ExtinctZoo - The Brutal Endings Of Four Recently Extinct Animals

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Everyday it's estimated that over 100 species die, that's quite a lot, but let's face it most of these species we never hear of, so we don’t really think often about this stat. Yet, once in a while a species well-known to people disappears, causing us to stop for a minute and ponder…

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You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Since the dawn of life, it's thought that over 99.9% of all species have gone extinct, which makes it pretty clear that we all have expiration dates. However, despite the inevitability of extinction, it's still always sad whenever a species does cease to exist.

And once it's gone for good, many aspects surrounding it become clouded in obscurity and melancholy, such as the last known photo or footage of it. And yet, people tend to forget that many times, the last photograph of an animal, wasn't the actual last time a human laid eyes on the creature. In fact, in many cases, a dying species has managed to survive for years after their last encounter with a camera, which in some ways makes the last sighting or documentation of an animal much more sombre than the photograph, since it marks the final time an animal was ever seen alive by humanity.

One such case involved the Caribbean monk seal, which since its extinction has become something of a fan favorite. Because while seals are no doubt cool, this seal was important in that it was the only seal known to be native to Florida and the Caribbean, meaning once upon a time you could have stumbled across seal colonies while vacationing in, say, Miami. Besides its distinct range, it was a fairly normal monk seal, and similar to other monk seals in having a distinct head, and was fairly robust and lengthy in build, growing up to eight feet from head to tail, while sometimes weighing 270 kilos or 600 pounds. For the majority of its existence, the seal thrived, with estimates suggesting a population,

of well over 330,000 at the time of its discovery. One of the main reasons behind this was a lack of natural predators, with really only large sharks being a threat, namely Great Whites and tiger sharks. Orcas are also thought to have preyed on them, but only occasionally. This led to a rather laxed life, yet this quickly changed after explorers first encountered them. The first mention of these seals actually comes from Christopher Columbus's second voyage in 1494,

during which a group of sailors stumbled upon these seals on the barren island Altevelo. It was recounted that the seals were extraordinarily docile, showing no aggression nor fear toward the humans, and would actually come up to the sailors displaying a high level of curiosity. Yet this friendliness was quickly taken advantage of, with the sailors killing eight resting seals before returning to the ship. Subsequently, the seals became a favorite hunting item for other voyagers during the 1400s and 1500s. But for the most part, the hunting remained at a sustainable level. And it wasn't until the late 1600s that this changed when sugar plantations started to

send large-scale hunting parties to kill hundreds of seals every day for their oil in order to lubricate their machinery. These huntings then became even more widespread and intense once fishermen joined the fray. And by the 1850s, the Caribbean monk seal populations were so depleted that commercial hunting was no longer profitable. Nevertheless, monk seals were still either killed or captured for a variety of reasons, including research and being sent to zoos throughout the world. And it was precisely in one of these zoos that the last known photo of a Caribbean monk seal

was taken, dating to the early 1910s. While the images ceased here, the seals did actually persist in nature, although many researchers confirmed that they had all but disappeared by the early 20th century, after which sightings were seldom and successful hunts became even rare, with the last known killing taking place in 1939 at Pedro Cayes. Following this, these seals were virtually never seen again, until that is, in 1952, when the director of the Institute of Jamaica reported a small colony numbering no more than 60 individuals at Serenilla Bank in the Caribbean Sea. The colony, while small, was reported to be in good health, and were unfazed that they were likely to last of their kind.

Strangely, after this report, the colony, nor any other Caribbean seal for that matter, was ever seen again. There have been some casual reports by sailors, but follow-ups into their accounts never yielded solid evidence. And despite never being seen since 1952, it wasn't actually declared extinct until 2008, after an extensive search lasting multiple years bore no success, and thus marking the end of this docile creature. Evidently, being friendly to humans doesn't always work out for an animal, which is only further portrayed by the Falkland Island Wolf.

This canad is the only known native land mammal to have inhabited the Falkland Islands. specifically being found in both west and east Falkland. Because it was the only known land mammal and the only quadruped present, people have always been fascinated by this creature's origins, even since their first encounter, which took place in 1690, when Captain John Strong became the first man known to step foot on the islands. He and his landing party described seeing what appeared to be large foxes approximately twice the size of English ones.

He noted that they showed no fear towards them, but thankfully did not kill any of them, but instead decided to take one back to England and ended up nabbing a young juvenile. It was described as being fairly comfortable with a voyage and friendly around sailors, although it did all end in disaster after the ship became locked in battle with a French one, during which the loud cannons scared the Falkland Wolf into jumping overboard and it was lost to the sea. Following this event, many more encounters with this strange canine would be made into the 1700s, which granted a bit of insight into what this animal was like.

For one, many voyagers either thought it was a result. resembled a wolf or a fox, thus leading to disagreements on its taxonomic status. But all did agree it was large, especially compared to canines found on islands elsewhere, with explorers noting it to have rivaled mastiffs in size while bearing fangs longer and sharper than those seen in dogs, or even wolves, for that matter. Additionally, many reported it to be an extremely ferocious creature that would often charge at disembarkers. And of course, in human fashion, people would often respond by shooting the wolf and thus

saving themselves from what seemed to be a violent attack. And yet this fear of attack would one day be revealed as unfounded. In 1764, the first European settlement was established on the islands, which rapidly increased the interactions between people and the Falkland Wolf. It was also at this time that researchers learned much more about this curious creature. One such observation was the fact that two different variations existed, which were based upon where the wolf lived, either east or west, with those in the West being smaller and lighter in color,

while the eastern populations were larger and darker. Furthermore, the wolf displayed a very diverse diet that consisted of insects, geese, penguins, whatever they could find at the shoreline and seals, which they had a particular knack for, with some instances reporting small groups taking out seals as big as rowboats. These groups or packs were typically no bigger than four individuals when hunting, and many times the Falkland wolf would hunt alone too.

Unfortunately, its expert ability to hunt animals may have further exacerbated its reputation as a fierce killer, leading settlers to cull it with poison and fire. These settlers also mistakenly thought that their livestock were being killed by the wolf. However, it would eventually be revealed that the sheep were simply mistaking their howls for those of a dog, resulting in them fleeing and escaping their confines. Nevertheless, the settlers went hard at work to eradicate the wolf. And fire in particular became the weapon of choice, with one witness even describing how both islands were put to flame,

leading to fires as far as the eye could see. And in the chaos, large groups of these wolves could be spotted trying to seek shelter to no avail. Finally, after decades of living alongside and killing the Falkland wolf, it was understood that had never been as aggressive or dangerous of a threat as once thought. In reality, researchers deduced it was exceedingly friendly, which was misunderstood for aggression, and reports of its naive trust in humans soon started to surface, which included stories of entering tents but never harming sleeping people,

and accepting meat from the hands of strangers. While this may sound like a good thing for people to notice, it did end badly. As settlers had grown fond of the wolf's tawny fur, leading to more hunting which used the wolf's friendliness against it, with a common method involving someone holding meat in one hand and a knife in the other, which they then used to stab the wolf once it had accepted the meat. Such human activity took a massive toll on its population, and by 1834, certain biologists already thought that the Falkland wolf's extinction

was set in stone, including Charles Darwin, who wrote at the time of his visit that the wolf had been eradicated from the eastern island and was very rare overall. He predicted that its eradication was a foregone conclusion, since remarkably, despite being killed often, the wolves had retained their trust and natural fondness for humans, leading to the continuing of easy hunts despite low numbers. And his hypothesis proved right, as 40 years later in 1874, the wolf was all but gone and sightings had ceased completely, minus that is, what would be the last official sighting, which occurred two years later in 1876. The account tells of a lone wolf wandering around in the shallow bay of West Falkland, where a hunter then stumbled upon it.

The wolf, true to its nature, eagerly approached the hunter, who then proceeded to shoot it to death, and thus ending what was the island's only native land mammal. Because its extinction occurred in such a remote place, the Falkland wolf has remained a rather poorly studied animal compared to most. However, studies on specimens with intact DNA did finally answer some long-standing questions, including its true origins. One such analysis found that it belonged to a genus of South American canids known as Deucese-Sion, of which all members are currently extinct. Further probing found that its closest living relative is the maid wolf, with their last common ancestor dating the 6.7 million years ago. Research also came to a conclusion

of how it ended up on the island, as the stuff found that it started to deviate from other species within its genus around the time the last glacial maximum, heavily suggesting that it reached the island through a land bridge. It is widely accepted that due to the distance and depth of the surrounding water, that no true land bridge ever connected the islands to the mainland, although a narrow strait has been proposed that possibly at times froze over, allowing the canines to cross. There is also the more interesting idea that prehistoric humans came to the island in an attempt to establish themselves and brought the wolf as a furry companion, thus explaining its

friendliness towards people. However, this theory is widely considered false. Unlike the debate seen with the origins of the Falkland wolf, this next animal has much less speculations, and that is the quagga. This was a zebra endemic to South Africa, which had a very unique look to it, leading to researchers classifying it as a single species for many years. Yet in reality, it was a subspecies of Plain Zebra, who had diverged from other subspecies roughly 200,000 years ago during the Pleistocene.

After this divergence, it gained a distinct coat that contributed to its iconic look, with individuals having a limited pattern of mostly white and brown stripes in the front, while the rear had no stripes at all and was brown, which somewhat gave it the appearance of an animal caught between a zebra and a horse, which is why many considered it to be unique species originally.

Outside of its pattern, quagas were further special in size, since unlike living zebras, the mares were longer and taller than the stallions, reaching up to 4 foot 5 inches or 1.4 meters at their shoulders. And the Quagga didn't stop here in uniqueness, as they also held the achievement of the southernmost zebra in Africa, being restricted to the Karo region of South Africa,

where it lived in herds between 30 and 50 members and possibly formed groups with another subspecies, the Berchel's zebra. Along with other zebras, the Quagga was known to have coexisted with humans for quite some time, as the Saan people's cave art depicted the animal. Although, these hunter-gatherers and Quagga didn't really interact much, and it wasn't until Dutch settlers came that the Quagga began to see more humans, and not in a good way, as the Dutch considered them to be easy food, soon starting an industry based off of them.

Additionally, members were captured and used as livestock guardians, since they were more likely to attack predators than other animals were. And as all of this was going on, zoos and researchers had their fair share of Quagas sent to them, too. They were also considered the best chance of domesticating zebras, since they were regarded as being the most docile subspecies. Yet many of the programs made to accomplish this led to disaster. But overall, its extinction wasn't really due to it being killed by the hundreds or thousands, but rather because it had such a restricted range, in which it very quickly became critically endangered. And by the 1850s, it was a rare sight.

Yet, even with its drastic decrease in population, no restrictions on hunting or export was issued. and by the 1870s only one herd in the wild was known of, which was located in the orange free state. Researchers noted that the herd was sickly, making everything worse for them when a large drought in 1877 wiped out all but just one quagga. It was reported to be feeble and underweight, and just one year later, hunters came in to finish the job,

marking the last confirmed sighting of a quagga. Back then, no one knew this had been the last quagga, so it wasn't considered extinct at the time. Meanwhile, Quagas were still alive in some zoos where they did enjoy longer lives, but they too eventually succumbed to time with the last specimen in captivity dying in 1883, yet how it died is unknown. And since then, no other specimens have been seen, at least officially, because some think there is one report that should be considered the last official citing

because of who made it. Atilio Gatti This was a famous Italian explorer whose over 53,000 photos have been touted as invalidated, valuable to science. He also had extensive experience in rare animals and was among the first people to witness near fabled creatures, such as the Okapi and Bongo, leading many to consider him a solid source. And in one of his published books, titled Here is the Veld, he reported a lone Quagga that not only survived past 1883, but was still kicking until the 1930s, one then reportedly disappeared without a trace. No photos were taken of this lone individual,

But Gathe remained steadfast until his death that it was indeed a quagga. If this is true, it would make for one sad story. To think that potentially there was a quagga that spent years wandering the wild, unaware that it was the last of its kind. No doubt a tragedy, but perhaps not as much of a tragedy as what happened to another now extinct animal, the Schaumburg's deer. This is an extinct species of deer once found in central Thailand, where it lived in swampy plains, feasting on grasses, reeds, and other vegetation.

Thai people described it as an extremely graceful animal that had a dark pelt and lighter underside. And foreign researchers agreed with it being called graceful and suggested it to be the most graceful of all the Thai deer, noting their majestic horns that grew in distinct patterns and were described as basket-like, sometimes having up to 16 points on each antler. Their appearance brought them lots of favor with the people. Yet hunting by locals still took place, as had been the case since the very first humans had entered Thailand. But for the most part, hunting was very first only ramping up during the wet seasons as flooding would regularly strand large groups on hills, making them easy pickings for hunters.

That being said, even these floods didn't dent the deer's population, and Schaumburg's deer likely would have been just fine if it wasn't for modernization, which started in Thailand towards the late 19th century. During this time, commercial rice production led to a ton of land being converted into paddy fields, causing devastation to the deer's natural habitat. This in itself led to fewer numbers, which was only exacerbated by increased hunting as well. Since because of the habitat loss, the deer were forced to venture more and more into human areas, bringing them into frequent contact with hunters.

And within 30 years or so, they were all but gone, with the last herd being seen in the early 1930s. Then in 1932, a hunter shot a lone male, signifying the last recording of a successful hunt. Following this, individuals were still known, but quickly decline each year. until just one remained. This last deer had been frequently spotted around a temple in Samutsa Khan, and was described as having a friendly personality,

leading the temple to unofficially adopt it. This sounds like a somewhat happy ending for the last recorded Schaumburg's deer, and it may have been if it wasn't for what happened on a fateful night in 1938, when a drunken man stumbled upon the deer and proceeded to beat it half to death, before finishing it off by stabbing it with a large blade. To this day, there's no clear consensus on why the same, the man killed the deer unprovoked, with the best guess being that he confused it for a wild deer. Regardless, it remains the last official interaction between a human and Schaumburg's deer,

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