List of extinct animals of the Philippines
The Philippines had a large and diverse group of mammalian species in the past. They are widely distributed across the archipelago. However, they became extinct due to several factors. There are at least eight mammalian species that have been extinct since the Pleistocene Epoch. A fossil species of Sirenia has been found on Palawan and went extinct during the Miocene. Other unknown species of extinct deer, buffalo, pig and small mammals are only known from incomplete fossil remains known from Pleistocene. The Asian elephant was introduced to the Philippines, originally transported to the sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao, but became extinct on those areas or were transported back to Sabah for unknown reasons sometime during the 13th to 16th century. One former species of bat known as Acerodon lucifer was thought to be extinct, but is now synonymous with the giant golden-crowned flying fox. Thus, the species still thrives in the archipelago, but is locally extinct on the island of Panay.
Paleontological and archeological findings yielded information regarding the extinct Mammalian species found in the Philippines through the excavation of various sites in the country.
| Image | Common name/scientific name | Period | Description |
| Elephas sp. | Pleistocene | Found on Iloilo, Panay Island | |
| Asian elephant Elephas maximus | Holocene | Introduced in the 13th-16th? century from Sabah in the reign of the Sultanate of Sulu, and became extinct on Maguindanao or were transported back to Sabah. Bone fragments are the only proof left behind of their existence. | |
| Stegodon luzonensis | Pleistocene | Once roamed in the plains of Luzon, Mindanao and entire Philippine Archipelago. Unfavorable geographical conditions and human exploitation caused their extinction. | |
| Palawan fossil Sirenia Dugong sp.? | Miocene | Discovered in Palawan in 2011. The fossil has not yet been extracted from the rocks in fear of destroying the natural heritage caves of Palawan. Future technology in fossil extraction is the only way to get and identify the fossil. | |
| Fossil murines | Pleistocene | Excavations in Callao Cave, in the lowland Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murinae rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late Pleistocene, between c. 50,000 and 68,000 BP, are referred to the genera Batomys and Apomys. | |
| Tiger Panthera tigris sp. | Holocene | Two articulated phalanx bones and another phalanx piece were found amidst an assemblage of other animal bones and stone tools in Ille Cave near the village of New Ibajay. From the stone tools, besides the evidence for cuts on the bones, and the use of fire, it would appear that early humans had accumulated the bones. Additionally, the condition of the tiger subfossils, dated to approximately 12,000 to 9,000 years ago, differed from other fossils in the assemblage, dated to the Upper Paleolithic. The tiger subfossils showed longitudinal fracture of the cortical bone due to weathering, which suggests that they had post-mortem been exposed to light and air. Tiger parts were commonly used as amulets in South and Southeast Asia, so it may be that the tiger parts were imported from elsewhere, as is the case with tiger canine teeth, which were found in Ambangan sites dating to the 10th to 12th centuries in Butuan, Mindanao. On the other hand, the proximity of Borneo and Palawan also makes it likely that the tiger had colonized Palawan from Borneo before the Early Holocene. | |
| Philippine rhinoceros Rhinoceros philippinensis | Pleistocene | Due to the lack of a complete skeleton, little is known about Rhinoceros philippinensis, other than that it lived during the Pleistocene era and that it was essentially the larger version of its modern cousin, the Sumatran rhino. Fossilized upper jaw. The specimen is a portion of right upper jaw with two well-preserved molars and a broken one of a rhinoceros. | |
| Cebu warty pig Sus cebifrons cebifrons | Holocene | The Cebu warty pig previously lived on the island of Cebu before becoming extinct in modern times, primarily due to habitat destruction and human exploitation. The subspecies was declared extinct in 2000, however, other warty pig subspecies still survive on other Philippine islands. | |
| Palawan Cervus Cervus sp. | Pleistocene | Unknown extinct species of deer found on the Palawan mainland. | |
| Cebu tamaraw Bubalus cebuensis | Pleistocene or Holocene | The Cebu tamaraw stood only and weighed about. The species was smaller than the modern Mindoro tamaraw. | |
| Luzon giant tortoise Megalochelys sondaari | Pleistocene | Lived on the island of Luzon. | |
| Celebochoerus cagayanensis | Pleistocene | Lived in the Cagayan Valley on Luzon. | |
| Luzon buffalo Bubalus sondaari | Pleistocene | Lived on Luzon. | |
| Dhole Cuon alpinus'' | Holocene | Lived on Palawan during the Pleistocene and Early Holocene. |