This timeline of extinctions is an historical account of species that have become extinct during the time that modern humans have occupied the earth.

The following is a selective list made by sampling a very small proportion, mostly mammals, of some of the well-known extinct species in the recent history. For a more elaborate list see Lists of extinct animals. The vast majority of extinctions, though, are thought to be undocumented. According to the species-area theory and based on upper-bound estimating, the present rate of extinction may be up to 140,000 species per year.^[1] See Holocene extinction for more information.

10th millennium BCE[edit]

• c. 9950 BCE – Cuvieronius humboldti survived in Chile until about this time.^[2]
• c. 9940 BCE – Fratercula dowi survived in the Channel Islands until about this time.^[3]
• c. 9680 BCE – Euceratherium…