INTRODUCTION 13 



Przewalski's Horse (Equus przewalskii) 



Transcaspian Wild Ass (Asinus hemionus finschi) 



Indian Wild Ass (Asinus hemionus khur) 



Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) 



Asiatic Two-horned Rhinoceroses (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis and 



D. s. niger) 



Yarkand Stag (Cervus yarkandensis) 

 McNeill's Deer (Cervus macneilli) 

 White-lipped Deer (Cervus albirostris) 

 Malayan Gaur (Bibos gaurus hubbacki) 

 Gobi Argali (Ovis ammon darwini) 

 Semipalatinsk Argali (Ovis ammon collium) 

 Anadyr Bighorn (Ovis nivicola subsp.) 



There are doubtless additional forms of Asiatic Wild Sheep whose 

 existence is seriously threatened, but information on the present 

 status of certain ones is scarcely sufficient to warrant a definite 

 statement. 



EUROPE 



In view of the fact that the European type of culture has 

 generally had such a devastating effect upon native faunas wherever 

 it has spread in colonies and settlements throughout the rest of the 

 world, it is gratifying to find that the mammalian fauna of Europe 

 itself has retrograded no further than it has. The chief impover- 

 ishment has naturally occurred in the British Isles and other densely 

 populated countries of Western Europe. And yet fewer Recent 

 mammals have been exterminated in Europe than in North America 

 or Australia or Africa. They seem to number only six, as follows: 



European Lion (Leo leo subsp.) 



European Wild Horse (Equus caballus subsp.) 



Aurochs (Bos primigenius) 



Caucasian Bison (Bison bonasus caucasicus) 



Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) 



Portuguese Ibex (Capra pyrenaica lusitanica) 



The retrogression of the European fauna has no doubt been due 

 in the first place to the widespread clearing of forests and their 

 replacement by lands devoted to habitations, transportation systems, 

 crops, or grazing. Hunting, however, has constituted the most im- 

 portant part of the direct human pressure upon the wild animals. 

 While this sort of pressure began to be felt ages ago, it was primarily 

 the invention and improvement of firearms that enabled man to 

 proceed with ever-increasing rapidity on his course of extermination. 

 Species of comparatively large size, furnishing valuable meat and 

 hides, have been the prinicipal sufferers. Thus four of the six 

 extinct European mammals are members of the cattle family 

 (Bovidae). 



