Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
This is an example of how cruel and stupid Americans can be. This bird was once the most populous bird in North America... 40% of all birds there. Unfortunately, Americans were feverish to make money, and railroads were already invented, while environmental sense was not, which led to the massive hunting of this bird... causing them to be extinct by 1914. This bird was extremely successful, but its weak point was its habit of flying in huge flocks of sometimes more than two billion birds! ...a wonderful target for the greedy hunter. Such flocks were said to sound like thunder... They also darkened the skies by virtue of their massive numbers. By landing on trees, they would snap them like twigs... It is a shame that we cannot see this amazing bird in this time - they have been gone for almost a century, this most 'successful' of all birds. Sadly, it took only about 50 years to decimate this bird's population. |
Quagga (Equus quagga)
So, this horse-like relative of the Zebra was killed by the thousands by the Boers in South Africa. The last pair of Quaggas failed to produce any young in the 1860s when the male beat itself to death in the enclosure - a strange way to end their species. The Quagga was always seen with Wildebeest (White-tailed Gnus) and ostriches, who cooperated with each other by using their senses of hearing, smell, and sight, to avoid predators. This did not help them in their battle with the Boers, unfortunately. It took only about 30 years to destroy this entire species. |
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Great Northern Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas)
Often called Steller's Sea Cow, this huge relative of the dugong was discovered in 1741 by a ship's crew on Bering Island. Although there were already only 1000-2000 of these animals left, the crew and later visitors slaughtered them relentlessly until they all died by 1768. Because the animal was so large, they would harpoon the animals and hope that they would wash up on shore, resulting in a lot of meaningless killing. Other times they would hook the harpooned animal and pull it out while continuously chopping it with knives and bayonets. When it was pulled up on land, slices of it would be cut from it while it was still alive...
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The Great Northern Sea Cow was the largest of the sirenians in history (which include dugongs and manatees) and
the largest noncetacean (whale/dolphin/porpoise) mammal. It had a very tough, barklike skin that was dark brown or
gray, with some white spots or streaks. It lived in cold water, and lived in families. They had no teeth, but only
flat bones to chew with. They were also said to be very kind to each other, and if one had some kind of stress or
trouble, would go and try to help. They were unfortunately unafraid of other animals (including humans), and would
not fight, which may have resulted in their extinction.