Things we lost... Falkland Islands wolf.

The Antarctic wolf (Dusicyon Australis) was a native of the Falkland Islands. 
Because of its small size, it was perfect for life on those islands, rich of low and dense forests. 
It hunted birds and small mammals, both in the green spots and in the moors, swept by the cold southern winds. 
Darwin described it, in 1833, as common and meek. Unfortunately, these features couldn't save it from the inhabitans of the islands, who came from England and massacred it, up to the last specimen with the excuse that they had to protect the flocks of sheep. 
It became extinct just twenty years after the arrival of the Europeans in the Falkland Islands. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost... Honshu wolf.

The Honshu wolf (or Japanese wolf) was the smallest wolf existing in the world, as it was only 84 cm long (not counting the tail) and 39 cm tall. 

In the Japanese Islands it was called "the howling God" and it was respected but also widely feared, so much so that in the country houses people hung talismans outside to protect themselves from those beasts. 

At the end of the 19th century, Japan knew an unprecedented process of industrialization and this led to the felling of many forests where the small wolf lived. 

Furthermore, an always more ruthless hunt to this animal began, with a bounty of 10 YEN by the government for each specimen. 

Tremendous rabies outbreaks finally decimated them. 

The last specimen was killed in 1905 (same fate befell its "cousin", the Hokkaido wolf). 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost... Caribbean monk seal.

The Caribbean monk seal was a peaceful seal, very similar to its Mediterranean "cousin". It lived in big colonies among Cuba, the Netherlands Antilles and Jamaica. 
In 1494, Christopher Columbus saw them for the first time and he immediately ordered to kill eight of them to feed the ship's crew. 
Since then, the population of Caribbean seals had a meltdown; for centuries, the crews of European ships en route between Europe and the New World have been hunting them for their meat and their fur. 
It definitively became extinct during the 50s of 1900. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

A little known extinction...

Too often we think that the only reason tied to the man which leads a wild species to the extinction is the indiscriminate hunting and the destruction of the habitat. 
Unfortunately, a much more sneaky and hard to notice threat is represented by a wide range of animals (more or less domestic) which always accompany the men when they arrive in a new place. 

It is enormous the number of mammals, reptiles and birds that became extinct because of the arrival in their nesting places of dogs, cats and especially mice. 
Sadly, history teaches that man, even indirectly, has never been able to protect a wild place after having discovered it. 

By way of example, you may remember what happened to the Dieffenbach rail, discovered in 1843 in Chatham Island, which became extinct in less than 10 years because of the massacre of chicks by mice that had arrived with the European ships. 
The Tahiti rail, besides having been boarded on ships as "fresh food storage", became extinct mainly because of predation by cats in 1844. 
The Southern merlin became extinct in less than 60 years because of predator mammals which arrived in its habitat with the Europeans. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost...The Atitlán grebe.

The giant grebe was a podicipedidae native of Guatemala (Podilymbus gigas) which was discovered in 1929. 
It became extinct because of the introduction in the homonyous lake of the smallmouth bass (native of North America) for sport fishing. This fish killed the nestlings and large quantities of grabs and fish which were the main food source of the grebe. 
In 1983 there were only 32 specimens left and in 1989 the last two were sighted. After their disappearance this species was officially declared extinct. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost...Carpathian and Caucasian wisent.

BISON BONASUS HUNGARORUM 

The Carpathian wisent was a subspecies of the European wisent which lived in the Carpathian Mountains, in Moldova and in Transylvania. 
Too close to central Europe, he was hunted until the extinction. 
The last specimen was shot down in 1790 in Transylvania. 

BISON BONASUS CAUCASICUS 

The Caucasian wisent was a subspecies of the European wisent which was once widespread in the Caucasus Mountains. 
It was prey to the Caucasian tiger (extinct) and to the Asian lion (which today is extinct in that zone), as well as to bears and wolves. 
In the 17th century he still populated wide areas of the western Caucasus. At the end of the 19th century human settlements became more numerous and the wisent population was reduced to approximately 1/10. In the 60s of the 19th century the wisent population was of about 2000 specimens, which were reduced to 500 in 1917 and to 50 in 1921. 
In 1927 the last 3 specimens were shot down. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost...Pyrenean and Portuguese ibex.

CAPRA PYRENAICA PYRENAICA 

The Pyrenean ibex was a subspecies of the Spanish ibex and it is now extinct. 
Once, he was widespread in the French Pyrenees, in the Basque Country, in Navarra and in northern Catalonia. 
In 1900 there were about 100 specimens left but already in 1910 there were only 40 left. The last specimen was found dead on January 6, 2006 with its neck broken because of the fall of a tree. 
The scientists wanted to clone it but there wasn't male DNA, so they are now waiting for the technology to study a way to replace the X chromosome of the female cell with a Y chromosome of another subspecies. 

CAPRA PYRENAICA LUSITANICA 

The Portuguese ibex populated Portugal, Galicia, the Asturias and the Cantabrian Mountains. 
In 1800 it was still quite numerous but it soon suffered a meltdown because the local populations enormously hunted it in each period of the year because of its meat, horns, skin (with which they made clothes) and bezoars (formations of foreign bodies in the stomach) used to defend against "any poison". 
The last female specimen was sighted in 1892. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

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