Recently Extinct Animals

Tasmanian tiger-wolf

Tasmanian tiger-wolf is an extinct wolf like carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back. Despite its name, this animal is neither a tiger nor a wolf and it is closely related to the kangaroo. It had a pouch for its babies to climb in. It became extinct because of the activities of human being in 1936.

Dodo

Dodo birds lived only on the island of Mauritius Dodo birds lived only on the island of Mauritius. An adult Dodo was about 1 meter long and weighed 20 kg. It was grey and had small wings. Dodo birds were not good to eat. Their meat was very tough. The extinction of the Dodo bird was complete by the end of the 17th century. No one knows exactly why it died out, but hunting, habitat loss, and competition with introduced animals such as pigs and monkeys combined to doom the species.

Passenger pigeon

Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon existed in North America and lived in enormous migratory flocks. Some scientists say that there were 3 billion to 5 billion passenger pigeons on the territory of US when Europeans arrived in North America. Passenger Pigeon was about 40 cm long and weighed about 400 grams. It was a very social bird. It lived in colonies stretching over hundreds of square miles. There were up to a hundred nests in a single tree. It became extinct because of unregulated hunting (its meat was a cheap food for slaves and the poor in the 19th century) and loss of habitat.

Quagga

The quagga is an extinct subspecies of the zebra which was found in great numbers in South Africa. It was hunted to extinction for meat, hides, and to preserve feed for domesticates stock. The last wild quagga was shot in 1870s, and the last specimen in captivity died in 1883.

Carolina Parakeet

Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the Eastern United States. The last wild bird was killed in Florida in 1904. The last captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. Reasons for extinction: Large areas of forest were cut down, taking away its habitat; Colourful feathers of the birds were in demand as decorations in ladies’ hats; Farmers considered them a pest.

The Bubal Hartebeest

The Bubal Hartebeest was a magnificent, tough beast which was once domesticated by the ancient Egyptians as a food source and for sacrificial purposes. The creature was even mentioned in the Old Testament. Although it once roamed throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, the deep-rooted mythology which surrounded the animal was not enough to save it from European hunters who began hunting them for recreation and meat. The last Bubal Hartebeest was probably a female which died in the Paris Zoo in 1923.

Scientists say that now 3 species of animals, birds or fish die out every hour. That means that in 100 years from 25 % to 50% of all living creatures on our planet will disappear.