Globally Extinct Mammals

In 2008, the most comprehensive assessment of the world’s mammals has confirmed an extinction crisis, with almost one in four at risk of disappearing forever, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2008). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Version 2017.2) shows that at least 1196 of the 5644 mammal species on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction (IUCN 2017). According to the IUCN at least 81 mammal species and 9 mammal subspecies have become extinct since the year 1500 and 2 extinct in the wild (IUCN 2017). However, the real situation could be much worse, as 26 mammal species are listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) and 795 mammal species as Data Deficient (IUCN 2017). As information improves, more mammals may well prove to be in danger of extinction or already extinct (IUCN 2008).

Do you know any species or subspecies that should be added to this list or has been rediscovered? If so, please contact this website.

Species

The subjoined table shows the mammal species that recently became ‘globally extinct’ (EX).

Species (97)
Scientific Name	Common Name	Last sighting / EED 1	TSEW status	IUCN status
Bettongia anhydra	Desert Bettong	1933	EX	EX
Bettongia pusilla	Nullarbor Dwarf Bettong	After 1500	EX	EX
Boromys offella	Oriente Cave Rat	After 1500 (1850?)	EX	EX
Boromys torrei	Torre’s Cave Rat	After 1500 (1850?)	EX	EX
Boryptera alba	Bory’s White Bat	1801	EX	NE
Bos primigenius	Aurochs	1627	EX	EX
Brotomys voratus	Hispaniolan Edible Rat	1536-1546	EX	EX
Caloprymnus campestris	Desert Rat Kangaroo	1935 2	EX	EX
Chaeropus ecaudatus	Pig-footed Bandicoot	1950s	EX	EX
Conilurus albipes	White-footed Rabbit Rat	1860-1862	EX	EX
Conilurus capricornensis	Capricorn Rabbit Rat	After 1500?	EX	EX
Cordimus hooijeri	Hooijer’s Mouse	After 1500	EX	NE
Coryphomys buehleri	Buhler’s Rat	After 1500	EX	EX
Cryptonanus ignitus	Red-bellied Gracile Mouse Opossum	1962	EX	EX
Cryptoprocta spelea	Giant Fossa	Before 1658?	EX	EX
Damaliscus selousi	Uasin Gishu Topi	1900s?	EX	NE
Desmodus draculae	Giant Vampire Bat	Before 1820?	EX	NE
Dusicyon australis	Falkland Island Wolf	1876	EX	EX
Dusicyon avus	South American Fox	324–496 years BP	EX	EX
Ekbletomys hypenemus	Barbuda Rice Rat	After 1500	EX	NE
Equus ferus	Tarpan	1918-1919	EX	NE
Eudorcas rufina	Red Gazelle	Before 1894	EX	DD
Gazella bilkis	Queen of Sheba’s Gazelle	1951	EX	EX
Gazella saudiya	Saudi Gazelle	1936 (1980s?)	EX	EX
Geocapromys columbianus	Cuban Coney	After 1500	EX	EX
Geocapromys thoracatus	Little Swan Island Hutia	1950s	EX	EX
Heteropsomys insulans	Insular Cave Rat	After 1500?	EX	EX
Hexolobodon phenax	Imposter Hutia	After 1500	EX	EX
Hippopotamus lemerlei	Lemerle’s Hippopotamus	After 1500 (1976?)	EX	EX
Hippopotamus madagascariensis	Madagascan Dwarf Hippopotamus	After 1500 (1976?)	EX	EX
Hippotragus leucophaeus	Bluebuck	1800	EX	EX
Hydrodamalis gigas	Steller’s Sea Cow	1768	EX	EX
Isolobodon montanus	Montane Hutia	After 1500	EX	EX
Isolobodon portoricensis	Puerto Rican Hutia	1503-1578	EX	EX
Juscelinomys candango	Candango Mouse	1960	EX	EX
Lagorchestes asomatus	Central Hare-wallaby	1960s	EX	EX
Lagorchestes leporides	Eastern Hare-wallaby	1889	EX	EX
Lagostomus crassus	Peruvian Viscacha	Before 1910	EX	EX
Leporillus apicalis	Lesser Stick-nest Rat	1933 (1970?)	EX	EX
Lutra nippon	Japanese Otter	1979	EX	NE
Macropus greyi	Toolache Wallaby	1939 (1972?)	EX	EX
Macrotis leucura	Lesser Bilby	1960s	EX	EX
Megalomys desmarestii	Antillean Giant Rice Rat	1897 (1902?)	EX	EX
Megalomys luciae	Santa Lucia Giant Rice Rat	Before 1881	EX	EX
Megaoryzomys curioi	Galapagos Giant Rat	1520-1950	EX	EX
Melomys rubicola	Bramble Cay Melomys	2009	EX	EX
Neomonachus tropicalis	Caribbean Monk Seal	1952	EX	EX
Neovison macrodon	Sea Mink	1860 (1894?)	EX	EX
Nesophontes edithae	Puerto Rican Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesophontes hypomicrus	Atalaye Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesophontes longirostris	Slender Cuban Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	NE
Nesophontes major	Greater Cuban Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesophontes micrus	Western Cuban Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesophontes paramicrus	Saint Michel Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesophontes submicrus	Lesser Cuban Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	NE
Nesophontes superstes	Cuban Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	NE
Nesophontes zamicrus	Haitian Nesophontes	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesoryzomys darwini	Darwin’s Galapagos Mouse	After 1500	EX	EX
Nesoryzomys indefessus	Indefatigable Galapagos Mouse	After 1500	EX	EX
Noronhomys vespuccii	Vespucci’s Rodent	1503	EX	EX
Notomys amplus	Short-tailed Hopping-mouse	Before 1896	EX	EX
Notomys longicaudatus	Long-tailed Hopping-mouse	1901	EX	EX
Notomys macrotis	Big-eared Hopping-mouse	1843	EX	EX
Notomys mordax	Darling Downs Hopping-mouse	1846	EX	EX
Notomys robustus	Great Hopping Mouse	1850-1900?	EX	EX
Nyctimene sanctacrucis	Nendo Tube-nosed Fruit Bat	Before 1892	EX	DD
Oligoryzomys victus	St. Vincent Pygmy Rice Rat	1892	EX	EX
Onychogalea lunata	Crescent Nailtail Wallaby	1956	EX	EX
Oryzomys antillarum	Jamaican Rice Rat	1877	EX	EX
Oryzomys nelsoni	Nelson’s Rice Rat	1897	EX	EX
Oryzomys peninsulae	Lower California Rice Rat	1906	EX	NE
Palaeopropithecus ingens	Large Sloth Lemur	1300-1620	EX	EX
Pennatomys nivalis	Nevis Rice Rat	1720? (1930s?)	EX	EX
Perameles eremiana	Desert Bandicoot	1960s	EX	EX
Peromyscus pembertoni	Pemberton’s Deer Mouse	1931	EX	EX
Pipistrellus murrayi	Christmas Island Pipistrelle	2009	EX	EX
Plagiodontia ipnaeum	Samana Hutia	1536-1546?	EX	EX
Potorous platyops	Broad-faced Potoroo	1875	EX	EX
Prolagus sardus	Sardinian Pika	1774	EX	EX
Pseudomys auritus	Long-eared Mouse	1850?	EX	EX
Pseudomys glaucus	Blue-grey Mouse	1956	EX	EX
Pseudomys gouldii	Gould’s Mouse	1857	EX	EX
Pteropus allenorum	Small Samoan Flying Fox	1856	EX	NE
Pteropus brunneus	Dusky Flying Fox	1874	EX	EX
Pteropus coxi	Large Samoan Flying Fox	1838-1842 (1980s?)	EX	NE
Pteropus pilosus	Large Palau Flying Fox	Before 1874	EX	EX
Pteropus subniger	Lesser Mascarene Flying Fox	Before 1866	EX	EX
Pteropus tokudae	Guam Flying Fox	1968	EX	EX
Quemisia gravis	Twisted-Toothed Mouse	1536-1546	EX	NE
Rattus macleari	Maclear’s Rat	1903	EX	EX
Rattus nativitatis	Bulldog Rat	1903	EX	EX
Rucervus schomburgki	Schomburgk’s Deer	1938	EX	EX
Solenodon marcanoi	Marcano’s Solenodon	After 1500	EX	EX
Sus bucculentus	Indo-Chinese Warty Pig	1892	EX	EX
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Tasmanian Tiger	1936	EX	EX
Xenothrix mcgregori	Jamaican Monkey	After 1500 (1769?)	EX	EX
Zalophus japonicus	Japanese Sea Lion	1951	EX	EX

Subspecies

The subjoined table shows the mammal subspecies that recently became ‘globally extinct’ (EX).

Subspecies (57)
Scientific Name	Common Name	Last sighting / EED 1	TSEW status	IUCN status
Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus	Bubal Hartebeest	1925	EX	EX
Alces alces caucasicus	Caucasian Elk	1900s (1810?)	EX	NE
Bettongia gaimardi gaimardi	Eastern Bettong	1920s	EX	NE
Bettongia penicillata penicillata	Brush-tailed Bettong	1923	EX	NE
Bison bonasus caucasicus	Caucasian Wisent	1927	EX	NE
Bos gaurus sinhaleyus	Sri Lankan Gaur	1812-1841	EX	NE
Canis lupus hattai	Hokkaido Japanese Wolf	1889	EX	NE
Canis lupus hodophilax	Honshu Japanese Wolf	1905	EX	NE
Canis rufus floridanus	Florida Black Wolf	1930	EX	NE
Canis rufus greygoryi	Mississippi Red Wolf	1970s	EX	NE
Capra pyrenaica lusitanica	Portuguese Ibex	1892	EX	NE
Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica	Pyrenean Ibex	2000 & 2009 3	EX	NE
Chaetodipus rudinoris fornicatus	Monserrate Island Pocket Mouse	1975	EX	NE
Choeropsis liberiensis heslopi	Niger Delta Pygmy Hippopotamus	1945	EX	NE
Conepatus leuconotus telmalestes	Big Thicket Hog-nosed Skunk	1945	EX	NE
Diceros bicornis longipes	Western Black Rhinoceros	Before 2006	EX	EX
Equus hemionus hemippus	Syrian Wild Ass	1928	EX	NE
Equus quagga quagga	Quagga	1883	EX	EX
Geocapromys ingrahami abaconis	Great Abaco Hutia	1600	EX	NE
Geocapromys ingrahami irrectus	Crooked Island Hutia	1600	EX	NE
Geomys pinetis goffi	Goff’s Southeastern Pocket Gopher	1955	EX	NE
Geomys pinetis fontanelus	Sherman’s Pocket Gopher	1950	EX	NE
Kobus leche robertsi	Roberts’ Lechwe	After 1913	EX	EX
Lagorchestes hirsutus hirsutus	Rufous Hare-wallaby	1900	EX	NE
Lagostrophus fasciatus baudinettei	South Australian Banded Hare-Wallaby	1927	EX	NE
Leptailurus serval constantinus	North African Serval	1936 (1996?)	EX	NE
Lutra lutra whiteleyi	Japanese River Otter	1955-1959	EX	NE
Lynx lynx sardiniae	Sardinian Lynx	1967?	EX	NE
Microtus montanus nevadensis	Ash Meadows Montane Vole	1933	EX	NE
Microtus ochrogaster ludovicianus	Louisiana Vole	1899	EX	NE
Microtus pennsylvanicus chihuahuensis	Chihuahuan Meadow Vole	1988 (2000?)	EX	NE
Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus	Formosan Clouded Leopard	1983	EX	NE
Neotoma bryanti anthonyi	Anthony’s Woodrat	1926	EX	EX
Neotoma bryanti martinensis	San Martin Island Woodrat	1950s	EX	EX
Ourebia ourebi kenyae	Kenya Oribi	1980s?	EX	EX
Panthera leo leo	Barbary Lion	After 1942?	EX	VU
Panthera leo melanochaitus	Cape Lion	1865	EX	NE
Panthera pardus adersi	Zanzibar Leopard	1996	EX	NE
Panthera tigris balica	Bali Tiger	1937 (1972?)	EX	EX
Panthera tigris sondaica	Javan Tiger	1979	EX	EX
Panthera tigris virgata	Caspian Tiger	1970	EX	EX
Perognathus alticolus alticolus	White-eared Pocket Mouse	1934	EX	NE
Peromyscus guardia harbisoni	Granito Island Deer Mouse	1963	EX	NE
Peromyscus guardia mejiae	Mejía Island Deer Mouse	1973	EX	NE
Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus	Cape Warthog	1871 (1896?)	EX	NE
Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus	Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros	2010	EX	NE
Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis	Indian Javan Rhinoceros	Before 1925 (1892-1908?)	EX	NE
Rhinolophus cornutus miyakonis	Miyako Horseshoe Bat	1971	EX	NE
Sigmodon arizonae arizonae	Camp Verde Arizona Cotton Rat	1932	EX	NE
Sigmodon arizonae jacksoni	Yavapai Arizona Cotton Rat	1900s (1918?)	EX	NE
Sorex ornatus juncensis	Tule Shrew	1905	EX	NE
Sus cebifrons cebifrons	Cebu Warty Pig	1960s	EX	NE
Tamias umbrinus nevadensis	Nevada Uinta Chipmunk	1960	EX	NE
Thomomys mazama tacomensis	Tacoma Pocket Gopher	1974	EX	NE
Ursus arctos californicus	California Golden Bear	1924	EX	NE
Ursus arctos crowtheri	Atlas Bear	1841?	EX	NE
Vulpes macrotis macrotis	Southern California Kit Fox	1903	EX	NE

Notes

1. The Effective Extinction Date (EED) is the last reliable record of collection or observation.
2. It was first believed extinct in 1841, but rediscovered in 1931 (Fisher & Blomberg 2010). There have been no reliable records of the species since 1935, but there were unconfirmed sightings in Queensland following periods of rain in 1956-1957 and 1974-1975 (Carr & Robinson 1997; Australasian Mammal Assessment Workshop 2008). According MacPhee & Flemming (1999) its EED is 1932.
3. The very last individual died on 6 January 2000 in Ordesa National Park in Spain (Caprinae Specialist Group 2000). In January 2009 it became the first extinct animal to be resurrected by cloning, but died after 7 minutes (Folch et al. 2009; Gray & Dobson 2009).
4. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (version 2012.2) includes the Insular Cave Rat (Heteropsomys insulans) as an recent extinction (Turvey & Helgen 2008; IUCN 2012), however radiocarbon dating of the subfossil bones suggest it became extinct arround CE 694-887 (Turvey 2009). Therefore it probably did not persisted until the time of first European arrival in the West Indies.
5. The population of Deer Mouse from Estanque Island (Peromyscus guardia subsp. indet.), last seen in 1998, may represent an undescribed subspecies (Mellink et al. 2002; Vázquez-Domínguez et al. 2004), but may also be conspecific with the Angel de la Guarda Deer Mouse (Peromyscus guardia guardia).

The Sixth Extinction Database (TSED)

The Sixth Extinction has created a database (TSED 3.0) with currently all known recent mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian extinctions, possible extinctions, extinctions in the wild, rediscoveries, and more. Later versions of this database will include extinctions from all animal and plant groups. The database is free to download in Excel and OpenDocument formats.

References

Australasian Mammal Assessment Workshop (2008). Caloprymnus campestris. In: IUCN (2012). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.

Brook, S., Van Coeverden de Groot, P., Mahood, S., Long, B. (2011). Extinction of the Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) from Vietnam. WWF Report.

Caprinae Specialist Group (2000). Capra pyrenaica ssp. pyrenaica. In: IUCN (2004). 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.redlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 October 2005.

Carr, S. G. and Robinson, A. C. (1997). The present status and distribution of the Desert Rat-kangaroo Caloprymnus campestris (Marsupialia: campestris). South Australian Naturalist 72: 4-27.

Cheke, A., Hume, J. (2008). Lost Land of the Dodo, An Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rordrigues. T & AD Poyser, London.

Fisher, D.O. and Blomberg, S.P. (2010). Correlates of rediscovery and the detectability of extinction in mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published online 29 September 2010, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1579.

Fisher, Diana O., and Blomberg Simon P. (2012). Inferring Extinction of Mammals from Sighting Records, Threats, and Biological Traits. Conservation Biology, Volume 26, No. 1, 57–67. Article first published online: 2 december 2011. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01797.x.

Folch, J., et al. (2009) First birth of an animal from an extinct subspecies (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) by cloning. Theriogenology, 71, 1026-1034.

Gray, R. and Dobson, R. (2009). Extinct ibex is resurrected by cloning. Telegraph.co.uk (31 January 2009). Downloaded on 1 February 2009.

Groves, C. and Grubb, P. (2011). Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

IUCN (2008). IUCN Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis. IUCN Press release 06 October 2008. Downloaded on 18 July 2010 from http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_list/index.cfm?uNewsID=1695.

 

IUCN (2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 22 October 2017.

MacPhee, R.D.E. and Flemming, C. (1999). Requiem Æternam. The last five hundred years of mammalian species extinctions. In: R.D.E. MacPhee (ed.). Extinctions in Near Time. Pp.333-371. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

Mellink, E., Ceballos, G. and Luevano, J. (2002). Population demise and extinction threat of the Angel de la Guarda deer mouse (Peromyscus guarda). Biological Conservation 108: 107-111.

Mittermeier, R.A.; Rylands, A.B.; Wilson, D.E. (2013). Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Vol. 3. Primates. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Patton J. L., Huckaby D. G., Álvarez-Castañeda S. T. (2007). The Evolutionary History and a Systematic Revision of Woodrats of the Neotoma Lepida Group. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Schipper, J. et al. 2008. The status of the world’s land and marine mammals; diversity, threat, and knowledge. Science 322:225-230.

Turvey, S. (2008). Witness to extinction. How we failed to save the Yangtze River Dolphin. Oxford University Press, New York.

Turvey, S.T. (2009). Holocene mammal extinctions. In: Turvey, S.T. (editor) (2009). Holocene extinctions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Turvey, S. & Helgen, K. (2008). Heteropsomys insulans. In: IUCN (2012). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.

Vázquez-Domínguez, E., Ceballos, G., and Cruzado, J. (2004). “Extirpation of an insular subspecies by a single introduced cat: the case of the endemic deer mouse, Peromyscus guardia on Estanque Island, Mexico”. Oryx 38 (3): 347–350. doi:10.1017/S0030605304000602.

Wilson, D.E., Lacher, T.E., Jr & Mittermeier, R.A. eds. (2016). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 6. Lagomorphs and Rodents I. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Wilson, D.E. & Mittermeier R.A. eds. (2009). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 1. Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Wilson, D.E. & Mittermeier R.A. eds. (2011). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 2. Hoofed Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Wilson, D.E. & Mittermeier, R.A. eds. (2014). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 4. Sea Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Wilson, D.E. & Mittermeier, R.A. eds. (2015). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (editors). (2005). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2, 142 pp. http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/

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Citation:	Maas, P.H.J. (2017). Globally Extinct Mammals. In: TSEW (2017). The Sixth Extinction. http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct. Downloaded on .
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Updated:	22 October 2017