This article is a list of biological species, subspecies, and evolutionary significant units that are known to have become extinct during the Holocene, the current geologic epoch, ordered by their known or approximate date of disappearance from oldest to most recent.
The Holocene is considered to have started with the Holocene glacial retreat around 11650 years Before Present ( BC). It is characterized by a general trend towards global warming, the expansion of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) to all emerged land masses, the appearance of agriculture and animal husbandry, and a reduction in global biodiversity. The latter, dubbed the sixth mass extinction in Earth history, is largely attributed to increased human population and activity, and may have started already during the preceding Pleistocene epoch with the demise of the Pleistocene megafauna.
The following list is incomplete by necessity, since the majority of extinctions are thought to be undocumented, and for many others there isn't a definitive, widely accepted last, or most recent record. According to the species-area theory, the present rate of extinction may be up to 140,000 species per year.S.L. Pimm, G.J. Russell, J.L. Gittleman and T.M. Brooks, The Future of Biodiversity, Science 269: 347–350 (1995)
10th millennium BC
Last recordCommon nameBinomial name Former rangeCauses Picture9845-9395 BCAmerican mastodonMammut americanumNorth AmericaUndetermined.9700–6200 BCMunson, C. M. (2022). Dire wolves (Canis dirus dirus) from the Cutler Hammock site, Florida: dietary preferences, timing of disappearance, and relationship to changing climatic conditions during the Quaternary (Master's thesis, The Ohio State University).Fraternal horseEquus fraternusEastern North AmericaLong-nosed peccaryMylohyus fossilishttps://recentlyextinctspecies.com/artiodactyla-even-toed-ungulates/mylohyus-fossilis-fossil-peccary-long-nosed-peccaryEastern United States9600 BCCèdres tahrHemitragus cedrensisEastern Spain to Provence, FranceRivals, F., & Blasco, R. (2008). Presence of Hemitragus aff. cedrensis (Mammalia, Bovidae) in the Iberian Peninsula: Biochronological and biogeographical implications of its discovery at Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 7(6), 391-399.Montañana, I. S. (2010). El cáprido del yacimiento de la Cova del Molí Mató, Agres, Alacant. Recerques del Museu d'Alcoi, 7-18.9531–9196 BCSardinian dholeCynotherium sardousCorsica and Sardiniac. 9515 BCConservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. A.G.J. Rhodin, P.C.H. Pritchard, P.P. van Dijk, R.A. Saumure, K.A. Buhlmann, J.B. Iverson, and R.A. Mittermeier, Eds. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015Southeastern giant tortoiseHesperotestudo crassiscutataSouthern United States9350 BCKessler, C., Haddrath, O., Lim, B., & Shafer, A. (2025). Ancient DNA from the Toronto subway deer adds to the extinction list of North America's Ice Age megafauna. bioRxiv, 2025-09.Toronto subway deerTorontoceros hypogaeusToronto, Canada9200–8190 BCGlossotherium robustumSouth America9117–8793 BCCuvier's gomphothereCuvieronius hyodonCentral America, northern and central AndesMothé, D. et al. (2017). Sixty years after 'The mastodonts of Brazil': The state of the art of South American proboscideans (Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae). Quaternary International, 443, 52–64.9110–9030 BCMiño-Boilini, Á. R., & Quiñones, S. I. (2020). "Los perezosos Scelidotheriinae (Xenarthra, Folivora): taxonomía, biocronología y biogeografía". Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, 22 (2), 201–218.Valgipes bucklandiBrazil9105–8482 BCPeroryctes aruensisPulau Kobroor, Aru Islands, Indonesiac. 9050 BCWilson's tortoiseHesperotestudo wilsoniSouthwestern United StatesClimatic changes and human hunting.Ryukyu tortoiseManouria oyamaiRyukyu, JapanUndetermined.9050 BCCypriot genetGenetta plesictoidesCyprus9050-8050 BCMiyako roe deerCapreolus tokunagaiMiyako Island, Ryukyu, JapanMiyako long-tailed ratDiplothrix miyakoensisSus sp.
9th millennium BC
Last recordCommon nameBinomial nameFormer rangeCausesPicture8965–8875 BCde Alvarenga Araujo, B. B. (2013) Pleistocene-Holocene Extinctions: Distinguishing Between Anthropic and Climatic Causes.Mexican horseEquus conversidensWestern North AmericaHunting.8902-8638 BCDamaliscus hypsodonKenya and TanzaniaUndetermined.8800-6810 BCGlyptodon clavipesEastern South AmericaHuman hunting.8750 BCSpermophilus superciliosusNorth Central Europe and the British Isles to Crimea and the Middle Urals8718–8300 BCSalotti, M., Louchart, A., Bailon, S., Lorenzo, S., Oberlin, C., Ottaviani-Spella, M. M., ... & Tramoni, P. (2008). A Teppa di U Lupinu Cave (Corsica, France)–human presence since 8500 years BC, and the enigmatic origin of the earlier, late Pleistocene accumulation. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia-Series A: Vertebrata, 51(1–2), 15–34.Aquila nipaloidesCorsica and SardiniaUndetermined.8697–8355 BCXibalbaonyx ovicepsQuintana Roo, MexicoHunting.Stinnesbeck, S.R. (2020) Mexican fossil ground sloths. A case study for Late Pleistocene megafaunal turnover in the Mexican Corridor. Doctoral dissertation.8450 BCMicrotus brecciensisIberian PeninsulaUndetermined.8301–7190 BCGiant pikaOchotona whartoniNorthern North America;Eastern Siberia?8209–5886 BCNotiomastodon platensisSouth AmericaHuman hunting.8120–7980 BCGiant Cape zebraEquus capensisSouthern AfricaReduction of grasslands after the end of the Last Glacial Period.Faith, J.T. (2014) Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa. Earth-Science Reviews, 128, 105–121.8050 BCAncient bisonBison antiquusNorth AmericaPossibly hybridisation with western bison resulting in modern American bison.8085 BCShasta ground slothNothrotheriops shastensisSouthwestern United StatesHuman hunting.Mead, J.I. et al. (1986) Extinction of Harrington's mountain goat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 83(4), 836–839.8050 BC or lessSamonds, K.E. 2007. Late Pleistocene bat fossils from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. Acta Chiropterologica 9(1):39–65.Hipposideros besaokaNorthern coast of MadagascarUndetermined.Triaenops goodmani
8th millennium BC Last recordCommon nameBinomial nameFormer rangeCausesPicturec. 7950 BCLabarca, R., & Alcaraz, M. A. (2011). Presencia de Antifer ultra Ameghino (= Antifer niemeyeri Casamiquela)(Artiodactyla, Cervidae) en el Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno temprano de Chile central (30–35° S). Andean geology, 38(1), 156–170.Antifer ultraRiver Plate and central ChileUndetermined.7850 BCWoolly rhinocerosCoelodonta antiquitatisNorthern EurasiaShrinking of the mammoth steppe due to warmer and wetter climate conditions, as well as human hunting.Wang, Y., Pedersen, M.W., Alsos, I.G. et al. Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics. Nature (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04016-x7830–7430 BCCatonyx cuvieriEastern South AmericaUndetermined.7610 BCMegatherium americanumSouth AmericaHuman hunting.7600–6245 BCRoutledge, J. (2020). Ostrich Eggshell from the Far Eastern Steppe: Stable Isotopic Exploration of Range, Commodification, and Extirpation (Doctoral dissertation, Trent University (Canada)).East Asian ostrichPachystruthio anderssoniBuffetaut, E. (2023). The Missing Late Pleistocene Ostrich Femur from Zhoukoudian (China): New Information Provided by a Rediscovered Old Cast. Diversity, 15(2), 265.Tuva, Transbaikalia, Mongolia, and northern ChinaKurochkin, E. N., Kuzmin, Y. V., Antoshchenko-Olenev, I. V., Zabelin, V. I., Krivonogov, S. K., Nohrina, T. I., ... & Cruz, R. J. (2010). The timing of ostrich existence in Central Asia: AMS 14C age of eggshells from Mongolia and southern Siberia (a pilot study). Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 268(7–8), 1091–1093. to the Yellow RiverJanz, L. et al. (2009). Dating North Asian surface assemblages with ostrich eggshell: implications for palaeoecology and extirpation. Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol 36 (9), pp. 1982–1989Undetermined.7433–7035 BCMediterranean brown fish owlKetupa zeylonensis lamarmoraeCorsica, Sardinia, southern Italy, Crete, and IsraelPossibly prey loss due to human hunting.Vigne, Jean-Denis, Salvador Bailon, and Jacques Cuisin. "Biostratigraphy of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals in Corsica and the role of man in the Holocene faunal turnover." Anthropologica 25.26 (1997): 587–604.7160–6760 BCScelidodon chiliensisWestern South AmericaMiño-Boilini, A. R., Carlini, A. A., Chiesa, J. O., Lucero, N. P., & Zurita, A. E. (2009). First record of Scelidodon chiliense (Lydekker)(Phyllophaga, Scelidotheriinae) from the Lujanian stage (late Pleistocene-early Holocene) of Argentina. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie-Abhandlungen, 253, 373–381.Undetermined.7129–6239 BCSouth American sabertooth catSmilodon populatorEastern South AmericaCompetition with human hunters.Tonni, E. P., Cione, A. L., & Soibelzon, L. H. (2003). The broken zig-zag: late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extinction in South America. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, 5.7080 BCDire wolfAenocyon dirusNorth America and western South AmericaUndetermined.7050 BCArctotherium wingei Eastern South America and Central America7050–6550 BCRipoll, M. P., Perez, J. V. M., Serra, A. S., Tortosa, J. E. A., & Montanana, I. S. (2010). Presence of the genus Cuon in upper Pleistocene and initial Holocene sites of the Iberian Peninsula: new remains identified in archaeological contexts of the Mediterranean region. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(3), 437–450.European dholeCuon alpinus europaeusCentral and southern Europe, and the Caucasus7043–6507 BCCuban pauraqueSiphonorhis daiquiriCuba7043–6503 BCGiant ghost-faced batMormoops magnaCuba and HispaniolaVelazco, P. M., O'Neill, H., Gunnell, G. F., Cooke, S. B., Rimoli, R., Rosenberger, A. L., & Simmons, N. B. (2013). Quaternary bat diversity in the Dominican Republic. American Museum Novitates, 2013(3779), 1–20.7000–4000 BCNoce, A., Qanbari, S., González-Prendes, R., Brenmoehl, J., Luigi-Sierra, M. G., Theerkorn, M., ... & Hoeflich, A. (2021). Genetic diversity of Bubalus bubalis in Germany and global relations of its genetic background. Frontiers in genetics, 11, 610353.European water buffaloBubalus murrensisCentral, eastern, and southeastern EuropeClimatic changes, human hunting, or combination of both.
7th millennium BC
Last recordCommon nameBinomial nameFormer rangeCausesPicture6940 BCEquus neogeusSouth AmericaMachado, H., & Avilla, L. (2019). The diversity of south American Equus: did size really matter?. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 235.Human hunting.6660–4880 BCHoplophorus euphractusEastern BrazilUndetermined.Propraopus sulcatusEastern South AmericaCordeiro de Castro, M. (2015). Sistemática y evolución de los armadillos Dasypodini (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Dasypodidae). Revista del Museo de La Plata|Sección Paleontología, 15.6442–6210 BCGiant hartebeestMegalotragus priscusSouthern Africa;Eastern Africa?Reduction of grasslands after the end of the Last Glacial Period.6389–6060 BCStuart, A.J. (2021) Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age. University of Chicago Press, 288 pages.Eutatus seguiniNorthern Argentina and UruguayKrmpotic, C.M., Carlini, A.A., & Scillato-Yané, G.J. (2009) The species of Eutatus (Mammalia, Xenarthra): Assessment, morphology and climate. Quaternary International, 210(1–2), 66–75.Undetermined.Before 6350 BCCryptoprocta bevatabeTsimanampesotse National Park, southwestern Madagascar
6th millennium BC