What animals are extinct due to human activities?

In the past century, human activities have led to the extinction or near extinction of a large number of wild animals.

Travelling pigeons used to be the most abundant birds on the earth, with as many as 5 billion leaves in the early 1 9th century, but by March of 1900, the wild travelling pigeons had completely disappeared, and finally1a travelling pigeon named Martha died in September of14.

Pigeon meat is delicious, likes to live in groups and is convenient for hunting. With the development of modern transportation and communication, humans began to shoot pigeons on a large scale from 65438 to the 1940s in 2009. At that time, thousands of people shot pigeons for a living and telegraphed information about the flock, such as where they appeared, where they spent the night and the dynamics of the flock. According to statistics, in Michigan alone, in 1 year, more than 1 100 million pigeons were shot. In this way, a bird with high economic value will be extinct in just a few decades under the uncontrolled hunting of human beings.

Great auk used to live on Atlantic islands from Newfoundland to Scandinavia. This large seabird is very similar to a penguin. It can't fly, but it is good at swimming. It lives in groups and has a large number. In order to get great auk's meat and oil, people shot and killed this bird mercilessly. After 300 years of hunting, great auk was finally killed in 1844. The last two great auk were photographed by specimen collectors in Iceland, and now there are only 70 great auk specimens left.

Heather pheasant was once the most common pheasant in North America, but with the increase of immigration and hunting activities to North America, its number began to decline sharply. It was only found on an island off the coast of Massachusetts in 1880, and finally became extinct in 1932.

The Carolina parrot is the only parrot in North America, and it was also widely distributed in southern States when the United States was founded. Because they went to the orchard in droves for food, they were ruthlessly shot by fruit farmers. In addition, they have a strange habit, that is, when a parrot is shot, other parrots will wander around the dead for a long time and refuse to leave. This habit accelerated their extinction, and finally they were all killed at 1920.

The number of beautiful Labrador ducks decreased from 1850 to 1870, and soon became extinct, from population to species. It was only 20 years before and after, and the cause of extinction is still unknown. Now there are only 48 specimens left.

/kloc-At the end of 0/9, there were 60 million bison living on the prairie of North America. In order to hunt cowhide, people shot and killed 8.5 million bison in a short period of 187 1 year, accounting for 1/7 of the highest bison population. As a result of such a large-scale massacre, by 1889, there were 150 bison left, and the last bison was shot in Colorado in 1894. Although the bison protection law was promulgated three years ago, it is still too late to save this large mammal from disappearing from nature.

174 1 The manatee first discovered in Bering Strait is the largest manatee in the world, with a body length of 9 meters. However, after only 20 years of predatory slaughter, it was completely killed by humans in 1768. Four other manatees have also been killed by humans, and the number is very rare. Some hunters even put corks into the nostrils of these docile animals with hammers and suffocated them. Two kinds of zebras in Africa were also wiped out by the local Boers between 1870 and 1880. 42% marsupials in Australia are extinct or endangered.

China's unique animal elk, wild horses, European bison and deer, which were first discovered in China, all suffered the same fate as American bison. Elk originated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and disappeared from nature hundreds of years ago, only because of the breeding in Royal Hunt Park, England. Since 1947 caught the last wild horse, no one has ever seen or caught a wild wild wild horse. More than 300 wild horses are kept in captivity by humans. Although some people in China think that there are still wild horses in Xinjiang, it has not been confirmed so far. The last wild European bison was also photographed on February 9th, 192 1. The European bison, now living in the Polish forest of Bjelovic and the Caucasus of the former Soviet Union, were later released. As for the ancestors of domestic cattle, the European bull was extinct in Poland as early as 1627.

Of the nine known tiger subspecies in the world, three subspecies have disappeared from the earth, three subspecies (Black Sea Tiger, Northeast Tiger and South China Tiger) are on the verge of extinction, and the other three subspecies (Sumatra Tiger, South Asian Tiger and Sino-Indian Tiger) are also in danger of extinction. In the 1920s, the number of tigers in the world was estimated to be 200,000. By the early 1970s, it had been reduced to 40,000, to 1978, leaving only 10000 tigers.

Other large and beautiful cats, such as clouded leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and leopard cat, are killed in large numbers because people need their fur. Clouded leopards in China used to be widely distributed from Himalayas to Taiwan Province Province, but now they are very rare. The last record of killing clouded leopards in Taiwan Province Province was in 1972, and this beautiful animal has never been seen in Taiwan Province Province since then.

Humans kill about 20,000 whales every year, and the blue whale, the largest animal in the world, is the target of the whaling fleet. According to the records of killing blue whales in Antarctic waters, 1 1500 killed 1950 blue whales, 1950 killed 7500 whales and 1955 killed 2000 whales. 1965, 1000 whales were killed. Almost no blue whales were caught after that. In 1970 and 1975, no blue whales were caught, but only 7 whales were caught in 1974. In 1930s, there were 40,000 blue whales in the world, but now there are less than 1000. Because the number of blue whales has fallen too fast, it may be lower than the original population density, so it may be too late to take measures to protect blue whales. Protective measures can delay its extinction, but it is difficult to avoid its final extinction.

In addition to the blue whale, there are currently seven species of whales that are also endangered. In the 20th century, it is possible for mankind to reach an agreement to ban whaling permanently, although this agreement is being opposed by Norway and Japan, two whaling powers. "Save the whale!" The strong voice has resounded all over the world.

According to the list listed in the International Black Book, since 1600, 36 species (accounting for 0.85%) and 120 species (accounting for 2.84%) out of a total of 4,226 mammals have become extinct. Of the 8684 known bird species, 94 are extinct (accounting for 1.09%) and 187 are endangered (accounting for 2. 16%).

According to the data of IUCN, since 1850, 75 species of birds and mammals have been extinct, and 359 species of birds and 297 species of mammals are on the verge of extinction. The list of endangered animals also includes 190 amphibians, reptiles and 80 fish.

In fact, the number of extinct and endangered invertebrates (such as corals, worms, mollusks and insects) and plants is much larger than that of vertebrates. About 25,000 angiosperms are endangered, accounting for 10% of the total angiosperms. If plants and invertebrates are taken into account, 500,000 ~ 1 10,000 species will disappear from the earth by the end of 2 1 year.