
By 2019 the IUCN had declared them extinct. Intensive studies of the area estimated at most 10 breeding pairs existed in 2004, and that the population in 2014 was likely even lower, making it one of the world’s rarest birds.

When it was finally identified by scientists in two tiny patches of humid Atlantic forest in Brazil in 2014, the treehunter was already critically endangered. This small bird, as the name suggests, defied discovery for years, often getting mistaken for other similar-looking species. Barnett and Buzzetti (2014) (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti) The larger Cryptic Treehunter (center) compared to individuals of a similar species. One single cause of the frog’s extinction hasn’t been identified, but logging in the watershed and upstream is hypothesized to have had an impact. The area comprising the frog’s estimated range lost 11,100 hectares of tree cover since the start of the century. Based on the rapid decline pattern, an infectious chytrid fungal disease could also have played a part.
#Last wood torrent torrent
The Mount Glorious Torrent Frog inhabited mountain rainforest streams and could be found hopping about in the leaf litter and vegetation near the water. Although considered relatively common in the 1970s, the frog experienced a sharp decline and was declared extinct in 2004. Mount Glorious Torrent Frog (Taudactylus diurnus)Īmphibians are highly susceptible to extinction, with one in three amphibian species listed on the IUCN’s endangered species list. The Mount Glorious Torrent Frog, a small diurnal frog native to just three mountain ranges on the eastern coast of Australia, was one of the early amphibian casualties. A 1990 search found only one site with conclusive evidence of Spix’s Macaws living in the state of Bahia, and in 2018 they were declared extinct. It is estimated that between 60 and 80 individuals are still alive in captivity.

Habitat loss due to agriculture, combined with illegal trapping for the pet trade, is theorized to have led to their decline. These macaws were native to the arid lowland forests in the interior and northeast of Brazil. Research determined that a species of tree ( Tabebuia caraiba) was critical to the birds habitat, with one study noting that where these trees had been cleared, the macaw had disappeared. This dusty blue bird earned popular attention for inspiring the characters in the 2011 animated film, Rio. In reality, the Spix’s Macaw is the rarest parrot species in the world, and completely extinct in the wild. Rüdiger Stehn/Flickr Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) The only remaining Spix’s Macaws are in captivity. Two unconfirmed clouded leopard sightings were reported in 2018. One group of rangers reportedly saw the cat darting out of the way of a scooter before running up a tree and another group thought they saw one hunting goats on a cliffside. The last official sighting of the leopard was in 1983. Illegal logging and poaching of endangered tree species has posed a consistent threat to the island’s primary forests.

This big cat found only on the island of Taiwan, a subspecies of the slightly larger clouded leopard found throughout Asia, was declared extinct in 2013. The second largest carnivore on the island after the Formosan black bear (listed as vulnerable by the IUCN), the leopard’s extinction was likely caused by the loss and fragmentation of lowland forests on the island, replaced by agriculture, forcing the cat up into ever smaller ranges at higher elevations.Īccording to Global Forest Watch (GFW) data, Taiwan lost 37,100 hectares of tree cover since the start of the century, with a large spike in 2009. Formosan Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura) Habitat destruction and degradation, inflicted as humans expand our activity further into the last wild places, is a powerful engine for extinction. As forest loss marches along, it carries alongside it the possibility of extinction for hundreds of species that depend on narrow slices of forest habitat for survival. Since the start of the century, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared 665 species either completely extinct or extinct in the wild. Here are four forest-dependent species that have vanished due to habitat loss in the last 20 years. Joseph Wolf/Zoological Society of London. Illustration of a Formosan Clouded Leopard from 1862.
