List of recently extinct mammals

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Recently extinct mammals are defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as any mammals that have become extinct since the year 1500 CE. Since then, roughly 80 mammal species have become extinct.{{cite book|last1=Ceballos|first1=G.|last2=Ehrlich|first2=A. H.|last3=Ehrlich|first3=P. R.|year=2015|title=The Annihilation of Nature: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-1421417189}} "69"

Extinction of taxa is difficult to confirm, as a long gap without a sighting is not definitive, but before 1995 a threshold of 50 years without a sighting was used to declare extinction.

One study found that extinction from habitat loss is the hardest to detect, as this might only fragment populations to the point of concealment from humans. Some mammals declared as extinct may very well reappear.{{cite journal|first1=Diana O.|last1=Fisher|first2=Simon P.|last2=Blomberg|year=2011|title=Correlates of rediscovery and the detectability of extinction in mammals|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=278|issue=1708|pages=1090–1097|doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1579|pmc=3049027|pmid=20880890}} For example, a study found that 36% of purported mammalian extinction had been resolved, while the rest either had validity issues (insufficient evidence) or had been rediscovered.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305712631|title=Extinctions in Near Time|chapter=Requiem Æternam: the last five hundred years of mammalian species extinctions|first1=Ross D. E.|last1=Macphee|first2=Clare|last2=Flemming|year=1999|isbn=978-1-4419-3315-7|series=Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology|volume=2|editor-first=Ross D. E.|editor-last=MacPhee| editor2-first=Hans-Dieter|editor2-last=Sues}}

As of June 2023, the IUCN listed 233 mammalian species as critically endangered, while 27% of all mammalian species were threatened with extinction.{{cite web|title=IUCN Red List version 2022.2|url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/|website=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) |access-date=21 June 2023 }}

Conventions

All species listed here as extinct (no known individuals remaining) are designated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Species which are extinct in the wild only reside in captivity. Species listed as possibly extinct are classified as being critically endangered, as it is unknown whether or not these species are extinct.{{cite web|url=http://cmsdocs.s3.amazonaws.com/summarystats/2016-1_Summary_Stats_Page_Documents/2016_1_RL_Stats_Table_9.pdf|title=Possibly Extinct and Possibly Extinct in the Wild Species|publisher=IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species|year=2016|access-date=29 August 2016}} Extinct subspecies such as the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica){{cite iucn |author=Jackson, P. |author2=Nowell, K. |date=2008 |title=Panthera tigris ssp. sondaica |volume=2008 |page=e.T41681A10509194 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T41681A10509194.en |access-date=12 November 2021}} are not listed here as the species, in this case Panthera tigris, is still extant. The IUCN Redlist classification for each species serves as a citation, and the superscripted "IUCN" by the date is a link to that species' page. A range map is provided where available, and a description of their former or current range is given if a range map is not available.

Causes of extinction

Anthropogenic (human caused) habitat degradation is the main cause of species extinctions now. The main cause of habitat degradation worldwide is agriculture, with urban sprawl, logging, mining and some fishing practices close behind. The physical destruction of a habitat, both directly (deforestation for land development or lumber) and indirectly (burning fossil fuels), is an example of this.{{cite book|title=Essentials of Conservation Biology|last=Primack|first=R. B.|publisher=Sinauer Associates|year=2006|isbn=978-0-87893-720-2|edition=4th|location=Sunderland, MA.|pages=177–188|chapter=Habitat destruction}}{{cite journal|url= |title=Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |last1=Winkelmann |first1=Ricarda |author1-link=Ricarda Winkelmann |last2=Levermann |first2=Anders |year=2015|doi=10.1126/sciadv.1500589 |pmid=26601273|pmc=4643791 |last3=Ridgwell |first3=Andy |last4=Caldeira |first4=Ken |journal=Science Advances |volume=1 |issue=8 |pages=e1500589 |bibcode=2015SciA....1E0589W}}

Also, increasing toxicity, through media such as pesticides, can kill off a species very rapidly, by killing all living members through contamination or sterilizing them. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), for example, can bioaccumulate to hazardous levels, getting increasingly dangerous further up the food chain.{{cite journal|last1=Kelly|first1=B. C.|last2=Ikonomou|first2=M. G.|last3=Blair|first3=J. D.|last4=Morin|first4=A. E.|last5=Gobas|first5=F. A. P. C.|year=2007|title=Food Web-Specific Biomagnification of Persistent Organic Pollutants|journal=Science|volume=317|issue=5835|pages=236–239|doi=10.1126/science.1138275|pmid=17626882|bibcode=2007Sci...317..236K|s2cid=52835862}}

Disease can also be a factor: white nose syndrome in bats, for example, is causing a substantial decline in their populations and may even lead to the extinction of some species.{{cite journal|last=Langwig|first=K.E.|year=2012|title=Sociality, density-dependence and microclimates determine the persistence of populations suffering from a novel fungal disease, white-nose syndrome|journal=Ecology Letters|volume=15|issue=1|pages=1050–1057|doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01829.x|pmid=22747672|author2=W.F. Frick|author3=J.T. Bried|author4=A.C. Hicks|author5=T.H. Kunz|author6=A.M. Kilpatrick|bibcode=2012EcolL..15.1050L }}

Overhunting also has an impact. Terrestrial mammals, such as the tiger and deer, are mainly hunted for their pelts and in some cases meat, and marine mammals can be hunted for their oil and leather. Specific targeting of one species can be problematic to the ecosystem because the sudden demise of one species can inadvertently lead to the demise of another (coextinction) especially if the targeted species is a keystone species. Sea otters, for example, were hunted in the maritime fur trade, and their drop in population led to the rise in sea urchins—their main food source—which decreased the population of kelp—the sea urchin's and Steller's sea cow's main food source—leading to the extinction of the Steller's sea cow.{{cite journal|last1=Estes|first1=James A.|last2=Burdin|first2=Alexander|last3=Doak|first3=Daniel F.|year=2016|title=Sea otters, kelp forests, and the extinction of Steller's sea cow|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=113|issue=4|pages=880–885|doi=10.1073/pnas.1502552112|pmc=4743786|pmid=26504217|bibcode=2016PNAS..113..880E|doi-access=free}} The hunting of an already limited species can easily lead to its extinction, as with the bluebuck whose range was confined to {{convert|1700|sqmi|sqkm}} and which was hunted into extinction soon after discovery by European settlers.{{cite journal|last1=Husson|first1=A. M.|last2=Holthuis|first2=L. B.|year=1969|title=On the type of Antilope leucophaea preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie Leiden|journal=Zoologische Mededelingen|volume=44|pages=147–157}}

Australia

Island creatures are usually endemic to only that island, and that limited range and small population can leave them vulnerable to sudden changes.{{cite book|url={{Google books|plainurl=yes|id=JmSsNuwMAxgC|page=225}}|title=Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands|last1=van der Geer|first1=Alexandra|last2=Lyras|first2=George|last3=de Vos|first3=John|last4=Dermitzakis|first4=Michael|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4051-9009-1|location=Oxford|pages=225–227}} While Australia is a continent and not an island, due to its geographical isolation, its unique fauna has suffered an extreme decline in mammal species, 10% of its 273 terrestrial mammals, since European settlement (a loss of one to two species per decade); in contrast, only one species in North America has become extinct since European settlement.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} Furthermore, 21% of Australia's mammals are threatened, and unlike in most other continents, the main cause is predation by feral species, such as cats.{{cite journal|last1=Woinarskia|first1=John C. Z.|last2=Burbidge|first2=Andrew A.|last3=Harrison|first3=Peter L.|year=2015|title=Ongoing unraveling of a continental fauna: Decline and extinction of Australian mammals since European settlement|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531.full.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=112|pages=4531–4540|doi=10.1073/pnas.1417301112|number=5|pmid=25675493|pmc=4403217|bibcode=2015PNAS..112.4531W|doi-access=free}}

Extinct species

A species is declared extinct after exhaustive surveys of all potential habitats eliminate all reasonable doubt that the last individual of a species, whether in the wild or in captivity, has died. Recently extinct species are defined by the IUCN as becoming extinct after 1500 CE.

class="wikitable sortable"

!Common name!!Binomial name!!Order!!data-sort-type=isoDate|Date of extinction!!width=120pt|Former range!!Picture

Broad-faced potoroo

|Potorous platyops
{{small|Gould, 1844}}

|Diprotodontia

|1875 {{IUCNlink|18103|1}}

List of recently extinct mammals

Conventions

Causes of extinction

Australia

Extinct species

Extinct subspecies

Extinct in the [[Wildlife|wild]]

Possibly extinct

See also

Notes

References