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News on this issue
Various species have disappeared because of excessive hunting by humans and because the speed in which humans colonized land in many places meant that the existing fauna did not get a chance to adapt to their new companions.
An example of a species that became extinct due to excessive hunting is the African blue buck (Ectopistes migratorius), a North American passenger pigeon that was the commonest bird in the world but became extinct in 1914, not to mention the Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis), the last two individuals of which were killed off the coast of Iceland in 1844. These birds were mainly hunted for food, but today animals are often hunted to fulfil other demands of the human race. Elephants are hunted because of their (ivory) teeth, rhinoceros because of their horns, and tigers because of their pelts and other body parts. The price rises as the animal becomes increasingly rare.
Another common practice is the capturing of monkeys and parrots from the tropics, which are then sold as pets, sometimes as fully-grown individuals but others as young animals. Many of the young captives die, however, due to lack of parental care.
Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hester, Eugene
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