Blue Pike
The blue pike was an endemic fish of the Great Lakes region in the United States and Canada. The fishing industry, increased habitat degradation, introduction of non-native species and pollution caused the population to crash in 1958. The species lingered on until it became extinct in 1970.
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Mass Extinctions
An overview of mass extinctions from "In The Wild."
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Moas, New Zealand's Giant Flightless Bird
There were more than a dozen species of moa, the largest may have weighed more than 200 kilograms & stood 2-3 meters high. The different species of moa probably became extinct, at different times, by the 1800's. Although little is known about this because the archaeological record is limited. It is speculated that cause of Moa extinction was the colonization of New Zealand.
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Pleistocene Megafauna - woolly mammoth, and sabertooth tigers
Fifteen thousand years ago giant animals roamed the North American continent. These extremely large animals, known as megafauna, included several species of elephant, such as the well known woolly mammoth, and sabertooth tigers which were lion-sized cats with knife-like teeth. There has been great debate about what caused the extinction of these large mammals.
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The Dodo Bird
The Dodo is a lesson in extinction. First sighted around 1600 on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, the Dodo was extinct less than eighty years later.
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The Heath Hen
A small wild fowl, was abundant in the eastern U.S. By 1870s the only 50 Heath Hens left occupied the tiny island, Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the population grew from 50 to 2,000. But fire, predatory birds, and disease wiped out most of the remaining species. The last living heath hen, the final survivor of his species, was seen on March 11, 1932. He died that year.
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The Tasmanian Tiger Wolf
The Tasmanian tiger-wolf became extinct on the mainland of Australia in 1936.
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