14 Animals That Were Driven to Extinction By Humans

7. Great Auk

Things weren’t exactly going well for the Great Auk, even before humans came along and finished the job. The 3-foot-tall bird that is, oddly enough, not related to penguins, had particular breeding requirements. They liked to mate on rocks right next to a plentiful food supply. Then, the Little Ice Age made those same mating habitats accessible to polar bears. Finally, the great auk was hunted to extinction because its down was extra soft. The last breeding pair of great auk was killed in 1844.