The extinction of animal species can be caused by many different factors. However, the destruction of some of them can be directly linked to human activity. Humans do not always know how to restrain themselves, especially when the population seems abundant and food is scarce. Here are nine incredible animals that we have lost to reckless exploitation.
1. Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
The dodo is one of the earliest examples of an animal that went extinct due to human actions, which is why it is often used as a symbol for species extinction. These flightless, ground-nesting birds were once abundant in the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. Subfossil remains show that the dodo was about 1 meter tall and weighed about 20 kg. It is believed that it became flightless due to the abundance of food sources and the relative absence of predators. Portuguese navigators discovered it around 1507. These and subsequent navigators quickly decimated the dodo population as an easy source of fresh meat for their voyages. Monkeys, pigs, and rats later appeared on the islands, which proved disastrous for the dying birds, as the mammals feasted on their vulnerable eggs. The last dodo was killed in 1681.
2. Steller's Sea Cows (Hydrodamalis gigas)
Discovered in 1741 by German naturalist Georg W. Steller, Steller's Sea Cows once inhabited the coastal regions of the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. They reached lengths of up to 9 meters and were the largest mammals to live during the Holocene, apart from whales. These massive, docile animals swam on the surface of coastal waters, but unfortunately had little ability to submerge. This made them easy targets for the harpoons of Russian seal hunters, who prized them as a source of meat during long sea voyages. The killings were often wasteful, and the species was exterminated in 1768, less than 30 years after its discovery. No specimens survive today.
3. Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Once famous for its vast migratory flocks that darkened the sky for days, the passenger pigeon was wiped out in the early 20th century. The species fell victim to the deadliest predator on the planet: modern humans. In the 19th century, passenger pigeons were probably the most common bird in eastern and central North America. As American settlers moved west, pigeons were slaughtered by the millions annually for their meat and shipped by railcar to be sold in urban markets. Hunters often raided their breeding grounds and destroyed entire colonies in a single breeding season. Since the 1870s, the species has declined sharply, and several unsuccessful attempts have been made to breed the birds in captivity. The last known passenger pigeon, named Martha, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo, Ohio.
4. Aurochs (Bos primigenius)
One of the ancestors of modern cattle, the aurochs was a large wild ox that once inhabited the steppes of Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia. Standing 6 feet (1.8 m) tall at the shoulders and with large, forward-curving horns, aurochs were known for their aggressive nature and were fought for sport in ancient Roman arenas. There were two main reasons for their extinction: overhunting of wild animals and domestication (and subsequent crossbreeding of surviving wild aurochs with domestic cattle). By the 13th century, their populations had dwindled to such an extent that the right to hunt them was limited to nobles and royal households in Eastern Europe. In 1564, hunters recorded only 38 animals in a royal survey, and the last known auroch, a female, died of natural causes in Poland in 1627. In Bulgaria, the aurochs survived until the 16th-18th centuries. This is the dating of its remains found in the "Largo" on Sveta Nedelya Square in Sofia.
5. Giant Auk (Pinguinus impennis)
The giant 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 near Newfoundland. It stood 75 to 85 cm tall and weighed about 5 kg. Its wings were only 15 cm long and for this reason were not suitable for flying. Instead, the giant auk was an excellent swimmer, which helped it in hunting. Pinguinus impennis is not related to the penguins, which were discovered later and were named so because of their physical similarity. The species plays an important role in the cultures of many Native American tribes. Early European explorers in the Americas used the bird as a convenient source of food or as fishing bait, reducing its numbers. Its down was also in high demand in Europe, a factor that largely eliminated European populations by the mid-17th century. The last known specimens were killed in June 1844 on the island of Eldey, Iceland, for a museum collection.
6. Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
Thanks to a number of well-preserved frozen carcasses in Siberia, the woolly mammoth is the best-known of all mammoth species. The species was about the same size as the modern African savanna elephant. These huge animals became extinct about 7,500 years ago, after the end of the last ice age. While climate change certainly played a significant role in their extinction, recent research suggests that humans may also have been a driving force behind their demise, or at least the ultimate cause. The woolly mammoth lived at the same time as early humans, who used its bones and tusks to make art objects, tools, and shelters, and its meat for food. Isolated populations survived on St. Paul Island until 6,400 years ago and on Wrangel Island until 4,000 years ago. Even after the woolly mammoths disappeared, humans continued to use their tusks, a tradition that continues to this day.
7. Tasmanian Wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus)
Native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the Tasmanian Wolf was a medium-sized, wolf-like, carnivorous marsupial. The creature looked like a medium to large dog (weighing 30 kg and measuring almost 2 m from nose to tail), but its dark stripes gave it a tiger-like appearance. The Tasmanian Wolf's extinction was largely blamed on farmers who hunted and killed it because of the damage it caused to livestock farming. People believed that it and the Dingo dog in Australia attacked their sheep, which later turned out to be far from the truth. The last confirmed sighting of a Tasmanian wolf in the wild was in 1932 on the island of Tasmania. The last captive specimen died on 6 September 1936 in a zoo in Hobart. Unconfirmed sightings of Tasmanian wolves continue to this day.
8. Caribbean Monk Seal (Monachus tropicalis)
First discovered during Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1494, the Caribbean monk seal is the only known seal to inhabit the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. The species was nearly 8 feet (2.4 m) long and weighed 350 to 600 pounds (170 to 270 kg). Predators of the Caribbean monk seal include sharks and humans. The seals were hunted for their fur and blubber, which was used to make oil, and because they competed with fishermen for their catch. Coastal development and fishing have also affected their traditional habitats in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. The Caribbean monk seal was officially declared extinct by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in 2008 after extensive research and review. The last individual was last seen in 1952.
9. Quagga (Equus quagga quagga)
They may look like a hybrid between a zebra and a horse, but in fact these majestic animals are a unique subspecies of the plains zebra, once common in South Africa. In the head area, the species had the characteristic coloration of a zebra, and the hindquarters looked more like a horse. In the 1830s, quaggas were imported to Europe. These animals were easy to domesticate and were used to pull carts, carriages and carriages. At that time, no one suspected that in less than 50 years the subspecies would disappear from the face of the earth. Persecuted mainly for their unique and beautiful fur, the animals were destroyed by hunters in the 1870s. The last quagga, kept in captivity, died in August 1883 at the Amsterdam Zoo. In nature, the last wild quagga was killed in 1878. | BGNES
