Prehistoric Animals

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Panthera onca augusta, an extinct jaguar the size of contemporary tigers, roamed North and South America during the Pleistocene: 1.8 million –11,000 years ago. Evidence suggests humans were widespread in the Americas 20,000 years ago. (Velizar Simeonovski)
Extinct Panthera gombaszoegensis, the earliest known Panthera species in Europe, was distributed across Eurasia from the Late Pliocene to early Pleistocene, about 1.5 million years ago.
Size comparison of extinct Panthera onca to a contemporary jaguar. During the Pleistocene (1.8 million –11,000 years ago) prehistoric jaguars, the size of contemporary lions and tigers, roamed North and South America.

Prehistoric Big Cats

351 Pins
Extinct Coelodonta antiquitatis lived in Eurasia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene: 3.7 million years to 10,000 years ago. (Aksana Hatalskaya)
An extinct rhino-like grazing/browsing ungulate that overlapped with humans in South America. Late Miocene to Middle Holocene: about 11 million to 5,000 years ago.
Extinct Coelodonta antiquitatis lived in Eurasia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene: 3.7 million years to 10,000 years ago. (Blue Rhino Studio)

Giant Prehistoric Herbivores

89 Pins
Size comparison of extinct proto-whale Indohyus major to the modern blue whale.
Extinct M. inuus ("mother whale") is a cetacean from Pakistan that measured about 2.6 m long and weighed between 280-390 kg. Although its flipper-like limbs could support its weight on land, Maiacetus probably couldn't travel far out of water. About 47 mya. (James Gurney)
An extinct whale that weighed between 280-390 kg. Although its flipper-like limbs could support its weight on land, Maiacetus probably couldn't travel far out of water. roamed the ocean approximately 47 mya.

Creatures of Ancient Seas

58 Pins
A dire wolf pack (Aenocyon dirus) surrounds Bison latifrons in the snow.
A giant fossa (Cryptoprocta spelea) catches a giant sloth lemur in ancient Madagascar. (Peter Schouten)
DNA reveals Aenocyon dirus split off from the lineage leading to gray wolves around 5.5 million years ago; in fact, they have relatively closer ties to the African black-backed jackal and side-striped jackal. The dire wolf evolved in North America and was so different from other canids that they didn’t interbreed. (Mauricio Antón)

Prehistoric Animals

243 Pins
Synthetoceras tricornatus is a large, extinct ungulate native to North America during the Late Miocene. Males had an elaborate set of horns, including a forked horn on its snout.
Megaloceros giganteus, an extinct giant deer, stood about 7 ft. tall at the shoulder and weighed about 1,600 lbs. Stags carried the largest antler spread of any known deer species—up to 12 ft wide. Roamed over Eurasia during the Pleistocene.
Upper Pleistocene of South America: a herd of mastodons, the giant armadillo Glyptodon, saber-toothed Smilodon, the giant sloth Megatherium, the horse Hippidion and the llama-like Macrauchenia. (Mauricio Antón)

Prehistoric Hoofed Animals

222 Pins
Extinct Mammuthus primigenius adapted to Ice Age life with a coat of long shaggy hair— an outer covering of guard hairs and a short, warm undercoat. Lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the early Holocene. (by Mark Hallett)
Prehistoric Columbian Mammoths, Dawn Camels and Bison traveling to the springs at Upper Las Vegas Wash. A lone Smilodon cat in Tule reeds startles a Mammoth mother and young calf. (Mural by Beth Zaiken)

Mammoths, Mastodons, and Elephants

159 Pins
Extinct Procoptodon goliath stood 6 1/2 ft tall and weighed approximately 500 lbs. Scientists suspect the extinct giant walked rather than hopped. Australia during the Pleistocene.
Extinct Procoptodon goliath stood 6 1/2 ft tall and weighed about 500 lb. Scientists believe they walked rather than hopped. Australia during the Pleistocene. (Leviatan)
Procoptodon goliath stood 6 1/2 ft tall and weighed approximately 500 lbs. Scientists suspect the extinct giant walked rather than hopped. Australia during the Pleistocene.

Prehistoric Beasts Down Under

54 Pins
Flocks of prehistoric birds drift past giant titanosaurs. During the late Cretaceous, enantiornithines—a group of extinct avians—evolved some of the same adaptations for advanced flight that modern birds possess.
Raphus cucullatus is an extinct flightless ground pigeon that was endemic to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was about 3 ft tall and weighed 20 to 40 lbs.
Prehistoric shorebirds (bottom left), called Gruipeda vegrandiunis, are dwarfed by a pair of Pachyrhinosaurs (P. perotorum), ceratopsian dinosaurs recovered from Alaska and dated about 70 Mya. It’s sometimes easy to forget how long ago early birds appeared.

Prehistoric Wings

106 Pins