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You probably already know that there were once animals on the Earth that
don't live here anymore - like dinosaurs, or the wooly mammoth. We say that
animals that have died out - that is, all of them have died, so none are
left alive - have gone extinct. Most people think of extinct animals as ones
that died out a long, long time ago, but some animals have gone extinct
recently enough that people saw it happen and in some cases, even caused it.
This is a countdown of ten fascinating extinct animals, including some
you've probably never heard of, as well as some you may have!
Number 10:
Steller's Sea Cow.
Steller's Sea Cow was a marine mammal, similar to living dugongs and
manatees, but much, much larger. First described in 1741 by the German
explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller during an expedition in the North Pacific,
Steller's Sea Cow grew to a length of 30 feet or over 9 meters. Slow moving
herbivores, the sea cows were easy to catch and kill. They provided valuable
food for the explorers; in addition, their thick skins were used to make
boats and their fat was used in oil lamps. Already endangered when Stellar
first wrote about them, it took only 27 years for hunters to kill the last
of them, and by 1768 they were extinct.
Number 9:
the Bluebuck.
A species of antelope that formerly ranged the southern tip of South Africa,
the bluebuck was not actually blue, although it may have seemed that way due
to a mixture of black and yellow hairs. When Europeans first encountered the
bluebuck in the 17th century, it was already quite rare, and it did not take
very many years for the last of them to be hunted down and killed as food,
although it is recorded that they did not taste very good. Still, by the
year 1800, bluebucks were extinct.
Number 8:
the Moa.
Native to New Zealand, the Moa grew to an incredible 12 feet or 3.6 meters
in height, and weighed up to a staggering 510lbs or 230 kilograms. Before
Polynesians settled the islands, their only predator was the huge Haast's
eagle, which is also extinct. Unfortunately for the moa, the Maori arrived
in New Zealand around 1280 AD and began to hunt them, and by about 1440,
less than 200 years later, they had been driven to extinction.
Number 7:
the Aurochs.
The ancestor of the modern day cows we are familiar with, Aurochs roamed
wild over most of Europe and Asia. Larger and more aggressive than modern
cattle, the aurochs were strong enough to defend themselves from wolves.
Despite their strength and size, hunting and competition from domestic
animals eventually caused their population to dwindle. By 1564, only a few
dozen remained, and despite efforts to protect them, by 1627 the last known
aurochs had died.
Unlike the other animals listed so far, the aurochs may not stay extinct.
Several breeds of cattle are closely related to the aurochs, and some people
are trying to use selective breeding to create aurochs again.
Number 6:
The Thylacine.
The Thylacine, more commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger, was native to
Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Although it has been compared to a
tiger or a wolf, the thylacine was actually a marsupial, like koalas and
kangaroos. Depicted in Aboriginal rock art as far back as 3,000 years ago,
the thylacine's first definite encounter with Europeans was not until 1792.
The European settlers brought dogs and diseases with them that began to
reduce the population. In addition, farmers began killing them because they
thought thy were eating their chickens and sheep. By 1930, the only known
thylacines lived in zoos. By 1936, the last captive thylacine had died.
Like the aurochs, the thylacine may not stay extinct. Because its extinction
was so recent, scientists have samples of thylacine genetic material and
DNA. Someday, they may be able to use it to clone new thylacines to once
again roam the forests of Tasmania.
Number 5:
the Passenger Pigeon.
When European settlers arrived in North America, the passenger pigeon was
one of the most abundant birds in the world. One flock was described as so
huge that it was a mile wide, 300 miles long, and took more than 14 hours to
pass by. It is estimated that the flock contained more than 3.5 billion
pigeons. Because they were so common, they were hunted heavily as food.
Between 1870 and 1890 their numbers dropped sharply, and in 1914, the last
known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo.
Although scientists are now researching methods to bring passenger pigeons
back from extinction, the birds are not able to reproduce outside of large
flocks, something which played a role in their decline, and so instead of
only a few individuals, they would need to create several thousand birds for
a de-extinction effort to be successful.
Number 4:
the Pyrenean Ibex.
The only animal with the dubious distinction of going extinct not once but
twice, the Pyrenean Ibex was a type of wild goat native to the Iberian
Peninsula in Europe. Competition with livestock and hunting gradually
reduced its numbers, and in the year 2000 the last known member of the
species was found dead.
That was not the end of the Pyrenean Ibex, however. A few years later
scientists successfully produced a cloned ibex kid. Sadly, although it was
born alive, the kid died after only a few minutes due to a lung defect. This
marked the first time that an extinct animal had been returned to life,
however briefly, and scientists continue trying to revive this species.
Number 3:
the Great Auk.
Although similar to them in appearance, the great auk was actually not at
all related to penguins. Native to the North atlantic and found along the
coastlines of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain,
the Great Auk was a tall bird, reaching 33 inches or 85 centimeters in
height. Much like penguins, great auks were flightless, but agile swimmers,
diving to catch fish and other sea creatures to eat. Hunted by humans for
their feathers, which were used to stuff pillows, by the mid 1500s their
populations were declining. When people realized that they were becoming
rare, they attempted to protect them. These measures were at least partially
sucessful, because the great auk survived nearly three hundred years from
that time before finally becoming extinct around 1844.
Number 2:
The Quagga.
Long thought to be a distinct species, modern research has shown that the
quagga was actually a subspecies of the modern plains zebra. Native to a
small area of south africa, the quagga was hunted for its meat and for its
unusual skin - striped at the head, and brown near the tail. The quagga was
extinct in the wild by 1878, although a few solitary animals survived in
zoos until the last died in 1883.
Because the quagga was so closely related to living zebras, scientists think
it might be possible to recreate them with selective breeding. In 1987 the
Quagga Project began attempting just that, and they are beginning to have
some success. Someday soon, the quagga may no longer qualify as an extinct
species!
Number 1:
The Dodo.
Arguably the most famous of all modern extinctions, the dodo has become a
symbol of mankind's negative impact on vulnerable species. The dodo was
native to the uninhabited island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Because
of its isolation and the lack of serious predators on the island, the dodo
was flightless and nested on the ground. When Dutch sailors first
encountered them in 1598, they hunted the dodo for meat. Never having
encountered humans before, dodos were unafraid and were killed easily. In
addition, the humans brought dogs, pigs, cats and rats to the island, all of
which disturbed their nests and ate their eggs. Under this double threat,
the dodos were soon all killed, and by 1690, less than 100 years after they
had been discovered, the dodo was extinct.
The extinction of the dodo was incredibly important. It was the first time
that it was widely recognized that humans could, by their actions, cause an
animal to be completely wiped from the face of the planet. With that
knowledge comes the understanding that if we want the wonderful and amazing
animals that still live on Earth to remain here, that we must take care of
them and the places that they live, or they too may 'go the way of the dodo.'
I hope you enjoyed learning a little about some of the fascinating creatures
that once roamed the earth. Goodbye till next time, and stay tuned for more
creature countdowns from FreeSchool.