What Are Some Examples Of Extinct Animals

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Wooly mammoth (extinct; extinction) — woolly mammoth© Michal Lindner/Fotolia

Humans are not always bully at cocky-moderation, especially when things seem both bountiful and tasty. While extinctions are always multi-faceted, the extermination of some species can be almost directly linked to the clamorous appetites of mod humans. Read on to discover a few of the animals we have lost to our unthinking exploitation.

Dullard - Raphus cucullatus

dodo
Dodo (Raphus cucullatus).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Christine McCabe

"Expressionless every bit a dodo." Aye. These flightless, ground-nesting birds were once bountiful on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Bounding main. Larger than turkeys, dodos weighed virtually 23 kg (about 50 pounds) and had blue-grey plumage and a big head. With no natural predators, the birds were unfazed past the Portuguese sailors that discovered them around 1507. These and subsequent sailors rapidly decimated the dullard population as an easy source of fresh meat for their voyages. The after introduction of monkeys, pigs, and rats to the island proved catastrophic to the languishing birds every bit the mammals feasted on their vulnerable eggs. The last dodo was killed in 1681. Sadly, very few scientific descriptions or museum specimens exist.
Steller's Sea Cow - Hydrodamalis gigas

Steller'due south ocean cow
The Steller'south ocean moo-cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), extinct since the 18th century, fed on kelp growing most the shore.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Discovered in 1741 by High german naturalist Georg W. Steller, Steller's bounding main cows once inhabited the near-shore areas of the Komandor Islands in the Bering Sea. Much larger than present-day manatees and dugongs, Steller's sea cows reached a length of 9–10 meters (over 30 feet) and weighed around 10 metric tons (22,000 pounds). These massive, docile animals floated at the surface of the coastal waters merely unfortunately had little power to submerge. This made them like shooting fish in a barrel targets for the harpoons of Russian seal hunters, who prized them as a source of meat on long body of water journeys. Killing was often wasteful and the species was exterminated past 1768, less than 30 years afterward information technology was first discovered. No preserved specimens exist today.
Rider Pigeon - Ectopistes migratorius

passenger pigeon
Rider pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), mounted.
Bill Reasons—The National Audubon Lodge Collection/Photo Researchers

In one case famed for its massive migratory flocks that would darken the heaven for days, the passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction in the early 1900s. Billions of these gregarious birds once inhabited eastern N America and were similar in advent to the mourning dove. Every bit American settlers pressed westward, passenger pigeons were slaughtered past the million yearly for their meat and shipped by railway carloads for sale in urban center markets. Hunters often raided their nesting grounds and annihilated entire colonies in a single breeding season. From 1870 the reject of the species became precipitous and some unsuccessful attempts were made to breed the birds in captivity. The last known passenger pigeon, named Martha, died on Sept. one, 1914, in the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.
Eurasian Aurochs - Bos primigenius primigenius

aurochs skeleton
Skeleton of an aurochs (Bos primigenius), an extinct wild ox of Europe.
AdstockRF

I of the ancestors of modern cattle, the Eurasian aurochs was a large, wild ox that once ranged across the steppes of Europe, Siberia, and Primal Asia. Continuing 1.8 meters (vi 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. As a game animal, Eurasian aurochs were hunted excessively and gradually became locally extinct in many areas throughout their range. By the 13th century, populations had declined and so much that the right to hunt them was restricted to nobles and royal households in eastern Europe. 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.
Great Auk - Pinguinus impennis

great auk
Smashing auk (Pinguinus impennis), lithograph of an illustration by John James Audubon.
From The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the Us, Vol. VII, by John James Audubon, 1844

The great auk was a flightless seabird that bred in colonies on rocky islands in the North Atlantic, namely St. Kilda, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Funk Island off Newfoundland. The birds were approximately 75 cm (xxx inches) long and had short wings which were used for underwater swimming. Utterly defenseless, great auks were killed by rapacious hunters for food and bait, peculiarly during the early 1800s. Enormous numbers were captured by sailors, who often drove the birds up planks and slaughtered them on their way into the hold of a vessel. The last known specimens were killed in June 1844 at Eldey island, Republic of iceland, for a museum collection.
Woolly Mammoth - Mammuthus primigenius

woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
Woolly mammoth replica in a museum exhibit in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
FPLA/SuperStock

Thanks to a number of well-preserved, frozen carcasses in Siberia, the woolly mammoth is the best-known of all mammoth species. These massive animals died out around seven,500 years ago, subsequently the end of the last Water ice Age. While climatic change definitely played a significant function in their extinction, recent studies suggest that humans may have also been a driving force in their demise, or at least the last crusade. Extensive hunting and the stresses of a warming climate are a lethal combination, and it seems even the mighty mammoth could not withstand the human being appetite in a changing world.