Mapping Every Extinct Animal From North America

Join me as I crack open another book (or two) on my shelf and try to learn about every animal missing from this continent!
Support me on Patreon here: / atlaspro
Follow me on Twitter @theatlaspro
Sources / Additional Reading:
archive.org/de...
www.currentres...
sites.google.c...
archive.nytime...
deepblue.lib.u...
www.nathab.com...
irlspecies.org...
www.allaboutbi...
www.fws.gov/sp...
www.georgiaenc...
www.sdakotabir...
www.sdakotabir...
www.sdakotabir...
www.birdphotos...
birdphotos.com...
www.extinctani...
entomologytoda...
macaulaylibrar...
ebird.org/spec...
• The Last Of The Curlews
www.cambridge....
molluskconserv...

[@Taco_bade]

It would be really cool if you continue this series with other continents

[@HateHater2205]

Australasia would be so interesting

[@snomcultist189]

Hawaii gets its own episode for two reasons

[@vaultdude4871]

NEXT TIME ON "DOOMED PLANET"

[@brownzilian]

YES

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

Jesus the Europe & Asia episodes would be 10 hours long.

[@craigstephenson7676]

The destruction of Tenochtitlan and subsequent draining of Lake Texcoco is in my opinion one of the greatest cultural, historical, and ecological losses in history. I can only imagine what Mexico City would look like if it was built around the lake, with the old city and the old dams intact. It wouldn’t be sinking, at the very least

[@Michaelonyoutub]

Just imagining Aztec pyramids, floating houses, farms, canals and aqueducts is an insane image, and that just the architecture. All of the culture and history to go along with it, which is a lot harder to quantify, is also mostly lost, and it would also be extremely interesting considering all they achieved.

[@elqueobserva7663]

I know that it would be a titanic task and that probably none of our current politicians would be interested, but I would like Mexico to encourage a slow depopulation of the area to let the lake eventually return Something like giving incentives to migrate to other nearby cities like Puebla or something like that, and maybe in more than 100 years the lake could return

[@craigstephenson7676]

@@elqueobserva7663 they can’t just abandon the historical and cultural sites in Mexico City. What little ruins of Tenochtitlan we still have would be well underwater if the lake was still here, not to mention all of the colonial and postcolonial historic sites in Modern Mexico City.

[@literallyjustthings9227]

Are there really ruins left of Tenochtitlan? If so, could you please direct me to pictures or sources on them, cause it sounds really interesting.

[@craigstephenson7676]

@@literallyjustthings9227 basically the only thing left from Tenochtitlan itself is the Templo Mayor ruins in Mexico City

[@BtrDedThnFed]

Fun Fact & Good News; The Blue Pike is slowly making a comeback, its not a separate species, but a color variation of the native Walleye. This color variation was wiped out in the 60s-80s but local fishermen in the Great Lakes and surrounding estuaries have been catching walleye with more and more blue coloration as the recessive trait is slowly working its way back!

[@tacosr]

That is good news! I had no idea it was just a variation

[@fredbergeron2193]

And we still have them in the nord of Québec already catch a couple of them

[@Kimmie6772]

Very good news! the more variation, the better 😊

[@eialzorn9284]

​@@fredbergeron2193I know they're caught in a few lakes in pimachiowin aki as well

[@canadianmammoth]

A cousin of the Walleye, Yellow Perch also carry the same mutation which sometimes appears in some lakes. Look up Blue Perch. Very pretty. The gene seems to be dominant or incompletely dominant which would explain why it seemed to be represented by an entire sub-demographic of Walleye in the past.

[@marco-ls9fm]

You should make a book like this yourself. Im sure that you could make a much more detailed version that included more species and facts. And I know we would all love having it in our collections.

[@tomp6685]

That would be amazing.

[@chrisavila17]

That would be a great idea!!!

[@FeartheKlown]

For sure. I would buy a book from Atlas Pro, especially an atlas!

[@veggieboyultimate]

I always cry internally whenever the recently extinct animals are mentioned. Although it is important to remember them, it's sad to think there were even more animals until recently.

[@F23GreyGhost]

This man's drive to educate folks on KZbin seems to continuously provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding about things than multiple publication firms. Research and academic institutions need to be paying attention to every video this channel uploads.

[@justinwilliam6534]

I hope you do Europe next to show how diverse the old world was.

[@martijn9568]

That's going to need a different cut off date if we want to talk about European lions, or the Woolly Mammoth.😅

[@Tinil0]

The problem is that European wildlife was devastated a lot earlier in the timeline. You can do it, but it gets harder and herder to find good information, simple because the longer ago, the less humans cared about things like that, at least in a systemic way.

[@disgust4941]

Video will be hours and hours long for sure

[@harubynspades]

@@disgust4941 I seriously doubt that. Europe was always less diverse than other continents.

[@HereComesWheely]

​@@martijn9568​ I mean, there were also Lions and Mammoths in the Americas too - the video focuses on Modern extinctions, so this video would also be long if we included Pleistocene Fauna from the US. (Even if we just included megafauna like Ground Sloths, Steppe Bison, etc, it still would be lengthy!) I think the issue with European extinct animals is just how connected it is to the other parts of the world so what might have been a common sight in Europe may have been summer visitors from Africa or Asia (such as the thriving Hoopoe) or initially non-endemic and haven't evolved enough to be classed as a separate species (similar to the point below, but not exactly the same point I'm trying to make - the below being kinda a minor/pedantic detail, so ignore if you want lol) There can also be animals that were **initially** labelled as a subspecies and then classed as extinct, but later analysed and found to be too genetically similar to species it was supposed to branch from, that they're no longer verified to be a subspecies (such as the Cyprus Dipper). I struggle with formulating words, so I just want to apologise if it's hard to understand, and clarify this is not an attack on your idea

[@tdyerwestfield]

Our government in the UK passed a law in 2022 that allows private water companies to dump raw sewage into our river systems 24 hours per day 7 days per week. We now have by far the worst water quality of anywhere in Europe and animals are dying out.

[@Von199X]

wow No one bat an eye?

[@tdyerwestfield]

@@Von199X Started protesting but protesting was made illegal in the UK, with lots of climate change and environment activists now in prison.

[@lebraza]

Yea, it still baffles me how humanity can treat such thing as a river, a sustainer of life as merely as a garbage dump.

[@Nikolasz1173]

BASED@@tdyerwestfield

[@tomm4073]

If the UK were still in the EU, this would be illegal.

[@mania_nanor]

0:00 Intro 4:19 Birds 14:23 Fish 21:26 Mammals 26:08 Insects 31:25 Amphibians 32:45 Mollusks 33:58 Conclusion 36:05 Outro great stuff, as always :)

[@Marder_IFV]

​@@the.mr.schraderbut you sir, are a fish

[@briscoschaefer9578]

@@Marder_IFV always happy to see Arthur Morgan in the wild

[@Marder_IFV]

@@briscoschaefer9578 i really need to finish the game

[@briscoschaefer9578]

@@Marder_IFV omg you do! How far into are you? It’s very spoilable so be careful

[@Marder_IFV]

@@briscoschaefer9578 I stopped after Arthur died and I just couldn't finish the game (play a bit of the first epilogue)

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Also, having a section on recently extinct animals in a book about all the wildlife of a place makes sense just in case the species didn't actually go extinct after all! Although unlikely, it's not impossible that some might have survived, and their pictures being in a book like these could help people find them.

[@Imperiused]

I think in the future you should consider sequel series like one looking at invasive species in North America or critically endangered species!

[@tomp6685]

I live in Eastern Tennessee, and I enjoy kayaking the numerous rivers in the area! The number of fresh water mussels that inhabit the rivers of Appalachia is fascinating because mussels are something many of us just associate with salt water. It's so cool to watch the river bottom as you glide down the river on a kayak, and the river beds are brimming in white for miles and miles. I really didn't know until recently how many are endangered and have gone extinct.

[@bolbyballinger]

When I went to Tennessee on vacation one of the rivers leading up to a waterfall was low enough that you could actually walk on the exposed rock slabs. The sheer number of shells was insane. Must have been raccoon heaven. Seeing just how much life there's supposed to be in our river systems was definitely eye opening. Here in Indiana you're lucky if you see any shells at all.

[@tomp6685]

@@bolbyballinger That's awesome! I hope you enjoyed your vacation.

[@everettduncan7543]

​@@bolbyballingerin rain fed parts of Missouri there's mostly Asian clams.

[@yusifvn9145]

I was sad about the lack of mentions to the loss of the native dogs of North America. I wouldn't have mentioned it, but all of the wolf subspecies got mentioned, and the unique and lost dogs of America deserve that same level of respect in my eyes.

[@alexmijo]

I think an important takeaway is that agriculture ultimately was responsible for many of these extinctions and that many of them happened without heavy industrialization of the area at all

[@AWormsPurpose]

I'm up every night thinking about the Carolina parakeet

[@bolbyballinger]

Seriously, not only would it be cool to have a temperate climate parakeet, but we didn't even WANT to get rid of them. Didn't eat them, didn't want to develop their habitat (until after they were extinct), and appreciated them eating cockleburs. But those darn European bird diseases . . .

[@literallyjustthings9227]

I think the Cape parrot in South Africa is an example of a temperate parakeet, but even then its numbers are sinking

[@aubreycasler-qd1yl]

I mean imagine. A parrot roaming your American bird feeder alongside Northern Cardinals and Chipping Sparrows. Being sneaky and intelligent, they could snatch a sip of nectar from a feeder next to ruby-throated hummingbirds. They ranged all the way to Pennsylvania so even Northerners could enjoy them

[@dariusbrock2351]

​Weren't Carolina parakeets hunted for their feathers to put in women's hats that were very popular at that time?​@@bolbyballinger

[@JaredReast-rh8cr]

A few months ago I bought a poster of the Carolina Parakeet. (I think it’s one of Audubon’s pieces). Right now I’m studying in the hopes of becoming a conservation biologist, and I keep the poster in my room as a reminder of what I’m fighting for (or more accurately what I’m fighting to prevent.)

[@m0sspunk]

how did you not lose your mind with sadness and grief while making this video? i’m actually crying just from watching it. there’s so much we’ve lost already, and so much more we’ll continue to lose. entire species just GONE. and it feels like nobody cares sometimes. how can you convince someone that a mollusk they’ve never heard of is important, unless they already believe that all life is sacred just because it exists? idk it just breaks my heart.

[@AtlasPro1]

That’s why telling stories like this is so important!

[@Napoleonic_S]

Well I mean there have been potentially billions of species that went extinct from this planet already without you even capable of knowing about them.

[@AminalCreacher]

Regarding the sea mink, your assertion that "the only other member of the weasel family known to live aquatic, or even semiaquatic lives, are otters," is untrue. The sea mink is survived by its extant cousins, the American and European mink. Both are semiaquatic. Good video though :) its just when you know a lot about a specific subject (weasels) and hear someone say something incorrect about it, publicly, it's impossible to continue with your life until you've gotten that off their chest

[@joshuabartlett5575]

I think his mistake was saying semiaqtic when he meant marine

[@beastmaster0934]

I think he meant mink in general. Also, despite their names, American and European mink are part of separate genera. With the European mink being part of the Mustela genus, alongside weasels, polecats, ferrets, ermines, and stoats. Meanwhile, the American mink is part of the genus Neogale, a genus whose only other member was the now extinct sea mink.

[@AminalCreacher]

@@beastmaster0934 I figured he may have intended to say that, but whatever his intentions, the actual words he said did not make any reference to mink as a group. A viewer unfamiliar with the matter would not be able to infer the existence and semiaquatic nature of other species of mink from this video alone. And, yes, I was aware of the paraphyly of mink, but chose not to bring it up because I didn't consider it relevant. I referred to the two other species of mink not because they are also called "mink," but because they are also semiaquatic non-otter mustelids. Incidentally, Neogale is more populous than you think, and includes a handful of extant American weasel species in addition to the American and sea mink.

[@chrisconrod9560]

It was also a mistake to say that the sea mink was the largest member of the weasel family (Mustelidae). Wolverines and at least some badgers are larger.

[@AminalCreacher]

@@chrisconrod9560 Oh dang, you’re extremely right there. I hadn’t even noticed he said that.

[@maumee22]

Zoologist and Botanist here, not even including plants, there's still MANY wonderful animals you list still misses, such as the eastern wolf, all of the mussel species that are extinct, Steller's Sea Cow, and so so much more that was either missed or skipped over. In addition, for the love of everything ecological and for the sake of biodiversity, please do not disregard subspecies as "just subspecies", that's like saying the northern and the southern tiger don't count even though the sumatran population of the southern tiger subspecies and the amur population of the northern tiger subspecies are drastically different.

[@j.c.hartke3730]

Awesome! Glad your back sir! One thing to note, you highlighted the Ohio and Wabash rivers North from the confluence at Cairo, IL instead of the actual Mississippi River up to Minnesota. Thought on future video.. Maybe map where invasive species got introduced and how far they have spread.

[@landminedj]

That would be a challenge of a video all right! As someone who has done a ton of research on the origin of invasive species, the specifics of most species is unknown. There are also so so many... but a video on just a few would be interesting too

[@tomflowers8381]

Imperial dreams is a great book about an ornithogist from Cornell that went searching for the birds in the Sierra madre, its an amazing read!

[@Fishfanplayz]

I have it, but i wasn't able to get though it cuz im a firm imperial sceptic and just as firm ivory bill believer and the fact the imperials extinct made me depressed.

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

23:28 if you ever cover the wolf/moose predatory relationship in depth, may I suggest Isle Royal? It’s a very isolated environment (being an island) that we have documented for decades at this point.

[@ianlangsev5828]

I did my senior thesis in college about the Northeastern Minnesota Moose Population. There are so many interesting factors effecting these large mammals. Isle Royale is a great place to study about this as well.

[@liil_sleepy]

A lot of the mammal subspecies listed, like eastern elk, eastern cougar, and several of the wolves listed, are no longer considered valid subspecies by modern science. But I think their inclusion anyways is really important in understanding just how much humans have shifted the populations of these animals in only the past 400 years or so, many wild areas we may see as “healthy” are missing so many key players in their ecosystems.

[@jamestang1227]

The list would probably be larger if you considered "dead species walking", species that have been extirpated to such an extent that their population numbers foretell inevitable extinction. The vaquita will soon die.

[@Tokru86]

If the areas can be considered healthy then those "key players" weren't keys at all.

[@altanativeftw2625]

It goes back much further than that, actually. Wolves and bison are not “pinnacles of North American wildlife”, they’re what’s left of a far more vibrant ecosystem that once included horses, camels, shrub-oxen, giant sloths, glyptodonts, cave lions, sabre-toothed cats, short-faced bears, mammoths, mastodons, teratorns, and so many other species wiped out by humans. No Holocene ecosystem was ever “intact” or “healthy”.

[@josuedanielsandi710]

​@@Tokru86That is why "healthy is in quotations, they are not healthy.

[@ArcaneAvian19]

Lake Texcoco was definitely not untouched by humans before the establishment of Mexico City. Texcoco was the site of Tenochtitlan, the center of the Aztec Empire.

[@EdgarCastillo-c6j]

I think it would have been cool to see some plants as most people when they think of extinct or extiction think of the animals because they move and breathe and are seen as alive while the plants are not really thought about because they 'dont do that' but they do they grow and move, they eat and breathe just not in the same way animals do.

[@caesarsgaming3888]

Arizona almost lost the apache trout too, it was fished nearly to extinction in the early 1900s. Miraculously, conservation efforts began and work was started on reintroducing it to the white mountains waters it came from. Now their range is rapidly returning to what it was 100s of years ago.

[@GmodPlusWoW]

Benjamin Sisko would be sad to hear about all of those ciscos going extinct. As for wolves, it's a good thing that we're reintroducing them into certain ecosystems, since the lack of wolves has indeed led to an explosion and overabundance of deer, far more than mere human hunters can deal with.

[@danas8194]

I’d like it if you just quickly put up the names of things like the 9 extinct Central American frogs. This way if you aren’t going to give much explanation, we can find it on our own more easily.

[@rachelwebber3605]

A couple notes: - 22:41, The Cascadia wolf subspecies' home range is now in the process of being replaced by grey wolves moving west from Idaho (probable subspecies: C. l. occidentalis) and south from B.C. (probable subspecies: C. l. columbianus). However, do to how well wolves travel long distances, subspecies classification among grey wolves is notoriously difficult, and where genetic testing has been possible, it's usually further restricted subspecies classifications (although it's also (sometimes) supported the creation of two distinct wolf species - the red wolf (C. rufus, with three possible subspecies) and the eastern timber wolf (C. lycaon)). There have been as many as 27 grey wolf subspecies and as few as 5, though I suspect the real number is somewhere in between. It's possible that all the wolf subspecies that you mentioned occuring in the US and eastern Canada are all actually a part of the (currently extant) great plains wolf (C. l. nubilus), or that the subspecies you mentioned are actually valid - it currently depends on whether you're reading material from taxonomic "lumpers" or "splitters", and while genetics is helping to shed some light on subspecies, they are not immune to "lumpers" and "splitters" (debates on how much genetic drift is needed to turn a distinct population into a subspecies or subspecies into distinct species are alive and very healthy). You could do an entire video on the differences between populations, subspecies, species, and hybridizations using just North American canids in the genus Canis as an example! If interested, I can rummage through my monographs and articles on Canis evolution, ecology, and genetics. - 24:29, There are three extant genera of semi-aquatic mustelids in North America: the sea otter, genus Enhydra, the river otter, genus Lontra, and some members of the genus Neogale (specifically, the extinct sea mink and the extant American mink). The sea otter is more closely related to the speckle-throated otter of Africa than the American river otter. Interestingly, there used to be an Atlantic sea otter (E. reevei) that went extinct around 2 million years ago. The sea mink may have been evolving to take over the role of the Atlantic sea otter before its untimely extinction. Also, the sea mink was the largest member of the genus Neogale (which has been recently separated from Mustela, the genus now holding almost all mustelids commonly called weasels as well as the European mink), but not the largest mustelid in North America - that distinction goes to the sea otter (who is also the heaviest mustelid in the world. the longest mustelid is probably the giant river otter). - 35:21, The marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) is a small Alcidea seabird that lives along the pacific northwest. It's pretty unique in that it's the only seabird I know of the nests exclusively in trees - and not just any trees, but specifically in coastal old-growth trees that are no further than 59 miles (95 km) from the ocean, have horizontal, moss covered branches at least 14 in (36 cm) in diameter and have an open space below the nest branch that is long enough for the bird to basically fall off its branch and build up enough speed to take off. It doesn't build a nest, but it's egg has evolved a mottled pattern that perfectly camouflages it on its mossy branch (a nest-like structure does form after the chick hatches, but this is due to the chick defecating and gradually shifting in its little depression, making a wall of feces around itself before it fledges). The adults have a typical alcid plumage of countershaded black and white, but their breeding plumage is a marbled white, black, grey, and brown in order to camouflage during nesting. I mention all of this because during my training for marbled murrelet surveys, I was told that if all the coastal old growth forest habitats went extinct and all that we had left were museum specimens of marbled murrelets in breeding and non breeding plumage as well as egg shells, we'd be able to reconstruct many of the important features of coastal old-growth forests based on the physical characteristics of the marbled murrelet museum specimens and comparisons with long-billed murrelets. While the marbled murrelet is endangered, it still tells us a lot about an ecosystem that we're rapidly losing - the coastal temperate rainforests of North America.

[@gtbkts]

Thank you for the awesome content and all the amazing videos!

[@ericthebarberic9919]

Another amazing vid! An amazing way to start the new years and I'm loving that you're putting all the old footage in as well. Now it's really making it a much more impactful video and I just love the music and the video quality of the old nature tapes

[@equableartist2295]

Bruh I need that Mexican guitar background music

[@Rainforestdelight]

If you do decide to map all the extinct species of the neo-tropics (Central and South America), Can you please take extra note of the most devastated genus of animal of modern times, that is the Harlequin Toads of the genus Atelopus. This once large family of nearly a hundred species inhabited the streams of the highland paramos, lowland rainforests and especially cloud forest’s from as for north from Costa Rica to Bolivia in the south and as far east as French Guiana. These toads once had an extreme variability in coloration and pattern’s that ranged from bright orange, red, yellow, green, black, grey, white, brown and even purple and pink. Especially in the case Costa Rican Harlequin Toad (Atelopus Varius) where even within populations themselves, individual harlequin toads had a dramatic range of coloration and patternization within the same population that some now think may have actually been separate species. But sadly in the 1980’s the Chytrid Fungus was introduced to the neo-tropics and utterly devastated this entire genus of toad, along with habitat destruction a majority of this genus been feared extinct although thankfully a handful of species have been rediscovered alive and some have been placed into captive breeding programs to ensure their survival.

[@calebbutts237]

The Alabama sturgeon is another North American fish that is recently believed to have gone extinct. They used to number in the thousands, but due to damming in the Mobile River Basin, their habitat has significantly declined. The last known Alabama sturgeon was captured in 2009, and there has not been a legitimate sighting since.

[@nightnight7998]

I often finding myself thinking of how many endemic species died before the general world realized it for what it was. The waterways of North America before settlers could have been full of unique trout and salmon species that we will never know about.

[@Axecon1]

These are just known major extinct species and from the last 200 years. Doesn't even account for the numerous amounts that we do not know about. I'd argue Stellar's Sea Cow & Caribbean Monk Seal should also be a mention in the mammals section.

[@Malachowski96]

I am always so quick to watch your videos as they come out. These will live on to become timeless classics. Thanks for the effort you put into this. I truly love what you do.

[@Wizard_Pepsi]

Jesus this video is ambitious. Major props, it's very well made.

[@asterisk-2458]

Just passing by saying thanks - found this channel while searching for some references for my novel just so that even if I don't present expert inference, I don't write exact nonsense either. Your channel has been so enormously helpful and fun to watch!

[@Gwallacec2]

I wish you would’ve gone into more detail about the mollusks and showed them on the final map. They are out of all the species on this list some of the most important for our ecological future.

[@adreabrooks11]

I still have my childhood copy of the Reader's Digest Guide on my shelf (minus the long-destroyed paper dust jacket). It was one of the books that put me on a life-long path to exploring nature, so I feel compelled to defend it just a little. Do note that the "Guide" in the title earmarks it as a field guide, even if it doesn't explicitly say so within the cover. The ads of the time certainly described it as such. As you mentioned, it was intended to aid a novice in identifying animals encountered on hikes and such. Because of its purpose, there was no need to describe extinct species (and even Marty Stouffer was describing the ivory-billed woodpecker as "almost certainly extinct" in the 80s), nor species whose differences are only readily observed within arm's length. That said, I totally agree with your statement about the importance of understanding extinct species, for the preservation of current ones. There are still an alarming number of species facing the same sort of challenges, and knowing where we failed may give glimpses toward success. By the way: I also loved the artwork that went into this video. They really looked like pics that might have been found in that book, and were delightfully nostalgic! Great video across the board! This is my first from you, and I'm an instant subscriber!

[@tigerdrake7225]

A quick good news aside on gray wolves, most of those subspecies likely aren’t valid, with there likely having been no more than 6 or so actually existing, all of which are still extant. Red and eastern wolves are an entirely different kettle of fish. In addition, Dawson’s caribou, eastern elk, Badland’s bighorn, Arizona jaguar, eastern cougar, Mexican grizzly bear, and California grizzly bear are no longer considered valid subspecies, with Dawson’s caribou being lumped with barren-ground caribou, eastern elk with Rocky Mountain elk, Badlands bighorn with Rocky Mountain bighorn, eastern cougar with North American cougar (which also includes the no longer valid Florida panther), jaguars became a fully monotypic species, and both bears being lumped under the grizzly bear

[@noah6849]

What about reptiles?

[@emmaaa3003]

i was searching for someone else who noticed they weren’t in here

[@Tau_Aquila]

There are luckily no species of reptile that have been driven to complete extinction, only regional. However the bog turtle might as well be considered functionally extinct

[@plantsbirdsandnature8783]

Amazing video!!! More people need to talk about this, it’s sad how many species have been all but forgotten. One thing I did want to bring up is that Plethodon ainsworthi is probably not a valid taxon, and at the moment seems much more likely to just be a poorly preserved specimen(s) of P. mississippi. This would make sense on a few levels as “Slimy Salamander complex” Plethodons are usually relatively resistant to disturbances short of the complete uprooting of a forest. P. mississippi also occurs over the entire possible range of P. ainsworthi, and it would be unusual for two species in that complex to exist at the same site as they could probably readily hybridize. There are also no examples of near site endemic Plethodons in the general region, which makes me cast even more doubt. Ultimately, we’ll probably never know for sure though because the surviving specimen is so roached that it’s impossible to be certain. If weren’t careful a few of our currently extant salamanders might be gone before we know it though!

[@Turdfergusen382]

The author of that book had to draw the line somewhere. You have only gone back so far as well. We know of natives being here for over 10,000 years now. Plus, the ice ages caused the lose of a ton of keynote species that were endemic to North America.

[@harubynspades]

The book is pretty old and a lot has changed taxonomically-wise. Quite a few of the fishes were either synonymized, subspecies or even variations or local extirpations of populations. Sea Mink is now known as Neogale macrodon and a lot of the mammals here are variations or local populations (some not even subspecies like the eastern cougar). Some were rediscovered.

[@JeffreyFlory]

Will you be doing this for extinct plant species of North America? Another fun topic would be species that were once thought extinct from fossil records but have been found on remnant habitats (the Driftless Area contains a plant and a snail). We also have rare habitats now. Fens were an uncommon habitat but are now very rare because many have been destroyed directly and indirectly (building around them, but removing their water source). Prairie habitats have lost the most acreage out of any habitats in North America.

[@TheSphat]

Very important conservational work, you do here!

[@Limpi43]

32:48 Sorry, I cant help, but this sentence came to my mind: "Yes, the mollusc is a randy little fellow whose primitive brain scarcely strays from the subject of the you know what."

[@joelconolly5574]

I think the only reason the book might not contain too many animals or info might depend on publishing date and research. These books are only published years after the last one ofc. They might not be updated by latest findings yet. Maybe you can help in this regards some day.

[@thecreativecrawdad]

One of the best vids yet! I'm in utter amazement! Wonderful work!

[@Nieblham]

What was the outro song and video from?

[@AtlasPro1]

Look up “death of a legend”

[@alexandercolefield9523]

I live in PA and I have seen Curlew, I had no idea what the bird was and all the local bird enthusiasts never knew what I was talking about.

[@dogtoddy]

You probably saw a type of curlew called a whimbrel.

[@vulcanfeline]

you might be interested in a book i used to have called "Vanished Species" by david day. the foreward was written by prince philip and, not only has wonderful pics or drawings of the animals, it talks about how they went extinct - surpise - mostly by humans or their cats, rats, and pigs. i googled it and there are many copies available for sale, most at what seems like an unreasonably low price for an 8.5x11 hard cover - maybe it was bigger but, you know, getting old and forgetful :)

[@willh3975]

Very well done, appreciated. Not many videos have the value and are as well presented as this one.

[@floridaman697]

I grew up with this book and my mom's collection and it was my favorite. This is a total nostalgia overload.

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

Steller's sea cow. Though not strictly N. American in range, it is now extinct. It ranged from Baja California up to Alaska, Aleutian Islands, NE Siberia and down to northern Japan. It should also be in the RD book.

[@Oklahomie_Friendly]

Humans lived in and along lake Texcoco for a long time and co-existed with the flora and fauna , simply skipping and saying “Mexico city was established” is the total erasure of pre-Colombian civilization. It was because spainisb colonial authorities drained lake texcoco that the birds population fell , not because “humans came along and made Mexico City”

[@CeramicSerpent]

Seconding this comment! The latest consensus suggests that humans have inhabited the Americas for 20,000 years. To suggest that simple human presence alone is responsible for the extinction of the Slender Billed Grackle is to completely ignore the sheer level of collateral damage caused by European colonizers in their attempts to permanently and irrevocably alter and erase native peoples' way of life. See also: Buffalo culling, clearing of old growth forests, the burning of Aztec libraries, commandeering and/or destructiom of various cultural heritage sites, and more.

[@baconbliss4796]

But at the same time pre Columbian records are scarce and often recorded in ways we can't really read anymore and this isn't even a video about humans

[@Wings_Of_Avalon]

I love how this video in part boiled down to being a 2-star review of this book. Maybe in the next edition they will include the extinct species you mentioned in this video. And hopefully no more than what we already know.

[@John-jw2ke]

I think a video on invasive plants and animals that has had the greatest effect on the ecology of North America would be interesting. Animals such as Starlings and many plants like English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberrys.

[@harkinianhyrule7825]

This video is so hard to get through. Sometimes I really hate humanity's selfishness and just how little most people care about the world that isn't immediately affecting us.

[@racobjeba]

Very rarely have I been this excited for a new upload. Every new video brings more joy than the last.

[@aidanb.c.2325]

I think the only option is for you, Atlas Pro, to publish your own North American wildlife guide.

[@gaius9240]

You probably should and could do an entire series about wolves.. Also found you please make the field guide of extinct North American fauna?

[@calebhorton4701]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has recently decided to not be considered extinct, citing alleged sightings in the last couple decades.

[@jacobdrum]

14:23 How are you sure that the list is complete? Canada is HUGE, and I can imagine any number of subspecies appearing and disappearing over the years.

[@ericwilson8867]

Learning about these extinct species and how they shaped North America was really interesting, and I think that saying, "you don't know what you got until it's gone", was the best way to end this video

[@MrChristianDT]

Well, some of the "extinct" fish happen to turn up in really exexpected places. There was a video on KZbin from an aquatic wildlife hobbyist who found that a fish species declared extinct in his area, he was able to find in the ponds of a golf course within its original habitat range, but the depth of wildlife never found them because it was on private land. Also, there are allegedly pike in a manmade reservoir in northeast Ohio called Mosquito Lake, but I don't know what species.

[@bolbyballinger]

Not to mention these are typically small fish that have other similar looking species in the area. And they're underwater where things are much harder to find.

[@nathandesousa5060]

Great video but there are at least two mammals I thought could be worth including the steller’s sea cow and the Caribbean monk seal. Even if you were excluding oceanic species I think the monk seal is worth mentioning since it did spend time on land in North America.

[@Von199X]

This is depressing, many more will get extinct soon

[@wintermath3173]

True and that is why it is important to talk with people you know in real life and any officials you have the privilege of voting for about this. Tell people (in real life) about the moral and economic importance of conservation!

[@blossomwolf2188]

When I saw the little blue butterflies, I was like wait a minute; I see those little guys all the time in the fall. Like tiny blue moths. Turns out those are a different species but look almost identical

[@JenesisDark]

Another is the Hare Indian Dog, which may have been a domesticated Coyote; but we'll never know because the tribes were demolished

[@bigbuck9504]

You should publish your own book on North American Wildlife.

[@raphlvlogs271]

in fact most of Meso America and the Caribbean is a transitional zone between the Neo arctic and the Neo tropics indicated as such by both the fauna and the flora

[@lara423]

I LOVED looking through this book as a kid! Hours spent looking through the birds and mammals and trying to find which bug I found in the backyard in the book. I found it recently at a resale place and even though it might be a bit outdated it's still great to look at. A new edition of the book with extinctions included would be awesome.

[@tride.design]

Native Americans lived happily with all of them.

[@NACHOXXX4]

Early humans still caused what we can consider mass extinctions. For example here in Argentina the Glyptodon survived until around 11 thousand years ago when it was drove to extinction by the arrival of humans. The species we know of are the ones that achieved some sort of balance with the natives. Still i agree that industrial and capitalist society is worse when it comes to causing mass extinctions

[@Mimi.1001]

@@NACHOXXX4 Most noticeably the Maori, the natives of New Zealand, also caused mass extinction of local wildlife by (over-)hunting and invasive species, especially (great) birds, and they only arrived a couple hundred years before the Europeans, not thousands of years earlier like in most regions. As a result, we may know a bit more of those species than in other regions. However, like you suggested, the scale of extinction caused by industrialization and modern development is unprecedented, barring more natural events millions of years ago.

[@marcosfreijeiro8763]

Thanks for bring it into the light, we all know that there are many extinction but that certainly brings home the message. Excellent content love your channel.

[@maximianocoelho4496]

AND THE NATIVE AMERICANS!!!!

[@jameschristophercirujano6650]

Bro, you're calling the Native Americans, animals? That is racist my guy 😅

[@loser.czsksracky3507]

HAHAHAHHAHAHHA, what a fucking slam massive respect.

[@Flugmorph]

chill

[@loser.czsksracky3507]

@@jameschristophercirujano6650 Mofo got testicular fortitude.

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

chill not extinct, and have some respect, and just part of the animal species homo sapiens

[@alecmcgrathofcanada9175]

New Brunswicker here. I had zero idea about the Sea Mink, and learning about it broke my heart. When you said the last ones died on Campobello Island, I got goosebumps. So sad.

[@thesphealking6442]

Great video, you did miss the Caribbean monk seal and it’s nasal mite who both could be found in parts of nearctic Florida.

[@Zer0Complex]

I wonder quite frequently what undocumented species were lost from New England and the Northeast as the European settlers arrived and changed the land.

[@sickbubble6059]

Oklahoma was originally supposed to be native land, you would hope more species survived here. But we have lost lizards and snakes, buffalo, birds, tarantulas....

[@levismith7666]

Very cool video. The Chestnut Casebearer Moth was actually rediscovered in Massachusetts and is fairly widespread. They don't need old mature trees to feed, the larva can also feed on the bushy trees caused by the blight. It makes you wonder if the other chestnut relying moths are still out there.

[@Enn-]

I have to wonder, with the amount of biomass made available by something like the Rocky Mountain Locust, what effects has its extermination had on other species of both plant and animal. Surely it's been a major change, as the ripple effects of that food source and fertilizer vanished so quickly.

[@ionryful]

1:00 Fun fact, Penguins are named after the Great Auk as their scientific name is Pinguinus impennis. In short, the Great Auk was the last true penguin.

[@toddverbeek5113]

Isle Royale in Lake Superior is an interesting case study of wolves' role in ecosystems. They prey on the moose which are abundant there, but the isolation of the island - including the lack of ice bridges to it in recent decades - has led to their decline due to inbreeding. With the moose population starting to overgraze the island, it was necessary to introduce new wolves to the island, and they are making a comeback.

[@aaronsmicrobes8992]

Sounds like there's someone who is now very qualified to make a true book of North American fauna, including the extinct species. Be the change you want to see in the world

[@jessehughes8274]

As a Utahn, I've wondered for years what the swarms of locusts described in the early days of the territory were. Nobody had a straight answer for me until now--thanks for explaining!

[@gatovolador7618]

IBW was included in the Audubon field guides circa mid-late 1980s if memory serves me well. I was lucky enough to see one while squirrel hunting near blackshear, ga just outside of the Okefenokee region near satilla creek around age 10/11 around 84/85. The call sounds nothing like a pileated woodpecker, downy, hairy, red headed, or cockaded woodpeckerwhich all are indigenous to that region,sounds kind of squeaky toy trumpet like. As big as a crow If not a little bigger. Those fox squirrels and swamp rabbits down there got pretty large as well.

[@darediablo199]

This is a phenomenal video. Thank you

[@zapis9328]

I had a little moment of excitement when you made a point about the loss of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) Stoneflies (Plecoptera) and Caddisflies (Trichoptera), groups which make up the EPT index for water pollution quality! Their extinction says a lot about what is happening to our water supply

[@AmmarNasarudin]

18:16 The Miller Lake Lamprey is actually still alive. Edit: Also the Chestnut Casebearer Moth was recently rediscovered. However, the IUCN has yet to change the status of this insect.

[@landminedj]

Wow! Has the moth survived on other similar plants?

[@landminedj]

Just read a ton about it, very cool!

[@StelloTyrannus]

18:06 wait speaking as a resident of Utah, the June Sucker is very much not extinct as is actually making a slow recovery. The Utah Lake Sculpin however did go extinct in the 30s due to a drought that led to low lake levels, and when the lake froze in winter, overcrowding wiped out the fish.

[@wellplayod1957]

you have long been one of my favourite content creators on youtube. thanks for always delivering interesting and fun content!

[@jehooft8569]

Sad to see you forgot Tyrannosaurus. It was an enigmatic American creature that died out too soon. Historic evidence shows that it actually didn't die out by human hands, instead having its last specimen perish in the aftermath of a great natural catastrophe

[@captainstroon1555]

Imagine some kid comming across a surviving population of one of these animals and due to them not being included in their wildlife guide, they falsely identify it, preventing the surviving population from being discovered.

[@eliforeal5261]

This is my favourite series of yours, keep up that animal content! Love that you’re bringing awareness to extinct wildlife!

[@elpidiovillarreal6246]

I’m from south Texas and my family has land in the neighboring Mexican state of Tamaulipas and I’ve seen Eskimo Curlews in the shallow marshes near the laguna madre . There are sand pipers, but these guys are a little bigger in size.

[@EvilParagon4]

Halloween video idea: Cryptid mapping. As if they were real creatures.

[@jennlaurenlong11]

Great video as per usual! Just curious, were there any reptiles that were listed as extinct?

[@keithwagg4112]

Love this, please do Australiasia-particularly Australia. The remaining Australian rainforests are the oldest in the world like from gondwana, and still being cleared. Plus here in Victoria the government still allows hunting endangered animals like duck hunting. A show like yours would help us teach people why this needs to change

[@-Hung_4_Hist-]

Please make videos of extinct species for every continent if at all possible. I greatly enjoy your content.