Tasmanian Wolf or Thylacine, Thylacinus cynocephalus

The Tasmanian Wolf is not a wolf, but a carnivorous marsupial and a relative of wombats and kangaroos.  It even has a pouch.   Tasmanian officials promoting ranching paid bounties to hunters.  Believed to be extinct for well over half a century, unconfirmed reported sightings persist.

English Wolf

The wolf became extinct in England in 1486, Scotland in 1743, and Ireland in 1770.

Quagga

Quagga, Equus burchelli quagga, of the Karoo Plains and southern Free State of South Africa were a subspecies of the Burchell’s Zebra, although their unique appearance wouldn't necessarily make this apparent.  Some thought incorrectly that the Quagga was the female of Burchell's Zebra, probably because the natives gave both zebras the same name. 

In the wild, Quaggas, Ostriches and Wildebeests often grazed together in what was termed the "triple alliance".  The Quagga's hearing, the Ostrich's eyesight and the Wildibeast's keen sense of smell comprised excellent defense from predators for the entire herd.  However, its limited range made it all the more vulnerable and Quaggas were hunted to the brink of extinction in the mid 19th Century by settlers razing sheep, goats and other livestock. The last Quagga died in in 1883 in an Amsterdam Zoo.

Turanian Tiger, Caspian Tiger

Caspian Tigers lived in China, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey.  They were hunted for their furs and to protect livestock.  A ban on hunting the Caspian Tiger in the USSR in 1947 followed their greatest destruction in the 1930s.  The last Caspian Tiger reported shot was in 1957.

Steller's Sea Cow

Steller's Sea Cow was discovered in the Aleutian Islands by George Steller while exploring with Vitus Bering in 1741. They grew as large as 35 feet long and weighed up to three-and-a-half tons.    Sailors ate their meat and used their leather.  They were easily killed and vanished from their only home within 30 years after Steller's discovery.

Steller's Sea Cow Drawn by George Steller

Spectacled Cormorant, Pallas' Cormorant

Also discovered in the Aleutian Islands by George Steller while exploring with Vitus Bering in 1741.  The Spectacled Cormorant was extinct within about a century.

 

Dodo, Roland Savery

In 1505, Portuguese explorers discovered the island of Mauritius and the 50 lb flightless Dodos which supplemented their food stores.  Imported pigs, monkeys and rats fed on the Dodo's eggs in their ground nests.  The last Dodo was killed in 1681.
 

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