List of extinct animals of Europe
Common name/scientific name Extinction date Range
Chondrostoma scodrense late 19th century Albania and Montenegro
Coregonus bezola 1960s Lac du Bourget , France
Coregonus fera 1950 France and Switzerland
Coregonus restrictus 1890 Lake Morat , Switzerland
Gravenche Coregonus hiemalis 1950 France and Switzerland
Houting Coregonus oxyrinchus 1940 Belgium , France , Germany , the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
Lake Constance whitefish Coregonus gutturosus 1930s Austria , Germany and Switzerland
Danube delta gudgeon 1890 the Lower Danube , Romania and Ukraine
Salvelinus neocomensis 1904 Lake Neuchâtel , Switzerland
Techirghiol stickleback Gasterosteus crenobiontus 1960s Lake Techirghiol , Romania
Ukrainian migratory lamprey Eudontomyzon sp . nov. 'migratory ' Unknown Moldova , Russia and Ukraine
Recent extinctions -- Fish
This list of extinct animals in Europe features the animals that have become extinct on the European continent and some in other dependent territories of European countries. While most of the animals in the recent Holocene have a human-caused extinction, Pleistocene extinctions and early Holocene extinctions are contested. Many theories of the cause of their extinction have been presented; some human-caused while others as a product of climate change. The K-T extinction is also contested, with the major cause being either both volcano and meteor or just a meteorite that caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Many of the extinct animals were subspecies or color morphs such as the pied raven or disputed species like the tarpan or the gravenche. Most extinctions occurred in prehistoric times. The species gone extinct in the last 500 years were mostly from peripheral regions of Europe like the Caucasus, the North Atlantic or Mediterranean islands. Except for molluscs, the only species extinct in the heartland of Europe in the last 500 years is the aurochs, which survives in the form of primitive cattle breeds that possess similar physical features.