List of extinct animals of Europe

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This list of extinct animals in Europe features the animals that have become extinct on the European continent and some in other dependent territories of European countries. While most of the animals in the recent Holocene have a human-caused extinction,[1] Pleistocene extinctions and early Holocene extinctions are contested. Many theories of the cause of their extinction have been presented; some human-caused while others as a product of climate change.

Many of the extinct animals were subspecies or color morphs such as the pied raven or disputed species like the tarpan or the gravenche. Most extinctions occurred in prehistoric times. The species gone extinct in the last 500 years were mostly from peripheral regions of Europe like the Caucasus, the North Atlantic or Mediterranean islands. Except for molluscs, the only species extinct in the heartland of Europe in the last 500 years is the aurochs, which survives in the form of primitive cattle breeds that possess similar physical features.

Map of Europe

Prehistoric extinctions

Mammals

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Balearic giant shrew
Nesiotites hidalgo
Unknown
Spain (Balearic Islands) --
Balearic Islands cave goat
Myotragus balearicus
3000 BC
Spain (Balearic Islands) Balearic Islands cave goat
Canary Islands giant rats
Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys tamarani
Before 1500 AD
Spain (Canary Islands) Canary Islands giant rats
Cave bear
Ursus spelaeus
27,500 BC
Europe Cave bear
Cave hyena
Crocuta crocuta spelaea
11,000 BC
Europe Cave hyena
Cave lion
Panthera leo spelaea
10,000 BC
Europe cave lion
Cretan dwarf megacerine
Candiacervus cretensis
Late Pleistocene
Greece (Crete) --
Cretan dwarf hippopotamus
Hippopotamus creutzburgi
Middle Pleistocene
Greece (Crete) Cretan dwarf hippopotamus
Dwarf elephant
Unknown
Mediterranean Islands Sea Dwarf elephant
Elasmotherium
Elasmotherium sp.
10,000 BC
Europe Elasmotherium sibiricum
European ass
Equus hydruntinus
Holocene Epoch
Europe --
Irish elk
Megaloceros giganteus
5000 BC
Northern Europe Irish elk
Homotherium
Homotherium sp.
10,000 BC
Europe Homotherium
Majorcan giant dormouse
Hypnomys morphaeus
Unknown
Spain (Majorca) --
Maltese hippopotamus
Hippopotamus melitensis
Unknown
Malta --
Minorcan giant dormouse
Hypnomys mahonensis
Unknown
Spain (Minorca) --
Sardinian dhole
Cynotherium sardous
Unknown
France (Corsica) and Italy (Sardinia) --
Stephanorhinus
Stephanorhinus sp.
Unknown
Europe Stephanorhinus
Woolly mammoth
Mammuthus primigenius
2000 BC
Europe Woolly mammoth
Woolly rhinoceros
Coelodonta antiquitatis
10,000 BC
Europe Woolly rhinoceros

Birds

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Giant swan
Cygnus falconeri
Late Pleistocene
Italy (Sicily) and Malta --
Ibiza rail
Rallus eivissensis
5000 BC
Spain (Balearic Islands) --

Recent extinctions

Mammals

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Aurochs
Bos primigenius[2]
1627
Europe (native to Poland) Aurochs
Caspian tiger
Panthera tigris virgata[3]
1970s
Turkey to Caucasus Mountains Caspian tiger
Caucasian moose
Alces alces caucasicus
1850s
Caucasus Mountains --
Caucasian wisent
Bison bonasus caucasicus
1925
Caucasus Mountains Caucasian wisent
Carpathian wisent
Bison bonasus hungarorum
1790
Carpathian Mountains Carpathian wisent
Majorcan hare
Lepus granatensis solisi
1980s
Spain (Majorca) --
Portuguese ibex
Capra pyrenaica lusitanica
1892
Portugal and Spain Portuguese ibex
Pyrenean ibex
Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica
2000 and 2009
Andorra, France, Portugal and Spain Pyrenean ibex
Sardinian giant shrew
Nesiotites similis
1500s
Italy (Sardinia) --
Sardinian lynx
Lynx lynx sardiniae
1900s
Italy (Sardinia) --
Sardinian pika
Prolagus sardus[4]
1774
Italy (Sardinia) Sardinian pika
St Kilda house mouse
Mus musculus muralis
1930
United Kingdom (St Kilda) St Kilda house mouse
Tarpan
Equus ferus ferus
1909
Europe Tarpan

Birds

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Great auk
Pinguinus impennis
1854
Iceland and Northern European Coast Great auk
Pied raven
Corvus corax varius
morpha leucophaeus
1950
Denmark (Faroe Islands) Pied raven

Reptiles

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Ratas Island lizard
Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi
1950
Spain (Minorca) --
Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard
Gallotia simonyi simonyi
1930s
Spain (Canary Islands) Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard
Santo Stefano lizard
Podarcis sicula sanctistephani
1965
Italy (Santo Stefano Island) --

Fish

Common name/scientific name extinction date Range Image
Chondrostoma scodrense[5] late 19th century
Albania and Montenegro --
Coregonus bezola[6] 1960s
Lac du Bourget, France --
Coregonus fera[7] 1950
France and Switzerland --
Coregonus restrictus[8] 1890
Lake Morat, Switzerland --
Deepwater char
Salvelinus profundus [9]
1970s
Austria, Germany and Switzerland --
Gravenche
Coregonus hiemalis[10]
1950
France and Switzerland Gravenche
Houting
Coregonus oxyrinchus [11]
1940
Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and United Kingdom Houting
Lake Constance whitefish
Coregonus gutturosus[12]
1930s
Austria, Germany and Switzerland Lake Constance whitefish
Romanogobio antipai[13] 1890
Lower Danube, Romania and Ukraine --
Salvelinus neocomensis[14] 1904
Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland --
Techirghiol stickleback
Gasterosteus crenobiontus [15]
1960s
Lake Techirghiol, Romania --
Ukrainian migratory lamprey
Eudontomyzon sp. nov. 'migratory' [16]
Unknown
Moldova, Russia and Ukraine --

Insect

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Madeiran large white
Pieris brassicae wollastoni[17]
1970s
Portugal (Madeira) Madeiran large white
British large copper
Lycaena dispar dispar[18]
1864
England
Silver-studded blue subsp. masseyi
Plebejus argus masseyi[19]
1940s England (Cumbria and Lancashire)
British large blue
Maculinea arion eutyphron[19]
1979
England
Scarce large blue subsp. burdigalensis
Phengaris teleius burdigalensis
? France
Perrin's cave beetle
Siettitia balsetensis[20]
Unknown
France --
Tobias' caddisfly
Hydropsyche tobiasi[21]
1938
Germany --

Sea anemone

Possibly extinct

Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range Image
Ivell's sea anemone
Edwardsia ivelli [22]
1983
Widewater Lagoon, United Kingdom --

Molluscs

Twenty-two species and three subspecies of gastropods have become extinct in Europe since the year 1500.[23] No species of bivalves are known to be extinct in Europe since 1500.[23]

See also

References

  1. Baillie, J.E.M., Hilton-Taylor, C. and Stuart, S.N. (Editors) 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List Threatened Species. A Global Species Assessment. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xxiv + 191 pp. Online pdf
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  18. Thomas, J., R. Lewington, 2010. The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland. British Wildlife Publishing, Milton on Stour, UK.
  19. 19.0 19.1 Emmet, A.M., J. Heath et al. (Ed.), 1990. The Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. 7 Part 1 (Hesperiidae to Nymphalidae). Harley Books, Colechester, UK. 370p.
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  23. 23.00 23.01 23.02 23.03 23.04 23.05 23.06 23.07 23.08 23.09 23.10 23.11 23.12 23.13 23.14 23.15 23.16 23.17 23.18 23.19 23.20 23.21 23.22 23.23 23.24 23.25 23.26 Fontaine B., Bouchet P., Van Achterberg K., Alonso-Zarazaga M. A., Araujo R. et al. (2007). "The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus." Biological Conservation 139: 167-185. Table 2 on the page 173. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.06.012. PDF.

External links