You most likely have heard about different extinct animals, but do you know the cause of their extinction?
There is a possibility that you may want to argue that most of the animals were hunted for other purposes other than for food.
But then, whether you hunt or in any way kill an animal for sports, for its skin, for ivory, or whatever, the animal can’t come back again because it is dead, and that is a minus to its population.
Read on to discover a few of the animals we have lost due to our thoughtless exploitation.
Extinct Animals List
19. Yangtze River Dolphin
The Yangtze River dolphin, last seen in 2002, was also known as ‘baiji.’
During an expedition four years later, a group of researchers crossed 2000 miles of the Yangtze River to see if they could locate at least one Yangtze River Dolphin, but to no avail.
The Yangtze River Dolphin is the first dolphin species to become extinct due to humans, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Group (WDC).
Its extinction was due to pollution, overfishing, poaching, boat traffic, and habitat loss.
18. Bramble Cay Melomys
In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) formally declared these little guys extinct.
Originally from Bramble Cay, a small island on the northern side of the Great Barrier Reef, the rodents have not been seen since 2009.
Its extinction was due to man-made climate change, which led to the loss of food and habitat.
17. Thylacine
The Thylacine was a carnivorous animal that preyed on rodents and kangaroos.
It was a (mostly) nocturnal marsupial often referred to as the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian wolf.
Although the Thylacine looked fierce, it was very shy and “could be captured without a fight.”
In the past century, reports of Thylacine sightings have been so common that it prompted research as to the status of their existence.
Its extinction resulted from high dingo populations and overhunting by humans.
16. Quagga
Native to South Africa, the Quagga went extinct at the end of the 19th century.
For a long time, the Quagga was considered to be its species until it was realized that it was closely related to the Plains Zebra and was, in fact, a subspecies of the zebra.
In appearance, Quaggas were interesting, literally the mashup of two species, a zebra in the front, as shown with the famous zebra stripes adorning this part of his body, and a horse in the back because of the absence of stripes in this area.
Scientists are attempting to revive the Quagga and have seen some success by selectively breeding zebras by reverse engineering (who carry quagga genes). Its extinction was due to excessive hunting.
15. Golden toad
Not only is the golden toad the only species to go extinct in the last 40 years, but it may just be the brightest one.
This small toad was last seen in a rainforest in Costa Rica in 1989 before being declared extinct in 1994.
Chytridiomycosis, a lethal skin disease, is thought to have decimated this toad population that was already vulnerable due to what Science terms a “small population and limited habitat.”
Its extinction was due to global warming, pollution, and chytrid skin infection.
14. Po’ouli
Native to Maui, Hawaii, Po’ouli, also known as Black-faced Honeycreeper, was discovered in the 1970s.
The birds lived on the southwestern slope of Volcano Haleakala. The population declined rapidly; only three documented Po’ouli were left by 1997.
Efforts to mate the remaining birds failed, and seven years later, the species was formally declared extinct.
Their extinction was due to low food sources, habitat loss, predators, and disease.
13. Madeiran Large White
The beautiful Madeiran Large White Butterfly was first found in the valleys of the Laurisilva forests on the Madeira Islands of Portugal.
The closest relative of the butterfly, the Large White, has widespread distribution throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Its extinction was due to habitat loss and agricultural fertilizer emissions.
12. Tecopa Pupfish
Native to the Mojave Desert hot springs, the Tecopa pupfish is the first animal deemed extinct under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provisions.
The extinction of the pupfish was precipitated when developers encroached on its natural habitat.
11. Falkland Islands Wolf
In the late 1800s, the Falkland Islands wolf went extinct. It was once called the Falkland Islands fox and the Antarctic wolf.
These wolves were endemic to Argentina’s Falklands. They were unknown to the world before humans discovered the island and hunted them for meat and as trophies (they were killed easily because the wolves were very friendly).
Scientists believe that these wolves fed on penguins, seal pups, and other ground-nesting birds. Its extinction was due to excessive hunting by humans.
10. Round Island Burrowing Boa
The Round Island Burrowing Boa, originally from Round Island, a tiny island off the coast of Mauritius, preferred to live on the topsoil layers of the volcanic slopes.
It was once present on many other islands around Mauritius, but by the 1940s, its population had declined, and only after 1949 could it be found on Round Island. Its last appearance was in 1975.
Its extinction was brought about by introducing non-native goat and rabbit species to its natural habitat, which destroyed vegetation and disrupted the ecosystem.
9. Javan Tiger
The Javan tiger, similar in appearance to the Sumatran tiger, was native to Java, which is an Indonesian island.
They were so prevalent in the 1800s that they were considered pests by island natives, but their population declined as the island began to develop.
Only 20 tigers existed until the 1950s, but they are now extinct. Its extinction was due to loss of habitat.
8. Dutch Alcon Blue Butterfly
The Dutch butterfly, a subspecies of the Alcon Blue, was found predominantly in the Dutch grasslands.
Although, there are still closely related species in parts of Europe and Asia.
In 1979, the last Dutch Alcon Blue was seen in the wild. Its extinction was caused by increased cultivation and development, which led to the loss of food sources.
7. Pinta Island Tortoise
When Darwin visited the Galapagos in 1835, the Pinta Island Tortoise was said to be around.
Sadly, the last purebred of this subspecies was a male called Lonesome George, who passed away in 2015.
The extinction of this species was said to be the result of humans’ introduction of rats and goats to Pinta Island.
The goats destroyed the tortoise habitats, while the rats preyed on young tortoises.
Humans also played a part in the extinction of this species; they hunted the Pinta Island Tortoise for its meat.
6. Schomburgk’s Deer
The Schomburgk’s deer was endemic to Thailand and was named after Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, a German-born explorer knighted in 1844.
Some scientists claim that even though they were formally declared extinct in 2006, with the last confirmed deer supposedly killed in captivity in 1938, there might still be a few deer in the wild.
This species became extinct because they were hunted aggressively by native leopards & tigers and by humans as well.
5. Dodo
Dodos, which have long been extinct, were large flightless birds. It previously inhabited the forests of the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
The Dodos are larger than turkeys and weigh about 23kg (about 50 pounds).
They had an unusually big head, a 23-centimeter blackish bill with a reddish sheath forming the hooked tip.
Other features of these flightless animals that have gone extinct are their characteristically small, useless wings, stout yellow legs, and a tuft of curly feathers high on their rear end.
The dodo was first reported in 1507 by Dutch colonizers, who described it as being a sluggish bird ‘unafraid of humans’.
We guess its lack of fear caused its untimely extinction. It is said that sailors quickly decimated the dodo population as an easy source of fresh meat for their voyages.
The later introduction of monkeys, pigs, and rats to the island proved catastrophic to the languishing birds as animals such as hogs escaped to the woods, multiplied, and destroyed many of the dodo eggs. The last dodo was killed in 1681.
Sadly, very few scientific descriptions or museum specimens exist. The name dodo is derived from the Portuguese word duodo, meaning silly or stupid.
In present-day usage, dodo is applied to a simple-minded person unable to adjust to new situations and ideas.
4. Passenger Pigeon
The passenger pigeon is one of the most recent extinct animals caused by ‘our doing.’
Once famed for its massive migratory flocks that would darken the sky for days, the passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.
Billions of these gregarious birds once inhabited eastern North America and appeared similar to the mourning dove.
As American settlers pressed westward, passenger pigeons were slaughtered by the million yearly for their meat and shipped by railway carloads for sale in city markets before they spoiled.
Many became professional pigeon hunters who often raided their nesting grounds and annihilated entire colonies in a single breeding season.
By 1880, the decrease in numbers had become irreversible. Some efforts were made to breed passenger pigeons in captivity, but with little success.
The last passenger pigeon, Martha, died on Sept. 1, 1914, in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden in Ohio. The pigeon sometimes foraged in newly planted grain fields but did little damage to crops.
Its greatest legacy to man was its extinction’s impetus to the conservation movement.
A monument to the passenger pigeon in Wisconsin’s Wyalusing State Park declares: “This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man.”
3. Aurochs
The direct ancestor of modern cattle, Aurochs, was a large, wild ox that once ranged throughout Europe except in Scandinavia and northern Russia, across North Africa, and in large parts of Asia.
Standing 1.8 meters (6 feet) high at the shoulder with substantial, forward-curving horns, Eurasian aurochs were known for their aggressive temperaments and were battled for sport in ancient Roman arenas.
Predators posed almost no threat to the aurochs; a lone bull could fight off several wolves.
However, the wild aurochs were hunted aggressively by humans because they competed with domestic cattle for food, and their occasional interbreeding with domestic cattle disrupted progress in the development of domestic cattle lines.
The aurochs population also declined as its natural wild habitat decreased with the growth of both farms and cities.
Eurasian aurochs were hunted excessively as game animals and gradually became locally extinct in many areas throughout their range.
By the 13th century, populations had declined so much that the right to hunt them was restricted to nobles and royal households in Eastern Europe.
Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar described the wild aurochs living in the forests of Germany in 65 BC.
Charlemagne, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, hunted this animal in the 9th century AD.
The meat of an aurochs appeared on the menu at a Roman Catholic abbey in Switzerland in the 10th century.
For many centuries, its horns were widely used as drinking vessels. In 1564, gamekeepers recorded only 38 animals in a royal survey, and the last known Eurasian aurochs, a female, died in Poland in 1627 from natural causes.
2. Great Auk
The great auk was a flightless seabird bred in colonies on rocky islands in the North Atlantic, namely St. Kilda, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Funk Island off Newfoundland.
The body of the great auk was approximately 75 cm (30 inches) long; the wings, which were used for swimming underwater, were less than 15 cm long.
The large black bill bore eight or more transverse grooves.
The bird stood erect on land. It had a black back and head, a white front, and a large white spot between the bill and eye.
It was easy prey; rapacious hunters killed great auks for food and bait, particularly during the early 1800s.
Enormous numbers were captured, the birds often being driven up a plank and slaughtered on their way into the hold of a vessel.
The last known specimens were killed in June 1844 at Eldey Island, Iceland, for a museum collection.
About 80 great auks and a similar number of their eggs are preserved in museums.
The nearest living relatives are the razor-billed auks, about 40 cm long.
1. Woolly Mammoth
The woolly mammoth is most prominent among the well-preserved, frozen carcasses in Siberia.
These gigantic animals went extinct about 7,500 years ago, after the end of the last Ice Age.
Although climate played a major role in their extinction, recent studies suggest that humans may have been a driving force in their demise or at least the final cause.
Extensive hunting and the stresses of a warming climate are lethal, and it seems even the mighty mammoth could not withstand the human appetite in a changing world.
In 1999, scientists working in Siberia recovered the complete remains of a woolly mammoth embedded in frozen mud containing plants and insects that had lived for 20,000 years.
Using a helicopter, the scientists transported the specimen to an ice cave about 300 km (200 mi) away.
Scientists plan to slowly thaw their findings and perform tests on the remains to identify the reason the animal died.
They also plan to study the plants and insects in the frozen mud encasing the carcass to learn more about the animal’s environment.
Endangered Animals List: Animals That Are Going Extinct
While we’re still worried about the huge list of animals that have gone extinct, humans are still working on increasing the list.
Governments and NGOs are working tirelessly to curb this menace of needless hunting for food or their valuable parts.
For instance, the list of endangered and almost extinct animals is problematic, including the likes of the Tiger, Pangolin, Rhinos, Sumatran Elephants, Sea Turtles, Orangutans, and more.
