The End-Permian mass extinction is generally considered the most extreme mass extinction event in Earth’s history. According to this graph, the rate of extinction at the end of the Ordovician Period was higher. How can both of these conclusions be accurate?

A higher extinction rate means that extinctions occurred faster, not necessarily that more organisms went extinct overall. The end-Ordovician event could have happened over a shorter period, giving it a higher rate, while the end-Permian event still caused the greatest total loss of life. Thus, the end-Ordovician event happened over a shorter period of time.

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