Land of the Beasts

Andrewsarchus

SCIENTIFIC NAME: A. mongoliensis

most common location: Middle Eocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

Andrewsarchus (/ˌændruːˈsɑːrkəs/) is an extinct genus of ungulate that lived during the Middle Eocene in China. It contains two species, A. mongoliensis and A. crassum. It was formerly placed in the families Mesonychidae or Arctocyonidae, but is now the sole member of a distinct family, Andrewsarchidae. Only known from a largely complete skull as well as isolated teeth, it is notable for being estimated as the largest terrestrial, carnivorous mammal, but that status has been disputed.

Daeodon

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Daeodon shoshonensis

most common location: Middle Miocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

Daeodon is an extinct genus of entelodont even-toed ungulates that inhabited North America about 23 to 20 million years ago during the latest Oligocene and earliest Miocene. The type species is Daeodon shoshonensis, described by a very questionable holotype by Cope. Some authors synonymize it with Dinohyus hollandi and several other species (see below), but due to the lack of diagnostic material, this is questionable at best.

Titanis

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Titanis walleri

most common location: Pliocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

Titanis (meaning “Titan” for the mythological Greek Titans) is a genus of phorusrhacid (“terror birds”, a group originating in South America), an extinct family of large, predatory birds, in the order Cariamiformes that inhabited the United States during the Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene.

American Lion

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Panthera atrox

most common location: 0.13 mya

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

The American lion (Panthera atrox, with the species name meaning “savage” or “cruel”, also called the North American lion) is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 130,000 to 12,800 years ago.

Megatherium

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Megatherium

most common location: Holocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

Megatherium (/mɛɡəˈθɪəriəm/ meg-ə-THEER-ee-əm; from Greek méga (μέγα) ‘great’ + theríon (θηρίον) ‘beast’) is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Pleistocene.

Doedicurus

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Doedicurus clavicaudatus

most common location: Holocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

Doedicurus (Ancient Greek δοῖδυξ “pestle” and oυρά “tail”) is an extinct genus of glyptodont from North and South America containing one species, D. clavicaudatus. Glyptodonts are a member of the family Chlamyphoridae, which also includes some modern armadillo species, and they are classified in the superorder Xenarthra alongside sloths and anteaters.

Woolly Rhino

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Coelodonta antiquitatis

most common location: Holocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna.

Woolly Mammoth

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Mammuthus primigenius

most common location: Holocene

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene. The woolly mammoth began to diverge from the steppe mammoth about 800,000 years ago in Siberia.

Cave Bear

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ursus spelaeus

most common location: 0.25 mya

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

MORE FACTS:

The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Both the word cave and the scientific name spelaeus are used because fossils of this species were mostly found in caves. This reflects the views of experts that cave bears may have spent more time in caves than the brown bear, which uses caves only for hibernation. It is thought to have been largely herbivorous.