Endangered Species Endangered species are any living things on the road to extinction. “It used to be that the natural rate of extinction was one to three species a year. Now humanity finds itself in the midst of a mass extinction, with only mankind itself to blame” (World Losing 2a). There have always been animals that are becoming or have become extinct. Dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago, but dinosaurs became extinct because of natural causes. Animals in today’s world are becoming extinct for completely different reasons, mankind. When animals are endangered or become extinct we lose a valuable asset to our environment. For instance, when an animal becomes extinct, w