Extinct Animals 🦣🦤

Mostly accurate, posting strange & unique creatures that once lived on our planet

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

The largest ever camel was the Syrian camel which grew to 4 metres in height!

(Credit Doubutsu-no-kuni)

[Strange Animals @Strange_Animals]

The bunny harvestman (Metagryne bicolumnata) from Ecuador.

(Photos Andreas Kay)

[Strange Animals @Strange_Animals]

The badass caterpillar of the Citheronia moth!

(Photo: vireolanius)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Nigersaurus had a jaw that was wider than the rest of its skull, perfect for munching vegetation close to the ground. It had over 500 teeth, in multiple rows which could grow back every two weeks.

(Photo https://t.co/PaeqtGHlMs)

[Strange Animals @Strange_Animals]

The fossa is a large, cat-like predator from Madagascar, but it's more closely related to the mongoose family.

(Photos Bertal)

[Strange Animals @Strange_Animals]

The Patagonian mara from Argentina looks like a rabbit or small deer, but it's actually a large rodent.

[Strange Animals @Strange_Animals]

An adorable yawning elephant shrew!

(Photos Steve Rawlins)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Aegirocassis, a 2-metre giant, filter feeding radiodont from 480 million years ago.

(Credit Christopher Chavez)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Moeritherium was a hippo-like animal that ate soft water vegetation. They are closely related to elephants.

(Credit Mehdi Nikbakhsh)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

The snake ancestor that had four tiny legs that gripped prey!

(Credit Julius Csotonyi)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

The Salish Wool Dog is an extinct breed of dog whose fur was used like a sheep to make clothes. It is the only prehistoric North American animal to be selectively bred.

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Pristerognathus was a dog-sized predator that lived during the late Middle Permian in what is now South Africa.

(Credit dmitrchel)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Nesodon was a Miocene mammal from South America that measured 1.5 metres at the shoulder.

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Dinocephalosaurus was a long necked, aquatic protorosaur from the Triassic Period. They were ambush predators & hunted fish, violently thrashing their neck at prey when they got into the 'strike zone'.

(Credit: Prehistoric Wildlife)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Eogyrinus attheyi was one of the largest tetrapods of the Carboniferous, at 4.6 metres in length. Like the modern crocodile, it was an ambush predator.

(Credit dinoraul 2011)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Rubeosaurus lived in North America 74.6 million years ago.

(Credit Mohamed Haghani)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Hurdia was a primitive cousin of insects and other arthropods.

(Credit Quade Paul)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

The gape width of Smilodon (A) compared to Thylacosmilus (B) showing the extent of the canines within the skull.

(Credit Stephen Wroe et al.)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Echovenator sandersi lived during the Oligocene epoch, around 27 million years ago. It had superb high-frequency hearing to locate prey.

(Credit A. Gennari)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Ancient proto-spider with a tail preserved in amber.

(Credit University of Kansas)

[Extinct Animals 🦣🦤 @Extinct_AnimaIs]

Hatzegopteryx is estimated to have a wingspan of 12 metres, rivaling that of the largest pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus.

(Credit Julio Lacerda)