10 Best Extinct Animals

Galvasean · 12-06-2009 12:16AM #1

About a year ago Wired Science did an article on the ten coolest extict animals that aren't dinosaurs*.

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-02/st_best

Can you spot your favourite?

*Yeah yeah, I know the elephant bird is technically a dinosaur :P

kiffer · 12-06-2009 12:29AM

Galvasean wrote: »

About a year ago Wired Science did an article on the ten coolest extict animals that aren't dinosaurs*.

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-02/st_best

Can you spot your favourite?

Number 9 would be closest... the Glyptodon would be my favourite out of that lot... but I don't like the shape of the shell of the Doedicurus clavicaudatus in the picture, still a cool animal though.

The Gnome · 12-06-2009 12:42AM

No Terror Birds (Phorusrhacidae)? Pfff...

happyoutscan · 12-06-2009 12:50AM

Easy, the Carcharodon megalodon. Have cage dived with great whites and it was awesome, to see the megalodon from a cage would be indescribable (I'd imagine, seeing as no one can describe it eh?).

marco_polo · 12-06-2009 10:00AM

No room for Indricotherium?

elephant.indricotherium.human.jpg

happyoutscan · 12-06-2009 10:15AM

marco_polo wrote: »

No room for Indricotherium?

There's always room for Indricotherium!

Capt'n Midnight · 12-06-2009 09:29PM

moschops
trilobites
dunkelosteus
and loads of critters from the cambrian

Galvasean · 13-06-2009 11:05AM

happyoutscan wrote: »

There's always room for Indricotherium!

Apparently not, it's proper name is Paraceratherium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indricotherium#Taxonomy_and_species_of_Paraceratherium

Galvasean · 03-12-2009 12:54AM

Thought I'd bump this thread when I stumbled across an article on National Geographic about 7 jumbo-sized prehistoric creatures:
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2009/02/biggest-animals-of-all-time.html

marco_polo · 03-12-2009 02:19AM

Cool I never knew there was such a thing as a giant penguin.

That picture of Jaekelopterus really sends a chill down the spine, I was considering it for the feature slot in few weeks time only for there is not a whole lot known about him apart from his size.

Weidii · 03-12-2009 03:12AM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

moschops
trilobites
dunkelosteus
and loads of critters from the cambrian

Does opebinia look like an annelid to anyone else?

marco_polo · 03-12-2009 10:49AM

Weidii wrote: »

Does opebinia look like an annelid to anyone else?

Its clearly a species of elephant

Some have classified it as representative of the ancestral stock from which arthrapods and annelids arose. Other have grouped it with Anomalocaris, in a stem group to the arthrapods. It is still a hot topic by all accounts, either way it was a pretty distinctive looking fellow.

http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=3&did=26096

Capt'n Midnight · 03-12-2009 11:25AM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080911-ancient-amphibian.html

An ancient, giant, salamander-like amphibian with a particularly nasty bite has been identified from a 240-million-year-old fossil, scientists report.

Dubbed Kryostega collinsoni, the Antarctic creature was about 15 feet (4.57 meters) long and chomped down on prey using sharp teeth that protruded from the roof of its mouth.
...

"You could think of Kryostega as a giant salamander," said study team member Christian Sidor, a paleontologist at the University of Washington.

Make that an unusually toothy giant salamander: Its teeth were enormous compared to with other amphibians, according to Sidor.

Toothy Terror

Kryostega belonged to an ancient lineage of amphibians called temnospondyls, which had tiny teeth attached to their palates.

However the newly named amphibian's fossil had unusual palate teeth: Some of them were larger than the normal teeth on the edge of its mouth.

Zadkiel · 03-12-2009 01:00PM

I kind of liked Andrewsarchus since seeing Walking with Beasts
and Smilodons too.

+ 1 million for Megalodon though!

marco_polo · 19-01-2010 08:43PM

*Bump*. No need for a new thread for this item, can't find it posted elsewhere either. Found it on Livescience from last October. Nice gallery entitled 25 Amazing beasts:

Galvasean · 19-01-2010 09:08PM

marco_polo wrote: »

*Bump*. No need for a new thread for this item, can't find it posted elsewhere either. Found it on Livescience from last October. Nice gallery entitled 25 Amazing beasts:

They got Camarasaurus mixed up with Paralititan

cyberwolf77 · 31-03-2010 12:44AM

You folks may find this little list rather intriguing.
http://listverse.com/2010/03/30/15-terrifying-and-little-known-prehistoric-monsters/

Enjoy.

marco_polo · 31-03-2010 01:02AM

Very nice a few creatures in there I'd not come across before.

Galvasean · 05-04-2010 12:17AM

Good old Estemmenosuchus. I still have that toy from when I was a kid.

And to think, my mother at the time questioned my decision to buy it. "Would you not rather get real dinosaurs??"* :rolleyes: Parents, whaddoo they know?

*Yes yes, I know Estemmenosuchus wasn't a dinosaur, but she was implying that they were made up monsters. Although to be fair on her with a name and appearance like that who could blame her?

Coriolanus · 05-04-2010 08:54AM

http://listverse.com/2010/04/04/10-more-terrifying-and-little-known-prehistoric-monsters/

Galvasean · 05-04-2010 09:42AM

I love these list things (great website BTW). Alas, so much is the variety on display here that I have ran out of tags...

Is that Phil Lynott? :eek:

cscrpion-tm.jpg?w=378&h=450

Weidii · 23-04-2010 09:13PM

I honestly had never heard of Gigantopithecus. Shame!

What's that, Galvasean? Some sort of giant Arthropod...

Galvasean · 24-04-2010 12:32PM

It's a type of prehistoric sea scorpion, probably Pterygotus, which appears in an episode of Walking With Monsters.

Check it out at 1:40

Galvasean · 30-04-2010 03:17PM

Another top ten extinct animals list (funny how they can all be so drastically different):
http://oddee.com/item_88742.aspx

10 Best Extinct Animals

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