10 species of animals that were exterminated by man
The last Tasmanian wolf - a marsupial mammal with a dog's head - died in an Australian zoo in 1936. And although for a long time it was believed that some unknown infection was responsible for the disappearance of an entire species of animals, which marsupial wolves allegedly contracted from dogs brought to Australia, in fact, the responsibility for the extermination of this species of wolves lies entirely with man.
Unfortunately, Tasmanian wolves are far from the only animal species that has been completely or partially destroyed by humans. Yes, in the natural world animals meet with a large number of threats to their own existence — there are abrupt climate changes, and predators who also need something to eat, and unexpected epidemics — but the biggest threat to the animal world has always been man with his ineradicable craving for murder. We have selected 10 species of animals that have been exterminated by man in order to show what we have lost.
1. The Tasmanian Wolf
Local Australian farmers considered him a potential threat to sheep and therefore mercilessly exterminated wolves, not paying any attention to where they saw them and whether they posed a threat to others.
"Many believe that the cruel and unjustified extermination of wolves could not lead to the complete extinction of an entire species of animals, and blame it on some unknown disease that allegedly mowed down the entire population of thylacines," says Thomas Prose of the Australian University of Adelaide.
However, scientists have studied this issue for a very long time and comprehensively, using various models, and found that only humans are responsible for the extermination of Tasmanian wolves.
It is believed that the last marsupial wolf was killed on May 13, 1930, and in 1936, the last marsupial wolf kept in captivity died of old age in one of the zoos in Australia.
Year of complete disappearance: 1936
2. Woolly mammoth
Mammoths lived in groups headed by an older female, and constantly moved from place to place, since an adult mammoth needed about 180 kilograms of food daily. Which - and this is obvious - does not involve trampling in one place.
The fully woolly mammoth disappeared about 10 thousand years ago. And although there are many theories as to why they died out (loss of genetic diversity, climate change, epidemic outbreak, etc.), modern research is increasingly inclined to believe that the final blow to this species of mammoths was inflicted by the human hand.
Time of total extinction: 10,000 years ago
3. Dodo, or the Mauritian dodo
Dodo lived in Mauritius for several centuries, completely unafraid of its natural enemies, which simply did not exist on the island. That's why the bird was flightless — it simply had no one to hide from.
Year of complete disappearance: presumably 1681
4. Sea cow
Steller's cow lived off the coast of the Commander Islands and had not only low mobility, huge size and complete lack of fear of man, but also delicious meat. The latter was the reason that less than 30 years after its discovery, the sea cow was completely exterminated.
The sailors ate its meat, used cow fat for food and for lighting, made boats out of the skin. In a word, they used everything they could reach. At the same time, the capture and killing of sea cows were often unjustifiably cruel and senseless: "Hunters often simply threw spears at a sea cow, and then let it swim away, hoping that the animal would die and its corpse would be brought ashore."
Year of complete disappearance: 1768
5. The wandering Pigeon
The decline in the number of pigeons took place at a more or less smooth pace somewhere until 1870, after which in less than 20 years their number decreased catastrophically and the last pigeon in the wild was seen in 1900. In captivity, wandering pigeons lasted as long as 1914, when the last bird named Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Year of complete disappearance: 1914
6. North African Cow antelope
Year of complete disappearance: 1954
7. Javanese tiger
Moreover, half of these tigers lived on the territory of a specially created reserve. But even this was not enough to save the population, and by 1970 their number had decreased to seven individuals. The exact time of the extinction of Javanese tigers remains unknown, but most likely it happened in the mid-1970s.
From time to time there are messages that on Java has seen a Javanese tiger again, or even a mother with several cubs, but there is no documentary evidence that tigers really survived in nature.
Year of complete disappearance: circa 1970
8. The Zanzibar leopard
The campaign to exterminate the animals began in the second half of the 1960s, and after some 30 years there were almost no Zanzibar leopards left in the wild. Scientists began sounding the alarm in the early 90s of the last century, but a few years later the program for the conservation of the species was curtailed as unpromising.
Year of complete disappearance: 1990s
9. Pyrenean Capricorn
Scientists managed to take samples of his DNA, and they attempted to create a clone of capricorn, but, unfortunately, the cloned cub died shortly after birth due to various birth defects.
Year of complete disappearance: about 2000
10. Western Black Rhinoceros
Scientists have been actively searching for survivors of this species since 2006. However, since their search was unsuccessful for five years, the western black rhino was declared extinct. Other species of black rhinoceros are also under threat of extinction.
Year of complete disappearance: 2011
Keywords: Extinction | Man