List of recently extinct mammals
Recently extinct mammals are defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as any mammals that have become extinct since the year 1500 CE.[1] Since then, roughly 80 mammal species have become extinct.
Causes of extinction
Habitat degradation is currently the main anthropogenic cause of species extinctions. The main cause of habitat degradation worldwide is agriculture, with urban sprawl, logging, mining and some fishing practices close behind. The physical destruction of a habitat, both directly (deforestation for land development or lumber) and indirectly (burning fossil fuels), is an example of this.[7][8]
Also, increasing toxicity, through media such as pesticides, can kill off a species very rapidly, by killing all living members through contamination or sterilizing them. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), for example, can bioaccumulate to hazardous levels, getting increasingly more dangerous further up the food chain.[9]
Disease can also be a factor: white nose syndrome in bats, for example, is causing a substantial decline in their populations and may even lead to the extinction of a species.[10]
Overhunting also has an impact. Terrestrial mammals, such as the tiger and deer, are mainly hunted for their pelts and in some cases meat, and marine mammals can be hunted for their oil and leather. Specific targeting of one species can be problematic to the ecosystem because the sudden demise of one species can inadvertently lead to the demise of another (coextinction) especially if the targeted species is a keystone species. Sea otters, for example, were hunted in the maritime fur trade, and their drop in population led to the rise in sea urchins—their main food source—which decreased the population of kelp—the sea urchin's and Steller's sea cow's main food source—leading to the extinction of the Steller's sea cow.[11] The hunting of an already limited species can easily lead to its extinction, as with the bluebuck whose range was confined to 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2) and which was hunted into extinction soon after discovery by European settlers.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recently_extinct_mammals
