10 Animals That Went Extinct In The Last Century

Sentinel Digital Desk

Paradise Parrot

The Paradise parrot, which used to live in eastern Australia, hasn't been sighted since 1928. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) 'Red List' of vulnerable species, it became extinct primarily as a result of drought, overgrazing by farm animals, and people cutting down eucalyptus trees.

Sicilian Wolf

According to a study conducted by the Natural History Museum of Verona, humanity drove the Sicilian wolf to extinction because of its predation on farmers' cattle. These wolves are native to Sicily and are reported to have run out of wild food to eat during the island's environmental crisis.

Tasmanian Tiger

European colonists were scared of the Tasmanian tiger and believed it would prey on their sheep, so they hunted and killed them to diminish their numbers. However, when the Tasmanian tiger became rarer, humans began to hunt it primarily for display in museums and zoos. The last one perished at Hobart Zoo in 1936.

Xerces Blue Butterflies

The Xerces blue butterflies were found in the coastal sand dunes of the San Francisco Peninsula. Scientists believe they were pushed to extinction in the early 1940s, making them the first American butterfly species to become extinct as cities expanded and took over their habitats.

Japanese Sea Lion

Japanese sea lions were hunted for their skins, whiskers, organs, and oil, and some were seized for the circus trade. This, combined with persecution by fishers and even shooting by soldiers, most certainly resulted in their demise. They last appeared in the 1950s.

Crescent Nail-Tail Wallaby

These little marsupials were prevalent in southern and central Australia until European colonists introduced foxes and cats, which preyed on them. Damage to their habitat could have contributed to their disappearance in the 1950s.

Bubal Hartebeest

According to the IUCN, humans overhunted the Bubal hartebeest for many years, possibly centuries, eventually leading to its extinction. Until the 1950s, they lived in North African grasslands and are likely to have appeared in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings.

Caspian Tiger

The Caspian Tiger was one of the world's largest big cats, with males reaching almost three metres in length. It was last sighted in the 1970s, but its collapse began in the late nineteenth century, when it was hunted by Russian colonial forces and its habitat was destroyed by farmers clearing land.

Golden Toad

The freshwater Golden toad of Costa Rica's cloud forests became extinct for a variety of reasons. According to the IUCN, global warming, an infectious disease, and air pollution all had an impact. Previously a common species, it has not been observed since 1989.

Pinta Giant Tortoise

According to the IUCN, the Pinta Giant Tortoise, a species of Galápagos tortoise found on Ecuador's Pinta Island, was poached by nineteenth-century seamen for on-board food. Fishermen in the twentieth century continued to hunt the population that was dwindling. Then, in 1959, humans introduced goats to Pinta, destroying the tortoise habitat. In June 2012, the last known Pinta Tortoise, Lonesome George (in captivity since 1972), died, bringing the species to extinction.