The Leaflet of Dima Alyoshin, Gymnasium 114 about extinct animals of our planet

1. Recently Extinct
Animals

2. Tasmanian tiger-wolf

3. Tasmanian tiger-wolf is an extinct
wolf like carnivorous marsupial of
Tasmania having stripes on its
back. Despite its name, this animal
is neither a tiger nor a wolf and it is
closely related to the kangaroo. It
had a pouch for its babies to climb
in. It became extinct because of
the activities of human being in
1936.

5. Dodo

6. Dodo birds lived only on the island of
Mauritius. An adult Dodo was about 1
meter long and weighed 20 kg. It was grey
and had small wings. Dodo birds were not
good to eat. Their meat was very tough.
The extinction of the Dodo bird was
complete by the end of the 17th century. No
one knows exactly why it died out, but
hunting, habitat loss, and competition with
introduced animals such as pigs and
monkeys combined to doom the species.

8. Passenger pigeon

9. Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon existed in
North America and lived in enormous migratory
flocks. Some scientists say that there were 3
billion to 5 billion passenger pigeons on the
territory of US when Europeans arrived in North
America.
Passenger Pigeon was about 40 cm long and
weighed about 400 grams. It was a very social
bird. It lived in colonies stretching over hundreds
of square miles. There were up to a hundred
nests in a single tree.
It became extinct because of unregulated
hunting (its meat was a cheap food for slaves
and the poor in the 19th century) and loss of
habitat.

11. Quagga

12. The quagga is an extinct
subspecies of the zebra which
was found in great numbers in
South Africa. It was hunted to
extinction for meat, hides, and to
preserve feed for domesticates
stock. The last wild quagga was
shot in 1870s, and the last
specimen in captivity died in
1883.

13. Carolina Parakeet

14. Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot
species native to the Eastern United
States. The last wild bird was killed in
Florida in 1904. The last captive bird died
at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918.
Reasons for extinction:
- Large areas of forest were cut down,
taking away its habitat;
- Colourful feathers of the birds were in
demand as decorations in ladies’ hats;
- Farmers considered them a pest.

15. The Bubal Hartebeest

16. The Bubal Hartebeest was a magnificent, tough
beast which was once domesticated by the
ancient Egyptians as a food source and for
sacrificial purposes. The creature was even
mentioned in the Old Testament.
Although it once roamed throughout Northern
Africa and the Middle East, the deep-rooted
mythology which surrounded the animal was not
enough to save it from European hunters who
began hunting them for recreation and meat.
The last Bubal Hartebeest was probably a
female which died in the Paris Zoo in 1923.

18. Scientists say that now 3 species
of animals, birds or fish die out
every hour. That means that in
100 years from 25 % to 50% of all
living creatures on our planet will
disappear.