Millions of years ago the world was different. It was inhabited by prehistoric animals, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Dinosaurs, sea predators of monstrous size, giant birds, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers - they have long disappeared, but interest in them does not fade.

The first inhabitants of the planet

When did the first living creatures appear on Earth? More than three and a half billion years ago, single-celled organisms arose.

It took as much as two billion years before multicellular living organisms appeared. Approximately 635 million years ago, the Earth was inhabited, and at the beginning of the Cambrian period, by vertebrates.

The most ancient remains of living organisms found to date date back to the late Neoproterozoic.

During the Cambrian period, life existed only in the seas. Prominent representatives The prehistoric animals of that time were trilobites.

Due to frequent underwater landslides, many living organisms were buried in the mud and survived to this day. Thanks to this, scientists have a fairly complete picture of the structure and lifestyle of trilobites and other ancient sea ​​creatures.

Prehistoric animals actively developed on land and in the sea. The first inhabitants of wet places on the Earth's surface are arthroplasties and centipedes. In the mid-Devonian, amphibians joined them.

Ancient insects

Having appeared in the early Devonian period, insects successfully developed. Many species have disappeared over time. Some of them were gigantic in size.

Meganeura belonged to the genus of dragonfly-like insects. Its wingspan was up to 75 centimeters. She was a predator.

Ancient insects have been studied quite well. And ordinary tree resin helped scientists with this. Hundreds of millions of years ago, it flowed down tree trunks and became a death trap for careless insects.

They have been perfectly preserved in their original transparent sarcophagi to this day. Thanks to amber, into which fossilized resin has turned, today anyone can admire the ancient inhabitants of our planet.

Prehistoric sea animals - dangerous giants

During the Triassic period, the first marine reptiles appeared. They could not, like fish, live completely underwater. They needed oxygen, and they periodically rose to the surface. Outwardly, they looked like land dinosaurs, but differed in their limbs - sea inhabitants had fins or webbed feet.

The first to appear were nothosaurs, which reached a size of 3 to 6 meters, and placodes, which had three types of teeth. Placodus were small size(about 2 meters) and lived near the shore. Their main food was shellfish. Nothosaurs ate fish.

The Jurassic period is the era of giants. Plesiosaurs lived at this time. The largest species reached a length of 15 meters. These include Elasmosaurus, which had a surprisingly long neck (8 meters). The head, compared to the massive body, was small. Elasmosaurus had a wide mouth armed with sharp teeth.

Ichthyosaurs - large reptiles that averaged 2-4 meters in length - were similar to modern dolphins. Their feature is huge eyes, which indicates a nocturnal lifestyle. They, unlike dinosaurs, had skin without scales. It is assumed that ichthyosaurs were excellent deep-sea divers.

More than forty million years ago there lived Basilosaurus, an ancient whale of enormous size. The length of a male individual could reach 21 meters. It was the largest predator of its time and could attack other whales. Basilosaurus had a very long skeleton and moved by bending its spine, like a snake. It had vestigial hind limbs 60 centimeters long.

Marine prehistoric animals were very diverse. Among them are ancestors modern sharks and crocodiles. The most famous marine predator of the ancient world is the megalodon, which reached 16-20 meters in length. This giant weighed about 50 tons. Since the skeleton of this shark consisted of cartilage, nothing survived except the animal's enamel-covered teeth. It is assumed that the distance between the open jaws of the megalodon reached two meters. It could easily fit two people.

No less dangerous predators There were also prehistoric crocodiles.

Purussaurus is an extinct relative of modern caimans that lived approximately eight million years ago. Length - up to 15 meters.

Deinosuchus - a crocodile from the genus of alligators, lived at the end Cretaceous period. Outwardly, it was not much different from modern representatives of the species. The body length reached 15 meters.

The most terrible: ancient lizards

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric sizes continue to amaze. It is difficult to imagine that such giants once reigned on the planet.

The Mesozoic era is the time of dinosaurs. Appearing at the end of the Triassic, they became the main form of life in the Jurassic and suddenly disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous.

The species diversity of these ancient lizards is amazing. Among them were terrestrial and aquatic species, flying species, herbivores and predators. They also differed in size. Most dinosaurs were huge, but there were also very small dinosaurs. Among predators, Spinosaurus stood out especially for its size. The length of his body ranged from 14 to 18 meters, height - eight meters. With its elongated jaws it resembled modern crocodiles. Therefore, it is assumed that he led an amphibious lifestyle. A special feature of Spinosaurus was the presence of a spinal ridge that resembled a sail. It made him seem taller. Paleontologists believe that the sail was used by the animal for thermoregulation.

Ancient birds

Prehistoric animals (photos can be seen in the article) were also represented by flying lizards and birds.

Pterosaurs appeared in the Mesozoic. Presumably, the largest of them was Ornithocheirus, which had wings with a span of up to 15 meters. He lived in the Cretaceous period, was a predator and preferred to hunt big fish. Pteranodon is another large flying predatory lizard of the Cretaceous period.

Among prehistoric birds, Gastornis was striking in its size. The two-meter-tall individuals had a beak that could easily break bones. It is not precisely established whether this extinct bird was a predator or consumed plant food.

Fororacos is a bird of prey that lived in the Miocene. The height reached 2.5 meters. Its curved, sharp beak and powerful claws made it dangerous.

Extinct animals of the Cenozoic era

It began 66 million years ago. During this time, thousands of species of living beings appeared and disappeared on Earth. What were the most interesting extinct prehistoric animals of that time?

Megatherium is the largest mammal of that era. It is assumed that it was a herbivore, but it is possible that Megatherium could kill other animals or feed on carrion.

Woolly rhinoceros - was covered with thick red-brown hair.

Mammoth is the most famous extinct species of elephant. Animals lived two million years ago and were twice as large as modern representatives of their species. Many remains of mammoths have been found, very well preserved thanks to permafrost. By historical standards, these majestic giants became extinct quite recently - about 10 thousand years ago.

Of the predatory prehistoric animals, the most interesting is the Smilodon, or saber-toothed tiger. It was no larger in size than the Amur tiger, but it had incredibly long fangs, reaching 28 centimeters. Another feature of Smilodon was its short tail.

Titanoboa is an extinct giant snake. A close relative of the modern boa constrictor. The length of the animal could reach 13 meters.

Documentary films about prehistoric animals

Among them are such as “Sea Dinosaurs: Journey into the Prehistoric World”, “Land of the Mammoths”, “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs”, “Prehistoric Chronicles”, “Walking with Dinosaurs”. There are a lot of good documentaries created about the life of ancient animals.

“The Ballad of Big Al” - the amazing story of one Allosaurus

This film is part of the famous Walking with Dinosaurs series. He talks about how a perfectly preserved skeleton of an Allosaurus was found in the USA, which scientists named Big Al. The bones showed how many fractures and injuries the dinosaur suffered, and this made it possible to reconstruct the history of its life.

Conclusion

Prehistoric animals (dinosaurs, mammoths, cave bears, sea giants) that lived in the distant past still amaze the human imagination today. They are clear proof of how amazing the Earth's past was.

Fororakos, also known as the “terrible bird,” first appeared in South America 62 million years ago and existed for as many as 60 million years. It was a frighteningly effective predator - a huge flightless bird up to 3 m in height with a powerful beak and sharp claws, running at a speed of about 70 km/h.

The marsupial lion has no connections to modern lions other than the name. It lived in Australia and became extinct quite recently - some 30 thousand years ago. A relatively small predator - about 1.5 meters long and weighing 110 kg, it nevertheless skillfully dealt with prey thanks to its razor-sharp fangs and claws.

Amphicyon is a predator the size of a bear, but hunts like canids. This is where his English nickname comes from - “bear dog”. There were many species of amphicyons, the largest of which reached a height of 2.5 meters and a weight of 600 kg. Their jaws easily cut through even the strongest bones.

Archaeotherium, also known as the “hell pig,” lived 30 million years ago and really resembled modern pigs - only adjusted for a height of 1.2 meters, a length of 2 meters and a weight of up to 300 kg. Based on its genes, however, Archaeotherium is classified as the ancestor of hippopotamuses. Powerful jaws allowed him to both tear up the ground in search of roots and hunt small creatures.

The short-faced bear was one of the largest predators of the Ice Age, existing from 44 thousand to 12 thousand years ago. Reaching a size of 3.5 meters and weighing up to a ton, it could put even the most massive polar bears to flight. It was a formidable opponent for the first people, although, fortunately, it was mainly interested in larger prey.

Megalania is an Australian monitor lizard that went extinct about 40 thousand years ago. Measuring up to 9 meters and weighing two tons, it looked much more like a real dragon than modern Komodo dragons.

Basilosaurus, which translates as “royal lizard,” was in fact a mammal - a giant predatory whale up to 20 meters in length. IN early XIX centuries, its bones were found so often that they were sometimes used as furniture. But about 40 million years ago, the Basilosaurus terrified the seas and oceans of the planet, devouring any creatures smaller than itself in size.

Smilodon, also known as the “saber-toothed tiger,” is one of the iconic prehistoric predators. To use its huge 30-centimeter teeth, Smilodon could open its mouth 120 degrees. He hunted any representatives of megafauna - and died out along with them about 10 thousand years ago.

Andrewsarchus is supposedly the largest predator among land mammals, living in Asia about 40 million years ago. Of all the remains, only a skull was found - a huge size, 83 cm. Scientists argue whether Andrewsarchus was a tall and long animal or low and short, but with a hefty head. Most likely he hunted like crocodiles - jumping on prey from an ambush, perhaps even from the water.

Megalodon is a monstrous shark 16 meters long and weighing about 50 tons with 20 centimeter teeth. Existed 25 million years, died out 1.5 million years ago. Megalodon was one of the most massive and successful predators the Earth has ever known, eating any prey it could come across.

Prehistoric beasts of prey, birds, reptiles and sharks have entered into legends along with dinosaurs. Some even hunted our ancestors, who hunted them. Here are ten of the most terrible predators of the era of mammals.

What did the world look like in those days when man did not yet exist? modern people judged by films like "Park Jurassic" However, cinema does not always show real pictures to please the viewer. Nature and fauna have changed a lot over many centuries, and not every animal of those times can be recognized as a predecessor of modern species, and some even look like horror movie characters. Sometimes, looking at ancient extinct animals, one feels sincere joy because the animals that filled the planet thousands and millions of years ago do not live in the neighborhood.

Thanks to paleontologists and geneticists, people can now see the restored appearance of many extinct species and even learn details about their existence and habits, body structure and life expectancy. 3D models have been created showing prehistoric monsters, predators and harmless animals, forever lost in the process of evolution.

The most big birds Sanders' pelargonis have been capable of flight throughout the history of the Earth. The wingspan of representatives of this prehistoric species reached 7.4 m.

The fossil remains of these birds were discovered not so long ago: in 1983, during the construction of another airport terminal in South Carolina. The appearance and description of Pelargonis were restored in detail only in 2014. The name of the fossil animal was given in honor of Albert Sanders, an employee of the local museum who led the excavations.

After scientists created a computer model based on the fossilized remains, it turned out that the weight of the ancient giant bird could be about 40 kg. With such parameters, Pelargonis Sanders did not have the ability to take off from level ground, so it had to take off by jumping down from sharp slopes. It was most likely impossible to even flap the wings during flight with such parameters, and the flight involved gliding along oncoming air flows. The bird was a sea predator, flying at a speed of 60 km/h and grabbing fish and squid floating on the surface of the sea with its powerful paws.

The time when such ancient birds could be found everywhere on Earth dates back to 25 million years ago. It is believed that the last representative disappeared from the face of the planet 4 million years ago. Unfortunately, eggs and feathers of the Sanders pelargonis could not be found, although it is possible that this will be possible in the coming years, since active excavations are underway in the area where the remains of the extinct bird were dug up.

There are special forms of irrational fears, such as arachnophobia and insectophobia. People belonging to the first group are afraid of spiders, and representatives of the second group experience panic fear in front of insects. It’s hard to even imagine how horrified they would be if they met Ephoberia, a prehistoric centipede that did not survive evolutionary progress.

This ancient centipede lived in Europe and North America, where it was quite common. Scientists are still arguing about its weight, but its body length was almost a meter. A huge arthropod moving all its legs at the same time was not a picture for the faint of heart: suddenly encountering such a meter-long monster, a modern person could not only acquire a couple of new phobias, but also go completely crazy.

Zoologists have not decided whether Ephoberia can be considered a predator. Its modern relatives are much more modest in size (about 25 cm in length) and feed on bats, birds and snakes. It is likely that this ancient centipede ate reptiles or even mammals, but it is also possible that this creature behaved harmlessly and ate molds or small plants.

Another ancient extinct monster belongs to the order of scorpions. The name pulmonoscorpius is translated from Latin as “breathing scorpion.” The remains of this prehistoric animal were first found in 1994 in Great Britain. He lived here about 300-330 million years ago.

Dimensions adult reached 0.7-1 m. On its tail there was a poisonous sting of impressive size, which contained a decent amount of toxin. Such a concentration of poison can kill a fairly large enemy, so meeting such a scorpion looking for prey meant inevitable death. The favorite delicacy of the extinct predator were frogs and lizards, which he tore into pieces with the help of powerful claws on his forelimbs. The pulmonoscorpius itself was reliably protected by a dense and thick shell, due to which it had few enemies capable of resisting or repelling the monster.

The restored appearance of the ancient prehistoric scorpion looks so impressive that it was made one of the characters in the British popular science series "Prehistoric Park", which aroused great interest among viewers.

Learning the history of individual ancient species that disappeared from the face of the earth, you begin to realize what damage the appearance of man caused to nature. A sad fate befell the flightless bird species, the dodo. These pigeon-like creatures lived serenely on the island of Mauritius, where they had plenty of plant food.

Adult dodos grew up to 1.2 m and weighed 50 kg. They couldn’t fly with such a decent weight, but they didn’t need it, because natural enemies they didn’t have any on the island, but the birds ate overripe fruits falling to the ground from the trees. They also built nests for living and raising chicks on the ground, since there were no predators in Mauritius at the time of their existence.

Everything changed in the 17th century, when Europeans arrived on the island. They tried dodo meat, and it turned out to be very tender and tasty, so all the ships sailing past Mauritius stopped here to replenish the provisions on the ship. Since dodos were very clumsy and slow, they could not escape from hunters, and people just had to walk up and hit the bird on the head to kill it. In addition, dodos were curious and extremely trusting, so they themselves approached people holding out fruit to them.

In addition to people, dogs that had escaped from ships began to attack them, and cats and rats, feeding on eggs and chicks, began to destroy their nests. This caused a rapid decline in the number of defenseless animals, which soon completely disappeared from the planet.

One of the largest extinct warm-blooded animals, Paraceratherium, did not abuse its size and was distinguished by its friendly disposition. He lived in ancient tropical thickets about 300 million years ago. From an evolutionary perspective, it was nature's experiment in protecting itself from predators through terrifying size. While the largest predators of that time barely reached 2 m, Paraceratherium grew up to 5 m in height and 7.3 m in length. The body weight of this ancient animal, according to paleontologists, was 15-20 tons.

To feed itself, Paraceratherium had to constantly chew leaves and grass, which formed the basis of its diet. The ancient animal was in many ways reminiscent of dinosaurs that had become extinct by that time, but had one significant difference: dinosaurs had a tail to balance their huge bodies when walking. Paraceratherium did not have a tail, but took on the balancing function powerful muscles necks that made his whole appearance stocky. These warm-blooded giants most often lived in small families, and the females took care of the offspring, and the males protected their family from possible danger.

The extinction of the ancient warm-blooded animal was caused by the spread of the ancestors of elephants across the Earth, trampling and knocking down those trees that served Paraceratherium as food. Due to lack of food, the species gradually reduced its numbers until it completely disappeared.

This ancient creature is considered the largest of the flying animals of the prehistoric world, although it belongs not to birds, but to reptiles. Quetzalcoatlus appeared approximately 70 million years ago, and its remains were discovered in North America.

Paleontologists have long tried to determine its wingspan. This caused difficulties due to the fact that the found remains could not be assembled into a single model, since only individual fragments of the skeleton were discovered. At first it was decided that the wingspan reached 15 m, but after detailed studies this figure was reduced to 12 m. For comparison: many modern jet aircraft have such a wingspan. Quetzalcoatlus weighed 250 kg.

Scientists believe that the main food of this ancient extinct monster was small vertebrates and carrion, but when hungry, it could catch a 30-kilogram baby dinosaur. It’s good that quetzalcoatls did not survive to this day, otherwise they could easily carry away human children.

The dangerous and cruel extinct predator was the ancestor of modern domestic cats. Xenosmilus was a large saber-toothed cat, reaching 2 m in length. Elegance and grace were present in this species no less than in modern pets, but their disposition was completely different.

The feeding habits of these prehistoric animals can be judged by the characteristic shape of their teeth. The upper sharp fangs had special notches, which indicate to paleontologists that the xenosmilus did not kill its prey, as felines do now, from domestic cats to lions, but while alive, it quickly gnawed out a huge piece of meat from the doomed animal. The cruel predator began to slowly eat this piece, while the unfortunate victim died nearby from loss of blood and pain, writhing in convulsions.

Europe is a favorite holiday destination for millions of tourists from all over the world. Their number would be much smaller if Meganeura, a dragonfly-like animal that lived here about 300 million years ago, had survived there to this day. This species is considered the largest insect in the entire history of the Earth. The wingspan of this flying relic was 70 cm, and during the flight the strong noise of this natural “helicopter” could be heard from afar.

Meganeura was a predatory animal that ate not only insects that were smaller in size, but also amphibians. No less interesting were its larvae, which lived on the ground and attacked small animals in order to provide themselves with the protein necessary for rapid development.

Since the discovery of this extinct insect species, scientists have been interested in the question: why can’t modern insects reach this size?

The explanation for this is quite simple: hemolymph, an analogue of mammalian blood, cannot carry oxygen to the organs of insects.

Oxygen nutrition in these animals occurs through the trachea, which does not work intensively enough. IN Carboniferous period the proportion of oxygen in the air was much higher than now, so oxygen could quickly reach even the deep layers of the body, but now this mechanism, due to the changed composition of the atmosphere, no longer works, so insects need to be small to survive.

Titanoboa

An extinct relative of the modern boa constrictor is Titanoboa, the largest prehistoric snake that lived on Earth 60 million years ago. Its dimensions are impressive: length 15 m and weight about a ton, which is twice the parameters of a modern reticulated python. Titanoboa lived in a hot climate at 30-35°C. Its habitats were the coasts of water bodies, since the basis of the diet of this prehistoric animal was fish.

Paleontologists around the world paid a lot of attention to the study of Titanoboa, which resulted in the development of a working mechanical model of the animal. This model was presented to the public at Grand Central Station in New York in 2012, which aroused great interest among ordinary people, taking pictures en masse against the backdrop of a huge snake.

The name of the superorder Laurasiatheria is based on the common origin of the mammals belonging to it from somewhere in Laurasia - they all descended from some lucky population of animals that lived on this ancient continent about 95 million years ago, and spread initially, even during the time of dinosaurs , across the Northern Hemisphere, and from there they moved on to conquer the rest of the planet.

[without a number]. Insectivora- hedgehogs, moles, shrews, slittooths - traditionally an order, but in fact paraphyletic, that is, a combined group of animals that have preserved the most archaic structure, which has changed little since the time of dinosaurs. Looking at them, you can imagine the common ancestors of all the animals that will be discussed in this part. There are no giants among them, but as an example I would like to mention Chuchundra - remember, Kipling’s, which could not go into the middle of the room? So this is a real animal, only not a rat, but a giant shrew ( Suncus murinus, chuchundar), it is found in India and Southeast Asia. Well, for a shrew it’s gigantic – 20-23 cm long including the tail.

18. Chiroptera (Chiroptera)- the only order of mammals whose representatives are capable of active flight. This second largest (after rodents) order includes 1,200 species. The largest of them have long lived not in caves, but in forests, where fossil remains are poorly preserved, and we have only one largest representative, a modern one - the maned Acerodon ( Acerodon jubatus), which can grow up to 2 m in wingspan and weigh more than 1.5 kg. A harmless frugivorous endemic from the Philippines.

19. Squad Tzimolestov (Cimolesta, which means “white clay stealers”) was considered extinct in the Miocene, having previously given rise as a side branch, but recent genetic studies have shown that modern pangolins, traditionally classified as a separate order, belong to it. The largest of these scaly ant eaters is the giant pangolin ( Manis gigantea), living in Africa. Length 140 cm, weight up to 33 kg. In the old days, cymolests were no less bizarre, and the largest known was barylambda ( Barylambda faberi) from the Paleocene (60-56 million years ago) of North America. The length of this herbivore was about 2.5 m, weight about 650 kg.

20. Dinocerata- an extinct order of mammals that lived from the Upper Paleocene to the Middle Eocene (59-41 million years ago) in North America and Asia. One of the first large mammals to appear since the extinction of the dinosaurs. A sort of trial, alpha version of ungulates that left no descendants. The largest of them is the Uintatherium. Uintatherium anceps 1.50 m high at the withers, about 3.3 m long, lived in the Middle Eocene in North America.

21. - another extinct order of mammals, peculiar predators of ungulate origin. The largest of them, and at the same time the largest land mammal predator, was Andrewsarchus Andrewsarchus mongoliensis from the Upper Eocene of Mongolia (45-36 million years ago). 3.4 m in length without a tail (all 5 with a tail), 1.5 m at the withers and 800-900 kg of live weight.

22. Creodonts (Creodonta)- an extinct order of predatory mammals that I talked about. The largest of them was and still remains Megistotherium Megistotherium osteothlastes weighing about 880 kg, more than 3.5 m long and a 65 cm long skull. It lived in the Middle Miocene (12 million years ago) in what is now Egypt, Libya and Kenya.

23. Next comes the squad carnivorous (Carnivora). Family Felidae needs no introduction and contains three champions: the largest of modern tiger (Panthera tigris ), the Amur subspecies of which grows up to 3.3 m in length, 1.2 m at the withers and weighs up to 300 kg; extinct American subspecies of lion ( Panthera leo atrox) – 3.7 m in length as the largest and saber-toothed Smilodon populator with 470 kg as the most massive.

24. Hyenas (Hyaenidae)- well-known predators (not to be confused with the cat family!), convergently similar to canines, and genetically close to civets. The largest species today is the spotted hyena ( Crocuta crocuta), reaching up to 1.5 - 1.6 m in length, with a shoulder height of 90 cm, and the largest in history was a 190-kilogram short-faced hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris, who lived in Europe between 1.6 and 0.5 million years ago and performed the same thing there biological role that its modern spotted sister in Africa.

25. Percrocutidae- hyena-like predators that lived in Asia, Africa and Southern Europe from the Miocene to the Pliocene (about 20-2.59 million years ago). However, they were more closely related to the cat-like nimravids than to the much more similar hyenas. They were apparently replaced by real hyenas. Largest sizes reached Dinocrocuta gigantea,

26. In the family canids (Canidae) Domestic dogs compete for the title of largest species ( Canis lupus familiaris) and extinct Epicyon haydeni, who lived between 10 and 13 million years ago in North America. Epicyon was 2.4 m long and weighed over a hundred.

27. The largest representative Ursids (Ursidae) and the largest land predator of our time - polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Its length reaches 3 m, weight up to 1 ton. The largest bear of all time is Arctotherium angustidens- a bear about 3.5 m in length from the Pleistocene (2 million - 10 thousand years ago). South America.

28. Family raccoons (Procyonidae) today it cannot boast of giants. But the ancestors of the bear from the previous section, having come from North America to South America, apparently, competitively wiped out Chapalmalania altaefrontis- a giant (meter at the withers) raccoon that lived there between 5.3 and 1.8 million years ago).

29. Pinnipeds (Pinnipedia) previously they formed one unit together, but today they figured out what it was - true seals (Phocidae), walruses (Odobenidae) And eared seals (Otariidae). The largest representatives of all three families are living today. This is respectively the southern elephant seal ( Mirounga leonina, 6.9 m x 5t), walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus, 4.9 m x 2t) and sea lion ( Eumetopias jubatus, 3.5 m x 1t).

30. That’s all with the predatory animals, let’s move on to the squad equids (Perissodactyla). Brontotheriidae- an extinct family of equids that lived from the Eocene to the beginning of the Oligocene. Despite the similarity with rhinoceroses, they were related closer to horses, and the horns on their nose were not keratin, but outgrowths of the nasal bones of the skull, and served not so much as a weapon, but as a snorkel when feeding on swamp vegetation and a resonating chamber. The largest of them was Embolotherium ( Embolotherium sp.), who lived in the territory of the modern Gobi Desert 50 million years ago. He was about 2.5 m at the withers and weighed about 2000 kg.

31. As for the actual Rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae), then they are thanks to the white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) today occupy the place of the second largest land animal on the planet after the elephant. The weight of old males can reach 5 tons, body length - 4.2 m, height at the shoulders - 2 m. The largest rhinoceros in history is Elasmotherium Elasmotherium caucasicum, who lived in Eurasia from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene, up to 6 m long, 2.5 m high.

32. Family close to rhinoceroses - Hyracodontidae. Most of them were small hornless creatures with a light build and resembled small horses, but this family includes the largest land mammal of all time - Indricotherium Paraceratherium tienshanense. This beauty, up to 5.5 m high at the withers, 9 m long and weighing about 15 tons, lived in Asia in the Oligocene between 33 and 23 million years ago.

33. Using the example of a family equidae (Equidae) it is very good to demonstrate consistent evolution - its representatives, over the course of 55 million years, smoothly and consistently lost their extra toes and grew from a 20-centimeter Hyracotherium (a common ancestor with Indricotherium) to the actual life-size horse. Then people intervened in the process, as a result we have a domestic horse ( Equus ferus caballus) as the largest representative of the family. The historical height record belongs to Samson, born in 1850, later renamed Mammoth, whose height reached 218 cm at the withers, and the tallest living horse in the world is considered to be the English draft horse Noddy, 2.05 meters high at the withers and weighing one and a half tons.

34. Another family related to horses - Chalicotheriidae– represented by strange creatures that lived from the Eocene to the Pliocene (40-3.5 million years ago). Their fingers, despite belonging to the order of equids, were not hooves, but thick claws. Some of them extracted roots and tubers from the ground, others ate leaves, bending tree branches with their paws. Their sizes varied from comparable to a sheep to a 2.7-meter chalicotherium at the withers Chalicotherium sp..

35. Let's move on to artiodactyls. To the family bovids (Bovidae) include buffalos, antelopes and other goats - those ruminants whose horns are unbranched, non-replaceable and covered with a horny sheath. Today the largest cow is the Gaur ( Bos frontalis). Its body length is more than three meters, its height at the shoulders reaches 2.3 m, and its weight can in some cases reach 2000 kg. Pleistocene American giant bison ( Bison latifrons) was already 5 m long and weighed the same two tons on average, and not as a record. The distance between the tips of its horns is 2.5 m.

36. Representatives of the family cervidae have branched, regularly shed and regrow horns, usually growing only on males. The most primitive representatives do not have horns, but they do have fangs. Today the largest deer is the elk ( Alces alces ) – body length up to 3 m, height at the withers up to 2.3 m, weight up to 600 kg. But Thranduil in Peter Jackson’s film - remember it yourself and tell all your friends! - sat astride not just any elk, but a megaloceros or big-horned deer ( Megaloceros giganteus). This largest representative of the family, exterminated by humans back in the Pleistocene, resembled an elk in size, but weighed about 750 kg, and its antlers reached 3.65 m in width. Its range covered most of Eurasia, from Western Europe to western China.

37. Family camelids (Camelidae) today it is not numerous, and its largest representative is the dromedary camel ( Camelus dromedarius) about 2 m in height at the withers and weighing 600 kg. Giant camel ( Titanotylopus nebraskensis), who lived 10.3-1.8 million years ago in North America, was 3.5 m tall at the withers, 5 m long and weighed about 2 tons.

38. Giraffidae- a family of artiodactyls, currently found exclusively in Africa and containing two genera, in which there is one species each: giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis) and okapi. The first is the tallest mammal of the present time and the largest representative of the family in history.

39. Treasure Suoidea includes the families Suidae (Pigs), Tayassuidae (Peccaries) and Entelodontidae (Entelodonts). The largest representative of the family of our time, as you might guess, is a subspecies of wild boar domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), individual individuals of which can reach a ton of weight or more. Lived in North America during the Miocene Daeodon shoshonensis- a representative of entelodonts with a height of 3.4 m in length, 2.4 m in height at the withers and a weight of 900 kg.

40. Family hippopotamuses (Hippopotamidae) used to be classified as suborder Porciniformes or non-ruminants, but from a cladistics point of view they are closer to whales and ruminants than to pigs. Today the largest hippopotamus is the common ( Hippopotamus amphibius), reaching 3 m in length, 1.65 m at the withers and sometimes weighing more than 4 tons. But this is not the height of God’s ways - in the Pleistocene it was found in the lakes of Western Sahara Hippopotamus gorgops 4.3 meters long. Well, in appearance - a hippopotamus is a hippopotamus.

Well, we are left with the order of cetaceans (Cetacea), which includes no less than 14 families, to which we will devote a separate part - why are they worse than sauropods, in the end?

The fauna is quite large. But while assessing all its diversity, we should not forget how many species have become extinct in the course of evolution. However, already in modern times, many animals disappeared from the face of the planet due to natural reasons, and in the course of the activities of the most dangerous creature - man. When remembering the most amazing animals, you shouldn’t limit yourself to just ancient times and dinosaurs.

Many animals became extinct quite recently, leaving us with not only their remains as souvenirs, but also photographs and memories of eyewitnesses. There are sad statistics that say that 99.9% of all species that existed on Earth have become extinct.

In his book Encyclopedia of Species Extinct from Human History, writer Ross Piper counted as many as 65 creatures. The author moves back in time, starting with the golden toad and Eskimo curlew and five species that were last seen less than a hundred years ago. Mention is also made of those animals that became extinct more than 50 thousand years ago - mega-sharks and giant monkeys. Homo erectus and his closest relatives are also considered extinct. We will tell you below about the most amazing extinct animals and birds.

Tyrannosaurus Rex, extinct 65 million years ago. This animal was the largest carnivore of all those who ever lived on the planet. It was 43 feet long and 16 feet high. Scientists estimate that the tyrannosaurus could weigh up to 7 tons. Like its other close relatives, this predator was bipedal; it had a massive skull, and at the back it was balanced by a long and heavy tail. The hind limbs were large and strong, but the forelimbs were much smaller and practically did not perform any important functions. These fossil animals were discovered in North America in rock formations. Scientists have found that they went extinct 68.5-65 million years ago and were the last dinosaurs to go extinct before the Cretaceous period. More than 30 animal specimens were identified, some even retaining almost their entire skeleton. Researchers even found soft tissue remains. Such an abundance of fossil material allowed for a large-scale study of this animal, including the history of its existence and biomechanics.

Quagga, became extinct in 1883. This amazing animal was half horse and half zebra. The quagga is one of Africa's most famous extinct creatures. This subspecies of plains zebra has been found in large numbers in the Cape Province of South Africa and the southern Orange Free State. This animal differed from other zebras in that it had characteristic bright markings on the front of its body. In the middle part of the body, the stripes became darker, wider and merged. The back part was completely uniform brown. The body length of this odd-toed ungulate was 180 centimeters. The name of this species comes from the name of the zebra KhoiKhoi, being an onomatopoeia of this word. Scientists initially classified the quagga as a separate species, Equus Quagga. This happened in 1788. Over the next half century, researchers and naturalists described many other zebras. Due to the wide range of colors of the creatures (two identical zebras simply do not exist), there were a large number of described “species”. At the same time, it turned out to be difficult to determine which of them were real and which were simply natural variants. While all this confusion was being sorted out, the quaggas were exterminated for meat and skins. The last wild quagga was killed in 1878, and 5 years later the last representative of this subspecies died in the Amsterdam Zoo. Due to much confusion between the different subspecies of zebra, especially among the public, the quagga became extinct before it was clear that it was a separate species. But the animal became the first among the extinct ones, whose DNA began to be studied. In 1987, a project was born to restore this biological species. The first 9 individuals were bred through selective breeding and placed in a special camp in Namibia. In 2005, a representative of the third generation of quaggas was born, some believe that he is very similar to a typical representative. For now, the project is just developing, but there is hope to resurrect this extinct animal.

Tasmanian tiger, extinct in 1936. This animal was the largest marsupial carnivore known to science. It lived in Australia and New Guinea and became extinct in the last century. Due to its striped back, it was nicknamed the Tasmanian tiger, although there are other nicknames - Tasmanian tiger, tiger, marsupial wolf. It was the last surviving member of its genus of marsupial wolves. But in the stone chronicles similar species were discovered that existed in the early Miocene. The marsupial ox reached 1-1.3 meters in length, 0.6 meters in height, and weighed 20-25 kilograms. Outwardly, the animal looked like a dog. It is noteworthy that its elongated mouth could open as much as 120 degrees. In Australia, the marsupial wolf became extinct thousands of years before Europeans arrived here, but survived in Tasmania along with other endemic species, such as the Tasmanian devil. When people discovered Tasmania in 1642, traces of a wild animal with claws like a tiger were discovered. But the first detailed scientific description of it was made in 1808. In the 1830s, mass extermination of the Tasmanian tiger began - it was considered a sheep hunter. There were real legends about the predation and ferocity of the marsupial wolf. At the beginning of the 20th century, the island also experienced an epidemic of canine distemper, which practically destroyed these already rare animals. But this did not stop the man; the law still did not protect the rare species. As a result, the last wild wolf was killed in 1930, and in 1936, the last representative of the Tasmanian tigers died of old age at the zoo. Today there is a $1.1 million reward for anyone who can catch the marsupial wolf alive. Now Australian scientists are trying to clone this unique animal.

Steller's cow became extinct in 1768. This marine mammal from the order of sirenians was discovered in 1741. It was discovered by Georg Steller, a scientist who was part of the Bering expedition. Length sea ​​cow reached 10 meters, and it weighed up to 4 tons. In size, the animal was significantly larger than a seal or manatee. The cow was sedentary, living in shallow bays and feeding on algae. The animal had a vague shape, its tail was forked, like a whale, and there were two thick forelimbs. Steller described that the species found had a thick and black skin, like the bark of an old oak tree, and the head was small in relation to the body. The cow had no teeth at all, but only two flat bone plates located one above the other. Researchers discovered a large number of these animals on Bering Island, and they were not afraid of people at all. This is what destroyed them. After all, the smell and taste of their fat was quite pleasant, the meat was also tasty and could be stored for a long time. Even the milk was edible, resembling sheep's milk. Predatory fishing completely exterminated this species by 1768. Fossil evidence later revealed that Steller's sea cow previously lived along the coast of the North Pacific Ocean, reaching as far south as Japan and California. Given how quickly the animals were exterminated in this area, it was most likely the arrival of people that caused their extinction in other places. Over the past couple of centuries, there have been isolated reports of sea cow sightings in areas from the Bering region to Greenland. Scientists cherish the hope that a small population of animals has survived to this day. In the meantime, there is an option to clone the animal in the future, because there remains a piece of its skin preserved in alcohol, carrying genetic material.

The Irish deer became extinct about 7,700 years ago. This deer was the largest that ever lived. It is also called the Irish elk, and lived throughout Eurasia, from Ireland and in the east to Lake Baikal itself. The habitat of the deer is the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Based on carbon dating, it was found that the last animal died about 7,700 years ago. Such a deer looked like a doe, but was distinguished by its enormous size. It was about two meters high, and the giant horns had a span of up to 4 meters. They weighed about 35 kilograms, at the top they expanded like a shovel and had sharp ends. The structure of the teeth and limbs indicates that this animal lived in meadows - there was simply nothing to do with such a decoration on its head in the forest. It is the animal’s horns that are of interest, not its gigantic size. Scientists believe that the reasons for the extinction are most likely natural - the forest began to encroach on open spaces, taking away habitats. In those days, many other large animals disappeared from the face of the planet. One should not discount humans; their hunting could also undermine the population of the horned beauty. However, the theory about the influence of hunting is rather dubious. After all, the species was widespread throughout the continent. Most likely, it co-evolved with humans throughout its existence, even adapting to their presence.

Caspian tiger, disappeared in 1970. It is the third largest tiger of its species. The Caspian tiger is also called Turanian or Persian. This subspecies lived in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Mongolia. This subspecies had a bright red coat color, and the stripes were longer than usual, with a brownish tint. The body was rather stocky, the elongated legs were strong, and the paws were wide. The Caspian tiger also had unusually large claws. The largest individual weighed 240 kilograms; this subspecies is second in size only to the Bengal and Amur. But the females weighed 85-135 kilograms. The tiger's ears were short and small, with no hair at the tips. In Asia, people have traditionally tolerated the existence of these neighbors. Russian settlers caused great harm to the population. Tigers began to be purposefully destroyed. But this influence was only indirect. Tigers became extinct due to the fact that the cultivation of floodplain lands in riverbeds deprived the animals of their food supply. After all, previously wild boars and roe deer lived freely in tugai forests.

Wild aurochs, disappeared since 1627. This animal is one of the most famous animals that became extinct in Europe under human control. These are very large primitive bulls, the ancestors of modern cows. Bison evolved in India about two million years ago and then migrated to the Middle East and Asia. The animal came to Europe about 250 thousand years ago. But to XIII century The habitat of the tur was limited to Poland, Lithuania, Moldova, Transylvania and East Prussia. Powerful beast had a height at the withers of up to 180 centimeters, and he weighed up to 800 kilograms. The head was set high, and it was crowned with sharp horns. The males were black with a narrow light stripe along the back. And the females and juveniles were reddish in color. The main habitat of the aurochs is steppes and forest-steppes, but the species lived out its last days in the forests. Only the nobility had the right to hunt them, and subsequently only the royal family. The number of turs began to fall sharply, and the hunt was stopped. The royal court required the rangers to provide animals with fields for grazing, for which a reduction in taxes was due. There were even decrees that punished the killing of this large animal with death. In 1564, gamekeepers knew of only 38 individuals, as reported in the royal report. The last sighting of a live bison was in 1627, when a Polish woman saw it in the forest. His skull subsequently ended up in the Swedish army and is currently the property of one of the museums in Stockholm. In 1920, two German zoologists tried to revive this species from livestock. After all, cows and bulls are descendants of aurochs. The plan was based on the assumption that a species could not go extinct while all the genes were still present in at least some of the descendants. You just need to put all the genes together. As a result, after painstaking work, a “restored tour” was obtained, which in appearance is almost no different from its ancestor. However, this is just a form of livestock.

Great auk, extinct in 1844. This bird was the only one in the genus Pinguinus to survive to this day, but it became extinct quite recently. The bird's height was about 70 centimeters, and its weight was about 5 kilograms. The wings were rather poorly developed, this auk could barely walk on land, could not fly, but swam perfectly. They had white and black shiny feathers, the black key was heavy and had grooves. Flightless, wingless birds have long been a favorite object of hunting for coastal residents of Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway and even Great Britain. It was not difficult to kill this defenseless bird on land. In the 16th century, residents of Iceland hunted for auk eggs in boatloads, and in 1844, the last two representatives of the species were killed. This is the first American and European bird to be completely exterminated by humans. The remains of birds found in Florida suggest that the birds also traveled far to the south. It is curious that Neanderthals began hunting great auks more than 100 thousand years ago. This is evidenced by the processed bones found on their fire pits. Today, about 75 bird eggs, 24 complete skeletons and 81 stuffed animals remain in the collections.

The cave lion became extinct about 2000 years ago. This lion was the largest that ever existed. It was also called European or Eurasian. Lions first appeared on the continent 700 thousand years ago. The cave subspecies appeared about 300 thousand years ago. It lived in northern Eurasia, penetrating deep to the north. The adult, found in 1985 in Germany, was about 1.2 meters in height and 2.1 meters in length, excluding the tail. This is roughly equivalent to a large modern lion, but other individuals of this subspecies were even larger. It is believed that the cave lion was 5-15% larger than modern ones. The appearance of the animals made it possible to clarify their rock paintings from the Stone Age. Unlike their relatives from Africa or India, they were almost always depicted without hair. The coloring was one color, and there was a traditional tassel on the tail. Lions lived in Europe both during warm periods and in the floors of glaciers. They hunted the large ungulates of that time. Despite their name, these felines rarely appeared in caves, simply using them as shelters. This concerned mainly sick and old individuals. The cave lion most likely went extinct 10,000 years ago during the last Wurm Glacier, but there is some evidence that this animal could have existed in the Balkans as early as 2,000 years ago.

Dodos disappeared at the end of the 17th century. This family of flightless birds lived on the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. They were relatives of pigeons, but stood about a meter tall. An adult bird weighed up to 25 kilograms. The legs were like those of a turkey, and the beak was massive. This family includes 3 species - the Mauritian dodo, or dodo, the Bourbon dodo and the hermit dodo. Birds lived in forests and kept in pairs. They ate fruits, putting aside one white egg right on the ground. Once upon a time, dodos could swim, run and fly. But during evolution, the wings lost their function, because there were simply no natural enemies on the islands. But then a man appeared. First the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, methodically destroyed the bird. The ship's supplies were replenished with its meat. Over time, rats, dogs and cats were brought to the islands, which ate the eggs of the helpless bird. And the hunt for her was simple - they simply approached her and hit her on the head. That is why the Portuguese nicknamed the dodo “dodo”, which in common parlance means “stupid”. Dodos and dodos in particular are widely used as an archetype for extinct species because their extinction is directly related to human activity. Even the phrase “dead as a dodo” appeared. It means both final and certain death. The phrase “to go the way of the dodo” means that something will soon become extinct or become obsolete, fall out of the mainstream, or become a thing of the past. Today, only skeletons and a symbol on the coat of arms of Mauritius remain of the unique bird.