18 Beautiful Living Species That Are Now Extinct
We have been gifted with wonderful reserves of flora and fauna. Our forests, the wildlife and their habitat together are the natural biodiversity reserves which have declined over the time causing huge environmental, economic as well as aesthetic loss to our nature. The inhumane activities such as poaching, hunting, industrialization and urbanization have not only eaten away the forest spaces to make way for agricultural and residential and commercial lands, but have also lead to the rapid decline, endangering and finally extinction of many of the species that lived on this earth. We as humans need to realize the gravity of the situation as many species are quickly vanishing from the face of the earth.
1. Tasmanian Tiger
It looks like a wolf and has a striped back like a tiger, so it got its name Tasmanian Wolf or Tasmanian Tiger. It was the native species of Australia but it got wiped out from there in the twentieth century but the Tasmanian Tiger also called Tazzy somehow survived on the Tasmanian lands. The most wonderful thing about this animal was that it could open its jaws as wide as hundred and twenty degrees! The major cause of its extinction is stated to be poaching, hunting and killing on a large scale. Other reasons are the complete destruction of its habitat due to which this species was declared extinct in 1936.
2. Quagga
This is another beautiful species which half resembles the horse and the front half looks like a zebra. For many years it kept zoologists and other natural scientists in confusion over whether it was at all a separate species or just a variant. By that time in South Africa, they were being hunted down in large numbers for their meat and skin. Zebra were also being found and thought to be a different species who had their whole body covered with black and white stripes. But, before anything could be concluded, poor Quagga was killed to the extent that it became extinct in 1883 where the last Quagga died in Amsterdam zoo. Later DNA studies revealed that Quagga was indeed just a variant of the zebra and not a different species.
3. Black-Faced Honey Creeper
The Black-Faced Honey Creeper is an extinct bird species popularly called Po’ouli that flew in the skies of Hawaii. They have a black mask that extends to the back of their heads covering their eyes. The last surviving Black-Faced Honey Creeper was a male who was the last surviving of its kind and died in November, 2004. It ate tree snails and since they declined, Po’ouli’s diet got affected. Besides, loss of habitat, diseases that were spread through mosquitoes and increase in number of other animals like pigs and mongoose all caused its extinction.
4. Western Black Rhinoceros
The Western Black Rhinoceros was basically a sub-species of the Black Rhinoceros in South Africa. But, recently in 2011 even it was declared to be extinct. This rhinoceros was heavily hunted down for its horns which were believed to have medicinal value, while no such claim was proved true later. It depended on leafs and shoots in its habitat and differed from other rhino species because it had two horns. First and larger one could grow up to 4 feet while the smaller one up to 22 inches. These rhinos were nearsighted and depended on other birds for warning signals.
5. Javan Tiger
The Javan Tiger got its name from Java in Indonesia where it was basically found. It was smaller in size when compared to the other variant species of tigers. But, as fate would have it, due to human encroachment on its habitat, which were the lush green forests, it lost its home to the human needs of agricultural expansion. Many of these tigers were gunned down during the civil war in 1965. Many others were poisoned at the hands of people and the rest few died of diseases and finally became extinct in 1970’s.
6. Aurochs
Aurochs were magnificently large wild species of cattle that walked this earth till 1627 and were last seen in Poland. They are actually the ancestors to all the species of cattle that existed and are extinct or those species that are alive today. The Aurochs were pushed to extinction by human hunting and killing for meat. There were many attempts in the twentieth century to revive the Aurochs from their grave but what came out was by result a cattle species similar to Aurochs but not exactly the same.
7. Irish Deer
The Irish Deer was one of the most beautiful species that ever walked on this earth. It was almost seven feet tall and its antlers were above twelve feet from one end to the other. It walked in Ireland where it was extensively hunted down. This is stated to be a leading cause of its extinction but apart from this, perhaps the Irish Deer could not survive because its antlers stopped its free movement in the forests and caused it to fall prey to hunting animals which could also be a reason for its quick fall into the endangered and then extinction list.
8. Canarian Oyestercatcher
Canary Islands Oystercatcher or the Canarian Oystercatcher was a bird species found in Spain’s Canary Islands and Lanzarote. Its second and third toes were joined together by a web. By 1913, this bird almost disappeared from the Spanish Islands as well as from Lanzarote. By 1994 it was officially declared extinct. The cause of its extinction has been stated as falling prey to cats and rats. Moreover, it is said that its eggs were very delicious and were extensively taken away for consumption.
The Steller’s Sea Cow gets its name from its discoverer who first introduced its existence to the world called George Steller in the waters of Arctic and Pacific Ocean. It looked like a very large seal and had no teeth except two bones in its very small mouth one above and one below. Its face was very small as a proportion to its size. It was the herbivorous marine distant relative of the whales. It is said that they grew up to 30 feet in length and 10 tons in weight. Perhaps this made them easily targeted by the settlers. The strangest thing about this special marine species was that within 27 years of its discovery, it was over-hunted into extinction by 1768.
Baiji or the Yangtze River Dolphin was the Chinese White Dolphin. Due to heavy industrialization in China by building of industries, hydroelectricity projects etc., this species got extinct due to human activities. Besides, the dolphin was lead to extinction due to over fishing and also poaching. Its skin was very valuable and was used to make bags and gloves. Although it was functionally declared extinct in 2006 but the last known living Baiji was Qi Qi who died in 2002.
11. Alaotra Grebe
A charming little black and rust-colored water bird is the only known photograph of an Alaotra Grebe, a species officially extinct since 2010. Native to Lake Alaotra in Madagascar, what sealed this creature’s fate was its size. They were particularly vulnerable to poaching or being snared in fishing nets. Predatory fish introduced by humans also hunted them.
12. Pinta Tortoise
On 24 June 2012, a tortoise quietly passed away on the Galapagos Islands. Named Lonesome George, he was over 100 years old and the world’s last Pinta Tortoise. His discovery in 1972 by conservationists had provided a stay of execution for a species already assumed extinct. The arrival of explorers and whalers to the remote Pacific islands in the early 19th century saw the decimation of Galapagos tortoises. There were attempts to mate George with other tortoises to produce Pinta hybrids but none were successful.
13. Formosan Clouded Leopard
This species of large cat was once indigenous to the island of Taiwan. Like so many species that have suffered a similar fate, poachers prized its colorful pelt. Because the island is a mere 394 kilometers long, with a human population of over 23 million, the leopard’s habitat was continually shrinking. To the island’s native inhabitants, the aboriginal Rukai, hunting these leopards was taboo. Unfortunately, subsequent populations of Taiwanese did not afford the beautiful felines the same courtesy. In the first four years of the 2000s camera traps were set up. Not a single photograph was captured. After a further eight years of fruitless searching, the Taiwanese Snow Leopard was added to the ignominious list of extinct species.
14. Caribbean Monk Seal
Known to be the only seal species native to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, Monk Seals were discovered by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to America in 1494. The explorer nicknamed them ‘Sea Wolves’ and promptly ordered them to be slaughtered for his hungry crew. As the centuries passed the seals continued to be mercilessly hunted for their meat or oil, while fishermen regularly culled these fish poachers. They were declared extinct in June 2008.
15. Liverpool Pigeon
The one specimen of this species that exists is stored in the World Museum in Liverpool. A bird with a spotted green plumage, genetic studies revealed it was a close relative of the dodo, and is thought to have lived in the South Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Tahitian islanders hunted these birds close to extinction while westerner settlers introduced animals like pigs that caused havoc with their nests. It was finally officially listed as extinct in 2008 when it was added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature ‘Red List’ of Threatened Species.
16. Christmas Island Pipistrelle
Conservationists had set out to monitor numbers by deploying ultrasonic detection devices. All this highly sensitive equipment confirmed was a dearth of anything emitting ultrasonic squeaks. One likely source of their extinction was the use of pesticides against the ant colonies sharing the island with the Pipistrelles.
17. Madagascar Hippopotamus
There is ample evidence that hippopotamus once ranged widely, through fossil remains and folk tales handed down in Malagasy culture. As with most other extinct species, the event that was to have the most catastrophic impact on these water-dwelling animals was the arrival of the first humans on the island around 2,000 years ago. These large and ponderous creatures represented an easy target for hunting.
18. Japanese River Otter
Although these mammals were once common in Japan, with numbers running into millions, a photograph taken in 1979 proved to be the last known sighting of the species. Prized for their fur, otters were hunted on an industrial scale. These creatures are recalled on the anniversary of the death of the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902.) One of his most well-known verses is “Talks on Haiku from the Otter’s Den,” so Japan’s River Otter’s are remembered every September 19.
9. Steller's Sea Cow
The Steller’s Sea Cow gets its name from its discoverer who first introduced its existence to the world called George Steller in the waters of Arctic and Pacific Ocean. It looked like a very large seal and had no teeth except two bones in its very small mouth one above and one below. Its face was very small as a proportion to its size. It was the herbivorous marine distant relative of the whales. It is said that they grew up to 30 feet in length and 10 tons in weight. Perhaps this made them easily targeted by the settlers. The strangest thing about this special marine species was that within 27 years of its discovery, it was over-hunted into extinction by 1768.
10. Baiji
Baiji or the Yangtze River Dolphin was the Chinese White Dolphin. Due to heavy industrialization in China by building of industries, hydroelectricity projects etc., this species got extinct due to human activities. Besides, the dolphin was lead to extinction due to over fishing and also poaching. Its skin was very valuable and was used to make bags and gloves. Although it was functionally declared extinct in 2006 but the last known living Baiji was Qi Qi who died in 2002.
11. Alaotra Grebe
A charming little black and rust-colored water bird is the only known photograph of an Alaotra Grebe, a species officially extinct since 2010. Native to Lake Alaotra in Madagascar, what sealed this creature’s fate was its size. They were particularly vulnerable to poaching or being snared in fishing nets. Predatory fish introduced by humans also hunted them.
12. Pinta Tortoise
On 24 June 2012, a tortoise quietly passed away on the Galapagos Islands. Named Lonesome George, he was over 100 years old and the world’s last Pinta Tortoise. His discovery in 1972 by conservationists had provided a stay of execution for a species already assumed extinct. The arrival of explorers and whalers to the remote Pacific islands in the early 19th century saw the decimation of Galapagos tortoises. There were attempts to mate George with other tortoises to produce Pinta hybrids but none were successful.
13. Formosan Clouded Leopard
This species of large cat was once indigenous to the island of Taiwan. Like so many species that have suffered a similar fate, poachers prized its colorful pelt. Because the island is a mere 394 kilometers long, with a human population of over 23 million, the leopard’s habitat was continually shrinking. To the island’s native inhabitants, the aboriginal Rukai, hunting these leopards was taboo. Unfortunately, subsequent populations of Taiwanese did not afford the beautiful felines the same courtesy. In the first four years of the 2000s camera traps were set up. Not a single photograph was captured. After a further eight years of fruitless searching, the Taiwanese Snow Leopard was added to the ignominious list of extinct species.
14. Caribbean Monk Seal
Known to be the only seal species native to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, Monk Seals were discovered by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to America in 1494. The explorer nicknamed them ‘Sea Wolves’ and promptly ordered them to be slaughtered for his hungry crew. As the centuries passed the seals continued to be mercilessly hunted for their meat or oil, while fishermen regularly culled these fish poachers. They were declared extinct in June 2008.
15. Liverpool Pigeon
The one specimen of this species that exists is stored in the World Museum in Liverpool. A bird with a spotted green plumage, genetic studies revealed it was a close relative of the dodo, and is thought to have lived in the South Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Tahitian islanders hunted these birds close to extinction while westerner settlers introduced animals like pigs that caused havoc with their nests. It was finally officially listed as extinct in 2008 when it was added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature ‘Red List’ of Threatened Species.
16. Christmas Island Pipistrelle
Conservationists had set out to monitor numbers by deploying ultrasonic detection devices. All this highly sensitive equipment confirmed was a dearth of anything emitting ultrasonic squeaks. One likely source of their extinction was the use of pesticides against the ant colonies sharing the island with the Pipistrelles.
17. Madagascar Hippopotamus
There is ample evidence that hippopotamus once ranged widely, through fossil remains and folk tales handed down in Malagasy culture. As with most other extinct species, the event that was to have the most catastrophic impact on these water-dwelling animals was the arrival of the first humans on the island around 2,000 years ago. These large and ponderous creatures represented an easy target for hunting.
18. Japanese River Otter
Although these mammals were once common in Japan, with numbers running into millions, a photograph taken in 1979 proved to be the last known sighting of the species. Prized for their fur, otters were hunted on an industrial scale. These creatures are recalled on the anniversary of the death of the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902.) One of his most well-known verses is “Talks on Haiku from the Otter’s Den,” so Japan’s River Otter’s are remembered every September 19.
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