There is a famous quote that says, “Unless one has truly let their heart out towards an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” *Ouch* that is deep, isn’t it? Well, I am sure most of us can relate to this because we all know the loyalty and care animals render towards humans. Just like how, humans follow a certain life cycle, so do animals and birds. They follow the same cycle – birth, adulthood and death. While death occurs, if the birth rate is not higher than death rate, the animals and birds reach the danger of extinction.
Statistics say that the rate of animals and birds becoming endangered for extinction is one is to five species every year! Yes, that is right. At least one species of birds or animals get into the list of extinction per year. About 30 to 50% of all species are heading towards the danger of extinction and they shall reach the numbers by the current mid-century. Also here are some knowledgeful animal infographics, that will give you knowledge in a completely different way.
There have been several reasons for extinction – events like volcanic eruptions, natural climate shifts and asteroid strikes. 2017 was no exception and we had lot of animals species that entered the list of extinction in that year too.
Short List of Recently Extinct Animals Species 2017
The Western Black Rhinos
This unique species in the race of Rhinos were found to be extinct in the year of 2017. They were majorly found in the suburb areas of South Africa. Surveys and researches have proven that the population of this species was somewhere in hundreds, back in the year 1980, but the number gradually kept decreasing as more people poached them, due to their unique tusks. There were just 10 western black rhinos in 2000, and last year there were none. Though, there were zero numbers of this species from 2011, surveys were able to find this out only last year.
The Tasmanian Tigers
This name in the list would not come as a shock to most of us, because they were endangered to be extinct since a very long time. Talking about its appearance, this one looks quite similar to a dog, with minor differences including a stiff tail and a pouch on the abdominal. The Tasmania tigers were first discovered in the natural habitats of Tasmania, hence the name. Before they were totally wiped off, a few hundreds were found in Australia and Britain. Why are they extinct today? Well, to the surprise it is not just because of poaching. Rare diseases amongst them also led them to complete demise. Here are some popular species of monkeys in the world
Mammoth
The Wooly Mammoth, were extensively found in the areas of North America and the Artic places of Asia. They had been in existence since humans had evolved, but unfortunately, they are now in the list of extinction as of 2017.
Quagga
When you see them, you could mistake them to be just a normal zebra, but when you know the species well, you will understand that they were a Quagga, a rare sub species of the niche of zebra. The difference between them and the normal Zebra is that, the latter is completely stripped from front to back while a Quagga is striped white and black only in the front half. This species was found in majority in the forests and natural habitats of South Africa. Just like the above two, unfortunately this species was also prey to hunting, because people found this animal to be an easy replacement to domestic help.
Ibex
The Pyrenean Ibex are a sub species of the ibex, and had been surviving since the 19th century. The shocking part is that the reasons for their extinction as of 2017, is still unknown and researches are striving to arrive at the reason. Although, the guesses are that poaching and competition for food and survival was the reason behind the extinction of this subspecies of Spanish Ibex!
Dodo
Found in the parts of Mauritius, they have been a very famous species. They looked similar to ducks, but upon having a close look, they had very unique features. The reasons of extinction for this bird is also still unknown. Know some fun facts about grizzly bears.
Passenger Pigeons
This species of birds have created tons of records. From being the birds to have recorded highest migrations to having flying at great heights, they have it all on their name! If they are found in North America today, they will be at the Atlantic Coast the next day. There were found in billions of numbers, but off late they have been prey to human hunting, as they formed part of cheap meat for industries. Since then, thousands of these passenger pigeons were hunted and slaughtered to be then sold as edible meat. Unfortunately, the huge number of these birds, today stand to zero.
Sea Cow
The Stellar Sea cows have been one of the largest mammals in the world. They could grow up to 9 meters. They were hunted towards extinction, it all began from the Europeans poaching them down for domestic help of meat. We will discuss about few of these amazing creatures in this planet.
Though, lot of countries, today are taking strict legal actions against this act, yet there are some people who just do not want to give this up due to various reasons. Let’s all do our bit to protect the wildlife as much as we can.
I love Tasmanian tigers!!! They are my favorite!
This is enjoyable material. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I strongly suggest Kelly take an English class or a writing course. Clear, concise (not overly wordy) easy to read sentences are a happy goal! ???