It’s an open secret that the planet is getting warmer. There’s more CO2 in the atmosphere, the oceans are getting more and more acidic, and deserts are slowly expanding. Most of these problems are attributed to our fossil fuel addiction and human over population. The human race, like a virus, is leading both the host and itself to death - taking everyone else with it.
Here are seven of the many animals that have been declared extinct in our lifetime.
[SIZE=6]West African Black Rhino - 2011[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37367[/ATTACH]
Reason: Heavy hunting at in the beginning of the 20th century. In 2006 a search for this rhino was undertaken for six months during which none was sighted. It was officially declared extinct in 2011.
[SIZE=6]Japanese river otter - 2012[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37368[/ATTACH]
From around 1870, the otters were hunted in large numbers for exportation as animal pelts became increasingly valuable. This is when their numbers began to dwindle, and they continued to do so almost consistently afterward, due to increased development and the pollution that came with it. Their habitats were destroyed and the rivers polluted with industrial chemicals, destroying their food sources, pushing them to hunt in more dangerous waters. The last official sighting was in 1979.
[SIZE=6]Pyrenean ibex - 2000[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37369[/ATTACH]
The last of its kind, a female called Celia, found dead in 2000. This animal was heavily hunted in 19th/20th century causing their population to decrease rapidly from millions to 1 and finally none. Cloning has not been successful. The most successful clone died several minutes after birth due to lung defects.
[SIZE=6]Caribbean Monk Seal - 2008[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37370[/ATTACH]
Declared extinct in 2008. Christopher Columbus recorded killing a few of these seals when he arrived in the Caribbean, and they were hunted extensively in the 1700s and 1800s for their blubber, which was used as oil for lamps and machinery.
[SIZE=6]Baiji/ Yangtze River Dolphin - 2006[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37371[/ATTACH]
The baiji population declined drastically in decades as China industrialized and made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation, and hydroelectricity. It has been credibly claimed, after surveys in the Yangtze River during the 1980s, that baiji could be the first dolphin species in history that humans have driven to extinction.
[SIZE=6]Dusky Seaside Sparrow - 1990[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37372[/ATTACH]
A native of the east coast of Florida, this species rapidly died out from DDT pesticide spraying and its habitat being taken over for use by NASA for the Kennedy Space Center. The last known bird died in 1987, and was officially declared extinct in 1990.
[SIZE=6]Javan Tiger - 1998[/SIZE]
[ATTACH=full]37373[/ATTACH]
[SIZE=3]Image by Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8606812 [/SIZE]
In 1938, natural forest covered 23% of the island. By 1975, only 8% forest stand remained; the human population had increased to 85 million people from 28 million at the beginning of 20th century. In this human-dominated landscape, the extirpation of the Javan tiger was intensified by the conjunction of several circumstances and events:
- Tigers and their prey were poisoned in many places during the period when their habitat was rapidly being reduced;
- Natural forests were increasingly fragmented after World War II for plantations of teak, coffee and rubber, which was unsuitable habitat for wildlife;
- Rusa deer, the tiger’s most important prey species, was lost to disease in several reserves and forests during the 1960s;
- During the period of civil unrest after 1965, armed groups retreated to reserves, where they killed the remaining tigers.
Declared extinct in 1998.