animal extinctions?

Question

what are some of the major animal exctinctions that have happend in the last 20 years?

Answer 1

Species come and go as the previous poster commented, 99 % but over how long? thats including every species since the beginnings of life on earth. But other than mass extinctions caused by natural catastrophes the rate at which species are disappearing is quite alarming. Most of them are due to human activity; destruction of habitat, global warming, farming, human persecution, the list goes on.
According to "The observer " a British paper one species of monkey, the Miss Waldron Red Colobus, was hunted to extinction in 2001 to supply the bush meat industry.
The Golden Toad went from normal populations to extinct in 2 years, the last one was observed in 1989.
The Southern Gastric-brooding Frog from Australia is now gone (1996)
Hawaiian Crow (2002, extinct in wild still some captive left)
the list goes on...
Here is a list from The World Conservation Union, of species which are known to have become extinct in the past 20 years, there are probably many more but considering we only know a fraction of all living species many probably went unnoticed and others are listed crittically endangered because some don't want to admit they are gone for good. http://www.iucn.org/bookstore/html-books/red%20list%202004/completed/table3.2.html
If you want to read more on the subject check out http://www.iucn.org/bookstore/html-books/red%20list%202004/completed/Section3.html

Answer 2

The problem with declaring an animal extinct is that it's hard to prove that it's really totally gone, or if it's just been that no one has managed to see one for twenty years or more.

Many of the critters listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (International Conservation Union) may actually be extinct. Even if there are some individuals still alive, some of these species may be functionally extinct in that there is no real hope for them to survive and reproduce in the wild.

Some of the most critically endangered, functionally extinct critters include the Yangzte river dolphin, Northern white rhino, and the Ivory-billed woodpecker.

Answer 3

Doesn't matter.

Scientific fact states that 99 % of all life forms ever on the earth have gone extinct. Most without any cause from humans.

Life forms come & go all the time, it's the nature of the universe.

Look at us humans we have only been on earth for a short time. At some point we will probably go extinct and some other life form will become the dominant life form on earth.

Answer 4

The biggest chance for the remaining life on earth
would be immediate and total extinction of homo
sapiens (whatever that means)