THE SAD STORY OF EXTINCTED ANIMALS

 

 

Animal extinctions may be caused by natural occurrences such as climatic heating or cooling or changes in sea levels. For example, animals that have become extinct are:

West African Black Rhinoceros

It was found in several countries towards the southeastregion of Africa. Measuring 3-3.8 metres long and 1.4-1.7 metres in height, this rhinowould have weighed 800-1,300 kg. In the 1930’s preservation action was taken to protectthe species, but the numbers continued to decline. The last West African Black Rhino wasseen in Cameroon in 2006.

Tasmanian tiger

Native to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, the Tasmanian Tiger was a large carnivorous marsupial.  Not related to tigers, the creature had the appearance of a medium-to-large-size dog but dark stripes gave ita tiger-like appearance. It is believed to have been hunted to extinction.

 

Steller's Sea Cow

It is believed that Steller's Sea Cow which grew to at least 8-9 metres and weighed around 8-10 tons, inhabited the Near Islands, southwest of Alaska and the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. It is believed that the mammal wastame and spent most of its time eating kelp; this, and the fact that it was unable to submerge its enormous body, is possibly what made it vulnerable to human hunters.

 

Dodo

An extinct flightless bird that inhabited Mauritius,the Dodo was about one metre tall and may have weighed 10–18 kg. It is presumed the bird became flightless due to the availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators.

 

Woolly Mammoth

An enormous mammal, believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant. The creature was over 4 metres tall and could weigh over6 tons. They were covered in fur and their curved tusks could easily be up to 5 metres long. The Woolly Mammoth eventually disappeared 10,000 years ago through a combination of hunting by humans and the disappearance of its habitat through climate change.

 

Sabre-tooth Cats

They were carnivores named for the elongated blade like canine teeth, which in some species were up to 50cm long. Quite bear-like in build,they were believed to be excellent hunters and hunted animals such as sloths and mammoths.It is believed the Sabre-tooth Cat’s extinction may be linked to the decline andextinction of the large herbivores they hunted.

 

Yangtze River Dolphin

Yangtze River dolphin was last seen in 2002. Four years later, a group of researchers traversed 2,000 miles of the Yangtze River to see if they could find one but to no avail. The cause of its extinction is overfishing, pollution, loss of habitat, poaching, and boat traffic.

The Passenger Pigeons

 

Estimates say that the passenger pigeon population numbered in the millions and possibly billions when the first Europeans began settling in America. Humans hunted the pigeon and consumed it to the point of extinction with the last known bird dying in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

Camilla, 3scB