Extinct Prehistoric Lifeforms That You Wish Were Still Around And Those You're Glad Are Gone

[BAYLOR]

Condors?


There was a very large NZ bird, not so long extinct which may be source of Arab "Roc" legends. Arabs long ago did travel beyond India.


This is mad about A. magnificens:

Remnant populations of supposedly extinct life forms is not out of the question, there are some notable examples . Coelacanths thought to be extinct 65 million years until one was caught off of Madagascar in the 1938, Dire wolves may have survived as late as 3000 years ago in parts of North America.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

Have this rather nice Gastornis reconstruction for all of you

 

[mosaix]

Bring back the pterodactyl. Who doesn't like giant flying reptiles?

Yep, pterodactyl for me too. Awesome.

 

[BAYLOR]

Have this rather nice Gastornis reconstruction for all of youView attachment 23667

What a nasty looking brute.

 

[pambaddeley]

The giant elk would be a nice one ... and definitely the dodo.

 

[BAYLOR]

The giant elk would be a nice one ... and definitely the dodo.

The Dodo might made to the present day had animals ferrel pigs not been introduced int Madagascar. Another species that lived there the Solitaire bird also went extinct at the same time for the similar reasons.

 

[pambaddeley]

Yes I think the Solitaire was related to the dodo.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes I think the Solitaire was related to the dodo.

It would have been nice to seen both species living

Passenger Pigeons too, Once they were most common bird in North America, a combination ruthless overhunting and habitat loss finished them. The last known Passenger Pigeon Martha died in a zoo in Cincinnati 1914.

 

[BAYLOR]

Basilosaurus and early whale lived in the Eocene era from 40 to roughly 34 million years ago . And apex ocean predator , it grew to be 60 feet and had a two rows of very sharp teeth. Died due to climate shift. This is definitely one animal I wouldn't want to encounter in today's oceans. It would be a nightmare having them around, forget about swimming and for boating equally hazardous.

 

[JimC]

Quoted from Post #23
"Pity these aren't around any more
Mark Witton's reconstruction of Quetzalcoatlus"

Mark's a good friend and a great artist, but he didn't have access to the Quetz fossils. His torso is several times too large, and the eye is located too high in the skull. There were two morphs of Quetz,
the larger having a 10 meter wingspan and a weight of about 150 kg,
and the smaller a 4.8 meter span with weight about 20 kg.

Here's a photo of the torso and skull of the smaller morph.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

I would like trilobites to still exist, and bed bugs to be extinct. Hang on tho... maybe bed trilobites would fill the vacant niche...

 

[BAYLOR]

I would like trilobites to still exist, and bed bugs to be extinct. Hang on tho... maybe bed trilobites would fill the vacant niche...

It would be cool have Trilobites still around , also Ammonites .

 

[BAYLOR]

Yep, pterodactyl for me too. Awesome.

I wish they had survived the mass extinction .

 

[Matteo]

Another vote for trilobites - fantastic creatures.

And I'm lucky enough to have found a few fossils.

 

[CupofJoe]

I'd like to have back the Glyptodon, a Pleistocene armadillo the size of a car.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Anomalocaris and its relatives, the Radiodonts. Bizarre top predators of the Cambrian period: they grew up to 50cm long, which was gigantic for the time. They had a line of about a dozen fins running down each side of the body; eyes on stalks; a pair of segmented grabby appendages at the front; and a circular mouth like a meat grinder. Their fossils are so confusing that for several decades various body parts were mistaken for three completely unrelated animals. They're cousins to the arthopods, but nothing remotely like them has been seen in 400 million years.

It'd be wonderful to watch an anomolocaris swimming in the shallows. Rather less wonderful if it attempts to eat your toe.

 

[LordOfWizards]

Yep, pterodactyl for me too.

Would you like fries with that?

But seriously, These things were the size of Giraffes. Beautiful creature yes, but I would hate to get bombed by their excreta.

 

[BAYLOR]

Would you like fries with that?

But seriously, These things were the size of Giraffes. Beautiful creature yes, but I would hate to get bombed by their excreta.

And they'd need a very large population of humans to feed upon.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Keep meaning to find a decent book about pterosaurs - a lot of interesting work has been done on them lately. I think picking the right pterosaur would be important. They range from Pterodactylus antiquus (about the size of a duck) to Quetzalcoatlus northropi (the size of a small aircraft).

 

[hitmouse]

There is an Irish elk skull, with a full set of antlers, above a door in the biology dept at UCL. Absolutely extraordinary. I would like to see those running around again.