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List of African animals extinct in the Holocene

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Map of Africa
The quagga (Equus quagga quagga), extinct since 1883, was zebra-like in the front but more horse-like in the rear. A breeding program aims to create similar-looking animals, but these are not true quaggas.

This list of African species extinct in the Holocene covers extinctions from the Holocene epoch, a geologic epoch that began about 11,650 years before present (about 9700 BCE)[a] and continues to the present.[1]

Africa is highly biodiverse; it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, a few species have disappeared from Africa as part of the ongoing Holocene extinction, driven by human activity.

Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, Macaronesia, and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are biogeographically distinct from mainland Africa and have a much greater number of Holocene extinctions. Recently extinct species from these regions are listed in separate articles.

Many extinction dates are unknown due to a lack of relevant information.

Mammals (class Mammalia)

Golden moles, otter shrews, and tenrecs (order Afrosoricida)

Golden moles (family Chrysochloridae)

Possibly extinct
Common name Scientific name Range Comments
De Winton's golden mole Cryptochloris wintoni Port Nolloth, South Africa 1937[2]

Rodents (order Rodentia)

Murids (family Muridae)

Possibly extinct
Common name Scientific name Range Comments
Ethiopian amphibious rat Nilopegamys plumbeus Northwestern Ethiopia[3] 1928[4]

Elephant-like mammals (order Proboscidea)

Elephants and mammoths (family Elephantidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
North African elephant Loxodonta africana pharaoensis Northwest Africa 370[5]

True insectivores (order Eulipotyphla)

True shrews (family Soricidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments
Balsam shrew Crocidura balsamifera Nile gallery forests, Egypt 821-171 BCE[6]

Carnivorans (order Carnivora)

Cats (family Felidae)

Locally extinct
Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Barbary lion Population of the northern lion (Panthera leo leo) North Africa 1943[7]
Cape lion Population of the southern lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) Cape Province, South Africa 1865[7]
Zanzibar leopard Population of the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) Unguja, Tanzania 1986[7]
Barbary leopard Population of the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) Atlas Mountains 1996[7]

Bears (family Ursidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Atlas bear Ursus arctos crowtheri Northern Maghreb 1834[8]

Odd-toed ungulates (order Perissodactyla)

Horses and allies (family Equidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Atlas wild ass Equus africanus atlanticus North Africa c. 300[9]
North African horse Equus algericus North Africa c. 4000 BCE[10]
Giant Cape zebra Equus capensis Southern Africa 8340-3950 BCE[10]
North African zebra Equus mauritanicus Maghreb 4855-4733 BCE[10]
Quagga Equus quagga quagga Cape Province, South Africa 1883[11]
Possibly extinct, horses and allies (family Equidae)
Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Nubian wild ass Equus africanus africanus Nubian Desert, Sudan 1970s[12]

Rhinoceroses (family Rhinocerotidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Southern black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis bicornis Southwestern Africa c. 1850[13]
North-eastern black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis brucii Horn of Africa Early 20th century
Western black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis longipes Burkina Faso to South Sudan 2006[14]
Extinct in the wild, rhinoceroses (family Rhinocerotidae)
Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Northern white rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum cottoni Upper Chari, Ubangi, and White Nile river basins Extinct in the wild: 2007[15]

Reintroduced: 2009[16]

Even-toed ungulates (order Artiodactyla)

Pigs (family Suidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Cape warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus Cape Province, South Africa 1871[17]

True deer (family Cervidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
North African giant deer Megaceroides algericus Northern Maghreb 4691-4059 BCE[18]

Cattle, buffalo, goat-antelope, antelope, and others (family Bovidae)

Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Bubal hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus North Africa and southern Levant[19] 1925[20]
Bond's springbok Antidorcas bondi Southern Africa 5740-5500 BCE[10]
North African aurochs Bos primigenius mauritanicus North Africa c. 4000 BCE[10]
Bluebuck Hippotragus leucophaeus Overberg, South Africa 1799-1800[21]
Robert's lechwe Kobus leche robertsi Luongo and Kalungwishi drainage systems, Luapula, Zambia 1980-1985[22]
Makapania
(or related genus) 		South Africa mountains 5483-5221 BCE[10]
Giant hartebeest Megalotragus priscus Southern and possibly eastern Africa 6130-3950 BCE[10]
Kenya oribi Ourebia ourebi kenyae Mount Kenya[23]
African giant buffalo Syncerus antiquus Africa and the Arabian Peninsula 3060-2470 BCE[6]
Extinct in the wild, cattle, buffalo, goat-antelope, antelope, and others (family Bovidae)
Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Mohrr gazelle Nanger dama mohrr Northwestern Sahara Extinct in the wild: 1968[24]

Reintroduced: 1984[25]

Scimitar oryx Oryx dammah Fringes of the Sahara Extinct in the wild: 1988-1990[26] (Chad)

Reintroduced 1985[27] (Tunisia)

Gray whales (family Eschrichtiidae)

Locally extinct
Common name Scientific name Range Comments Pictures
Gray whale Eschrichtius robustus North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and northern Pacific Ocean[28] Locally extinct: 71–245[29]

Reintroduced: 2013[b]

Birds (class Aves)

Undated

Prehistoric

Prehistoric extinctions (beginning of the Holocene to 1500 CE)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range Image
Great auk
Pinguinus impennis 		5050-3850 BCE[32] Northern Atlantic and western Mediterranean

Recent

Recent extinctions (1500 CE to present)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range
Northern white-winged apalis
Apalis chariessa chariessa 		1961[33] Lower Tana River, Kenya


Possibly extinct
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range Image
Moroccan bustard
Ardeotis arabs lynesi 		1993[33] Western Morocco
Slender-billed curlew
Numenius tenuirostris 		2001[33] North Africa and Western Eurasia

Reptiles (class Reptilia)

Recent

Recent extinctions (1500 CE to present)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range
Eastwood's long-tailed seps
Tetradactylus eastwoodae 		1928[34] Limpopo, South Africa

Amphibians (class Amphibia)

Possibly extinct
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range
Du Toit's torrent frog
Arthroleptides dutoiti 		1962[35] Kenya-Uganda border
Osgood's Ethiopian toad
Altiphrynoides osgoodi 		2003[36] Mountains of south-central Ethiopia
Extinct in the wild
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range Image
Kihansi spray toad
Nectophrynoides asperginis 		2009[37] Kihansi Falls, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

Ray-finned fish (class Actinopterygii)

Recent extinctions (1500 CE to present)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range Image
Aplocheilichthys sp. nov. 'Naivasha' 1970s-1980s[38] Lake Naivasha, Kenya
Labeobarbus microbarbis 1950s[39] Lake Luhondo, Rwanda
Giant Atlas barbel
Labeobarbus reinii 		2001[40] Northwestern Morocco
Lake Sidi Ali trout
Salmo pallaryi 		1934[41] Lake Aguelmame Sidi Ali, Morocco

Insects (class Insecta)

Recent extinctions (1500 CE to present)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range
Mbashe River buff
Deloneura immaculata 		1864[42] Mbhashe River, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Morant's blue
Lepidochrysops hypopolia 		1879[42] Eastern South Africa

Ostracods (class Ostracoda)

Recent extinctions (1500 CE to present)
Common name
scientific name 		Extinction date Range Image
Namibcypris costata 1987[43] Southern Kaokoveld, Namibia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The source gives "11,700 calendar yr b2k (before AD 2000)". But "BP" means "before AD 1950". Therefore, the Holocene began 11,650 BP. Doing the math, that is c. 9700 BCE.
  2. ^ Natural dispersion of a single individual over the Arctic.[30][31]

References

  1. ^ Walker, Mike; Johnsen, Sigfus; Rasmussen, Sune Olander; Popp, Trevor; Steffensen, Jorgen-Peder; Gibrard, Phil; Hoek, Wim; Lowe, John; Andrews, John; Bjo Rck, Svante; Cwynar, Les C.; Hughen, Konrad; Kersahw, Peter; Kromer, Bernd; Litt, Thomas; Lowe, David J.; Nakagawa, Takeshi; Newnham, Rewi; Schwander, Jakob (2009). "Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records" (PDF). Journal of Quaternary Science. 24 (1): 3–17. Bibcode:2009JQS....24....3W. doi:10.1002/jqs.1227. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  2. ^ Bronner, G. (2015). "Cryptochloris wintoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T5748A21287143. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T5748A21287143.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ Kerbis Peterhans, J. & Lavrenchenko, L. (2008). "Nilopegamys plumbeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T40766A10363474. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T40766A10363474.en.
  4. ^ "Scientific Illustration". Scientific Illustration. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  5. ^ BollóK, Á., & Koncz, I. (2020). Sixth- and Seventh-Century Elephant Ivory Finds from the Carpathian Basin. The Sources, Circulation and Value of Ivory in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Archaeologiai Értesítő, Vol. 1: 39-68.
  6. ^ a b Turvey, Sam (2009). Holocene extinctions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953509-5. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d Rossi, L., Scuzzarella, C. M., & Angelici, F. M. (2020). "Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats: Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation". In Problematic Wildlife II (pp. 393-417). Springer, Cham.
  8. ^ Hamdine, W. et al. (1998) "Histoire récente de l'ours brun au Maghreb". C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sciences de la Vie / Life Sciences, Vol. 321, pp. 565-570.
  9. ^ Youcef, S. A. M. (2020). African origins of modern asses as seen from paleontology and DNA: what about the Atlas wild ass?. Geobios, 58, 73-84.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Faith, J.T. (2014) Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa. Earth-Science Reviews, 128, 105-121.
  11. ^ Hack, M.A.; East, R.; Rubenstein, D.I. (2008). "Equus quagga ssp. quagga". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T7957A12876306. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T7957A12876306.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  12. ^ Kimura, B., Marshall, F. B., Chen, S., Rosenbom, S., Moehlman, P. D., Tuross, N., ... & Mulligan, C. J. (2011). "Ancient DNA from Nubian and Somali wild ass provides insights into donkey ancestry and domestication". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1702), 50-57.
  13. ^ Rookmaaker, L.C. & Groves, C.P. (1977). "The extinct Cape rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis bicornis (Linnaeus, 1758)". In Szugetierkundliche Mitteilwnge, pg. 117-126.
  14. ^ Emslie, R. (2020). "Diceros bicornis ssp. longipes". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T39319A45814470. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T39319A45814470.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  15. ^ Emslie, R. (2020). "Ceratotherium simum ssp. cottoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T4183A45813838. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T4183A45813838.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  16. ^ Khayale, C., Omondi, P., Kariuki, L., Muruthi, P., Gichohi, N., Stejskal, J., ... & Amin, R. (2021). "Kenya's first White Rhino Conservation and Management Action Plan". Pachyderm, 62, 112-118.
  17. ^ Grubb, P., & d'Huart, J.P. (2010). "Rediscovery of the Cape warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus: a review". Journal of East African Natural History, 99(2), 77-102.
  18. ^ Fernandez, P. et al. (2015). The last occurrence of Megaceroides algericus Lyddekker, 1890 (Mammalia, Cervidae) during the middle Holocene in the cave of Bizmoune (Morocco, Essaouira region). Quaternary International, 374, 154-167.
  19. ^ Tsahar E, Izhaki I, Lev-Yadun S, Bar-Oz G (2009). "Distribution and Extinction of Ungulates during the Holocene of the Southern Levant". PLoS ONE 4(4): e5316. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005316
  20. ^ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2017). "Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. buselaphus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T813A50181474. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T813A50181474.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  21. ^ Kerley, G.; Child, M.F. (2017). "Hippotragus leucophaeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T10168A50188573. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T10168A50188573.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  22. ^ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2017). "Kobus leche ssp. robertsi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T11038A50190034. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T11038A50190034.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  23. ^ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). "Ourebia ourebi ssp. kenyae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T15732A5074610. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15732A5074610.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Mhorr Gazelle declared extinct in Tunisia"
  25. ^ Moreno, E., Sane, A., Benzal, J., Ibáñez, B., Sanz-Zuasti, J., & Espeso, G. (2012). "Changes in habitat structure may explain Decrease in reintroduced mohor gazelle population in the Guembeul Fauna Reserve, Senegal". Animals, 2(3), 347-360.
  26. ^ Iyengar, A., Gilbert, T., Woodfine, T., Knowles, J. M., Diniz, F. M., Brenneman, R. A., ... & Maclean, N. (2007). "Remnants of ancient genetic diversity preserved within captive groups of scimitar‐horned oryx (Oryx dammah)". Molecular Ecology, 16(12), 2436-2449.
  27. ^ Woodfine, T., & Gilbert, T. (2016). "The fall and rise of the scimitar-horned oryx: a case study of ex-situ conservation and reintroduction in practice". In Antelope Conservation: From Diagnosis to Action, 280-296.
  28. ^ IUCN.
  29. ^ Ana S. L. Rodrigues; Anne Charpentier; Darío Bernal-Casasola; Armelle Gardeisen; Carlos Nores; José Antonio Pis Millán; Krista McGrath; Camilla F. Speller (July 11, 2018). "Forgotten Mediterranean calving grounds of grey and North Atlantic right whales: evidence from Roman archaeological records". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1882). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0961. PMC 6053924. PMID 30051821.
  30. ^ Hamilton, Alex (October 8, 2015). "The Gray Whale Sneaks Back into the Atlantic, Two Centuries Later". WNYC. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  31. ^ Schiffman, Richard (February 25, 2016). "Why Are Gray Whales Moving to the Ocean Next Door?". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  32. ^ Campmas, E., Laroulandie, V., Michel, P., Amani, F., Nespoulet, R., & Mohammed, A. E. H. (2010). 22 "A great auk (Pinguinus impennis) in North Africa: discovery of". In Birds in Archaeology: Proceedings of the 6th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group in Groningen (23.8-27.8. 2008) (Vol. 12, p. 233). Barkhuis.
  33. ^ a b c Hume, J.P. (2017). Extinct Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  34. ^ Bates, M.F.; Jacobsen, N. (2018). "Tetradactylus eastwoodae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T21663A115653635. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T21663A115653635.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  35. ^ IUCN
  36. ^ IUCN
  37. ^ IUCN
  38. ^ Hanssens, M. (2004). "Aplocheilichthys sp. nov. 'Naivasha'". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T61225A12451418. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T61225A12451418.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  39. ^ FishBase team RMCA.; Geelhand, D. (2016). "Barbus microbarbis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T61247A47242030. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T61247A47242030.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  40. ^ Freyhof, J. & Ford, M. (2022). "Labeobarbus reinii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T60765A137272327. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T60765A137272327.en. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  41. ^ Marini, A. & Talbi, M. (2008). Desertification and Risk Analysis Using High and Medium Resolution Satellite Data: Training Workshop on Mapping Desertification, Springer Science & Business Media, 274 pages.
  42. ^ a b Henning, G. A., Terblanche, R. F., & Ball, J. B. (2009). South African Red Data Book: Butterflies.
  43. ^ Inland Water Crustacean Specialist Group (1996). "Namibcypris costata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996: e.T14316A4431325. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T14316A4431325.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
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