According to Endangered Earth, “There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List, and 16,306 of them are endangered species threatened with extinction. This is up from 16,118 last year. This includes both endangered animals and endangered plants.” This is absolutely horrible. All these species are about to go extinct and what are we doing for them? Nothing! Here are three extinct animals we were not able to save, and you might’ve even heard of them.

#1. 

The Dodo bird; This is a Dodo Bird, they were native to the island Mauritius, which is in the Indian Ocean. Note the emphasis on the word “were.” The Dodo went extinct in 1681. It was flightless and without a fear of humans, so they quickly became an easy food source for Dutch sailors who ate them all. They didn’t leave a single Dodo alive.

#2. 

The Tasmanian Tiger; The Tasmanian Tiger was one of two marsupials that had a pouch in both sexes. The Tasmanian Tiger, or the Thylacine, was the largest carnivore in the marsupial family. Again note my emphasis on “was.” The Thylacine supposedly went extinct in 1936. Since the last sighting and capturing of a Thylacine was in 1933, scientists classify Tasmanian Tigers as extinct. The government placed a bounty on for each dead Tasmanian Tiger poachers brought in. More than 2,000 carcasses were brought in and paid for. Some suspect that the reason that the Tasmanian Tigers died was because of the introduction of dogs, invasive dingoes, humans encroaching on their land, and of course, being hunted to extinction.

#3.  

The Quagga; I’ve assumed that by now you’ve gathered by just looking at this picture that the Quagga is related the zebra. It was a subspecies of zebra that lived in the plains of South Africa. Their species survived until the last mare died in the Amsterdam Zoo, on August 12, 1883. The colonists who settled in South Africa thought of the Quagga as a rival to their domesticated herbivores. So they thought to themselves, “Why don’t we just kill all of them? Then there will be more food for my animals!” The Quagga were sadly hunted to death before the Cape governor put a hunting ban on Quaggas.

For each of these species, we could have done something to help them, to prolong their species’ existence. But we didn’t. All you have to do is ask yourself a simple question, “What can I do for my environment?” Well the answer for that is easy. Take care of your city/town/village, anything helpful you can do, don’t hesitate, take action and help our planet, we need you. Go to this link for World Wildlife Fund if you would like to help!