Many animals have gone extinct due to human activities like hunting, habitat destruction, and introducing invasive species, with famous examples including the Dodo, Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger), Steller's Sea Cow, and the Passenger Pigeon, while more recent losses include the Western Black Rhino and the Golden Toad, showing ongoing impacts.
Read on to discover a few of the animals we have lost to our unthinking exploitation.
Although extinctions occur naturally, the current rate of plant and animal extinctions is much higher than the natural or historical rates. Habitat loss is the primary cause of higher extinction rates.
The vaquita is the most endangered cetacean in the world. With as few as around 10 left, the species will become extinct without a fully enforced gillnet ban throughout their entire habitat.
The Holocene or Anthropocene extinction is an ongoing extinction event caused by human activity during the current geological epoch, impacting diverse families of plants and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, as well as both terrestrial and marine species.
Humanity came close to extinction 800,000 years ago. Only 1,280 of our ancestors survived. A recent study published in Science suggests that a catastrophic "ancestral bottleneck" reduced the global population to just 1,280 breeding individuals, wiping out 98.7% of the early human lineage.
The planet has experienced five previous mass extinction events, the last one occurring 65.5 million years ago which wiped out the dinosaurs from existence. Experts now believe we're in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.
The Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a small porpoise from the Gulf of California, is widely considered the world's rarest animal, with only around 10 individuals left, pushed to extinction by illegal gillnet fishing for other species like the totoaba. Other contenders for rarest include the Northern White Rhino (only two females remain) and the elusive Saola (Asian Unicorn), though population numbers for many extremely rare animals are uncertain.
The hydrozoan Turritopsis dohrnii, an animal about 4.5 millimetres wide and tall (likely making it smaller than the nail on your little finger), can actually reverse its life cycle. It has been dubbed the immortal jellyfish.
As of March 2018, there are only two rhinos of the northern white rhino left, both of which are female. They live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya and are protected round-the-clock by armed guards.
However, she died several minutes after birth of a lung defect. The Pyrenean ibex is the first animal to have been brought back from extinction through cloning and also the only one to become extinct twice.
Top Five Extinctions
Large whales like the blue whale, bowhead whale, finback whale, gray whale, sperm whale, and humpback whale are some of the eight whales which are currently still included on the Endangered Species List. Actions have been taken to attempt a reduction in whaling and increase population sizes.
The Permian–Triassic extinction event, colloquially known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred approximately 251.9 million years ago (mya), at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, and with them the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
A species of wolf that died out some 12,500 years ago lives again as the “world's first successfully de-extincted animal,” according to Dallas-based biotech company Colossal Biosciences.
Of all species that have existed on Earth, 99.9 percent are now extinct. Many of them perished in five cataclysmic events.
Jellyfish and comb jellies
This cycle can repeat indefinitely, potentially rendering it biologically immortal. These organisms originated in the Caribbean Sea, but have now spread around the world.
African elephants are estimated to have a maximum lifespan of about 74 years, while their Asian elephant cousins can live up to about age 80. The world's oldest recorded elephant is thought to be an Asian elephant who lived to age 89 in captivity.
Humans Could Live For 1,000 Years by 2050—Ushering in the Dawn of 'Practical Immortality,' Futurists Say. Some experts warn that this radical change may remain out of reach for many, due to societal and economic challenges. Technology futurists foresee advances that will enable humans to live up to 1,000 years.
Here are four animals at risk of extinction by 2050.
The Secret Seven – Africa's Elusive Safari Animals
It is now widely accepted that there are two fundamental elements to rarity: low abundance and restricted geographic range (Harper, 1981; Gaston, 1994a, 1998). However, rarity has many other connotations that are prevalent in the literature.
Dr Ian Pearson claims those who live till 2050 may escape death, as future science could replace damaged organs and possibly grant eternal youth. Dr. Ian Pearson suggests that advances in gene therapy, stem cells, nanomedicine, and cell reprogramming could enable eternal life by 2050.
Natural and external extinction risks include high-fatality-rate pandemic, supervolcanic eruption, asteroid impact, nearby supernova or gamma-ray burst, or extreme solar flare.
Human Ancestors Nearly Went Extinct 900,000 Years Ago. An unknown species of early human nearly died out around 900,000 years ago, according to genetic analysis. It might have been both the ancestor of Homo heidelbergensis (pictured above) and a species ancestral to our own.