Extinct and Critically Endangered Animals

(Summary Handout)

Black Rhinoceros
(Diceros Bicornis)

Population:
1900: 850,000

1960: 100,000

1995: 2,500

2010: 4,000
(Currently critically endangered, with only 3 of its 8
subspecies still seen in the wild)

Presence:
Regionally extinct in Cameroon, Chad, Rwanda, and possibly Ethiopia.
Reintroductions in Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia
Currently found in range states, including South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Current Threats:
- Illegal poaching for their horn, supposedly having many clinical applications
- Changes in habitat, mostly when in captivity, resulting in increased susceptivity to disease
- Competition with other species, both native and alien.
- War and civil unrest - horns can be traded for weapons; also impacts ongoing conservation efforts
Conservation Efforts:
Main purpose: Protect them in order to give them a place to repopulate.
- Bans regarding international commercial trade in their products through international trade bans,
domestic anti-trade measures and legislation.
- Use of fenced sanctuaries, conservancies, rhino conservation areas and intensive protection zones, so
effective levels of law enforcement can be applied
- Integrating local communities and regional initiatives into conservation efforts

Passenger Pigeon
(Ectopistes migratorius)

This bird is an extinct pigeon that is endemic to North

America, found mostly along the southern and western
coasts.
Similar to the black rhino, it was once the most abundant
species in the area, with a population nearing 3 to 5
billion, supposedly high enough that you could fire a gun
towards the air and birds could drop to the ground.

Reason for Extinction:

Though commonly hunted by humans before the European colonisation of America, its population only
started declining when they started to be hunted on a massive scale. Main factors include:
- Widespread clearance of the hardwood trees which provided its food
- Development of the rail network, telegraph system and refrigeration, encouraging mass hunting
Other possible factors include excessive shooting, Newcastle disease, even mass drowning.
Possible Methods of Conservation:
Though viable and reasonable methods of conservation were put forward, they were ultimately disregarded
due to the fact that public awareness at the time was low, with the need for conservation unrecognised.
- Closed hunting seasons with a quota or regulation when hunting
- Possible conservation areas for the pigeon population to recover
- Raising awareness through campaigns and organisations