Recently extinct animals: Animals which got extinct in last decade.

All of us , human beings have a title of most shameful creatures on the earth. For our selfish motives we have killed a lot of animals and disturbed the precarious natural balance. So here is a list of recently extinct animals in last 100 years. The list also consists some almost extinct animals (extinct in wild).

Also known as Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, the scientific name is Thylacinus cynocephalus. Tasmanian tiger was the largest carnivorous marsupial and an apex predator in Australia. It looked like wolf with stripes on body like tiger. Thylacine used to live in eucalyptus forests and its main prey were kangaroos, wallaby and even dingos.

When it became extinct: The last Tasmanian tiger named Benjamin died in 1923 in Hobart zoo due to neglect.

How it got extinct: Although the thylacine roamed all throughout Australia and Tasmania 2000 years ago but due to some circumstances Tasmanian tigers became extinct from main land Australia but were still in majority ion the island of Tasmanian, prior to the European settlement. However incidents like attacks on livestock of early settlers have forced the government to take drastic steps. During the start of 20^th century, Tasmanian government encouraged killing of this beast by awarding 1 pound for an adult and few shillings for pups. This uncontrolled killing led to complete wipe out of thylacine population from islands except a handful in zoos. Even though it got wiped out from wild , the tiger managed to survive in zoos, but its ill fate haunted in zoo also and as a result of neglect and lack of knowledge about thylacine the last known tiger died in year 1923. Now only stuffed bodies of it can be seen in Hobart zoo.

What could have been done: The uncontrolled killing of thylacine was a result of lack of knowledge about its true numbers in the wild. Thus the Tasmanian government should have taken necessary steps to collect information about its numbers and then ordered its killing. Even in the zoos proper care should have been taken to protect the animal, the last Tasmanian tiger “Benjamin” died because it was provided no shelter in zoo as a result of which it freezed to death during night.

It is a tiger subspecies which once habitat-ed the island of Java in Indonesia, from where it got its name of javan tiger. Javan tigers are smaller in size but has larger area of hunting. Its small size can be attributed from the fact that on the island of java availability of prey was low.

When it became extinct: The last javan tiger was shot dead in the year of 1975,it was a female. In the following year and very recently in year 2008, footprints were discovered in the forests but no confirmed sightings were recorded. Thus javan tiger is considered extinct.

How it got extinct: Unlike any other big cats the tiger didn't died because of poaching (poaching was of course one threat to its existence, but it was minor threat). Human population on the island of java saw an exponential growth during year 1905 to 1950. To provide enough space to live for all people and rice farms, large areas of forests were cut. Javan tiger , which required much more area then compared to any other big cat, scarcity of its habitat and its food led to its extinction. Although attempts were made to conserve it by declaring last remaining forests as protected area, but following the era of civil unrest on java , the tiger population decreased rapidly and ultimately it got extinct.

What could have been done: Though attempts were made to conserve the tiger but the unprecedented events caused due to civil unrest were inevitable. Thus the government should have attempted to relocate at-least a handful of these tigers to zoos around the world.

Scientific name of Ammodramus maritimus nigrescenswas a non migratory bird found in the southern Florida in the marshy areas.

When it became extinct: The last bird died in the year 1987 and this subspecies of seaside sparrow was officially declared extinct in the year 1990.

How it got extinct: This beautiful bird died due to pollution and destruction of its habitat. To kill the mosquitoes on the Merritt island (where the bird lived), DDT was sprayed. This pesticide entered into its food chain and proved fatal for the very existence of the bird. Later large construction projects lead to the drain of marshy areas thereby destroying its habitat.

What could have been done: The attempts of captive breeding of this bird stared very late when only one female and 5 male were left and thus its breeding was failed. Had the captive breeding started a bit earlier then there were still chances of the bird surviving today.

Baiji is a fresh water dolphin which lived in only Yangtze river. Although not officially declared extinct but the chances of spotting Baiji is next to zero. Baiji is “goddess of river Yangtze” in Chinese.

When it became extinct: The last Baiji was reportedly filmed in 2006 but this sighting is not officially confirmed.

How it got extinct: Baiji lived in extremely limited areas of Yangtze. Electric fishing, collision with ships, pollution of river water and construction of three gorges dam lead to the wipe out of its population.

What could have been done: Although the conservation projects are undergoing and supported by Chinese government but there hasn't been any Baiji caught in the last 10 years. The conservation projects should have been started earlier.

Also known as Equus quagga quaggascientifically is a subspecies of zebra. The distinguishing features of quagga is the stripes on the front portion of the body only which gradually faded towards the back of the body where it becaomes plane. Once abundent in the cape province area of south africa has now became extinct and only 23 stuffed specimens of quagga are avialable in the world.

When it became extinct: Quagga's are supposed to become extinct in the dawn of 20^th century. The last animal died in London zoo.

How it got extinct: Quagga's were hunted down for their skin and meat. Their skin was very costly and that why it was hunted in large numbers.

What could have been done: To protect the dwindling population of quagga captive breading should have been done but during the world wars , consrvation efforts were least concerned by different governments around the world.

Known scientifically as Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus is now an extinct species of antelope. It romed the algeria in abundane prior to 20^th centuary.

When it became extinct: The last bubal hartebeest lived in paris zoo in 1923.

How it got extinct:Very few knowledge is available about this animal. It is believed that it died because of the rise in demand of bush meat in Africa but the reasons are yet to be confirmed.

What could have been done: The hartebeest got extinct because of the neglect. Not musch effort was put into understanding this animal and conserving it.

Also called as Oryx dammah is a species of orynx. It was once abundance in the north Africa but now is extinct from the wild and only few are surviving in zoos around the world.

When it became extinct: Although it is not extinct from the world , but now very rare in to find in the wild and officially declared extinct from the wild.

How it got extinct: Scimitar oryx has very beautiful pair of horns and that is why it was hunted for. The killing virtually wiped out scimitar oryx from the wild.

What could have been done: Although there are still handful of oryx in zoos, so captive production of the oryx should be promoted so that oryx could once again habitat the world.

Scientifically known as Bufo periglenes is a golden, shiny and small sized toad. It used to like in very small area above Monteverde city in costa rica. This species of toad was discovered very recently in year 1966.

When it became extinct: The golden toad or monte verde toad became extict in year 1989.

How it got extinct: Dramatic climate changes lead to the warming up of coasta rica and as a result of which water bodies containing larvae of this toad dried .

What could have been done: Conservation efforts could have been taken to conserve this toad but not much effort was put to save this toad.

Ectopistes migratorius , used to live in groups of millions of bird. It habitat-ed north America prior to early 20^th centuary . In fact the bird was so abundant that at one time it was seen a source of cheap meat for slaves and a threat to farms.

When it became extinct: The mass killing of passenger pigeon took place in the dusk of 19^th century to the dawn of 20^th century. Thus the exact year of its extinction is not know but it is supposed that it died out during early 20^th century.

How it got extinct: Hunting methods like alcohol soaked grains and predator satiation lead to a sharp declination of passenger pigeon and finally a full wipe out from the continent

What could have been done: Careful monitoring of the pigeon population and its conservation efforts should have been taken to save this bird.

Also known as west Indian seal, was the only seal species available in the Caribbean sea. It has been hunted since the discovery of America by Columbus.

When it became extinct: The last known seal sighted was in 1952 but it was officially declared extinct by IUCN in year 2008.

How it got extinct: Monk seal was hunted since ages for its oil and meat. Fishermen considered it as competitive species.

What could have been done: No conservation efforts were made to protect the seal, this lead to full wipe-out of the seal.