10 Animals Assumed Extinct in Last Decade
Species extinction is to global health what finding metastatic cancer cells is to one’s individual health – a sign that something fatal is going on. Species carry out specific functions that keep the biosphere working, just like the different organ tissues in your body carry out the tasks that keep you alive. How many species can you remove before the whole grand machinery grinds to a halt? The fact is, no-one knows. Therefore, wouldn’t the responsible thing be to go to extraordinary lengths to stop any more. Here are the 10 species assumed to be extinct in the last decade.
1. Golden Toad
The golden toad, which is occasionally referred to as the Monteverde toad or the orange toad, was a species that existed only in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. It was once a common species, but no specimen has been seen since 1989. The toad’s breeding places were well-known and closely watched — in 1988, only 8 males and two females could be found, and in 1989, only a single male could be located. Extensive searches for the golden toad since then have failed to locate another specimen, and the species was declared extinct in August 2007. The amphibian disease chytridiomycosis, airborne pollution and global warming probably contributed to the species’ demise
2. Baiji dolphin
The last documented sighting of People’s Republic of China baiji dolphin, or Yantze River dolphin, was in 2002, and while the species is listed as critically endangered, scientists say it may already be extinct. In 2006, scientists from the Baiji Foundation travelled up the Yangtze River for more than 2,000 miles equipt with optical tools and underwater microphones, but were incapable to detect any living dolphins. The foundation published a report on the expedition and declared the animal functionally extinct, meaning too few potential breeding pairs remained to ensure the species’ survival.
3. Pyrenean Ibex
The Pyrenean Ibex gets one of the more interesting stories among extinct animals, for it was the first species to ever be brought back into existence via cloning, only to go extinct again just 7 minutes after being born due to lung failure. The Pyrenean Ibex was native-born to the Pyrenees, a mountain range in Andorra, France and Spain. The Pyrenean ibex was still abundant in the fourteenth century (Day 1981). The Pyrenean ibex’s population declined due to a “slow but continuous persecution” and disappeared from the French Pyrenees and the eastern Cantabrian chain of mountains by the mid-nineteenth century. Its position has been critical since the beginning of the twentieth century, when it was estimated that the Pyrenean population in Spain numbered only about 100 individuals. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the population never rose above 40 individuals. In 1981, the population was reported to be 30. At the end of the 1980′s the population sized was estimated at 6-14 individuals. The last naturally born Pyrenean Ibex, named Celia, died on January 6th, 2000, after being found dead under a fallen tree at the age of 13. That animal’s only companion had died just a year earlier due to old age.
4. Hawaiian crow
This autochthonal Hawaiian bird was proclaimed extinct in in 2002 when the final two known wild individuals vanished. Some birds remain in captivity, and between 1993 and 1999, more than forty birds were covered in a captive breeding program. The birds were released into a lightly managed habitat and closely supervised, but releases were abandoned in 1999 because of increasing death rate. A reintroduction plan is being developed, but about 75 Hawaiian crows would be needed for the plan to work. The reasons for the bird’s extinction is not fully understood, but researchers speculate that an introduced disease, such as avian malaria, might have played a significant role in the species’ decline.
5. Po’ouli
A native of Maui, Hawaii Island, the Po’ouli, or Black-faced Hawaiian honeycreeper, was only discovered in the 1970s. The birds inhabited the southwest slope of Haleakala volcano. But the population went down rapidly, and by 1997 there were only three known Po’ouli left. Efforts to mate the remaining birds failed and the species was formally declared extinct seven years later in 2004.
Cause of extinction: Habitat loss, along with disease, predators and a decline in its food source — native tree snails — are all seen as reasons for the bird’s demise.
6. Spix’s macaw
Seventy-one Spix’s macaws exist in captivity and the last known bird in the wild vanished in 2000 and no others are known to remain. The species is currently listed as “critically endangered” instead of extinct, because not all regions of expected habitat have been soundly surveyed. The bird is native to northern Brazil and in 1987 the three known remaining birds were captured for trade. However, a single male bird was discovered in 1990 and paired with a female bird in captivity, but seven weeks after the female’s release, she collided with a power line and died.
The fall of the Spix’s macaw is attributed to hunting and trapping, habitat demolition and the introduction of Africanized bees, or “killer bees,” which compete for nesting sites.
7. Liverpool pigeon
Liverpool pigeon, or spotted green pigeon, is an extinct bird species of unidentified origin, altho some researchers suppose it might have lived in Tahiti. The only remaining specimen of the bird resides in the Merseyside County Museum, and scientists say it’s likely that the species was close to extinction before European exploration began in the Pacific. The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the species in 2008 and declared it extinct, but the reasons for its extinction remain unkown.
8. Madeiran Large White
The beautiful Madeiran Large White butterfly was found in the valleys of the Laurisilva woods on Portugal’s Madeira Islands. The butterfly’s closest relative, the Large White, is common across Europe, Africa and Asia.
Cause of extinction: Loss of habitat due to construction as well as pollution from agricultural fertilizers are two major causes of the species’ decline. In 2007 was declared extinct.
9. West African Black Rhinoceros
The impressive West African black rhino was declared extinct in 2006, after environmentalists failed to find any in their last remaining habitat in Cameroon. The West African black rhino was one of four subspecies of rhinoceros.
Cause of extinction: Poachers hunted the rhino for its horn, which is believed by some in Yemen and China to possess aphrodisiacal powers.
10. Alaotra grebe
The alaotra grebe, which is also known as a Delacour’s little grebe or a rusty grebe, was declared extinct in 2010, altho it could have been extinct years earlier. Scientists were uncertain to write the bird away too soon because it lived in Lake Alaotra, which is located in a distant part of Madagascar. Thorough surveys of the area in 1989, 2004 and 2009 failed to find any evidence of the species, and the last confirmed sighting of the bird was in 1982.
The alaotra grebe population started to decline in the twentieth century because of habitat destruction and because the few remaining birds started mating with little grebes, creating a hybrid species. Believing the bird’s restricted range and lack of mobility, scientists declared it extinct, and today, only one photograph exists of an alotra grebe in the wild.
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