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.
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
About Bryan Nelson
my favourite animal is wolly mammoth. why do they extint? why do they die?
They die because the earth constantly changes and they can’t keep up and from the little ammount of reproduction.
Wholly mammoths went extinct around the end of the last major ice age. These behemoths were coated in dense, thick fur and lived in large herds that fed on grasses and similar vegetation. These animals were acclimated to periods of extreme cold and could withstand prolonged winter-like conditions (snow, ice, wind, etc.) When the climate of the Earth began to change due to natural processes, their habitats disappeared. They had to either ascend mountains or migrate further North to withstand the more temperate climate the Earth now supported (which is why many specimens are found throughout modern Russia and Siberia). Although this argument is subject to speculation, ancient humans may have also contributed to the disappearance of the mammoth due to hunting.
these animals are the cutest animals on the planet of earth! what do you want to bet they are cuter on mars!
This is truly sad, I hate extinction! I see no reason 2 go arund killing animals, why cnt we be vegetarians, its not like were gona DIE if we dnt! Take the Passenger Pigeon for example, they were in the BILLIONS and suddenly their numbr drop down 2 a low numbr! This is outrageous! Animals are as important to society as humans. w/out animals whats going 2 happen to mankind? If i could stop it all I WOULD! And all this hunting season, crap! What the hEck is the point 2 THAT???! I’d like to know, and NOW!
Yesh.
aggreed id rather be a vegetarian and stop hunting season its BULL i hope the government relizes tht soon.
I know what you mean and COME ON hunting sprees relly RELLY! this is just bull total BULL I don’t get IT why cant the goverment stop IT!
I dont know about becoming a vegan but everything in moderation. People want to get guns and go all trigger happy damn they need to let shit live long and prosper
if these animals are “extinct” and they were “rediscovered” the should be known as lazarus taxons.
Aww that’s awful I feel so bad and they deserved better than this. I wish we’d done more to keep them alive.
For all the non-meat eating non-hunting people, you should do some research before posting aimless comments attacking hunters. While wrongs in the hunting and harvesting of animals in the past have been done. Modern day hunting is monitered and scrutinized beyond beleif. Things like weather patterns, food sustainabilty for the animals, winter die off (natural casues), breeding patterns, predator ratios. As of current we now have better elk populations than we had 60 years ago. Hunting isn’t just about killing all the animals. Yes I am also a member of the Rocky Mountian Elk Foundation which helps preserve thousands of acres of habit for Elk each year. That way my children can enjoy the responcibilty of hunting too. If it can be hunted there is an orginazation or a dozen nation wide that work to preserve land, habit, and keep over hunting down to provide generations to come. What can you say you did last year to help these Poor animals?
it’s a toad……. oh, and it’s golden.
yeah, those pesky elephants could rise up and take over the planet if they wanted.
elihi – you are an idiot.
lets be more worried about the extinction of humans
let’s not
1. all of you who are saying “The government should do something to stop animals from dying” “We should all be vegetarian.” are IDIOTS! The government would be overthrown almost instantly if they tried making it so we couldn’t hunt. It is human nature to eat meat. I would love to see any of you vegans try to survive against someone who eats meat and veggies. I have a huge feeling you would fail much sooner than the omnivores.
2. Animals will die and go extinct. That is just how nature works, if nature didn’t work that way then the Dinos and other extinct animals would still be around. Man doesn’t have the say all when it comes to animal extinction, we CAN”T stop it no matter how hard we try, we can only prolong the inevitable.
3. not many people are effected by any of these animals going extinct.
if you feel you can change my mind (which you most likely cant) email me with a legit arguement at uighhhgh@gmail.com (it’s weird I know)
hunting is actually used to maintain animails if we didnt hunt more would die from starvation…just saying
yes but the difference between humans hunting is that humans go for the most healthy and most beautiful ( the buck with the biggest antlers), while natural predators hunt the weak and sick. When Humans hunt those who have the best genes they leaves the unfit to procreate more unhealthy individuals. Natural predators are the ones who actually keep the weak and sick from procreating. Most of the time when there is a necessity for hunters to hunt to keep populations from overgrowing is due to the fact that the natural predators of these groups have been killed off.
The point of hunting season is that some ecosystems actually have too much of an animal, which is why we hunt, balance it out, and then it becomes illegal again until next season. It’s normal. Second, we can’t all be vegetarians because it is unnatural. We have flat and canine teeth because we are meant to be omnivores. We can eat meat from animals that are not in danger of extinction (cows, chickens, etc.) It’s not like we’re serving McTigers with a side of french fries. Animals are a vital part of or world. I am deeply saddened to see such animals go extinct, especially seeing as how there was no point in it (some extinctions are probably necessary, like dinos) If I could find a way to bring some species back I would, if there was a way to stop senseless, ignorant killing of endangered species I would do it. The fact is however, making all hunting illegal and universal vegetarianism is not the answer at all.I’m writing this response in a fair and balanced way so that hopefully you understand. I don’t want to be one of those people saying “I don’t care about animals, stop crying while I go hunt some tigers on top of my pet elephant” that just doesn’t seem like an argument, sounds stupid.
i completly agree it is completly imature to think that just because something goes extinct we dont eat meat everything goes extinct for a reason
Sometimes the animal thay we find the most common among us becomes enlisted in the extincts.Why is that?
there taken 4 granted and often LISTED as pest
Is it true about Quagga? I cannot belive it. Is it half zebra and half house? Why it’s extinct?
not cool this was stolen from another website
i hate extinction because many animals have dead but the most common reason for animals extinction is by the interfearence of the man kind to be honest n also by changes in the climate.MY suggest is to not kill the species of animals indiscriminately we r destroying the beautiful world we live in by hunting then……………….
All extinct animals will be brought back to life at the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ ,they will be in heaven…..
Attention anti-hunters, without hunting animals would deplete their resources making it hard for other animals that rely on the same food source to thrive. Thus making both populations of animals extinct with time. Maybe if you did some research you would see that if we don’t hunt populations will grow out of control and car accidents involving deer, etc. will tremendously increase! Insurance companies will have to pay out even more money and our economy.. well you can forget about it ever coming back, but yeah go ahead and blame hunting for your thick skull not understanding.
From: Highschooler that acctually cares about animals. (being a vegetarian causes more harm to animal extinction than hunting)