Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all
time, measuring up to 43.3 feet long, and 16.6 ft tall, with an
estimated mass that goes up to 7 tons. Like other tyrannosaurids,
Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by
a long, heavy tail. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs,
Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small and they retained only two digits.
Fossils of T. rex have been found in North American rock formations
dating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period at the
end of the Maastrichtian stage, approximately 68.5 to 65.5 million
years ago; it was among the last dinosaurs to exist prior to the
Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. More than 30 specimens of T. rex
have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. Some
researchers have discovered soft tissue as well. The abundance of
fossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects of
its biology, including life history and biomechanics.
Quagga: half zebra, half horse
(extinct since 1883)
One of Africa’s most famous extinct animals, the quagga was a
subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in great numbers
in South Africa’s Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange
Free State. It was distinguished from other zebras by having the usual
vivid marks on the front part of the body only. In the mid-section, the
stripes faded and the dark, inter-stripe spaces became wider, and the
hindquarters were a plain brown. The name comes from a Khoikhoi word
for zebra and is onomatopoeic, being said to resemble the quagga’s call.
The quagga was originally classified as an individual species, Equus
quagga, in 1788. Over the next fifty years or so, many other zebras
were described by naturalists and explorers. Because of the great
variation in coat patterns (no two zebras are alike), taxonomists were
left with a great number of described “species”, and no easy way to
tell which of these were true species, which were subspecies, and which
were simply natural variants. Long before this confusion was sorted
out, the quagga had been hunted to extinction for meat, hides, and to
preserve feed for domesticated stock. The last wild quagga was probably
shot in the late 1870s, and the last specimen in captivity died on
August 12, 1883 at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
Because of the great confusion between different zebra species,
particularly among the general public, the quagga had become extinct
before it was realized that it appeared to be a separate species. The
quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied. Recent
genetic research at the Smithsonian Institution has demonstrated that
the quagga was in fact not a separate species at all, but diverged from
the extremely variable plains zebra.
Thylacine: the Tasmanian Tiger
(extinct since 1936)
The Thylacine was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern
times. Native to Australia and New Guinea, it is thought to have become
extinct in the 20th century. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian
Tiger (due to its striped back), and also known as the Tasmanian Wolf,
and colloquially the Tassie (or Tazzy) Tiger or simply the Tiger. It
was the last extant member of its genus, Thylacinus, although a number
of related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to
the early Miocene.
The Thylacine became extinct on the Australian mainland thousands of
years before European settlement of the continent, but survived on the
island of Tasmania along with a number of other endemic species such as
the Tasmanian Devil. Intensive hunting encouraged by bounties is
generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributory factors may
have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment
into its habitat. Despite being officially classified as extinct,
sightings are still reported.
Steller’s Sea Cow: the defenseless beast
(extinct since 1768)
Formerly found near the Asiatic coast of the Bering Sea, it was
discovered in in 1741 by the naturalist Georg Steller, who was
traveling with the explorer Vitus Bering. The sea cow grew up to 7.9
meters (25.9 ft) long and weighed up to three tons, much larger than
the manatee or dugong. It looked somewhat like a large seal, but had
two stout forelimbs and a whale-like tail. According to Steller, “The
animal never comes out on shore, but always lives in the water. Its
skin is black and thick, like the bark of an old oak…, its head in
proportion to the body is small…, it has no teeth, but only two flat
white bones—one above, the other below”. It was completely tame,
according to Steller. Fossils indicate that Steller’s Sea Cow was
formerly widespread along the North Pacific coast, reaching south to
Japan and California. Given the rapidity with which its last population
was eliminated, it is likely that the arrival of humans in the area was
the cause of its extinction elsewhere as well. There are still sporadic
reports of sea cow-like animals from the Bering area and Greenland, so
it has been suggested that small populations of the animal may have
survived to the present day. This remains so far unproven.
Irish Deer: the largest deer that ever lived
(extinct about 7,700 years ago)
The Irish Elk or Giant Deer, was the largest deer that ever
lived. It lived in Eurasia, from Ireland to east of Lake Baikal, during
the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The latest known remains of
the
species have been carbon dated to
about 5,700 BC, or about 7,700 years ago. The Giant Deer is famous for
its formidable size (about 2.1 meters or 7 feet tall at the shoulders),
and in particular for having the largest antlers of any known cervid (a
maximum of 3.65 meters/12 feet from tip to tip and weighing up to 90
pounds).
Discussion of the cause of their
extinction has still
focused on the antlers (rather than on their overall body size), which
may be due more to their impact on the observer than any actual
property. Some have suggested hunting by man was a contributing factor
in the demise of the Irish Elk as it was with many prehistoric
megafauna, even assuming that the large antler size restricted the
movement of males through forested regions or that it was by some other
means a “maladaptation”. But evidence for overhunting is equivocal, and
as a continental
species, it would have co-evolved with humans throughout its existence and presumably have adapted to their presence.
Caspian Tiger: the third largest
(extinct since 1970)
The Caspian tiger or Persian tiger was the westernmost subspecies of
tiger, found in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia, Kazakhstan,
Caucasus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan until it apparently
became extinct in the 1970s. Of all the tigers known to the world, the
Caspian tiger was the third largest.
The body of this subspecies was quite stocky and elongated with
strong legs, big wide paws and unusually large claws. The ears were
short and small, and gave the appearance of being without hair on the
tips. Around the cheeks the Caspian tiger was generously furred and the
rest of its fur was long and thick. The colouration resembled that of
the Bengal tiger. Male Caspian tigers were very large and weighed
169-240 kg. Females were not as large, weighing 85-135 kg. There are
still occasional claims of the Caspian tiger being sighted.
Aurochs: a very large type of cattle
(extinct since 1627)
One of Europe’s most famous extinct animals, the aurochs or urus
(Bos primigenius) were a very large type of cattle. Aurochs evolved in
India some two million years ago, migrated into the Middle East and
further into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago.
By the 13th century A.D., the aurochs’ range was restricted to
Poland, Lithuania, Moldavia, Transylvania and East Prussia. The right
to hunt large animals on any land was restricted to nobles and
gradually to the royal household. As the population of aurochs
declined, hunting ceased but the royal court still required gamekeepers
to provide open fields for the aurochs to graze in. The gamekeepers
were exempted from local taxes in exchange for their service and a
decree made poaching an aurochs punishable by death. In 1564, the
gamekeepers knew of only 38 animals, according to the royal survey. The
last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów
Forest, Poland. The skull was later taken by the Swedish Army and is
now the property of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm.
In the 1920s two German zookeepers, the brothers Heinz and Lutz
Heck, attempted to breed the aurochs back into existence (see breeding
back) from the domestic cattle that were their descendants. Their plan
was based on the conception that a species is not extinct as long as
all its genes are still present in a living population. The result is
the breed called Heck Cattle, ‘Recreated Aurochs’, or ‘Heck Aurochs’,
which bears an incomplete resemblance to what is known about the
physiology of the wild aurochs
Great Auk: largest of all auks
(extinct since 1844)
The Great Auk was the only species in the genus Pinguinus,
flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until recent times,
but is extinct today. It was also known as garefowl, or penguin.
Standing about 75 centimetres or 30-34 inches high and weighing
around 5 kg, the flightless Great Auk was the largest of the auks. It
had white and glossy black feathers. In the past, the Great Auk was
found in great numbers on islands off eastern Canada, Greenland,
Iceland, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain, but it was eventually
hunted to extinction. Remains found in Floridan middens suggest that at
least occasionally, birds ventured that far south in winter as recently
as in the 14th century.
Cave Lion: one of the largest lions ever
(extinct 2,000 years ago)
The cave lion, also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is
an extinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and a wide variety of
prehistoric art. This subspecies was one of the largest lions. An adult
male, which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf (Germany), had a shoulder
height of around 1.2 m and a length of 2.1 m without a tail, which is
about the same size as a very big modern lion. This male was even
exceeded by other specimens of this subspecies. Therefore this cat may
have been around 5-10% bigger than modern lions. It apparently went
extinct about 10,000 years ago, during the Würm glaciation, though
there are some indications it may have existed as recently as 2,000
years ago, in the Balkans.
Dodo: the archetype of extinct species
(extinct since late 17th century)
The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird that lived on the
island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a
meter tall (three feet), lived on fruit and nested on the ground. The
dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is
commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its
extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly
attributable to human activity. The adjective phrase “as dead as a
dodo” means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead. The verb phrase “to go
the way of the dodo” means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out
of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past
