Recently Extinct Animals

Beside this and other websites, you can also get information on recently extinct animals from books. On this page you will find English books. This website has also pages on German books and Dutch books. Do you know more books? Click here.

	Title: Retracing the Aurochs. Subtitle: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox. Author: Cis van Vuure Publisher: Pensoft Publishers, Sofia & Moscow, 2005 This book tells the comprehensive story of the extinct aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius), the wild ancestor of our domestic cattle, and of what is still left of it. Not only until its extinction in 1627, the aurochs, because of its appearance and nature, had left a deep impression on people, but also afterwards this bovine species, due to scanty information and questionable interpretations, has been subject to discussion and mystification. In spite of a growing amount of individual scientific studies, no exhaustive overview on this subject has ever been made. After many years of research at Wageningen University, the existing information as well as numerous new or unused data from the fields of archaeozoology, history, philology, ecology and palaeoecology have been brought together by the author to build up a complete picture of the physical appearance, the way of life and the environment of the aurochs. Directly related to the ecology of the aurochs is the ongoing discussion concerning the supposed impact large herbivores render on forest structure, as well as on the appearance of the natural landscapes they live in. Here, too, existing and new surprising data from various fields of science are compiled to elucidate this problem. In addition, due attention is paid to the origin, description and evaluation of the so-called bred-back aurochs (Heck cattle), used in several places for educational and nature conservation purposes. Only now can Heck cattle be properly compared with the original aurochs prototype. The book is addressed to specialists in mammalogy (interested in the archaeology, ecology, morphology and history of mammals), palaeoecology (because of the herbivore-impact debate concerning the former natural landscape), forest ecology and European nature conservation, to cattle breeders and other cattle lovers.
	Title: Gap in Nature. Subtitle: Discovering the world's extinct animals. Author: Flannery T., Schouten P. Publisher: William Heinemann. ISBN: 0434008192. This book tells the tragic story of how, after Columbus' bold discovery of the Americas in 1492, the impact of European exploration and settlement was to prove fatal for many of the planet's most bizarre and extraordinary creatures. Every part of the planet was effected. These animals had no defence against lethal invaders: people, rats, foxes and cats. In all 103 animals (extinct birds, mammals, and reptiles) are commemorated, some of them are never before illustrated. This book is written by Tim Flannery and breathtakingly illustrated by Peter Schouten.
	Title: The Doomsday Book of Animals. Author: David Day Publisher: Studio. ISBN: 0670279870. A little dated now, but still this book is a worthy addition to any collection of extinct or endangered literature. Key highlights are the magnificent watercolours (some full page) of animals. Good reference text also on some less frequently documented extinctions, like several wolf subspecies, Eskimo Curlew, Caucasian bison,, Bubal Hartebeest, Portuguese Ibex and various plants and fish. The book is out of print, so you can only purchase second hand copies of this book.
	Title: Extinct Birds. Author: Fuller E. Publisher: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0198508379 This is a entirely re-worked and a beautiful new edition. The first edition was published in 1987. Several species featured in the1987 book now seem lost and other species have been rediscovered. It is a fascinating record of those species of birds which have been unable to adapt and survive. It is also a timely reminder of the human capacity to change the environment for the worse. This book represents what seems to be true today, but today's truth may not be infallible.
	Title: The Dodo. Subtitle: The Bird That Drew the Short Straw. Author: J. den Hengst. Publisher: Art Revisited, Netherlands ISBN: 9072736257 In spite of the immense interest in the dodo, which has been extinct for more than 300 years, we are still unsure about its exact appearance. There have been several attempts to reconstruct the dodo on the basis of C17 portraits, resulting in the flabby, monster like creations that we all recognise. The physical remains of the dodo that are left to us are very limited, but have been exhaustively studied by various "dodologists" through the years, and it seems unlikely that modern science can throw any more light on the question of the dodo's appearance. The key to learning about what the dodo really looked like lies in art history. Until now, no one has taken the trouble to analyse and compare the C17 illustrations. This book aims to do exactly that, by presenting eye-witness accounts of the time and along with abundant paintings, drawings and watercolours the author has made it possible to reconstruct an accurate portrait of the dodo.
	Title: The Song of the Dodo. Subtitle: Island biogeography in an age of extinction. Author: Qammen D. Publisher: Touchstone. ISBN: 684827123. This beautifully written book takes the reader on a globe-circling tour of wild places and extraordinary ideas. The very subject is the ecosystem decay which the Dodo symbolizes. The message of island studies is that isolated bits of ecosystem are hotbeds of extinction. The author ends his journey by saying that when you want to do something , a healthy step might be to prepare yourself for the cold shock of sacrifice. The number of children? The number of miles you drive? A home in the country? To despair of the entire situation is another reasonable alternative. On the other hand, it is far more exciting to hope, however slim this hope might be.
	Title: Dodo - From extinction to icon. Author: Fuller, E. Publisher: Harper Collins. ISBN: 0007145721. Dodo is a strange word. First, it means a bird of a certain kind, but second it symbolizes dead, gone, vanished, failed, extinct. The dodo is one of the great icons of extinction. The bird too is memorable. Its appearance was quite unlike that of any other. Presumably, the emigré dodo's, which were brought to Europe, caused something of a stir. Yet, for all its celebrity there is a strange paradox that surrounds the dodo, we know almost nothing about the bird itself. Anyhow, one thing for sure, there are now no dodo's.
	Title: The Dodo - Lost World Series. Subtitle: Extinction in paradise. Author: Fuller E. Publisher: Bunker Hill Publishing ISBN: 1593730020 So much about the dodo is unknown and will never be known, and yet, so much speculation grew up around the dodo, from the very first encounter to its fabulous appearance in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", that the Dodo is now at once a literary and scientific icon and a byword for extinction. "The Dodo: Extinction in Paradise" explores the science and the mythology, the history, archaeology, and legend, as well as the dodo's place in art and literature. The story of the dodo is a classic of evolution and extinction to equal, in fascination, that of the dinosaur or the sabre-toothed tiger. Unlike these, the dodo was the first recorded example of extinction, in all probability, entirely caused by humans. Humankind coexisted with the dodo between 1598 and 1681, and then the dodo was gone, hunted to extinction, unable to escape the new predators that arrived in ships on their isolated island later known as Mauritius.
	Title: The Great auk - Lost Worlds Series. Subtitle: The extinction of the original penguin. Author: Fuller E. Publisher: Bunker Hill Publishing. ISBN: 1593730039. Since the total vanishing of the species, the great auk has become an icon of extinction alongside the dodo, the passenger pigeon, and the moa. More than any other extinct bird, the Auk has been prized as a trophy, and all its attributes - from its eggs to the oral history of its demise - were voraciously collected until fairly recently. Its protean appearance in almost every artistic and visual form, from cigarette boxes to bronze and marble statues, has immortalised one of the most tragic man-made extinctions. "The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin" recounts this tale of destruction and reminds us what we, as a species, have done and are still doing to the world around us.
	Title: The Great Auk. Author: Fuller E. Publisher: Abrams. ISBN: 0810963914. The Great Auk commands an enormous following among naturalists. Not reliably seen since the year 1844, this remarkable bird has become one of the great icons of extinction. Its strange and mysterious story is told in the pages of this book through more than 400 illustrations, bringing together almost every known archival image of the species, dramatic photographs of the lonely islands it once inhabited. Every aspect of the natural history is covered here, with special chapters devoted to its life cycle.
	Title: Who killed the great auk? Author: Gaskell J. Publisher: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0198564783 The great auk is one of the world's best known extinct birds. On land it was clumsy and awkward, but in the sea it was perfectly adapted for swift and efficient movement. It spent a large part of the year in the North Atlantic. The bird became extinct in the first half of the nineteenth century, through human activity? Jeremy Gaskell pieces together all the important historical data and argues that the extinction of the great auk was inextricably bound up with the prevailing social, economic, and political conditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
	Title: The Lost World of the Moa. Subtitle: Prehistoric life in New Zealand. Author: Worthy T.H., Holdaway R.N. Publisher: Indiana University Press. ISBN: 0253340349. This book investigates one of the richest and most unusual faunas in the world, one that thrived in isolation for 80 million years, but that over the past two millennia has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory. It was a fauna dominated by birds. In one of the most dramatic extinctions of modern times, half of these species were removed from the planet forever. Among these lost animals were the giant birds known as moa, an evolutionary novelty that included one of the largest ever known. The authors describe the various species and place these in the context of the total fauna, where ducks, gruids, and even bats all followed an evolutionary path to flightless ness. However, most species were ill-prepared to face new mammalian predators, permanent human settlers and widespread mammalian introductions.
	Title: The Last Tasmanian tiger. Subtitle: The history and extinction of the Thylacine. Author: Paddle R. Publisher: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0521531543. The Thylacine became extinct on 7 September 1936 in captivity in the Hobart zoo. Once this marsupial wolf was widespread in distribution and was found throughout the one continental landmass, from New Guinea in the North to Tasmania in the south. The author challenges conventional ideas about the species and the causes of extinction, demonstrating how powerful economic interests used the Tasmanian tiger as a scapegoat to protect domestic agricultural enterprise from the consequences of local mismanagement and international economics. This Thylacine became to be considered as an inferior species, one that would be of no loss to the developing world. This is the 2002 paperback edition.
	Title: The Sixth extinction. Subtitle: Biodiversity and its survival. Author: Leakey R. ; Lewin R. Publisher: Phoenix Mass Market. ISBN: 1857994736. Over the last 530 million years there have been five mass extinctions of species-the last,65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs disappeared. The biodiversity of our planet may now be on the verge, Leakey and Lewin believe, of a sixth extinction, caused this time by the relentless expansion and limitless appetites of human beings. The new science of 'biodiversity', presented clearly and cogently by Leakey and Lewin, combines insights from palaeontology, biology, ecology and even economics. It integrates the role of Darwinian evolution with the increasingly recognised importance of external and unpredictable forces.
	Title: Swift as a Shadow. Subtitle: Extinct and Endangered Animals. Another great book is Swift as a Shadow. This book presents 65 photographic entries accompanied by text written by the staff of Naturalis, National Museum of Natural History in Leiden (the Netherlands) of extinct or endangered animals, from birds to insects, mammals to reptiles. Some of the extinct animals are the Tasmanian Tiger, the Great Auk, the Dodo, the Moa, and the Japanese Sea Lion. What is important in this book are the photographic records of these animals. Not living specimens but preserved mounts of the animals (or bones in some cases) taken by Rosamond Purcell primarily from the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden (the Netherlands), but also from the Bishop Museum in Honolulu (Hawaii, USA), and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA).