From the beginning of the colonial rule of Portugal in the 14th century, colonialism began to prevail in the 16th century, and European countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, and France began to colonize the country. In the 16th century, as a sea coachman, the Netherlands opened the era of great navigation, and then, European countries began a tragic colonial rule over the Americas, Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world, many areas of the indigenous people were extinct, some regional cultures were extinct, in 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, making China a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country, these colonists brought deep disasters to the world.
colonialism
Not only the indigenous peoples of all continents, but also many wild animals have suffered the devastation of colonial rule, today, I will introduce you to the wild animals that have been extinct due to colonial rule, they are great auks, great cattle, passenger pigeons, dodos, Mauritian blue doves, spotted donkeys, Antarctic wolves, Syrian wild donkeys, four kinds of wolves in the United States (Florida black wolf, red wolf, American white wolf, Kenai mountain wolf), Tasnian tiger.
Among these animals, the sea cow, the dodo and the Mauritian blue pigeon have only left oil painting records. The remaining specimens are still extant.
Great cattle
It was first discovered by the Danish fleet in 1741 and became extinct in 1768. It took only 27 years from discovery to extinction.
The great sea cattle live near the mouth of the Bering Strait River, have been foraging in shallow waters, have a high IQ, and foraging in the middle of the cubs will help injured companions out of danger, they are not completely marine animals, and need fresh water replenishment. The great sea cow weighs from nine thousand to twelve thousand pounds, is insensitive to humans, very friendly, and even takes the initiative to approach human ships, the Danes hunted the first big sea cow, and then the big sea cow became a necessary supply point for colonists on long voyages, and many hunters who hunt fur seals also used the big sea cow as a supply to repair the ship with manatee skin.
After 27 years, the great sea cattle became extinct.
Great auk
July 3, 1844, on the island of Erder in Iceland. The three fishermen spotted a pair of large flightless birds, which looked like two large penguins, and they chased after them, grabbed and strangled the two large birds, and smashed their hatching eggs in the process of chasing, what they did not know was that this was the last great auk on earth. Once millions of great auks were extinct.
The age of great navigation that the Europeans began, the great auk went extinct, some expeditionary fleets tried to find a new northwest route in the Arctic to discover the nearest route to Asia, when they crossed the North Atlantic to the islands near Greenland, the sailors who were tired of fish could not wait to find something new, they found the great auk, the great auk everywhere was clumsy, extremely easy to catch, and the meat was delicious, so that every time the fleet passed, it would catch a large number of puffins as food on the ship.
Colonists then opened newfoundland fisheries, and a large number of fishing boats flocked to it, and the great auk became an important food. Then, even more brutally, when the harsh winter came, they found that the down of the great auk was extremely warm, and then began to hunt on a large scale, from down jackets to duvets to hats. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were very few great auks left.
Passenger pigeons
Passenger pigeon is the most famous animal extinct in modern times, before the European colonists arrived on the North American continent, there are about 5 billion passenger pigeons, the living environment of passenger pigeons is extremely spectacular, the maximum number of group dwellings can reach 5 million, the migration process can be several groups into a large group, the number of up to 100 million, usually passenger pigeons nest in trees, a tree is densely packed with nests, migration can form a narrow and long flight belt.
In 1800, passenger pigeon meat was used as the main meat of colonists, especially the poor, and the price of a pair of passenger pigeons was as low as 2 cents, and mass hunting began. Cheap pigeon meat was fed to slaves and domestic servants, and the excess was even made into pig feed. The colonists refused to legislate for the protection of passenger pigeons, saying that passenger pigeons would never be extinct.
However, the last passenger pigeon, Martha, died at the zoo in 1914. Frozen in a 130-kilogram piece of ice, it was subsequently made as a specimen for display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
dodo
The image of the dodo can be seen everywhere on the island of Mauritius, including national emblems, coins, souvenirs, artwork, advertisements and club name tags. However, this tells a tragedy, the dodo is the first national bird to be extinct.
The dodo is the first animal on record to become extinct due to human activity, and in 1598 a Dutch ship deviated from course on its way to the East Indies and reached the island of Mauritius. Then they stayed here and began to colonize, they turned forests into fields, planted cash crops and sold them to Europe, because of the destruction of habitat and the cats, dogs, rats, pigs and other animals brought with them to feed on dodo, clumsy dodo birds could not escape the fate, and soon became extinct.
By 1681, no more live dodos had been found in Mauritius.
Mauritian Blue Dove
The Mauritian blue dove, also known as the Horse Island blue dove, was destroyed by the massive deforestation of European colonists into Mauritius, along with man-made hunting. The last specimen collected in Savannah in 1826 is estimated to have gone extinct in the 1830s. There are currently three known specimens worldwide, housed in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh and the Mauritian Museum of Natural History in Port Louis.
Spotted donkey
Also known as the bust zebra, pseudo-zebra, bust horse, at first people thought it was a completely new species, and later found that it is actually a subspecies of the common zebra. Once a large number of living in the vast grasslands of South Africa, an animal in the vast grasslands of South Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to Orange, there are even records of domestication in South Africa, the spotted donkey is used to pull goods, it can be seen that its temperament is docile, the front half of the donkey is like a zebra, the back half is like a horse, extinct in 1883.
In the early 19th century, the arrival of European colonists posed a serious threat to the donkey, and Europeans saw such a beautiful donkey, and they bought it to make specimens to appreciate, and the price soared for a time, which accelerated the extinction of the donkey.
By the 1870s, the number of spotted donkeys had plummeted, and in 1880, wild spotted donkeys could no longer be caught, and the last spotted donkey in the world died in Artis in Amsterdam in August 1883. Magistria Zoo.
Antarctic wolf
The Antarctic wolf, the wolf that lives on the southernmost tip of the earth, perished in 1875. Is the South American Falkland Islands terrestrial mammals, also known as the Falkland wolf, Falkland dog, the appearance of the Antarctic wolf is very similar to the dog, docile temperament, almost do not attack humans, but like to steal livestock, so it is deeply hated by the locals, the Antarctic wolf is not wary of humans, local hunters with meat in one hand, a stick can kill the Antarctic wolf, however, this traditional way of hunting did not extinct the Antarctic, the Frank Islands water and grass, the environment is excellent.
At the end of the 18th century, European colonists migrated here in large numbers, and the large-scale development of animal husbandry and the application of muskets made the Antarctic wolf quickly extinct. However, the extinction of the Antarctic wolf has brought about the reproduction of a large number of rodents, the degradation of grasslands, and the semi-desertified soil can no longer support animal husbandry.
Syrian wild donkey
The Syrian wild ass is found on the highlands of the northeast. It resembles a mule, with a body taller than a donkey, long ears, no forehead hair, and a distinct back. The bark is like a horse hissing. The outbreak of the First World War brought ruin to the Syrian wild donkey. After the war, Syria became a French colony, and French soldiers hunted wild donkeys on a large scale with guns, and under the bombardment of cannons, wild donkeys quickly disappeared.
In 1928, the last Syrian wild donkey died in a zoo in France and became extinct.
Four american wolves (Florida black wolf, red wolf, American white wolf, Kenai mountain wolf)
Kinai Mountain Wolf
The Kenai mountain wolf became extinct in 1915 (the largest subspecies of wolves), the Florida black wolf is considered a faith by the local natives, they consider themselves to be the descendants of wolves, Europeans forced them to believe in Christ, and then exterminated the black wolf, extinct in 1917, the North American white wolf known as the dream wolf, white all over, extremely beautiful, extinct in 1911, Texas red wolf in 1970 extinction. These four wolf species are typical of the extinction of the Americas.
The North American continent is a fertile land for wolves to survive, there are dozens of wolves living here, after the arrival of European colonists, as a symbol of evil, organized extermination, soon wiped out.
Tasnian tiger
Also known as the thylacine, its ancestors are distributed in Australia and New Zealand, 7,000 years ago, after the first humans arrived in Australia, the dogs they carried with them became australian wild dogs, and the australian wild dogs were more powerful, they expelled the thylacine, and the thylacine was forced to shrink its survival range and survive only on the island of Tasnia.
In the 19th century, European colonists migrated to Australia in large numbers, animal husbandry developed rapidly, at the end of the 19th century, they found that livestock were killed in large quantities, so they moved to the thylacine, more than 2,000 were hunted in 30 years, however, the subsequent loss of livestock did not decrease, and later found that the real culprit was the Australian wild dog. However, the thylacine is gone. The last thylacine, Panjeni, died at hobart zoo on Tasmania on 7 September 1936.
Wild animals are our human friends, protecting them is to protect our human beings themselves, I hope that more people can care for and love wild animals.