Easy like Sunday morning: Modern Extinctions! Premium

The Hindu Sunday quiz on modern extinctions by Berty Ashley

1. On Sept 17, 1598, Dutch sailors landed on the island of Mauritius and took control. While on the island, they discovered a large flightless bird from the pigeon family. In around the next 64 years, the entire species became extinct. What bird was this, that has now become an icon for conservation efforts?

2. The Thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world at one time. It became extinct in Australia 3500 years ago, but managed to exist on a group of islands below Australia till 1936. It was named after another carnivore because of the dark transverse stripes on its skin. By what alliterative name was this animal known?

3. This particular type of leopard was found only in Taiwan and the last confirmed sighting was in 1983. It belongs to a beautiful sub-group of Leopards who get their name from the markings on their body. By what name were these cats known, which fittingly also alludes to the fact that we don’t know anything about the species?

4. The East Greenland caribou was a species of deer found in the eastern parts of Greenland. It has been extinct since 1900, but has endured through stories., becoming popular every December. By what name are these deer known?

5. The Aurochs was a massive animal that stood up to 6 feet tall and was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene period. The oldest known fossils of these animals have been found in India, North Africa and Europe. What now very-common animal is a direct descendant of the few aurochs our ancestors managed to domesticate?

6. The Barbary Lion is a now-extinct species of lion that once lived in the mountains and deserts of North Africa. Some survived till the 1960s, but were eradicated with the increase in firearms. In the Middle Ages, they were given as gifts to royalty, which led to them becoming the (unofficial) national animal of a certain country. Which country is this, where one would find depictions of this lion everywhere, though they never existed there?

7. There was a dwarf hippopotamus that used to live in this country till about 1,000 years ago. It was discovered in the mid-1800s in a dried-up swamp. This means that this animal is not ‘new’ to this country as referred to in a popular children’s movie. Which country is this; or alternately, what movie is this that you see the character Gloria in?