About
The purpose of this site is to collect news items about recent extinctions, which may or may not have attracted attention from major news outlets. What counts as a "recent" extinction to scientists? The Committee on Recently Extinct Organisms (creo.amnh.org) takes as its starting date the year 1500 AD.
Mammal extinctions:
By 2006, a total of 5416 mammal species had been formally identified by zoologists. Since 1500 AD, 100 mammal species and subspecies are known to have become extinct, and the extinction rate is increasing. Rodents comprise around half of all mammal species. When the West African black rhinoceros was declared extinct in 2006 after extensive surveys failed to locate any survivors, the news hit the headlines, but when small rodents become extinct mass-media interest is weak.
Link: Complete list of mammals extinct since 1500 AD.
Amphibians are declining fast:
In 2004, the Global Amphibian Assessment, a survey of amphibian species, found that nearly a third of the world's known amphibian species are threatened and more than 100 species had gone extinct since 1980. Rising temperatures lead to outbreaks of the Chytrid fungus which is killing off amphibian populations around the world.
Links: www.globalamphibians.org | www.amphibiaweb.org .
Marine species:
The Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) is based at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. It began in late 2005 as a joint project of the IUCN and Conservation International.
Link: www.sci.odu.edu/gmsa
Overall extinctions:
Taken as a whole, the number of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fishes, inverterbrates and plants which became extinct after 1500 AD was close to 800 at the beginning of this century. Across the groups, the number listed as "extinct" increased by 18 between 2000 and 2006 — after taking into account a few species which were rediscovered during the period, or that were transferred to the "data deficient" category.
The photo above is the St Helena Olive (Nesiota elliptica) which was classified as Extinct in 2004. The last known surviving tree died in 1994, and the last plant in cultivation died in 2003. The photo was taken by Rebecca Cairns-Wicks and can be found in the IUCN Red List photo gallery for 2003.
Extinct in the wild:
Thousands of species have been officially classified as "Endangered" or "Critically Endangered," and for many of them, no sightings have been reported in decades. They may already be extinct. In addition, animals classified as "Extinct in the Wild" survive only in captivity. In some cases there is no chance of reintroducing them to their natural environment because their habitats have been destroyed.
Critically Endangered species can be flagged as "Possibly Extinct" or "Possibly Extinct in the Wild" until more extensive surveys fail to locate any surviving individuals.
