100 Recently Extinct Animals

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Updated on August 31, 2024

When it comes to protecting and preserving endangered species, human beings have a sad track record. We can see it in our hearts to forgive our distant ancestors—who were too busy trying to stay alive to worry about the population dynamics of the Saber-Tooth Tiger—but modern civilization, especially over the last 200 years or so, has no excuse for overhunting, environmental depredation, and just plain cluelessness.

Below is a list of 100 animals that have gone extinct, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates.

10 Recently Extinct Amphibians

The Golden Toad — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Of all the animals alive today, amphibians are the most endangered—and countless amphibian species have succumbed to disease, food chain disruption, and natural habitat devastation.

10 Recently Extinct Big Cats

You might think lions, tigers, and cheetahs would be better equipped to defend themselves against extinction than less dangerous animals—but you'd be dead wrong. The fact is that, for the last million years, big cats and human beings have a poor track record for coexistence, and it's always people who come out on top.

10 Recently Extinct Birds

Birds are some of the most famous extinct animals of recent times—but for every Passenger Pigeon or Dodo, there's a much bigger and much lesser-known casualty like the Elephant Bird or the Eastern Moa (and many other species that remain endangered to this day).

10 Recently Extinct Fish

blue walleye — The Blue Walleye, a recently extinct animal. Wikimedia Commons

As the old saying goes, there are a lot of fish in the sea—but there are far fewer fish than there used to be, as various species of different genera succumb to pollution, overfishing, and drainage of their lakes and rivers (and even popular food fish like tuna are under extreme environmental pressure).

10 Recently Extinct Game Animals

The average rhinoceros or elephant needs a lot of real estate to prosper, making these animals particularly vulnerable to civilization. And, the myth persists that shooting a large, defenseless animal counts as "sport"—which is why game animals are among the most endangered creatures.

10 Recently Extinct Horse Breeds

quagga in an enclosure — Frederick York/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Horses are the odd mammals out on this list: the genus Equus persists and prospers, while particular Equus breeds have gone extinct (not because of hunting or environmental pressure, but simply because they're no longer fashionable).

10 Recently Extinct Insects and Invertebrates

xerces blue — The Xerces Blue, a recently extinct animal. Wikimedia Commons

Considering the thousands of snail, moth, and mollusk species that remain to be discovered, especially in the world's rainforests, who cares if the occasional moth or earthworm bites the dust? Well, these tiny creatures have just as much a right to exist as we do, and they've been around for a lot longer.

10 Recently Extinct Marsupials

The Lesser Bilby — Sheepbaa/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania are justly famous for their marsupials—but as popular as kangaroos and wallabies are among curious tourists, plenty of pouched mammals never made it out of the 19th century.

10 Recently Extinct Reptiles

jamaican giant galliwasp — Wikimedia Commons

Oddly enough, since the mass extinction of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles 65 million years ago, reptiles have fared relatively well in the extinction sweepstakes, inhabiting pretty much all the world's continents. But that's not to deny that some notable species have vanished off the face of the Earth, as witnessed in our list of extinct reptiles ranging from the Quinkana to the Round Island Burrowing Boa.

10 Recently Extinct Shrews, Bats and Rodents

Mammals survived the K/T Extinction because they were extremely small, needed very little food, and lived high up in trees—but not every mouse-sized creature has managed to avoid oblivion.