Five Interesting Animals That Are Now Extinct

A Quagga that used tolive at the London Zoo

Listed here are five interesting extinct animals. Some of these animals were extinct long before mankind walked the planet and our only knowledge of their existence comes from the fossil record. Others have become extinct in more recent years and their extinction is directly related to our presence here on Earth.

Interesting Extinct Animal: The Quagga

Quaggas were horselike creatures that were related to the southern plains zebras of Africa. They lived in dry or grassy areas. They were brownish in color and had stripes on their heads, necks and the forward section of their backs.

The Quagga was hunted to extinction by man. They were hunted for their meat and the leather that could be made out of their hides. The last surviving Quagga, a mare, died in captivity in August of 1883. Sadly, when this mare died, no one realized that she was the only living example of these creatures left on the planet.

Amazingly, a rebreeding program, known as the ‘Quagga Project’ is currently working on selectively breeding plains zebras in an attempt to bring the Quagga back into existence. Believe it or not, this program is actually working, to an extent. Experts believe that they will certainly be able to breed an animal that is, at least, closely genetically related, to the Quagga. They have hopes that they may even be able to breed something identical to the Quagga.

Interesting Extinct Animal: The Giant Ground Sloth

The Giant Ground Sloth lived during the Pleistocene Era. The largest of these animals, Megatherium americanum, was roughly the size of an elephant and may have weighed roughly five tons. It was probably capable of standing on its hind legs, which would have made it about 20 ft. tall, when standing.

Giant Ground Sloths are thought to have been herbivorous. Their teeth suggest that they lived off of the leaves of trees. They had very long, sharp claws, but these are thought to have been used to strip bark off of trees. However, it has been suggested that the largest of these creatures may have turned carnivorous, though there is no proof of this. They became extinct around 10,000 years ago.

Interesting Extinct Animal: The Thylacine or ‘Tasmanian Tiger’

The Thylacine was a carnivorous marsupial that bore a strong resemblance to canids. They were brownish in color with dark brown stripes from about 1/4 of the way down their midsection to the base of their tail. They had long pointy snouts and jaws that appeared to open very wide.

Farmers mistakenly believed that the Thylacine posed a major threat to their livestock. Therefore, major killing campaigns were formed against these animals. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, these animals were hunted to the very brink of extinction. By the time the killing stopped, it was too late to save the species. The last known Thylacine died at the Hobart Zoo on September 7, 1936.

Interesting Extinct Animal: Irish Elk

There has been much discussion regarding this extinct animal’s name. The Irish Elk is actually a deer, not an Elk and it is not Irish, per se. It is, in fact, European, Asian and African. They are the largest deer ever known to have walked the Earth. They could grow to be up to 7 ft. tall at the shoulder.

The Irish Elk lived during the Pleistocene Era. The reason for their extinction is not quite known. They disappeared from the fossil record roughly 11,000 years ago.

Interesting Extinct Animal: All of the Dinosaurs

What can be more interesting than gigantic lizards? These creatures dominated the planet for roughly 160 million years. They came in all different shapes and sizes. Some were bigger than your house, some were smaller than your dog and others could even fly. There is much controversy surrounding the life and extinction of these animals. No one is quite sure what could have wiped out such a widespread population of various species of lizards, but the most popular theory is a meteor impact. Whatever the cause of their extinction may be, we know that they all died out roughly 65 million years ago. However, it has been suggested that we are surrounded by their genetic offspring, modern birds.

It is amazing how, in this stage of mankind’s evolution, we are able to have knowledge of creatures that are extinct. However, along with that knowledge comes a sadness that we may never have the chance to see any of these creatures, some of which are very interesting and amazing animals. Of course, there are also extinct animals that have become extinct in recent history, even in living memory. We may have had a chance to see and even photograph these creatures, but, those of us who care, must live with the guilt that it was our presence on this planet that caused these interesting animals to become extinct, at least, in most cases.

Sources

Giant Sloth, retrieved 12/21/09, unmuseum.org/sloth.htm

Introducing the Thylacine, retrieved 12/21/09, naturalworlds.org/thylacine/introducing/what_is_thylacine_1.htm

The Case of the Irish Elk, retrieved 12/21/09, kucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/artis/irishelk.html