We know that animals have disappeared forever. Throughout history, many types of animals that used to live here are gone now.
One example is dinosaurs. We’ve all seen pictures of these huge creatures that once lived on Earth. Luckily, they’re not around anymore, and that’s a good thing because they were really scary.
There are other animals from Africa that have also disappeared. People doing things, changes in the weather, and destroying where they lived are reasons why they’re gone forever.
In this article, we’ll talk about some animals from Africa that are gone now. You might know about them, or you might not have heard them before. Take a look:
1. The Western Black Rhinoceros
This amazing animal used to live all over Africa, but sadly, it disappeared in 2011. People killed these rhinos to get their valuable horns, and because people moved into their homes, there were no more of them left. Even though many people tried to help, this type of rhino couldn’t stay alive.
2. The Atlas bear
A long time ago, powerful Atlas bears used to be in the mountains and forests of North Africa. But people hunted them and destroyed where they lived, so they disappeared many years ago. Now, we can only learn about these big animals from old pictures and stories from the past.
3. The Quagga
There used to be a unique kind of zebra with stripes and brown patches on its body. People hunted them a lot and they had trouble finding food because of farm animals. That’s why they all disappeared in the late 1800s. Nowadays, some folks are working to bring back the quagga’s memory by carefully choosing zebras that look like them and making new ones.
4. The Pyrenean Ibex
These animals that looked like antelopes were from the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe, but they also lived in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. Sadly, they got sick and people caused problems for them, so they disappeared in 2000.
5. The North African Elephant
A kind of African elephant used to be in big areas of Morocco and Egypt. People killed them for their tusks, and because of that, these big animals were gone by the middle of the 1900s. Now, we remember them from old drawings on cave walls and from the bones and traces we still find.