Submitted by West_Theory3934 t3_yhy92d in explainlikeimfive
SurprisedPotato t1_iugkcbh wrote
Life existed before Oxygen was abundant, so no.
About 2.4 billion years ago, some bacteria figured out how to photosynthesise to get energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis produces Oxygen gas, which they didn't need, so they burped it out. Over hundreds of millions of years, the oxygen built up. Oxygen is quite toxic to life forms not used to it, so that led a mass extinction.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
nighthawk_something t1_iuhn8ru wrote
For those wondering how oxygen is toxic:
https://byjus.com/question-answer/why-oxygen-is-toxic-to-anaerobic-bacteria/
Juice-Cool t1_iuj6r8u wrote
More like Toxygen, amirite?
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