1. Thylacine
This little fellow went extinct in the 20th century - 1936 to be more precise. It was native to Australia and New Guinea, and better known as the Tasmanian Tiger. They were the largest carnivorous marsupials of modern times, and went extinct because of the constant hunting and because of people generally acting stupid - the last one froze to death when someone locked it outside of its shelter.
2. Caspian Tiger
This species of tiger lived in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Caucasus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It was also known as the Persian Tiger, and it went extinct in the '70s. It was the third largest tiger species in the world, with a really stocky body, wide paws, strong legs and huge claws. The males weighted around 200 kgs, the females around 130. They went extinct because they were hunted down after they attacked people and stole livestock.
3. Passenger Pigeon
200 years ago these birds weren't at all near extinction, they were actually the most common bird species in North America, with flocks numbering around a billion. But because their meat was cheap and because people were poor they were hunted down mercilessly for sustenance. They were also seen as a threat to farmers because of the huge flocks they had. The last one, named Martha, died alone at the Cincinnati Zoo at about 1:00 pm on September 1, 1914.
4. Pyrenean Ibex
I think this is one of the most ironic extinction that ever existed in the world. It was native to the Pyrenees, a mountain range in Andorra, France and Spain. They disappeared from the French Pyrenees and the eastern Cantabrian mountain range by the mid-nineteenth century and in the 20th century their numbers never went above 40. In the 1980's there were only about 10 individuals remaining. The last naturally born Pyrenean Ibex, named Celia, died on January 6th, 2000, after being found dead under a fallen tree at the age of 13. That animal’s only companion had died just a year earlier due to old age.
Some people brought the species back to life via cloning, and only about seven minutes after it was born it went extinct again. It died because of lung failure.
5. Baiji river Dolphin
This species was declared extinct in 2006, after an expedition that failed to record even one single individual. Their population started to decline rapidly when China started using the Yangtze river as their main water source. The river is one of the worst polluted sites in the world, and the sad part is that about 12% of the world human population lives around it. Ironically the dolphin was seen as the symbol of prosperity in China, and got extinct because everyone wanted a piece of this.
And that ladies and gentlemen concludes today's post. These are only a couple of species that regrettably went extinct - maybe I'll do another post in the future. Until then, though, here's a last picture - this time not about an animal that's already extinct, but one that is on the verge of extinction.
Give it up for the giant golden-crowned flying fox!
