Lives & losses
Animals That Went Extinct in the 1900s
A sourced timeline of extinct animals whose final confirmed sightings or last known captive deaths fall between 1900 and 1999, from the huia to the golden toad.
Explore the animals 6 ↘
How this list was selected
‘1900s’ means 1900–1999 here. Entries are sorted by a separately sourced historical event: last confirmed record or death of the last known captive animal. Neither necessarily dates the death of the final wild individual. The date of an official extinction declaration is different and is not used for selection. Only records with verified event dates enter this timeline.
Explore the animals
6 atlas recordsPrehistory–early 20th century
Huia
Heteralocha acutirostris
Last confirmed record1907Males and females had dramatically different bills but foraged as a pair.
North Island, New Zealand
Te Papa — Tuhinga 22 (2011), huia collections ↗
Prehistory–1914
Passenger Pigeon
Ectopistes migratorius
Last known captive death1914Flocks once darkened the sky, yet abundance could not protect a species dependent on immense colonies.
Eastern North America
Smithsonian — Martha, the last passenger pigeon ↗
Late Pleistocene–1918
Carolina Parakeet
Conuropsis carolinensis
Last known captive death1918Bright green flocks once made this the only parrot native to the eastern United States.
Eastern and central United States
Smithsonian Libraries — Carolina parakeet ↗
About 4 million years ago–1936
Thylacine
Thylacinus cynocephalus
Last known captive death1936Australia’s striped marsupial predator survived longest in Tasmania.
Mainland Australia · Tasmania
National Museum of Australia — Extinction of thylacine ↗
About 3 million years ago–1952
Caribbean Monk Seal
Neomonachus tropicalis
Last confirmed record1952The only seal endemic to the Caribbean rested and bred on warm sandy shores.
Caribbean Sea · Gulf of Mexico
NOAA Fisheries — Monk seal natural history ↗
Prehistory–1989
Golden Toad
Incilius periglenes
Last confirmed record1989Brilliant orange males gathered briefly each rainy season within a tiny highland range.
Monteverde cloud forest, Costa Rica
IUCN Red List — Golden toad ↗
