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The Tasmanian Wolf—
A carnivorous
marsupial, the Tasmanian wolf, or Thylacine, native to Tasmania
(an island off Australia),
was the strangest “wolf” the world has ever seen. One European observer called it a “kangaroo
masquerading as a wolf”. It was the only
member of its genus and of its family (Thylacindae). It had the head and teeth of a wolf, the
stripes of a tiger, the tail of a kangaroo and the backward-opening pouch of an
opossum. It measured 5-6ft. (150-180 cm)
in length. The Thylacine fed on
kangaroos, wallabies, and ground birds. Whoever named it “wolf” contributed to
its extinction since it suffered the same persecution as every creature named
wolf. They gained an unreasonable
reputation as sheep killers and the totally false reputation that they killed
for blood. In 1888 the Tasmanian government offered a bounty for the
Thylacine. Between 1888-1914 thousands
were killed. In 1910 an epidemic of
distemper, probably brought on by domestic dogs, reduced the Thylacine population
dangerously low. In 1936 the government
totally reversed its stance and granted the Thylacine complete protection. The gesture was absurd. The last wild
Thylacine was seen in 1930. The last
captured was 1933. Since 1933 there has
been no evidence of its existence. In 1966, a reserve for the protection
of the Thylacine was created even though none had been seen for 33 years.
Go figure!
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The Japanese Wolf—In Japan
there were once two kinds of wolf, there
are now none.
One was a subspecies of Grey Wolf called the Yeso Wolf,
which although extinct in Japan may still be found in small numbers in the Soviet Union. The
other species was referred to as a
miniature Japanese wolf sometimes called the Shamanu. The Shamanu was the world’s smallest
wolf. It measured only 2 ft. 9 in. in
length and stood 12in. high at the shoulder. It was
ash grey in color. Wolves have been
historically feared by man and
the Shamanu was no exception. It was
hunted and trapped persistently. In
addition to being valued for its fur and skin, it was offered for sale to the
newly arrived Europeans as food.
The main stronghold of the Shamanu was in Honshu, but
they were also numerous in Hokkaido
and Kuriles. In these regions the added incentive of a bounty operated.
Between 1878 and 1882 a bounty of seven yen per wolf was paid and after 1882 it rose to 10 yen. This created a yen (no pun intended) to hunt wolves. In 1905, a shamanu was killed near
Washikaguchi in Honshu and its pelt presented
to a European traveller. It was the last
Japanese Wolf ever seen. Back to Top
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OPAL ALLOTOCA-
This
rare species of fish was believed to be extinct for 20 years. It was rediscovered in a remote valley
of central Mexico by Museum of Natural History icthyologist Michael
Smith. The small fish gets its name from
it opalescent colors. It lived in Lake Magdalena
but it had not been seen since the lake dried up in 1970 due to human caused
habitat changes. Smith discovered the
new ones in an artificial pond near the dry lake bed. Fish species like the Opal Allotoca that live
in the desert are very important to scientists because they have already
survived climactic changes similar to global warming. A breeding population has been established at
the New York Aquarium to ensure the Opal Allotoca 's survival while a recovery
plan is developed for the species in the wild.  Back to Top
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Pyreanean
Ibex - The first extinction of the new millenium. A few hundred
years ago the Pyrenean Ibexes were very common in Spain. But by the end of the 19th
century, massive hunting had reduced the animal's number to less than hundred,
so they were close to extinction. Since the beginning of the twentieth century,
the population never rose above 40 individuals. Park director Luis Marquina
said the Pyrenean Ibex dwindled steadily over the past century as a result of
poaching, shrinking habitat and environmental factors, in some cases natural
disasters like landslides. In 1981, the population was reported to be 30. In 1993
only 10 individuals remained and a management plan to preserve the Pyrenean
Ibex was put in place. Celia had become the last of her kind when her fellow
died of old age in 1999. The very last living Pyrenean Ibex was found dead on 6 January 2000
under a fallen tree in Ordesa National Park in Spain. Forest rangers in the
Northeast of the country near the French border found the 13-year-old female
with her skull crushed. The greyish female with slightly curved horns was
called Celia.
Source: Peter Maas, extinct animals
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The Quagga- August 12 1883, the quagga became extinct when the
last mare at Amsterdam Zoo died. It was not immediately
understood that she was the very last of her kind. Because of the
confusion caused by the indiscriminate use of the term "Quagga" for
any zebra, the true quagga had been hunted to extinction without this being
realized until many years later. The Quagga, formerly inhabited areas
of South Africa.
Like other grazing mammals, quaggas had been ruthlessly hunted. They were seen
by the settlers as competitors for the grazing of their livestock, mainly sheep
and goats. Now, by breeding with selected southern plains zebras an attempt is
being made to retrieve at least the genes responsible for the Quaggas
coloration.  Back to Top
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The Passenger Pigeon, once probably the
most numerous bird on the planet, made its home in the billion or so acres of
primary forest that once covered North America east of the Rocky
Mountains. Their flocks, a mile wide and up to 300 miles long,
were so dense that they darkened the sky for hours and days as the flock passed
overhead. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from 1 billion to
close to 4 billion individuals. Total populations may have reached 5 billion
individuals and comprised up to 40% of the total number of birds in North America (Schorger 1995). This may be the only
species for which the exact time of extinction is known. The Passenger
Pigeon was similar to but larger than the Mourning Dove. It had a slate blue
head and rump, slate gray back, and a wine red breast. The colors of the male
were brighter than those of the femaleOver hunting, the clearing of forests to
make way for agriculture, and perhaps other factors doomed the species. The
decline was well under way by the 1850’s. The last nesting birds were
reported in the Great Lakes region in the
1890’s. The last reported individuals in the wild were shot at Babcock,
Wisconsin in 1899, and in Pike County, Ohio
on March 24, 1900. Some individuals, however, remained in captivity. The
last Passenger Pigeon died alone at the Cincinnati Zoo at about 1:00 pm on
September 1, 1914. Her name was Martha. Back to Top
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The Great Plains Lobo Wolf- 8 types of wolf
have become extinct in North America. The Lobo
wolf may have been the best known of our wolves. It inhabited the Great Plains from south Saskatchewan to Texas
This was once one of the most numerous of wolves. It fed on buffalo and antelope. Naturally
with the destruction of the great herds of the plains, it turned its
attention to cattle and sheep. It was
hunted and poisoned. This medium sized wolf measuring 51/2 ft. in length and
weighing 75-100 lbs. with very light coloring became extinct in 1926.
We did however find this information on the International Wolf Center
website:
http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp
The Great Plains wolf (Canis lupus
nubilus) is the most common subspecies of the gray wolf in the continental United States.
It currently inhabits the western Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. A typical Great
Plains wolf is between 4 1/2 and 6 1/2 feet long, from snout to
tail, weighs from 60 to 110 pounds, and may have a coat of gray, black or buff
with red-ish coloring. Like all wolves, the Great Plains
wolf is a very social animal that communicates using body language, scent
marking and vocalization with an average pack size of five to six wolves. The
territory size for the Great Plains wolf
depends on the type and density of prey. Typical prey for the Great
Plains wolf consists of white-tailed deer, moose, beaver, snowshoe
hare, and smaller birds and mammals.
The historic range of the Great
Plains wolf was throughout the United States
and the southern regions of Canada.
By the 1930s, Great Plains wolves were extirpated almost eliminated completely,
in much of the western United
States.
In Wisconsin
and Michigan, the Great
Plains wolf was eradicated by the mid- 1960s. Only a small group
of wolves survived in northeastern Minnesota
along the Ontario
border. In 1974, the Great Plains wolf in the Great Lakes
region became fully protected as an endangered species. By 1978, Minnesota's wolf population had increased enough that the
wolf was reclassified as threatened in Minnesota.
The Great Plains wolf is found in the Eastern
distinct population segment (DPS) categorized under the Endangered Species Act
which is now awaiting new legislation to completely remove it from the
endangered species list.
The estimated population for Great
Plains wolves for 2004 in the United
States was over 3,700 wolves. The population
was distributed as follows:
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Michigan
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360
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Isle
Royale
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19
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Wisconsin
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400
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Minnesota
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3,020
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The
Mexican Grizzly-
This was the largest native animal in Mexico.
It weighed over
700 lbs. and often measured over 6 ft. from head to tail. Because of its coloring, it was often called the Silver
Bear, or ‘el oso plateado’,’ the silver
one’.The Mexican Grizzly was the first of the American bears to come in contact
with Europeans. Because of the belief
that the grizzly was a threat to cattle, the bear had been hunted, trapped and
poisoned to such an extent that it
vanished from the South western U.S by 1930.
In all of Mexico, it could only be found in the state of Chihuahua. By 1960 only 30 bears survived and although a
few private citizens tried to protect them, ranchers in the region engaged in
an intensive campaign of poisoning, trapping and hunting them. By 1964 the Mexican Grizzly was extinct. Back to Top
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| The Dodo - The only verified facts about dodos are these:
They lived on Mauritius and were not seen after 1681.
These birds, descended from pigeons, could not fly as their breast bones
would not be able to support the strong muscles needed for flight.
Like many island-evolved creatures, they had grown to huge sizes. Although
the actual weight of a healthy adult is unknown, they are supposed to have
weighed up to 23kg and would have had a height of a meter (around three
feet). They had long, crooked, and hooked beaks, suitable for eating fruits and
seeds.
Their faces were bare skin, and they had yellow eyes. The head and body were
covered with soft, grey feathers. On the wings and tail they had some longer
white feathers.
Dodos had stout yellow legs. Skeleton studies suggest their hip bones were
positioned more upright than is usual for a bird.
Their feet had four toes, three facing forward and one, like a thumb, facing
back. Each toe had a thick black claw.
There is only one known skeleton of a dodo, which is on display in the
American Museum of Natural History. A head and a foot are preserved in the
Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Some fieldworkers have found other
dodo skeletons on display; these are, however, not confirmed 
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Kipunji- 2008 –“
Kipunji, we hardly knew ye”. Just
three years after it was discovered, a new species of monkey was threatened
with extinction according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Known as the
"kipunji," the large, forest-dwelling - Southern Highlands and Udzungwa Mountains
in Tanzania
-primate numbers 1,117 individuals, according to a study released in the July
2008 issue of the journal Oryx. The
team found that the monkey's range is restricted to just 6.82 square miles
(17.69 square kilometers) of forest in two isolated regions.
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