- [Voiceover] Humans have long hunted other animals
in order to survive;
however, in the last few hundred years,
we've developed the capacity to wipe out other species
in staggering numbers.
Modern firearms allow a single hunter
to take down many animals in relative safety,
when previously, a human hunter endured great danger
to kill just a single one.
These are the 10 animals humans hunted into extinction.
The passenger pigeon suffered
in part from its own commonality.
It was so numerous, that hunting it
to extinction seemed as likely
as hunting cockroaches to extinction.
Moreover, the passenger pigeon could be a pest.
They gathered in huge flocks, and were tetacered
for the damage they caused to crops.
But passenger pigeons were primarily killed
for food, not as pest extermination.
By 1870, there was a healthy commercial trade
in passenger pigeon meat,
and the birds' tendency to gather in large numbers
merely made them more vulnerable to human hunters.
The last known kill in the wild occurred in 1900,
and the last known passenger pigeon died
in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
The Atlas bear inhabited the Atlas Mountains
in North Africa.
This nine-foot long, 1,000 pound bear
was prized by the Romans in Africa 2,000 years ago
for gladiatorial appearances.
There they might be hunted as a spectacle,
or they could be starved and released
on condemned prisoners.
Although they continued to be hunted up
until the late 19th century when they vanished,
there is no known pelt or skeleton preserved
for study or display.
The thylacine, sometimes known as the Tasmanian wolf because
of its shape, or a Tasmanian tiger because
of its stripes, was the world's
largest carnivorous marsupial in modern times.
In Tasmania, however, the thylacine was blamed
for numerous attacks on European sheep herds
and poultry farms.
Companies, and eventually the government,
put out bounties on the creatures
to control their numbers.
This scheme worked too well.
The last known kill in the wild happened in 1930,
and the last known captive thylacine died in 1936.
The sea mink is a much larger version of the American mink.
Reaching three feet in length, the sea mink's pelt
was twice as large as that of its cousin.
This made them a huge prize for hunters,
who took them both for food and fur.
It went extinct sometime in the 2nd half
of the 19th century.
The Bubal hartebeest was a large antelope
which lived throughout North Africa.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics included
a symbol meaning baby hartebeest,
suggesting its importance there.
It's possible the Egyptians domesticated the animal,
and used it for sacrifice.
The Bubal hartebeest disappeared rapidly
as European colonies set up shop in the area.
The London Convention of 1933, in an early attempt
at conservation among colonial powers, attempted
to protect these animals, although it's entirely possible
that they were already extinct by that point anyway.
Still, it's the thought that counts.
Stellar's sea cow was a 30-foot long close relative
of the manatee, which likely weighed
between eight and 10 tons.
Despite its size, it would come on land,
dragging itself with its front flippers.
Fossil records suggest the sea cow was originally plentiful
in the North Pacific; however, they were already severely
endangered when Stellar found them, as they were hunted
to the verge of extinction by Aboriginal people.
A sea cow's carcass provided meat, skins,
and quality lamp oil, making it a valuable commodity,
and by 1768, it was extinct.
The quagga is a type of zebra, although it looks like
a cross between a zebra and a horse.
The front of the creature has brown and white stripes,
while the back is plain brown.
It was native to South Africa, and was hunted both for
its meat and for its hide, which Europeans traded to locals.
It may also have competed with
the Europeans domesticated animals for foraging,
which would only encourage hunters to rid the area
of what would have been seen as pests.
The last known quagga in the wild died in 1878.
The last captive one lived until 1883.
The Barbary lion, also known as the Atlas lion,
was found in North Africa,
particularly in the area of the Atlas Mountains.
They were among the largest of lions,
and had been prized since at least
the Roman Empire for their fierceness.
Like the Atlas bear, the Barbary lion was captured
by Romans, and forced to fight for sport in the arenas.
Humans continued to put pressure
on the Barbary lions for centuries.
When the Europeans took over the area,
they cleared the lion from several areas
and continued to pursue it into the wilderness for sport.
The fate of the Barbary lion is somewhat in question.
A few may have survived into the wilderness until the 1960s.
Several zoos claimed to have purebred Barbary lions,
but this is highly contested.
More likely, they are hyrids of Barbaries,
and non-Barbaries.
So far, no genetics tests have suggested
that a purebred Barbary still exists,
and the species has been lost to history.
The great auk lived in the North Atlantic.
Although it was a flightless bird with black
and white features, standing two to three feet tall,
it was not your typical penguin.
The great auks had been hunted since the Stone Age,
and they started facing real trouble in the 16th century
when they started being hunted
in large numbers for their downy feathers.
Great Britain actually made this illegal
in the 18th century, a very early example
of government conservation; however, it wasn't illegal
to kill the birds for other purposes.
Great auk eggs were also valuable, first for eating,
and then for collecting.
So by that point, it was too late to save the great auk.
Some of the very last auks were killed
as scientific specimens.
The last live great auk was spotted in 1852,
never to be seen again.
The Caribbean monk seal is mentioned in the records
of Christopher Columbus when
his soldiers killed eight of them.
Going forward, the seals were a regular target
for hunters, which sold the oil in their blubber
for lamp fuel and machinery grease.
The seals were known to congregate in the hundreds
on beaches, making them easy targets.
Still, this species somehow managed
to survive at least until 1952.
It was placed on the list of endangered species in 1967,
but it most likely, by that time, was already extinct,
making the effort a pointless gesture.
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