Author: Doreen Fräßdorf

Doreen Fräßdorf ist Autorin und Betreiberin von artensterben.de. Sie recherchiert und schreibt über ausgestorbene und vom Aussterben bedrohte Arten in der Neuzeit – mit Schwerpunkt auf Roten Listen, wissenschaftlichen Studien, historischen Quellen und aktuellen Schutzbemühungen. Ziel ist eine verständliche, faktenbasierte Einordnung komplexer Entwicklungen rund um Biodiversitätsverlust und Artenschutz. Sie ist außerdem Autorin eines Sachbuchs über ausgestorbene Säugetiere der Neuzeit.

The Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) is one of the few known species of bats with white fur. It has similar behaviors to Bory's white bat. (© Charlie Jackson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

19. September 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bory’s White Bat

“Small white bats” seek shelter in palm leaves The French naturalist and botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent explored the mouth of the Rivière du Mât in November 1801, in what is now the municipality of Saint-Joseph in the southern part of the island of Réunion. He was studying red

The splendid poison frog reached a body length of 2.8 to 3.1 centimeters. This made it one of the medium-sized poison frogs. Its skin was smooth and shiny. (© DiMoNiAk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

11. September 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Splendid Poison Frog

Wanted: Oophaga speciosa The not particularly shy, diurnal, strikingly red splendid poison frog was hard to miss, especially since its range in western Panama was quite small. This is probably exactly what proved fatal for the amphibian from the family of poison frogs (Dendrobatidae): The splendid poison frog was extremely popular

Drawing of a Chinese paddlefish from 1868. The frontal portion made up around one-third of the fish's total length. Chinese paddlefish reached lengths of more than three meters and weights of up to 300 kilograms. (© Muséum d'histoire Naturelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

8. August 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chinese Paddlefish

An ancient swimming fossil in the Yangtze River The Chinese paddlefish and its relatives were already swimming through Earth’s waters more than 100 million years ago. This freshwater predator, said to have reached lengths of seven meters and weights of several thousand pounds, survived the mass extinction 66 million years

Jagdgesellschaft um O. Vojnich mit totem Bali-Tiger

Hunting party of Baron Oszkar Vojnich (Oscar Voynich) with kill Bali tiger in 1911. (© O. Vojnich, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. August 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bali Tiger

A colonial victim of hunting tourism Shortly after the Indonesian island of Bali came under Dutch colonial rule in 1908, the first photographs were taken showing white men in linen suits with pith helmets, half-naked islanders and killed Bali tiger. The Hungarian Baron Oszkar Vojnich is said to have killed

Bramble Cay Mosaikschwanzratte (Melomys rubicola)

The Bramble Cay melomys reached a body length of 14 to 16 centimeters; its scaly, thin tail added another 14.5 to 18 centimeters. (© State of Queensland, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

31. July 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bramble Cay melomys

The first victim of human-caused climate change The Bramble Cay melomys or mosaic-tailed rat is considered the first mammal species to be declared extinct primarily or exclusively because of anthropogenic climate change. It lived on the Torres Strait island of Bramble Cay, one of the most narrowly limited habitats imaginable.

Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) - Illustration by Keulemans

Male huias (bottom) reached a length of around 45 centimeters, while female huias (top) measured between 48 and 55 centimeters. The illustration is by John G. Keulemans from Walter Buller's A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1873). (© John Gerrard Keulemans, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

4. July 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Huia

When males and females look like two different species The particularly pronounced sexual dimorphism between female and male huia caused confusion in the past. It even went so far that the English ornithologist John Gould in 1836 described male and female huia as different species. Even today, scientists debate how

Rabbs Fransenzehen-Laubfrosch Ecnomiohyla rabborum

The brown or brown-green Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog was relatively large, with a snout-vent length of six to ten centimeters. It had strong legs and strikingly large fingers and toes with extensive webbing. (© Brian Gratwicke from DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

29. June 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rabb’s Fringe-limbed Treefrog

Toughie—another endling A few treefrogs — among them a male named Toughie—arrived in 2005 from the montane cloud forest of central Panama at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where they were cared for and where attempts were made to breed them. In vain: the tadpoles died every time before metamorphosing into

Illustration of the Cape Verde giant skink by J. Terrier from 1885. Males could reach a body length of around 50 centimeters, females just under 43 centimeters (including tail). The animals weighed almost half a kilo. (© J. Terrier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

21. June 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Cape Verde Giant Skink

Ilhas Desertas—the terra typica of the Cape Verde giant skink Organisms that occur in isolated ecosystems such as islands are often adapted to the extreme conditions prevailing there. They exhibit characteristics such as dwarfism or gigantism and often lack defensive mechanisms due to the absence of predators, setting them apart

Depiction of a Falkland Islands wolf from Iconographica Zoologica – Special Collections (1868) from the University of Amsterdam. The Argentinean warrah and the Falkland Islands wolf must have looked morphologically quite similar due to their close relationship. (© Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

15. June 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Argentinean Warrah

How the Argentinean warrah became the Falkland Islands wolf During the last ice age, around 16,000 years ago, a few Argentinean warrahs used shallow, frozen parts of the sea to travel from South America to the Falkland Islands, 500 kilometers away. Over time, the Argentinean warrah on the Falkland Islands

Falklandwolf (Dusicyon australis) im Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden

A specimen of the Falkland Islands wolf collected in 1843. It is now located at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden (Netherlands). (© Dusicyon australis (Kerr, 1792), collected in Falkland Islands (Malvinas) by Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0 1.0, via GBIF)

6. June 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Falkland Islands wolf

How did the Falkland Islands wolf reach the Falkland Islands? As early as 1690, British visitors to the Falkland Islands wondered about the only land mammal living there among all the small creatures. There were not even mice there. What did this wolf feed on? The British naturalist Charles Darwin,