Portal:Extinction

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In biology and ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point; see population bottleneck). Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "re-appears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence.
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The Baiji (Traditional Chinese: 白鱀豚; pinyin: báijìtún) (Lipotes vexillifer, Lipotes meaning "left behind", vexillifer "flag bearer") was a freshwater dolphin found only in the Yangtze River in China. Nicknamed "Goddess of the Yangtze" (長江女神) in China, the dolphin was also called Chinese River Dolphin, Yangtze River Dolphin, Beiji, Pai-chi (Wade-Giles), Whitefin Dolphin and Yangtze Dolphin. It is not to be confused with the Chinese White Dolphin (中華白海豚).

The Baiji population declined drastically in recent decades as China industrialized and made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation, and hydroelectricity. Efforts were made to conserve the species, but a late 2006 expedition failed to find any Baiji in the river. Organizers declared the Baiji "functionally extinct",[1] which arguably makes it the first aquatic mammal species to become extinct since the 1950s.


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Euphrasia ruptura - Euphrasia arguta - Corsican Giant shrew (stub) - Endangered arthropod - Lord Howe Island Thrush - Titicaca Orestias (stub) - List of extinct cetaceans - Wahlenbergia roxburghii - Trochetiopsis melanoxylon - St. Helena Olive - Functional extinction - Heliotropium pannifolium - Acalypha rubrinervis - Hooded Seedeater - Vegas Valley Leopard Frog - Lord Howe Starling - Norfolk Starling - Sardinian Dhole - Pohnpei Starling - Seychelles Chestnut-sided White-eye - New Zealand Quail - St. Helena Swamphen - St. Helena Crake - Rodrigues Starling - Giant Hoopoe - Brace's Emerald - Sardinian Lynx - Perrin's Cave Beetle - Kosrae Island Crake - Kosrae Island Starling - Semper's Warbler - Chatham Islands Fernbird - Tobias' caddisfly - Moloka‘i ‘O‘o - Viti Levu Giant Pigeon - Natunaornis - Round Island Burrowing Boa - Society Parakeet - Grand Cayman Thrush - Washington Island Gadwall - Moho (genus) - Hawai‘i ‘O‘o - Mauritius Night Heron - Bonin Nankeen Night Heron - Laysan Rail - Anjouan Island Sparrowhawk - Tenerife Giant Rat - Panthera leo vereshchagini - Hawkins' Rail - Neomacounia nitida

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The last known Thylacine photographed at Hobart (formerly Beaumaris) Zoo in 1933. A scrotal sac is not visible in this or any other of the photos or film taken, leading to the supposition that "Benjamin" was a female, but the existence of a scrotal pouch in the Thylacine makes it impossible to be certain.
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Did you know...

  • ...that the extinct Giant Hoopoe and St. Helena Earwig were scientifically named after the Greek myth figures Antaios and Heracles.
  • ...that an English cigarette brand and a ginger wine were named after the Great Auk
  • ...that there was once thought that the Great Auk was a penguin even before the real penguins were scientifically described.


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The WikiProject for this topic is Extinction.

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See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species.

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