Written by Bryan Nelson

The current rate of extinction is 100 to 1000 times higher than the average, or background rate, making our current period the 6th major mass extinction in the planet’s history.

Although fossil reconstructions or pictorial representations can sometimes be difficult to connect with, it’s impossible to ignore the experience of seeing a photograph of an animal on the brink of extinction.

Thus, what follows is a list of 11 extinct animals that were photographed while still alive.

Tasmanian Tiger

The last Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, known to have existed died in the Hobart Zoo, in Tasmania, Australia, on September 7th, 1936. Read the full story

In 1808, the Portuguese court, fleeing from Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal during the Peninsular War in a large fleet escorted by the British, moved the government to Brazil ending a 308 year of colonial rule. Rio de Janeiro became the Empire Capital and the Portuguese king ruled his huge empire for 13 years from the Passo Imperial Palace, an old colonial building ocean front in Rio de Janeiro downtown, and there he would have remained for the rest of his life if it were not for the turmoil aroused in Portugal due, among other reasons, to his long stay in Brazil after the end of Napoleon’s reign. Read the full story