Tasmanian Tiger
California Golden Bear
The noble California golden bear, like the Japanese river otter, is held in high esteem as a symbol of the place that gave it its name. This subspecies of brown bear is the one you'll find on the official state flag of California. Specifically, the bear depicted on the flag is based on Monarch, the last California golden bear held in captivity, whose taxidermied body remains preserved today at the Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park. The California golden bear also serves as the mascot of the UC Berkeley California Golden Bears and the UCLA Bruins. Of course, all this veneration didn't keep the last living California golden bear from being shot and killed in 1922.
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Japanese River Otter
In 2012, Japan's Ministry of the Environment declared the Japanese river otter extinct. Once numbering in the millions, the population of river otters collapsed due to overhunting and habitat destruction by humans. The last time a Japanese river otter was seen was in 1979. Attempts to find more of the animals were conducted over the past few decades, but on Aug. 28, 2012, the Japanese government officially gave up hope.
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Aurochs
The aurochs was the original cow, literally. These beasts were the larger, wild progenitors of the modern, domestic cattle we know today. An ancient animal, the oldest evidence of aurochs known to man dates from about 2 million years ago during the Pleistocene, and they were first domesticated some 10,000 years ago. Once found all over the world, the aurochs' range was limited to just a few countries in Central and Eastern Europe by the 1200s. Conservation efforts were made with the hunting of aurochs being outlawed, but the population dwindled to almost nothing by the 17th century. The last living aurochs died in a Polish nature preserve in 1627.
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Golden Toad
These beautiful amphibians only very recently disappeared from Earth. In fact, golden toads were first discovered less than 50 years ago, when herpetologist Jay Savage found them in 1966. The toads' yellow-orange glow was so striking that Savage at first did not believe it was natural, saying that he thought some jokester must have painted them that color. In the 20 years following their discovery, approximately 1,500 golden toads were observed. Then they seemed to disappear suddenly and completely. Zero of them have been seen since 1989. Climate change is considered the culprit.
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Blue Buck
Here's an example of an animal whose extinction we can't really blame on ourselves, because they were already quite rare by the time humankind found them. The bluebuck, a species of large antelope, was first discovered in the 1600s at the southern tip of Africa, to which its range already was limited. Evidence suggests their numbers first dropped dramatically some 2,000-3,000 years ago due to natural climate change affecting the landscape and the bluebucks' food sources. Once modern humans discovered bluebucks, they already were on their way out, so don't feel too guilty about it.
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Great Auk
The great auk was a large, flightless, penguin-like bird with a unique-looking beak. Although great auks resemble penguins, the two species are not related. (The great auk's closest relative is the still-existing, though threatened, razorbill.) What's interesting, however, is that the great auk was known centuries before penguins were discovered, and originally, the word "penguin" was used as a nickname for great auks. When explorers later discovered penguins, they gave them their name due to their similar appearance to great auks. Sadly, hunting crippled the great-auk population, and despite a couple centuries of protection, the species died out. The last time any human saw a great auk was in the 1850s. Today, everyone's favorite animal is the penguin, but few know of the now-extinct bird that gave penguins their name.
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