Timeline of extinctions

This timeline of extinctions is an historical account of species that have gone extinct during the time that modern humans have occupied the earth.

The following is a selective list made by sampling a very small proportion of some of the well-known extinct species in the recent history. For a more elaborate list see List of extinct animals. Also see Holocene extinction for more information.

11th millennium BCE

• Circa 10,000 BCE — North America: Dire Wolf, Smilodon, Cave Lion, Giant beaver, Ground sloth, Mammoth, American Mastodon, American Camel, American Equine, and American lion all become extinct.
  

  

  The quagga went extinct due to overhunting and habitat loss.
• - Africa: [Giant Hyena], [Giant-Horned Buffalo], [African Smilodon], [African Long-necked Moose], [Giant Warthog], [African Bear-dogs], [Giant Hartebeest] and [African Wolf] all become extinct.

  — Banksia kingii from Tasmania and probably other members included in the genus.

  — Homo floresiensis, the human's last known surviving close relative, becomes extinct.

• Circa 9,880 BCE - Steppe Wisent survived in the Northwest Territories until at least this time.

7th millennium BCE

• - Irish Elk becomes extinct, possibly due to changes in the ecosystem.

5th millennium BCE

• Circa 4,000 BCE - Tilos dwarf elephant was the last surviving paleoloxodontine in insular Europe. They lived on the island of Tilos in the Mediterranean.

3rd millennium BCE

• The Balearic Islands Cave Goat (Myotragus balearicus) is a species of the subfamily Caprinae which lived in the islands of Majorca and Minorca until its extinction around 5,000 years ago due to human hunting, the failure of domestication, the introduction of domestic animals
  

  

  The Cape Lion well known as one of the king of all beasts was powerless against hunters.
  like goats, cows, pigs and sheep and dogs were the probable causes for the extinction of this animal.

2nd millennium BCE

The Dwarf elephant was the latest paleoloxodontine to survive in Europe. They became extinct just less than 2000 years BCE.

1st millennium BCE

• Circa 100 BCE — Syrian Elephant becomes extinct due to overhunting for ivory.

2nd millennium CE

11th century

• Circa 1000 — Extinction of four species of moa-nalo on the Hawaiian Islands. The moa-nalo were large ducks and the island's major herbivores.

16th century

• Circa 1500 — New Zealand's Moa, a large flightless bird, goes extinct.
  

  

  The dodo is an iconic symbol of extinction.

• — Madagascar's Megaladapis includes three species of giant lemurs. Human arrival to Madagascar caused vast destruction of its forests causing the giant lemurs' extinction.

- New Zealand's Haast's eagle, a giant bird of prey, becomes extinct, along with its food source the Moa.

17th century

• 1627 — The last known aurochs dies in Poland. This large wild cattle formerly inhabited much of Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and India.

• 1662 — The last known Mauritius dodo dies. The extinction was due to hunting, but also by the pigs, rats, dogs and cats brought to the island by settlers. The species has become an iconic symbol of animal extinction.
  

  

  The moa was one of the largest birds that ever existed.

The Elephant bird, a giant flightless bird, becomes extinct sometime in the 17 century.

18th century

• 1768 — The Steller's Sea Cow becomes extinct due to overhunting for meat and leather.

• 1777 - The Tahiti Sandpiper dies out quickly after Europeans discovered it on the Society Islands.

• 1777 - The Society Parakeet population dies out on the Society Islands after vessels released pests.

• 1788 - Also known as the White Gallinule, the Lord Howe Swamphen becomes extinct

19th century

• 1800 - The Bluebuck is reported to have gone extinct.

• 1825 - The Mysterious Starling died out.

• 1826 - The Mauritius Blue Pigeon becomes extinct due to excessive hunting.

• 1827 - The Tonga Ground Skink dies out from its only home in the Tongan Islands.

• 1844 — The last known Great Auk killed. The bird was hunted to extinction.

• 1860 - The String Tree from the island of St Helena becomes extinct because of habitat destruction.

• Circa 1870s — The last known Atlas Bear, Africa's only native bear, is killed by hunters in Morocco. The bear was heavily hunted and used for sport in the Roman Empire.

• 1875 - The Broad-faced Potoroo became extinct.

• 1876 — The Falkland Island fox becomes extinct due to intended extermination by human settlers.

• 1883 — The Quagga, a sub-species of the plains zebra, goes extinct.

• 1886 - The red alga known as Bennett's Seaweed from Australia disappears because of the massive human activities.

• 1889 - The Eastern Hare-wallaby becomes extinct.

• 1896 - The Eastern Elk, a subspecies of Elk in the US and Canada, dies out in Minnesota. They were over-hunted for food, clothing, sport and decoration for the Jolly Corkers who used their teeth as symbols.

20th century

1900s

• 1901 - The last certain specimen of the Australian Pig-footed Bandicoot is collected.

• 1905 - The last known Honshū Wolf of Japan dies in the Nara Prefecture

1910s

• 1910 - The Usambara Annone from Tanzania no longer grows in the tropical forests.

• 1914 — The last known Passenger Pigeon dies. Due to massive hunting to feed the poor and slaves the Passenger Pigeon went from being one of the world's most populous birds to extinction.

• 1918 — The Carolina Parakeet goes extinct, the only parrot species in the Eastern U.S.

  — The last Tarpan, a Ukrainian wild horse, dies in captivity.

  

  

  The Thylacine was exterminated into extinction.

1930s

• Circa 1930s - The Eastern Cougar, a subspecies of the mountain lion inhabiting the Eastern United States, goes extinct.

• 1930 - Darwin's Rice Rat was last recorded in the Galápagos Islands. Its extinction was probably caused by the introduction of black rats.

• 1933 - The Cry Pansy from Europe becomes extinct due habitat loss and overcollection in the only place where it grew, France.

• 1934 - The Indefatigable Galapagos Mouse becomes extinct four years after Darwin's Rice Rat on the same island.

• 1935 - The Desert Rat-kangaroo becomes extinct.

• 1936 — The Thylacine, at the time the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, is declared extinct.

• 1938 - Radula visiniaca, a liverwort native to Europe becomes extinct.

1940s

• 1942 - The Vegas Valley Leopard Frog last seen in Nevada.
• 1943 - The Toolache Wallaby declared extinct.
  

  

  The great auk was hunted to the point where there were only two left and even they have died off since.

1950s

• Circa 1950 — The Palestinian painted frog goes extinct because its marsh habitat is drained.

• 1950 - The Cuban holly, a Cuban drug, becomes extinct.

• 1952 — Last reliable report of the Caribbean Monk Seal.

• 1956 - Crescent Nail-tail Wallaby declared extinct.

1960s

• 1962 — A survey found no surviving Titicaca Orestias, a fish native to Lake Titicaca in Peru.
• 1963 - The last Cape Lion was killed in South Africa.
• 1964 - The Hawaii Chaff Flower of the Hawaiian islands becomes extinct because of habitat loss.
• 1965 - Last sighting of the Turgid-blossom pearly mussel, an American mussel.
• 1966 - The last Arabian Ostrich died.

— Last sighting of the yellow-blossom pearlymussel, an American mussel.

1970s

• Circa 1970 — The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct. Nearly exterminated by the Russian government in the early 20th century the last of its population succumbed to deforestation and hunting.

• 1972 - The endemic to Jamaica Mason River Myrtle becomes extinct.

1980s

• 1981 - The Puhielelu Hibiscadelphus becomes extinct.

• 1981 - Last sighting of the green-blossom pearlymussel, an American mussel.

• 1984 - The Black Spotted Damselfish (Azurina eupalama) likely becomes extinct due to climate change and overfishing.

— The 24-rayed Sunstar (Heliaster solaris) likely becomes extinct due to climate change.

• 1989 — The Golden Toad of Costa Rica becomes extinct, perhaps because of climate change.

- The Atitlán Grebe (Podilymbus gigas) dies out.

1990s

• 1994 — Saint Croix Racer, a snake native to the Virgin Islands, declared extinct.

  — Levuana Moth from Hawaii goes extinct.

• 1997 - Last known Aldabra banded snail from the Seychelles Islands found. Scientists believe global warming was probably the reason for the snail's demise.
  

  

  The passenger pigeon, which went extinct in 1914, had at one time been very widespread.

  — The Hainan Ormosia (a species of legume) which was native to China is no longer seen.

21st century

• 2000 - The last Pyrenean Ibex dies under a fallen tree. The reasons for its extinction are still being debated. However in 2009 it was cloned back in existence but died 7 minutes later due to defects in the lungs, making it extinct once again.

• 2003 - The last individual from the St. Helena Olive, which was grown in cultivation, dies off. The last plant in the wild had disappeared in 1994.

• 2004 - The Hawaiian bird, the Po'ouli, goes extinct.

• 2006 - China's freshwater river dolphin, the baiji, declared "functionally extinct" after a survey failed to find a single animal.

• 2008 - The Liverpool Pigeon (Caloenas maculata) is thought to have become extinct.

• 2010 - The Alaotra Grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus) is declared extinct.

• 2011 - The Eastern Cougar is declared extinct

• 2011 - The Western Black Rhinoceros is declared extinct

See also

• List of extinct animals
• Extinction event
• Quaternary extinction event
• Holocene extinction
• Timeline of evolution
• Timeline of environmental events
• List of environment topics
• List of environmental issues

External links

• Recently Extinct Animals