Top 5 Wonderful Extinct Animal (1)

There are about 8.7 million species in the world. Very long time ago, some of these species became extinct and do not exist anymore. Only their fossils can help the scientists to find out how their skeleton looks like and how many years and centuries ago they lived. An interesting point about the number of species is that a vast majority of these species have not been identified yet and cataloging them takes more than 1000 years. However, nowadays human being tries his best to prevent extinction of current species.

Long story short, we have selected 5 extinct animals for you to make you more familiar with these animals:

5. Irish Elk

Also known as Megaloceros giganteus is one of largest deer that ever lived. It is also called “Giant Deer” because this animal was not closely related to either of the living species currently called elk – Alces alces or the North American elk.

Name	Irish Elk
Extinction	11,000 years ago
Family	Cervidae
Lived or found in	Eurasia from Ireland to east of Lake Baikal
Description	About 2.1 m. (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulders. For the body size, it was matched the extant moose subspecies of Alaska (Alces alces gigas) as the largest known deer.

4. Plesiosauria

The name comes from Greek means “near to lizard”. It is famous for his very long neck topped by a tiny head. Although they were live in the same era with dinosaurs but Plesiosauria is not a dinosaur.

Name	Plesiosauria
Extinction	65 million years ago (Jurassic Period)
Family	Marine reptiles
Lived or found in	-
Description	Latest fossil found is measured 12 metres (4 ft 11 in) in length with the bite force of 149 kilonewtons (33,000 lbf) that makes him one of the most powerful known.

3. Megalodon

Meaning “big tooth” from Greek word, the sceitific name of this species is C. Megalodon. It is recognized as one of the largest and most powerful predators in vertebrate history.

Name	Megalodon
Extinction	16 million years ago (Cenozoic Era)
Family	Disputed; Lamnidae or Otodontidae
Lived or found in	-
Description	Having the maximum length of 15.9–20.3 m. (52–67 ft). Megalodon teeth can measure over 180 millimetres (7.1 in) in slant height or diagonal length, and are the largest in size of any known shark species.

2. Phorusrhacidae

Known as “Terror Birds” were the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic. They were blessed with large hatchet like bills which tore apart mammals, reptiles and other birds.

Name	Phorusrhacidae
Extinction	1.8 million years ago
Family	Phorusrhacidae
Lived or found in	South America
Description	They were roughly 1–3 metres (3.3–9.8 ft) tall. Scientists theorize that the large terror birds were extremely nimble and quick runners able to reach speeds of 48 km/h (30 mph)

1. Tyrannosaurus Rex

Meaning “tyrant lizard” from a Greek word, Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. Relative to the large and powerful hind limbs, Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small and they retained only two digits.

Name	Tyrannosaurus Rex
Extinction	65 million years ago
Family	Tyrannosauridae (genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur)
Lived or found in	western North America
Description	It was measuring up to 43.3 feet long, and 16.6 ft tall, with an estimated mass that goes up to 7 tons.

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Top 5 Wonderful Extinct Animal (2)