Timeline of extinctions

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

Holocene Mass Extinction

11th millennium BC

*Circa 10,000 BC — North America: Dire Wolf, Smilodon, Cave Lion, Giant beaver, Ground sloth, Mammoth, and American lion all become extinct.
*: — "Homo floresiensis", the human's last known surviving close relative, becomes extinct.

7th millennium BC

*Circa 6,000 BC — Steppe Wisent, a bison species inhabiting steppe from Asia to North America, disappears.
*: - Irish Elk becomes extinct, possibly due to changes in the ecosystem.

4th millennium BC

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

3rd millennium BC

*The Balearic Islands Cave Goat, or 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 like goats, cows, pigs and sheep and dogs were the probable causes for the extinction of this animal.

2nd millennium BC

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

1st millennium BC

*Circa 100 BC — Syrian Elephant becomes extinct due to overhunting for ivory.

1st millennium AD

11th century

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

2nd millennium AD

16th century

*Circa 1500 — New Zealand's Moa, a large flightless bird, goes extinct.
*: — 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 it's food source the Moa.

17th century

*1627 — The last known Auroch dies. This large wild cattle was indigenous to much of Europe.

*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. Later the species has become an icon on animal extinction [ [http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/dodobird.htm Raphus cucullatus] at the Recently Extinct Animals website] .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 hunting for food, oil, and skins.

19th century

*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.

*1884 — The last known Great Auk killed. The bird was hunted to extinction.

*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

1910s

*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 Ukranian wild horse, dies in captivity.

1930s

*1930 — Last known Giant Aye-aye killed in Madagascar. The species was 2.5-5 times the size of the endangered Aye-aye.

*: - Darwin's Rice Rat becomes extinct on the Galapagos, probably due to the introduction of brown and black European rats.

*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.

1940s

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

1950s

* Circa 1950 — The Israel painted frog goes extinct because its marsh habitat is drained.

*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.
* 1966 The last Arabian Ostrich died.

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.

1980s

*1989 — The Golden Toad of Costa Rica becomes extinct due to climate change.

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 may have been the reason for the snail's demise. cite news | title = Climate change claims snail | url = http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0813-snail.html | publisher = mongabay.org | date = 2007-08-13 | accessdate - 2007-09-22]

21st century

*2000 — The last Pyrenean Ibex dies under a fallen tree. The reasons for its extinction are still being debated.

*2006 — China's freshwater river dolphin, the baiji, declared "functionally extinct"cite news | title = The Chinese river dolphin is functionally extinct | url = http://www.baiji.org/expeditions/1.html | publisher = baiji.org | date = 2006-12-13 | accessdate - 2006-12-13] after a survey failed to find a single animal.:: — Western Black Rhinoceros (a subspecies of the Black Rhino). The World Conservation Union has declared the subspecies to be tentatively extinct [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2260631,00.html West African black rhino 'is extinct' - Times Online ] ] ; the last population was in Cameroon.

See also

*List of extinct animals
*Extinction event
*Timeline of evolution
*Timeline of environmental events
*List of environment topics
*List of environmental issues

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.iucn.org/ The World Conservation Union]
* [http://extinctanimals.petermaas.nl/ Recently Extinct Animals website]