Holocene Extinctions & Recently Extinct Animals

01Cenozoic

They lived not on endless ice, but in a wind-shaped grassland ecosystem.

03Recently extinct

Flightlessness was not a failure, but the result of evolving on an island without large predators.

22Cenozoic

The largest deer antlers known were seasonal structures for display and competition.

24Recently extinct

Australia’s striped marsupial predator survived longest in Tasmania.

25Recently extinct

Flocks once darkened the sky, yet abundance could not protect a species dependent on immense colonies.

26Recently extinct

This flightless North Atlantic seabird used its wings as powerful underwater paddles.

27Recently extinct

This enormous, slow sirenian grazed kelp in cold shallow water.

28Recently extinct

One of the tallest birds ever known browsed forests without wings of any kind.

29Recently extinct

The largest known eagle evolved to strike moa many times its own weight.

72Recently extinct

This plains zebra had bold stripes in front fading into a plain brown rear body.

73Recently extinct

The powerful wild ancestor of domestic cattle once ranged across three continents.

74Recently extinct

The only seal endemic to the Caribbean rested and bred on warm sandy shores.

75Recently extinct

This unusually tame island canid was the Falklands’ only native land mammal.

76Recently extinct

Bright green flocks once made this the only parrot native to the eastern United States.

77Recently extinct

Males and females had dramatically different bills but foraged as a pair.

78Recently extinct

These massive flightless birds laid the largest eggs known from any vertebrate.

79Recently extinct

The bucardo was the first extinct animal briefly brought back as a clone—and the first to go extinct twice.

98Recently extinct

One of the world’s largest freshwater fish migrated the length of the Yangtze.

99Recently extinct

This small sea duck had a specialized bill for feeding in shallow coastal water.

100Recently extinct

This large coastal sea lion bred on rocky islands across the Sea of Japan.

117Recently extinct

A saddle-backed shell and long neck reached high vegetation; the last known individual died in 2012.

118Recently extinct

Brilliant orange males gathered briefly each rainy season within a tiny highland range.

119Recently extinct

Females swallowed fertilized eggs, suppressed stomach acid and released developed froglets from the mouth.

120Recently extinct

This palm-sized insect bat fell from island-wide abundance to a final acoustic signal in 2009.