Extinct Animals of Pashtunkhwa

[Sarbani]

When I say Pashtunkhwa, I'm referring to all Pashtun regions (not only Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa).

I'm only going to be including animals that became extinct during the Quarternary Epoch, that means all of the following animals lived side by side with man and most of them (if not all) became extinct as a result of man. I'm mainly focusing on the bigger animals now as they're the ones that come to mind quickly, but will probably add smaller and more minor ones in later edits. This list also applies to non-Pashtun regions of Afghanistan more or less as they are part of the same zoogeographic region as Pashtunkhwa (Palearctic Region) for those wondering. If I put a dagger (†) next to the animal's name, that means it is globally extinct. If there is no dagger, then its only locally extinct and still persists outside of our region.

Mainland tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)



Northern lion (Panthera leo leo)



Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus)



Eurasian aurochs† (Bos primigenius primigenius)



Asiatic ostrich† (Struthio asiaticus)



Tarpan† (Equus ferus ferus)



Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus)



Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus)



Wild ancestor Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)



Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)



Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)



Dhole (Cuon alpinus)

[maneatinglizard]

Are we sure they're all extinct? I doubt Bactrian Camels are completely gone in Afghanistan, for example.

I don't know how much research is being done on the Pakistani side, but in Afghanistan there's little, if any. Large parts of Afghanistan are very isolated, it's possible that some otherwise extinct animals survive in small numbers in Afghanistan.

My parents once told me about a type of bird that lives in the mountains near our village. The description was strangely close to an ostrich. I don't think it was actually an ostrich, but I've never been able to figure out what it actually was.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

I felt this image belonged here.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

[Sarbani]

Are we sure they're all extinct?

There are maybe one or two that are not entirely extinct, but most are certainly long extinct. And if its not certain whether they're extinct or not, then their existence in our region is so shallow that they might as well be considered extinct for practical purposes. Anyways, thinking of asking to have the thread renamed "Extinct and Critically Endangered Animals of Pashtunkhwa" and I'll include more animals in it.

I doubt Bactrian Camels are completely gone in Afghanistan, for example.

Kinda glad you brought them up. Its a bit complicated, but you can skip to the last paragraph if you don't feel like reading.

There are currently three species of camels that exist in the world. They are the Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius), Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), and wild Bactran camel (Camelus ferus). The former two are no longer considered wild animals anymore after domestication by humans. Domestication is a process where humans selectively breed animals for centuries to breed out certain traits (such as aggressiveness) and the end result is that the domesticated animal is easier to control and live alongside. They also generally tend to have trouble surviving in the wild compared to their non-domesticated counterparts. When a domesticated animal escapes and lives in the wild on its own, then its classified as a feral animal and not a wild one.

The wild Bactrian camel currently only lives in Western China and a small area in the southern tip of Mongolia and is critically endangered at the moment. It was previously thought that the Bactrian camel was the result of the domestication of the wild Bactrian camel, hence its similar names. But that view is outdated now and the "wild Bactrian camel" should probably be renamed the Gobi camel: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2721964/

The only camels that exist in Afghanistan/Pashtunkhwa nowadays are a few domesticated camels whose wild ancestors are extinct. Technically, this means that China and Mongolia are the only countries in the world with a wild camel population. Most of the camels in Afghanistan are the Middle Eastern-origin Dromedary camels not Bactrian camels.

So if Bactrian camels (domesticated wild camels of the region) still exist in Afghanistan, why did I say they're extinct? I basically just used them as a proxy to represent their extinct wild (non-domesticated) wild ancestors. The wild ancestors of [domestic] Bactrian camels are long extinct and they were the species I wanted to mention but didn't know what the technical name was. I tried researching for info on the camels of Afghanistan during the Pleistocene but the info was impossible to find (all detailed Pleistocene camel info was about America's camelids) so I got a bit lazy and just wrote that instead. Wild camels nowadays only exist in western China and a tiny spec of land in Mongolia.

Anyways, I edited that bit above and hopefully the new description makes sense given my explanation above.

I don't know how much research is being done on the Pakistani side, but in Afghanistan there's little, if any. Large parts of Afghanistan are very isolated, it's possible that some otherwise extinct animals survive in small numbers in Afghanistan.

Its more or less the same here I'd say. There's no real way to confirm or deny it so better to just keep it like that. Something I just noticed was that every single national park in KP and Balochistan are in the non-Pashtun regions of the provinces - Mastung, Chitral, Eastern Hazara, and eastern Dera Ismail Khan. Afghanistan also has two national parks and they're both in non-Pashtun majority provinces (Bamyan, Badakhshan). Not very important info, just something that mildly annoys me.

My parents once told me about a type of bird that lives in the mountains near our village. The description was strangely close to an ostrich. I don't think it was actually an ostrich, but I've never been able to figure out what it actually was.

If it was an ostrich, then it would have been an imported one from Arabia or Africa since Asiatic ostriches have been extinct for thousands of years now. But that is also very unlikely. My best guess is that it was some sort of pelecaniforme (egret, ibis, etc).

[jama0112]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTxfVbFrdfGpC6uphz2w-Jpx624yKc1zHQZ7gaMOvxvC9x5gbz

Who's this guy? Apparently he's bad, since ibliz doesnt like him

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...gaMOvxvC9x5gbz

Who's this guy? Apparently he's bad, since ibliz doesnt like him

Killzai, I never said that I didn't like him ...I just said his picture belongs here ....

It's Afghan Wario ...aka Pacha Khan Zadran