7 animals that lived along with your grandparents but not with you
More and more animals are becoming extinct each day, due to hunting, destruction of habitat, pollution, and so on. In the past 100 years, a significant number of animals have become extinct and you will never get the chance of seeing one, no matter what you do. Take a moment and think about what animals your grandchildren will have the chance to see, and what is the legacy you give them.
The animals aren’t presented in a certain order, it’s quite random.
7. Japanese Sea Lion
Believed to be extinct since 1950, the Japanese Sea Lion lived in the coastal areas of the Japanese Archipelago and the Korean Peninsula. Weighing up to 450 to 560 kg and reaching lengths of 2.3 to 2.5 meters (the males; females were smalled), they preferred sandy open beaches, but they sometimes used rocky areas for breeding too. Harvest records from Japanese commercial fishermen in the early 1900s show that as many as 3,200 sea lions were harvested, and in total about 17.000 specimens were killed, enough to cause their extinction.
6. Desert Rat Kangaroo
It lived in the driest, hottest and most desolate environments in Central Australia, relying on its fantastic resistance and independance of water; in fact, it was so prepared that it even shunned the succulent plants of the sandhills. It was first sighted by Europeans in 1841 and was not seen again for 90 years. The last sighting was in 1935, which makes it quite a mysterious creature. They were able to travel enormous distances and high speeds, and they ‘paused only to die’.
5. Phantom shiner
This elusive species of fish was once endemic to the Rio Grande basin and ranged from central New Mexico to southernmost Texas. Not too much information is available about them, and they were only spotted irregularly and only several times. The last known specimen was recorded in Mexico in 1975.
4. Labrador duck
The labrador duck was never common; it’s believed that this species of duck has been extinct since 1875. It’s also believed that it was the first bird to be extinct in North America sincer 1500. It was also called the Pied Duck and it fed on small molluscs. Its extinctions is quite a mystery, because it was not sought much by hunters. Still, humans are still probably responsable for its extinction as they caused the decline in mussels and other shellfish on which they are believed to have fed in their winter quarters, due to growth of population and industry on the Eastern Seaboard; this meant that the duck had no food left.
3. Quagga
The Quagga is a subspecies of the plains zebra which lived in great numbers in South Africa’s Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State. It got this name as an onomatopoeia, being said to resemble its call. The quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied although the only live photographed member was the Regent’s Park Zoo mare in London.
2. Tasmanian Wolf
It’s believed that the Tasmanian Wolf has been extinct for about 65 years. Despite its appearance and its popular name, this animal was not in fact a species of wolf, nor was it a dog, which it also resembled. It was actually a marsupial — the largest carnivorous marsupial in recent times — and was closely related to the kangaroo and the wombat. It’s extinction is attributed solely to human activities.
1. Caspian Tiger
Caspian Tigers lived in China, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, being the westernmost subspecies of tiger. It’s believed that they became extinct in the late 1950s, though there have been several alleged sightings of the tiger. Being the third largest species of tiger ever to walk the face of the Earth, it still couldn’t resist the massive hunting parties which killed them down, mostly for fur. The Russian government have worked heavily to eradicate the Caspian tiger during planning a huge land reclamation programme in the beginning of the 20th century. They considered there was no room for the tiger in their plans and so instructed the Russian army to exterminate all tigers found around the area of the Caspian Sea, a project that was carried out very efficiently. Three cheers for the Russian government.
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There never was such a thing as a Tasmanian Wolf. It was called a Tasmanian Tiger, as nearly every Australian was taught in school. You should check your facts before you publish articles of this nature.
2. It’s called a Tasmanian Tiger, not a Tasmanian Wolf. I think the more scientific name is Thylacine, or something like that.
while it is important to check your facts, the comments on the Tasmanian “Wolf” or “Tiger” de-emphasize the importance of the article here, which is that due to human activity many animals have become and are becoming extinct. I like this page!
Tasmanian Tiger could be called Tasmanian Wolf. Scientific name: Thylacinus cynocephalus (check URL above for pic/info)
Well, I want to call it a Tasmanian Duck!
What about that, huuuh???
It’s all arbitrary anyway, so what’s the point of quibbling over common names when everyone’s pretty clear as to what animal it’s talking about?
The Tasmanian Tiger was also widely known as a Tasmanian Wolf, it was just a less common name for it. So perhaps some people need to check their facts before telling others to do so. For scientific accuracy common or colloquial naming doesn’t matter, since we can all agree on the scientific name of the animal.
Frankly, I don’t think an extinct species cares a whole lot about what it’s being called, since it looks like it’s dead and gone forever one way or the other. In this particular case, all of the names came after the better part of the species had already been killed on the Australian mainland.
That’s interesting in itself, since it shows it’s the impact of humans and whatever means they bring to the cause that renders species extinct. These people didn’t need rifles, pollution, deforestation or vehicles to waste an entire species and it goes to show that the only thing that can really prevent our destructive impact on the environment is a conscious effort to control ourselves.
And look at how much our world’s economy has suffered without them…. do you hear that? It’ the worlds smallest violin playing
The Russian government should never have killed these majestic animals. If any Caspian Tigers are found alive, I’m sure you won’t mind if they are relocated to your neighborhood so they have a better chance of survival.
I completely agree with Matt. There is no such creature as a Tasmanian Wolf. I bet even a quick Wikipedia check would have proved you wrong. It raises the question of just how accurate your “sources” are.
References please.
I do not normally bother making comments but the trivial bantering above requires me too, Wolf/Tiger Who Cares the issue is extinction!
that is so horrible
People, please stop your unreferenced blabbering. The tasmanian tiger = the tasmanian wolf. Both names are correct and widely recognized as synonyms. Wiki people, wiki! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_wolf
amadeus is retarded, just because the death of these animals doesn’t effect the world economy doesn’t make it less important. No matter how much money you make your still going to die and your life is no more important than any of these extinct animals were.
Hi,
Just can’t let this go.
Google “tasmanian tiger” site:.au = 9840
Google “tasmanian wolf” site:.au = 274
So in Australia it’s overwhelming called the Tasmanian Tiger.
If a couple of thousand people outside America start calling the American Bald Eagle the Follically Challenged Eagle and someone updates a Wikapedia page to that effect - do you simply accept this digression or do you attempt to correct them and stop the spread of disinformation?
I’d be interested in knowing where the term Tasmanian Wolf came from - was it used a century ago and dropped in favour of tiger, or is it a recent addition when someone incorrectly referred to it as a wolf due to a poor memory. If the latter, then we should be attempting to correct the error - not support it as a valid alternative name.
It looks like Wikipedia included the name “Tasmanian Wolf” in the inception of the article, but there are no references, and no one has challenged it. I also wonder where it came from, as that name is certainly not in common usage in Australia. I like to think of them as more of a tiger, even though they’re a marsupial. That’s how I grew up referring to them.
Ahh, I miss the old Tasmanian tiger. They were delicious with soup, and their fur made the most divine ugg boots.
Gosh, and more and more species are being discovered all the time that we were not aware of.
Based on the information in this article it seems doubtful that the Desert Rat Kangaroo is actually extinct. It was only seen 2 times ever, 90 years apart?
Seems much more likely that it’s just doing what it seems to do so well; hiding.