During man's relatively brief existence on this planet, he has relied on the bounty of its flora and fauna for his existence. He has harvested wildlife for food, clothing, shelter, medicines, beasts of burden, pets, and companionship. Over most of this period, this harvesting and exploitation had little impact on those resources. Human population was very low, and most animal and plant populations were relatively large. Animal and plant communities, populations, and species that became extinct

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... id so from other than human causes. Only in recent centuries has man's exploitation of wildlife begun to have a deleterious effect. This was the result of Norman Myers treats the problem of disappearing species in considerable detail and emphasizes the accelerated rate of extinction: At least 90% of all species that have existed have disappeared. But almost all of them have gone under by virtue of natural processes. Only in the recent past, perhaps from around 50,000 years ago, has man exerted much influence. As a primitive hunter, man probably proved himself capable of eliminating species, albeit as a relatively rare occurrence. From the year AD. 1600, however, he became able, through advancing technology, to overhunt animals 3 James F. Downs, The Thvo Worlds of the Washo: An Indian Tribe of California and Nevada New York: I-bit, Rinehart and winston, 1966).