Syrian Wild Ass
The Syrian Wild Ass was likely extinct when the last known captive animal died at the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, in 1928. It once had a wide range throughout Mesopotamia, where reports were common of large herds which used to roam wildly in the mountains and desert steppes of the Middle East.
Although already threatened beforehand, it is said that the Syrian Wild Ass completely collapsed during World War I, when their habitat was overrun with heavily armed Turkish and British troops. One account remarked that ”it could not resist the power of the modern guns in the hands of the Anazeh and Shammar nomads, and its speed, great as it may have been, was not sufficient always to escape from the velocity of the modern motor car which more and more is replacing the Old Testament Camel-Caravan.”
Baiji River Dolphin
The inevitable appears to have arrived for the Baiji River Dolphin, a peaceful, majestic dolphin which had inhabited China’s Yangtze River for at least the last 20 million years. The dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an expedition late in 2006 failed to record a single individual after an extensive search of the animal’s entire range.
Although unconfirmed sightings have come out since then, it’s unlikely that any living individuals, should they still exist, would be able find each other and breed. This tragic demise makes the Baiji Dolphin the first recorded extinction of a cetacean in modern times.
The population had been declining rapidly in recent decades since the rise of Chinese industrialization, which has utilized the Yangtze River as one of its primary arteries. The river is now one of the worst polluted major waterways in the world, being heavily relied upon for transportation and hydroelectricity. Roughly 12% of the world’s human population lives and works within the river’s catchment zone.
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Traditional Chinese tales refer to the Baiji as a symbol of peace and prosperity. However, that traditional veneration was denounced during China’s “Great Leap Forward”, which called for hunting the animal in the name of redefining Chinese prosperity.
Regrettably, the Chinese may have got what they called for. Now that the dolphin is extinct, it’s difficult to avoid drowning the kind of prosperity it once symbolized along with it.
Image Credits: Ibex photo by José M. Gómez under the GNU Free Documentation License; Baiji Dolphin photo copyright by the baiji.org foundation, Steven Leatherwood; All other images are public domain via Wiki Commons
Why do we kill animals they have no defences against us but we still kill them? The Rhino has armour against it’s predators but not the weapons we make!!
i belive there is a quagga in the Bronx Zoo in the Bronx you may wanna see
this is to show all of us humans how selfish we are and how ignorant we are!!! never thinking about the future causes us to suffer the consequences and when we realize what we’ve done its too late. hopefully my kids will enjoy to see the animals alive today before the too go extinct……..
wow i like the way you think you think very well…….keep it up!!
how very very awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it is not ALL our falt !!! they kill each othere there are many reasons x
pertend we are the exinct animals how does that make you feel? me to. the humamrace destoried in 20 mintues! We HAVE TO SAVE ARE EARTH!!!!!!!!!
We were the cause of these poor animals extinction. We should be a shame of our self.Those Tasmanian Tiger looked cool but we killed them just to have fun well it is not fun…it is animal murder.
it makes me want to cry, the fact that only 1% of the world’s animals is left, really, we should be utterly ashamed.
What if we’re next?
That wouldn’t be good, would it? Put yourselves in their places.
this is the best website ever thanks for everything my teacher gave me an A!!
I can’t read thuis whole article for It makes me really angry and upset, Especially about the Tasmanian Tiger. Government initiatives to fight animal population growth or whatever excuse to hunt innocent animals always end up with tragic results. There is no reason to trust any politician…
The reason that the world is in the shape it’s in now can be pointed directly at the white capitalist man. If not for them wanting to own everything and not be happy even when they have more then they can spend the world would’nt be in the shape it’s in now. The white man went around the world killing off the native people and animals then claiming the land as their own. It only took them 400 years to wreck north america by polluting the water, air, land. Whats discusting is that there still doing it today all over the world directly or indirecly. eg Middel east
Very interesting.This site gives me the desire to take pictures of rare animals myself. People have caused the demise of some animals but they are the reason why many species are still around. What about the dinosaurs? We cannot blame SUVs for their extinction.
Please do not throw me into this mix. I am White male and a private business owner. My business is germinating and selling native plant species. I try very hard to educate our customer base on the value of using native plants in their landscapes and limiting their lawns. I promote wildlife habitats and to leave all native creatures including venomous snake species free to live their live. Yes white Americans are as a whole environmentally challenged, but painting any culture with such a broad brush stroke like your comments, well show ignorance. I have met many other white people that are far more right politically and much more environmentally aware and active than most liberals I associate with.
I have rarely seen an African, Chinese, Asian, American Indian, Eastern or Western person at any of the environment work shops or work days in my Atlanta, Georgia. This City has many cultures, which I welcome to my community. I been doing environmental work for 20+ years. Your welcome!
Jim Rodgers
if the animals were extinct just a little bit early then
they might have collected their specimen and have combined with same type of animals and boughtsome new animal like liger
go to http://www.google.com and type for genetic combination of animals
Mere lamenting is not enough!!!Educate!!! Educate the present generation (old and young)to respect, to protect everything in this world,right from a blade of grass to the ultimate human. This is not the duty of the government alone….all of us can do something to bring an awareness among the people.
But the government also has to enforce the law and take stringent measures against law breakers.
These animals have been taken away from our future generations by our own foolishness.
me parece muy interesante pero tengo una dificulta con el idioma quisiera también aportarles un poco en los animales que están en la región donde vivo. A pesar de que Colombia es un país con una gran biodiversidad pero también tenemos problemas con manatí o vaca de agua dulce.
humans are causing all this so we should kill all humans for all the animals that died because of us
YOu mentioned 11 but there are four pictures. I am curious about the other five.
thanks,
i could really care less about these animals they aint doin nun for me so FORGET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that is super awsome but at the same time super sad
thats super awosme
you all people lets show a little love to our por animals or we all desaper make a wave and rock on from destiny plz donot trow trash to the strets bye
These people who kill animals are so cruel. They even did not leave a single animal. They just go on killing and killing.
you should also show pictures
You are right about the importance of including photos; the posting had them previously, and some of our image libraries have since been damaged. We are working on getting the photos restored.
I only see 4 of them and no pictures attached…
we should be able to bring some animals back. we brought some animals here. I think it was never necessary to let them go extinct. i think it was a tradgety that we lost the quagga, i think it was such a majestic, wonerful animal. when i look at these pictures from long ago knowing i will never see them healthy and living again. i have a feeling in me that the poor animal will never live. and the humans that deserve to see them ( like the quagga )will never enjoy there true beauty.:( im in tears.