Elephants and rhinos have also long been hunted for their ivory tusks. These tusks were very expensive and hunters made a fortune out of it.

Pollution is also killing the animals. For example, the acid rain touches a lake and it is poisoned. An animal may drink from the lake and die. The destruction of rain forests often kill many animals. The animals living in the forest die while trying to adapt tot their new environment. What really seems unfair is that the soil in a rainforest is not good for planting crops. Yet, farmers come over and burn the trees. In another two years, they set off to find another area.

The rate of extinction had risen greatly since the 1600's. For example, the dodo became extinct in the 1680's. This was due to the sailors, cats, and rats dropped off on the Mauritius. The Mauritius was an island where the dodo's lived and breeded. The great auk was another great bird that is now extinct. They were killed for their feathers. The last two auks were killed in 1844.

Many animals today are on the verge of extinction. Some examples are the Javan Rhino, South China tiger, the kakapo of New Zealand, European Bison, and the Southeast Asian kouprey. There is almost only 50 South China tigers left! Many places are now setting up reservoirs to keep endangered animals so they don't get extinct.