extinctions are
occurring are reaching levels that would be previously attributed to mass extinction events, they go
on to state that critically endangered species are 50% more likely to go extinct over three
generations. 50% may not seem to be such a drastic amount, but the worry lies in the speed,
typically throughout history it has taken up-to a million years for these statistics to occur, but they
are occurring more and more frequently. Largely due to expansionism and a general lack of
awareness when it comes to such events. In the past it has taken us up-to a million years to reach
the 75% threshold to count at a mass extinction, but at the current rate it will only take 37500 years
to reach that amount, which is a 96.25% reduction in time, and yet there is little information about
these risks.