Top 10 Extinct Animals

 Animal extinctions may be caused by natural occurrences such as climatic heating or cooling or changes in sea levels. In more modern times, however, human activity has been to blame. Habitat destruction as farming land expands and forests are cut-down is the main cause of modern extinctions, along with pollution, the introduction of alien species, and over fishing or hunting. Increasingly, however, climate change is thought to be driving extinctions.

Here are ten extinct animals, in no particular order:

* Tyrannosaurus rex -

 A large, carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period.

* Dodo bird - 

A flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius and went extinct in the late 17th century.

* Saber-toothed cat -

 A  large, predatory cat with long, curved teeth that lived during the Pleistocene epoch.

* Woolly mammoth -

 A large, hairy mammal that lived during the Pleistocene epoch and was closely related to modern elephants.

* Passenger pigeon - 

A species of pigeon that was once one of the most abundant birds in North America, but went extinct in the early 20th century.

* Great auk -

 A flightless bird that lived in the North Atlantic and was hunted to extinction for its meat, feathers, and oil.

* Tasmanian tiger -

 A  carnivorous marsupial that was native to Australia and Tasmania and went extinct in the 20th century due to hunting and habitat loss.

* Quagga - 

A  subspecies of the plains zebra that was native to South Africa and went extinct in the late 19th century due to hunting and habitat loss.

* Moa - 

A group of flightless birds that were endemic to New Zealand and went extinct in the 15th century due to hunting and habitat loss.

* Irish elk - 

A large species of deer that lived in Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch and went extinct around 7,700 years ago due to climate change and hunting.

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