Have you ever seen the Barbary Lion or the White Handed Gibbons? I know I haven't.
Did you know that we lose on average 1,200 acres of forest every 20 minutes.
It's predicted that every 20 minutes a species becomes extinct as more forests are destroyed.
The good news is this is just a prediction.
It is our job to protect the animals that live on Earth with us.
There is still time to save the remaining endangered species before it is too late! To get to know what we've lost, here are just a few of the animals that have disappeared from Earth: Barbary Lion- Panthera leo leo The Barbary lion was the largest lion of the subspecies.
Barbary lions had a large black mane that covered its belly and ran down its back and shoulders.
The Barbary lions lived in the mountains of Northern Africa.
They were much bigger than the lions we see today.
Big male lions weighed in over 500 pounds and grew up to eleven feet long.
The Barbary lion has been officially declared extinct in the wild.
Their black mane that went down the middle of the back as is one of the differences between this extinct species and the modern African Lion.
The tips of the lion's ears were also black.
The last known wild Barbary lion was killed in 1922.
Long ago, Roman Emperors took thousands of Barbary lions from their natural habitat to fight in gladiator battles.
Javan Tiger- Panthera Tigris Spondaic The Javan tiger got its name from the tiger's home on the Indonesian island of Java.
The last sight of the tiger was in 1972 and it has become extinct in the last thirty years.
The Bali and the Caspian tigers are two more tiger subspecies that have gone extinct in the past seventy years.
The larger male cats were over 300 pounds in weight and more than eight feet in length.
North American Short Faced bears- Arctodus Simus The giant North American short-faced, sometimes called 'Bulldog Bears' are the largest bear that ever lived.
The short-faced bears stood eleven feet tall on their hind legs, with an arm reach that could easily sink a basketball goal! Their short face, forehead, and broad muzzle made the extinct bears look more like a lion than any living North American bear.
The Florida Cave Bear- Tremarctos floridanus- also no longer exists.
White-handed Gibbons- Hylobates lar yunnanensis This adorable member of the ape family is now considered extinct in China.
A scientific team carried out a survey in all Chinese forests that had reported sightings of white-handed gibbons during the last twenty years.
These endangered species were last sighted in 1988, and their loud calls have not been heard since 1992.
The scientist's search for the white-handed gibbons came up empty-handed.
The researchers believe due to forest destruction and hunting, this endangered species is gone forever.
An even greater loss is because this subspecies of white-handed gibbon have never been found in any other place on the planet.
The end of the Chinese white-handed gibbons is an urgent wake-up call before several other ape-endangered species go extinct.
Announced in the annual Red List of Threatened Species, more than 40,000 endangered species, including gorillas, dolphins, corals, many birds and fish made the list.
We do not want these animals to wind up only being seen in museums.
Share this information with all your friends and let's make the endangered list disappear!