Native to parts of northern Mexico and regions in Arizona and New Mexico, these bears were slightly smaller than their North American grizzly cousins.
Known as Mexican grizzlies, their coats shimmered in silvery or golden tones. Unfortunately, ranchers saw them as threats to livestock and eliminated them to protect their herds.
Despite being given protected status, experts believe they vanished completely by 1969.

The Carolina parakeet was the only parrot species native to the United States, with bright colors and small size. They once filled the skies across the Southeast.
Though they ranged from Colorado to New York, most flocks were concentrated in Florida, Georgia, and the coastal Carolinas.
The final captive bird died in 1918 at the Cincinnati Zoo. The exact reasons for their extinction still remain unknown to scientists.

Found across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean monk seal became the first known seal species wiped out by human activity.
They were easy prey while resting or nursing on beaches, and the last confirmed sighting was in 1952.
More than fifty years later, in 2008, the species was officially declared extinct. They were the only native seal to the region.

Once roaming the state of Florida, the Florida black wolf may have been a unique species rather than just a variant of the gray wolf or coyote — though experts still debate that.
These dark-furred canines disappeared by 1908, having been wiped out from the landscape.
They shared territory with the Florida red wolf, which also met extinction in 1921. Competition and hunting sealed their fate.

Passenger pigeons once filled the skies in the early 19th century, with flocks so enormous they darkened the sky for hours as they passed.
By the 1890s, those great swarms had dwindled to only a few birds.
The final known passenger pigeon, named Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Experts agree that widespread hunting — without understanding the consequences — led to their disappearance.

Raised by Indigenous tribes in Northern Canada, the Hare Indian dog was either a domesticated coyote or a crossbreed between dogs and coyotes — what some call a “coydog.”
Medium-sized and long-haired, they were primarily used for hunting by the Hare people.
As traditional hunting practices faded and interbreeding with other dogs became common, the Hare Indian dog slowly vanished in the 1800s.

Heath hens once roamed the East Coast, resembling chickens in size and build, with their striped plumage and distinctive head feathers or “horns.”
They were closely related to the greater prairie chicken, still found in the Midwest but now considered vulnerable.
Heath hens were gone by 1932, though modern scientists are exploring “de-extinction” to potentially bring them back using preserved DNA.

The eastern elk belonged to a subspecies that once thrived throughout the northern and eastern regions of the United States, often seen alongside bison and deer.
Relentlessly hunted by early settlers, their decline was so significant that even Theodore Roosevelt remarked on it in 1905.
The eastern elk is now extinct, but a small herd descended from 18 elk sent to New Zealand by Roosevelt might hold the key to reintroducing the species someday.

The Salish woolly dog, once bred by Coast Salish peoples in the Pacific Northwest, had a thick coat that was shorn each year like sheep’s wool.
This fur was blended with mountain goat hair and used to craft traditional woven blankets.
Although the breed went extinct in the 1900s, DNA testing has since confirmed the tribal accounts of using their fur for textiles were entirely accurate.

Native to the sand dunes of coastal San Francisco, these delicate butterflies were last seen in the wild in 1941.
The Xerces blue butterfly was wiped out by development and the destruction of its habitat.
Today, the Xerces Society — a conservation nonprofit — works to protect other vulnerable invertebrates before they meet the same fate.

This sea duck once lived along the northeastern U.S. coast and migrated south to areas like Long Island and the Chesapeake Bay during winter.
Although they may have never been numerous, their extinction is still puzzling to scientists.
It’s unclear if over-hunting, egg collecting, or the loss of food sources led to their disappearance, but the last known Labrador duck was seen in 1878. Around 55 preserved specimens exist today in museums.

Closely related to the American mink, the sea mink was native to the rocky coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, and Newfoundland and likely vanished by the 1880s.
Unfortunately, this species disappeared before researchers could study their behavior or determine their exact range.
They were targeted for their fur, which was especially valuable to European traders — and this demand drove them to extinction.