List of European species extinct in the Holocene facts for kids

This article is about amazing animals and plants that once lived in Europe but have sadly disappeared during the Holocene epoch. The Holocene is the time period we live in now, which started about 11,650 years ago. It covers Europe and its nearby islands, including big islands in the Mediterranean Sea like Sardinia and Corsica. Some parts of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia are also included, even though they are sometimes considered part of Asia.

Many of these creatures vanished because of things like hunting, losing their homes, or new animals arriving that competed with them. Sometimes, we don't know the exact date they disappeared, but we know they are gone forever.

Mammals: Animals with Fur! (Class Mammalia)
Birds: Feathered Friends (Class Aves)
Reptiles: Scaly Creatures (Class Reptilia)
- Squamates (Order Squamata)
  - Wall Lizards (Family Lacertidae)
Ray-finned Fish (Class Actinopterygii)
- Sturgeons and Paddlefishes (Order Acipenseriformes)
  - Sturgeons (Family Acipenseridae)
    - Locally Extinct Sturgeons
- Salmon, Trout and Relatives (Order Salmoniformes)
  - Salmon, Trout and Relatives (Family Salmonidae)
    - Extinct in the Wild: Beloribitsa
Insects (Class Insecta)
- Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)
  - Metalmark Butterflies (Family Riodinidae)
  - Cosmet Moths (Family Cosmopterigidae)
Plants (Kingdom Plantae)
- Order Ericales
  - Primroses (Family Ericales)
    - Extinct in the Wild: Primrose
- Order Poales
  - Grasses (Family Poaceae)
    - Extinct in the Wild: Brome Grass
Images for kids
See also

Mammals: Animals with Fur! (Class Mammalia)

Mammals are warm-blooded animals that usually have fur or hair and feed their babies milk. Many large and small mammals have become extinct in Europe.

Giant Elephant Relatives (Order Proboscidea)

Elephants and Mammoths (Family Elephantidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Woolly mammoth	Mammuthus primigenius	Northern Eurasia and North America	These huge, hairy elephants lived in cold places. The last ones in Europe disappeared around 9,650 BCE in the Southern Urals.
Tilos dwarf elephant	Palaeoloxodon tiliensis	Tilos, Greece	This small elephant lived on the Greek island of Tilos. It vanished between 3040 and 1840 BCE.

Rabbits and Pikas (Order Lagomorpha)

Rabbits and Hares (Family Leporidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened
Don hare	Lepus timidus tanaiticus	Russia	This type of hare slowly disappeared as the mountain hare took its place, becoming extinct between 3050 and 550 BCE.

Pikas (Family Ochotonidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
	Ochotona transcaucasica	Georgia and Azerbaijan	This small, rabbit-like animal probably vanished early in the Holocene.
Sardinian pika	Prolagus sardus	Corsica and Sardinia	This pika disappeared between 348 BCE and 283 CE. It was hunted by early humans, but likely died out because of new farming methods, new predators like dogs and cats, and diseases brought by other animals.

Locally Extinct Pikas

These pikas still exist elsewhere but are gone from Europe.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Steppe pika	Ochotona pusilla	Western Europe to Kazakhstan	This pika disappeared from many parts of Europe by 1220 BCE. It doesn't like human activity, so it's a good sign of healthy steppe areas.

Rodents: Gnawing Animals (Order Rodentia)

Old World Rats and Mice (Family Muridae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
	Mus minotaurus	Crete, Greece	This mouse disappeared during the Bronze Age. It was outcompeted by the house mouse, which arrived on ships.
St. Kilda house mouse	Mus musculus muralis	St Kilda, Scotland	This mouse lived alongside humans. It became extinct when all the people left the island in 1930.

Dormice (Family Gliridae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Majorcan giant dormouse	Hypnomys morpheus	Gymnesian Islands, Spain	This large dormouse vanished around 4840-4690 BCE, when humans first settled on the islands. It might have caught diseases from other animals brought by humans.

Carnivores: Meat Eaters (Order Carnivora)

Cats (Family Felidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Eurasian cave lion	Panthera spelaea	Northern Eurasia and Beringia	These powerful lions disappeared from Europe around 9350 BCE. Some might have survived in mountain areas for a bit longer.

Locally Extinct Big Cats

These big cats still live elsewhere but are gone from Europe.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened
Cheetah	Acinonyx jubatus	Africa and western Asia to India	Cheetahs lived in parts of Armenia until the 3rd millennium BCE, possibly even until the Middle Ages. They likely disappeared due to hunting.
Lion	Panthera leo	Africa, western Asia, northern India, and southern Europe	Lions once lived in southern Europe, including the Balkans. They disappeared from these areas by 370 CE, probably because of hunting and losing their homes as human populations grew.
Tiger	Panthera tigris	Tropical and temperate Asia to the Black Sea	Tigers were found in the Caucasus region and along the Caspian Sea until the 10th-12th centuries CE. The last ones in Azerbaijan were seen in 1966. They disappeared due to hunting and habitat loss.

Hyenas (Family Hyaenidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Cave hyena	Crocuta spelaea	Europe and Central Asia	These hyenas vanished from Europe around 9650 BCE.

Dogs (Family Canidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Sicilian wolf	Canis lupus cristaldii	Sicily, Italy	This wolf was hunted to extinction by farmers. The last confirmed one was killed in 1924.
Sardinian dhole	Cynotherium sardous	Corsica and Sardinia	This unique dog-like animal disappeared around 9910-9196 BCE, about the same time modern humans arrived on the islands.

Odd-toed Ungulates: Hoofed Animals (Order Perissodactyla)

Horses and Allies (Family Equidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Tarpan	Equus ferus ferus	Western Europe to western Siberia	These wild horses were hunted for meat, hides, and to protect farms. The last one in the wild was killed in 1879, and the last one in a zoo died in 1887.
Hydruntine	Equus hemionus hydruntinus	Southern Europe to northern Iran	This wild ass lived in open grasslands, which became smaller and more spread out during the Holocene. It was also hunted by humans. The last ones disappeared around 1500-500 BCE.

Locally Extinct Wild Horses

These animals still exist elsewhere but are gone from Europe.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Turkmenian kulan	Equus hemionus kulan	Ukraine to Central Asia	This wild ass was hunted out of Europe by the 18th or 19th century, especially with the use of firearms. They have been reintroduced to Ukraine since 1950.

Rhinoceroses (Family Rhinocerotidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Woolly rhinoceros	Coelodonta antiquitatis	Northern Eurasia	These large, hairy rhinos vanished from Europe around 9450 BCE.

Even-toed Ungulates: Hoofed Animals (Order Artiodactyla)

True Deer (Family Cervidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Caucasian moose	Alces alces caucasicus	North Caucasus and the Black Sea coast	This type of moose was hunted until it became extinct by the early 1900s.
Irish elk	Megaloceros giganteus	Europe and Southern Siberia	Despite its name, this giant deer lived across Europe. The last ones disappeared around 5766-5643 BCE in Russia.

Cattle, Goats, and Antelopes (Family Bovidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened
Caucasian wisent	Bison bonasus caucasicus	Caucasus and Anatolia	This type of European bison declined due to hunting and losing their forest homes. The last one was poached in 1927.
Steppe bison	Bison priscus	Northern Eurasia and North America	These ancient bison disappeared from Europe around 1130-1060 BCE.
Eurasian aurochs	Bos primigenius primigenius	Mid-latitude Eurasia	These wild cattle were hunted and lost their grazing lands to farms. The very last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.
Portuguese ibex	Capra pyrenaica lusitanica	Portuguese-Galician border	This wild goat was hunted until it became extinct around 1890.
Pyrenean ibex	Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica	Pyrenees and possibly the Cantabrian Mountains	The last Pyrenean ibex, a female named Celia, died in 2000. Scientists tried to clone her, and a cloned baby was born in 2003, but it died minutes later. This means it's the only animal to become extinct twice!
Balearic Islands cave goat	Myotragus balearicus	Gymnesian Islands, Spain	This unique cave goat disappeared between 3969 and 2470 BCE. Its extinction was caused by the first human settlers on the islands.

Extinct in the Wild: Wisent

These animals only exist in zoos or special reserves, not truly wild.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Lowland wisent	Bison bonasus bonasus	Western Europe to southern Siberia	The last wild population of this European bison was hunted during World War I. Thanks to zoo animals, they have been reintroduced to the wild in places like Poland and Belarus.

Locally Extinct Hoofed Animals

These animals still exist elsewhere but are gone from Europe.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Muskox	Ovibos moschatus	Northern Eurasia and North America	Muskoxen disappeared from Europe around 7050 BCE. They have been reintroduced to Norway and Sweden.

Birds: Feathered Friends (Class Aves)

Shorebirds (Order Charadriiformes)

Auks (Family Alcidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Great auk	Pinguinus impennis	Northern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea	These flightless birds were hunted for their feathers, meat, and oil. The last pair in the eastern Atlantic was killed in Iceland in 1844.

Pelicans, Herons, and Ibises (Order Pelecaniformes)

Ibises and Spoonbills (Family Threskiornithidae)

Locally Extinct Ibises

This bird still exists elsewhere but is gone from Europe.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Northern bald ibis	Geronticus eremita	Mediterranean region	This ibis disappeared from Europe before 1650 due to losing its home and being hunted. Projects are now reintroducing them to Austria and Spain.

Perching Birds (Order Passeriformes)

Crows and Relatives (Family Corvidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Pied raven	Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus	Faroe Islands	This unique raven, with some white feathers, was last seen in 1902.

Reptiles: Scaly Creatures (Class Reptilia)

Squamates (Order Squamata)

Wall Lizards (Family Lacertidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Ratas Island lizard	Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi	Ratas Island off Mahón, Spain	This lizard was wiped out in 1935 when its island home was destroyed during harbor construction.
Santo Stefano lizard	Podarcis siculus sanctistephani	Santo Stefano Island, Italy	This lizard became extinct around 1965 due to disease and predators like snakes and feral cats brought to the island.

Ray-finned Fish (Class Actinopterygii)

Sturgeons and Paddlefishes (Order Acipenseriformes)

Sturgeons (Family Acipenseridae)

Locally Extinct Sturgeons

This fish still exists elsewhere but is gone from the Baltic region.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Atlantic sturgeon	Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus	Eastern coast of North America and the Baltic region	The last known Atlantic sturgeon in the Baltic Sea was caught in 1996. They have been reintroduced to some rivers.

Salmon, Trout and Relatives (Order Salmoniformes)

Salmon, Trout and Relatives (Family Salmonidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened
True fera	Coregonus fera	Lake Geneva	This fish disappeared in 1920. It became extinct because of too much pollution in the lake and too much fishing.
Lake Constance whitefish	Coregonus gutturosus	Lake Constance	This fish hasn't been seen since the early 1970s. Pollution in the lake killed all its eggs.
Gravenche	Coregonus hiemalis	Lake Geneva	This fish disappeared in the early 1900s, likely due to pollution and overfishing.

Extinct in the Wild: Beloribitsa

This fish only exists in captivity, not truly wild.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Beloribitsa	Stenodus leucichthys	Caspian Sea, Volga, Ural and Terek river areas	The last wild beloribitsa was seen in the Ural River in the 1960s. Dams built on rivers destroyed its spawning grounds. It still lives in captivity and is sometimes released.

Insects (Class Insecta)

Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)

Metalmark Butterflies (Family Riodinidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
British large copper	Lycaena dispar dispar	England, United Kingdom	This beautiful butterfly was last seen in 1864.
British large blue	Phengaris arion eutyphron	Southern Britain	This butterfly disappeared in 1979. A different type of large blue butterfly has since been brought from Sweden to replace it.

Cosmet Moths (Family Cosmopterigidae)

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Manchester moth	Euclemensia woodiella	Kersal Moor, United Kingdom	This moth was last seen in the 1820s. Only three museum specimens exist today.

Plants (Kingdom Plantae)

Order Ericales

Primroses (Family Ericales)

Extinct in the Wild: Primrose

This plant only exists in cultivation, not truly wild.

Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Lysimachia minoricensis	Barranc de Sa Vall, Minorca, Spain	This plant disappeared from the wild between 1926 and 1950. We don't know exactly why.

Order Poales

Grasses (Family Poaceae)

Extinct in the Wild: Brome Grass

This plant only exists in cultivation, not truly wild.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Where They Lived	What Happened	Pictures
Interrupted brome	Bromus interruptus	Wash to Severn estuaries, United Kingdom	This grass disappeared from the wild in 1972, probably because of crop sprays and better seed cleaning. It was reintroduced in 2001.