At the end of the 17th century, the last dodo (a swan-sized columbiform bird) perished in the forests of the Mauritius Islands. This species became extinct due to human beings, who arrived on the island about 100 years earlier. Man, once again, was in charge of hunting, destroying habitat and releasing invasive species, thus destroying millions of years of evolution. However, this is not the first species to have disappeared at the hands of man.
The dodo, the bird that we extinguished
Some people consider that the dodo was the first animal that disappeared because of humans. In fact, to alleviate our own guilt, we often say that he was a clumsy, lazy and unintelligent creature, so those traits sentenced his death. However, we could not be more wrong, because according to various scientific studies this bird was much more athletic and intelligent than popular culture has led us to believe.
Furthermore, as Julian Hume, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, argues, this species was fully adapted to the environment of the Mauritius Islands, although the disproportionate exploitation of humans led to its extinction.
The displacement of humans, the main reason for extinction
Although we tend to think that the extinction of species is something recent, in reality this has not stopped occurring throughout our history. As Julian Hume suggests, as populations moved from their ancestral homes (approximately 125,000 years ago) large animals disappeared.
In this way, when hominids migrated out of Africa and set foot in new places, large species disappeared (usually prehistoric relatives of elephants, antelopes, bears, and other species that became extinct in 1,000 years at most). Luckily for the various species on Earth, such a rapid extinction has not occurred in the last few million years.
Ultimately, it could be said that humans have been systematically eliminating the species that surrounded them since the beginning of our history. However, we have not learned our lesson and continue to eradicate species. Moa birds disappeared in New Zealand 600 years ago, while passenger or passenger pigeons disappeared just over a hundred years ago. We are also responsible for recent extinctions, such as that of the Caribbean monk seal or the golden toad.
Thus, it is impossible to decipher which was the first animal that disappeared at the hands of man, since since humans began to migrate around the planet there were mass extinctions of species. In fact, some scientists argue that before humans began to move, they also unleashed their hunting instincts on the species in their territory.
