A new study published in the journal Science on Thursday claimed that the world is on the verge of the sixth great extinction.

According to The Washington Post, species of animals and plants are dying out at a rate at least 1,000 times faster than before advent of the human species.

Based on contemporary extinction rates and the Red List of Threatened Species database, the researchers were able to compare current rates with the rates of extinction prior to human existence. The current extinction rate today is 10 times faster than what scientists previously believed, The Associated Press reported.

"Recent studies clarify where the most vulnerable species live, where and how humanity changes the planet, and how that drives extinctions," according to the study. "We assess key statistics about species, their distribution, and their status."

Researchers, including Stuart Pimm, a Duke University professor who led a team of nine international scientists, said that things are going to get worse unless something changes.

"We are on the verge of the sixth great extinction," Pimm told The Associated Press. "Whether we avoid it or not will depend on our actions."

Pimm said that a number of land-based species are found scattered across terrains that are smaller than the state of Delaware.

Those species are "geographically concentrated and are disproportionately likely to be threatened or already extinct," the study said. "Future rates depend on many factors and are poised to increase. Although there has been rapid progress in developing protected areas, such efforts are not ecologically representative, nor do they optimally protect biodiversity."

Pimm said most of the species are dying off because of habitat loss where humans have been taking up land to build on. He also said that there are several species of animals humans and researchers are still unaware of.

"Most species remain unknown to science, and they likely face greater threats than the ones we do know," he said in a press release.

The Earth's dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago because of meteor collision while the Great Dying, which occurred some 250 million years ago, killed off 90 percent of the species living on the planet and was likely caused by a microbe, Washington Post's Fred Barbash said.