1. Direct Extermination.- Meat and Eggs.- Hides, Furs and Feathers.- Souvenirs.- Superstitious Beliefs.- Live-Animal Trade.- Trophy Hunting and Morbid Pleasure in Killing.- Animals as Competitors.- 2. Indirect Extermination.- Destruction of the Natural Vegetation.- Drainage of Wetlands.- Ravaged Waters.- Air Pollution.- Radioactive Radiation.- Animal Traffic Victims.- Domestic Animal Diseases.- Animals as Indirect Victims of Biocides.- Denaturalized Fauna.- 3. Local Extermination.- 4. The Biology of Extinction.- Killed Off and Dying Out.- The Extermination Process.- The Dangers of Island Life.- The Balance of Nature.- Man and the Balance of Nature.- 5. Protecting Nature.- The Necessity of Research.- Nature Protection Through Conservation.- Maintaining and Breeding Threatened Animal Forms in Captivity.- Nature Protection Through Restoration.- Wildlife Management.- In Closing.- Appendix I. List of Bird and Mammal Forms Already Extinct.- Appendix II. List of the Most Gravely Threatened Animal Forms.- Literature.Springer Book Archives