Mass extinctions are defined by palaeontologists as periods when more than three quarters of species on Earth become extinct over a relatively short period of time1. Over the past 600 million years, five such events have been identified through the fossil record2. Of these, the End Permian Extinction which occurred 251 million years ago has been the most devastating for life on Earth; as much as 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates were wiped out which dramatically changed the course of the evolution of life on Earth thereafter3.
