Some animals, including saltwater crocodiles, gray wolves, great white sharks, and tigers, have preyed on humans, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Humans have tools to defend themselves, but extinct predators like the cave hyena, dire wolf, and giant Australian lizard Megalania likely went extinct due to human activity. These animals would have competed […]
Climate change has been a threat for thousands of years, as shown by the disappearance of woolly mammoths on St. Paul Island due to a heat spell. The last known group of mammoths went extinct 4,000 years ago. Global warming might seem like a recent phenomenon, but the truth is that climate change has been […]
Scientists have successfully sequenced DNA from a 120-135 million-year-old weevil found in Lebanese amber, but reviving larger and older animals remains difficult due to the challenge of finding intact DNA. Soft tissue from Pleistocene species is available, making the revival of Neanderthals and other species feasible. The technology raises ethical questions, but human curiosity is […]
Arthropods make up 80% of living species and have a 600 million year history. Extinct arthropods have been discovered as fossils, including the famous trilobite and sea scorpions. Arthropods were the first terrestrial animals to leave fossils and evolved alongside plants. Larger arthropods evolved during the Carboniferous period, including dragonflies and millipedes. Their size is […]
Europe had many extinct animals during the Pleistocene, adapted to the cold and changing characteristics during glacial and interglacial periods. These included the cave bear, giant unicorn, and woolly rhinoceros. Hominids, including Neanderthals, also lived in Europe and became extinct. During most of the Pleistocene (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago), Europe had many unusual […]
Many North American animals went extinct after the last ice age, with humans believed to be the cause. Megafauna, including the American lion and ancient bison, are mostly extinct. Other extinct animals include the giant short-faced bear, saber-toothed tiger, and wooly mammoth. Like everywhere else, numerous animals in North America went extinct shortly after the […]
Birds evolved from small predatory dinosaurs in the Jurassic Period, with Archaeopteryx being the earliest known bird. Ratites were large flightless birds, including ostriches and emus, while phorusracids, or “terror birds,” were dominant predators in South America. The largest extinct bird was the elephant bird, while terror birds are the one category of extinct bird […]
Languages are alive and change with time, but when the native population no longer speaks it, the language becomes extinct. Some languages like Latin and Coptic are still used for ceremonial purposes. Language extinction can occur due to natural disasters, genocide, or forced assimilation. Efforts can be made to revive dying languages. Many languages have […]
