When did the idea of extinctions become accepted theory by European Culture?

by NotARandomNumber

When was the idea that there were animals/plants that used to exist, but were now extinct become a fairly common idea? Also, was there a certain animal that was first noticed of having gone extinct despite it existing in the time of Man, ie something like the Dodo bird which was a fairly modern animal of as opposed to dinosaurs.

Zinegata

Several species of animals were known to have gone extinct during the Roman period - the subspecies of elephant that the Carthaginians used for instance was hunted into extinction. Tragically, this wasn't because of spite or food - instead the elephants were usually captured to be paraded in the arena in peaceful exhibitions that proved enormously popular among the Romans who considered the elephants to be noble and intelligent beasts. The one notable incident of using elephants in an arena battle resulted in a near-riot from the crowd who were outraged that elephants were being killed. Unfortunately, the Romans never quite figured out how to make permanent exhibits like zoos which is why they kept taking North African elephants off the wild until no more were left.

Some forms of bird were also hunted into extinction due to demand for them as a luxury food.

Both of these cases can be found in Baldson's old but still surprisingly readable Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome.

That said, the modern concept of extinction / endangered species is a distinctly modern concept that arose out of the environmental conservation movement; and certainly the Romans weren't wiping out species as quickly as we are losing them now.

Searocksandtrees

Hi! you may be interested in a few previous threads