출처 http : / / oddee . com / item _ 88742 . aspx 10 Most Amazing Extinct AnimalsPublished on 8 / 25 / 2007 under ScienceFrom the Quagga -- half zebra , half horse -- to the Irish Deer -- thelargest deer that ever lived --, an impressive list with pictures ofamazing animals we will never see . Tyrannosaurus Rex ( extinct 65 million years ago ) [ Wiki ] Tyrannosaurusrex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time , measuring up to 43 . 3 feet long , and 16 . 6 ft tall , with an estimated mass that goes upto 7 tons . Like other tyrannosaurids , Tyrannosaurus was a bipedalcarnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long , heavy tail . Relativeto the large and powerful hindlimbs , Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were smalland they retained only two digits . Fossils of T . rex have been found in North American rock formationsdating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period at theend of the Maastrichtian stage , approximately 68 . 5 to 65 . 5 millionyears ago ; it was among the last dinosaurs to exist prior to theCretaceous - Tertiary extinction event . More than 30 specimens of T . rexhave been identified , some of which are nearly complete skeletons . Someresearchers have discovered soft tissue as well . The abundance offossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects ofits biology , including life history and biomechanics . Quagga : half zebra , half horse ( extinct since 1883 ) [ Wiki ] one of Africa ' s most famous extinct animals , the quagga was asubspecies of the plains zebra , which was once found in great numbersin South Africa ' s Cape Province and the southern part of the OrangeFree State . It was distinguished from other zebras by having the usualvivid marks on the front part of the body only . In the mid - section , thestripes faded and the dark , inter - stripe spaces became wider , and thehindquarters were a plain brown . The name comes from a Khoikhoi wordfor zebra and is onomatopoeic , being said to resemble the quagga ' scall . The quagga was originally classified as an individual species , Equus quagga , in 1788 . Over the next fifty years or so , many otherzebras were described by naturalists and explorers . Because of thegreat variation in coat patterns ( no two zebras are alike ) , taxonomistswere left with a great number of described " species ", and no easy wayto tell which of these were true species , which were subspecies , andwhich were simply natural variants . Long before this confusion wassorted out , the quagga had been hunted to extinction for meat , hides , and to preserve feed for domesticated stock . The last wild quagga wasprobably shot in the late 1870 s , and the last specimen in captivitydied on August 12 , 1883 at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam . Because of the great confusion between different zebra species , particularly among the general public , the quagga had become extinctbefore it was realized that it appeared to be a separate species . Thequagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied . Recentgenetic research at the Smithsonian Institution has demonstrated thatthe quagga was in fact not a separate species at all , but diverged fromthe extremely variable plains zebra . Thylacine : the Tasmanian Tiger ( extinct since 1936 ) [ Wiki ] The Thylacine was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of moderntimes . Native to Australia and New Guinea , it is thought to have becomeextinct in the 20 th century . It is commonly known as the TasmanianTiger ( due to its striped back ) , and also known as the Tasmanian Wolf , and colloquially the Tassie ( or Tazzy ) Tiger or simply the Tiger . Itwas the last extant member of its genus , Thylacinus , although a numberof related species have been found in the fossil record dating back tothe early Miocene . The Thylacine became extinct on the Australian mainlandthousands of years before European settlement of the continent , butsurvived on the island of Tasmania along with a number of other endemicspecies such as the Tasmanian Devil . Intensive hunting encouraged bybounties is generally blamed for its extinction , but other contributoryfactors may have been disease , the introduction of dogs , and humanencroachment into its habitat . Despite being officially classified asextinct , sightings are still reported . Steller ' s Sea Cow : the defenseless beast ( extinct since 1768 ) [ Wiki ] Formerlyfound near the Asiatic coast of the Bering Sea , it was discovered in in 1741 by the naturalist Georg Steller , who was traveling with theexplorer Vitus Bering . The sea cow grew up to 7 . 9 meters ( 25 . 9 ft ) longand weighed up to three tons , much larger than the manatee or dugong . It looked somewhat like a large seal , but had two stout forelimbs and awhale - like tail . According to Steller , " The animal never comes out onshore , but always lives in the water . Its skin is black and thick , likethe bark of an old oak . .., its head in proportion to the body issmall . .., it has no teeth , but only two flat white bones — one above , theother below ". It was completely tame , according to Steller . Fossilsindicate that Steller ' s Sea Cow was formerly widespread along the NorthPacific coast , reaching south to Japan and California . Given therapidity with which its last population was eliminated , it is likelythat the arrival of humans in the area was the cause of its extinctionelsewhere as well . There are still sporadic reports of sea cow - likeanimals from the Bering area and Greenland , so it has been suggestedthat small populations of the animal may have survived to the presentday . This remains so far unproven . Irish Deer : the largest deer that ever lived ( extinct about 7 , 700 years ago ) [ Wiki ] TheIrish Elk or Giant Deer , was the largest deer that ever lived . It livedin Eurasia , from Ireland to east of Lake Baikal , during the LatePleistocene and early Holocene . The latest known remains of the specieshave been carbon dated to about 5 , 700 BC , or about 7 , 700 years ago . TheGiant Deer is famous for its formidable size ( about 2 . 1 meters or 7 feet tall at the shoulders ) , and in particular for having the largestantlers of any known cervid ( a maximum of 3 . 65 meters / 12 feet from tipto tip and weighing up to 90 pounds ) . Discussion of the cause of their extinction has still focusedon the antlers ( rather than on their overall body size ) , which may bedue more to their impact on the observer than any actual property . Somehave suggested hunting by man was a contributing factor in the demiseof the Irish Elk as it was with many prehistoric megafauna , evenassuming that the large antler size restricted the movement of malesthrough forested regions or that it was by some other means a " maladaptation ". But evidence for overhunting is equivocal , and as acontinental species , it would have co - evolved with humans throughoutits existence and presumably have adapted to their presence . Caspian Tiger : the third largest ( extinct since 1970 ) [ Wiki ] TheCaspian tiger or Persian tiger was the westernmost subspecies of tiger , found in Iran , Iraq , Afghanistan , Turkey , Mongolia , Kazakhstan , Caucasus , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan until it apparentlybecame extinct in the 1970 s . Of all the tigers known to the world , theCaspian tiger was the third largest . The body of this subspecies was quite stocky and elongated with stronglegs , big wide paws and unusually large claws . The ears were short andsmall , and gave the appearance of being without hair on the tips . Around the cheeks the Caspian tiger was generously furred and the restof its fur was long and thick . The colouration resembled that of theBengal tiger . Male Caspian tigers were very large and weighed 169 - 240 kg . Females were not as large , weighing 85 - 135 kg . There are stilloccasional claims of the Caspian tiger being sighted . Aurochs : a very large type of cattle ( extinct since 1627 ) [ Wiki ] Oneof Europe ' s most famous extinct animals , the aurochs or urus ( Bosprimigenius ) were a very large type of cattle . Aurochs evolved in Indiasome two million years ago , migrated into the Middle East and furtherinto Asia , and reached Europe about 250 , 000 years ago . By the 13 th century A . D . , the aurochs ' range was restricted toPoland , Lithuania , Moldavia , Transylvania and East Prussia . The rightto hunt large animals on any land was restricted to nobles andgradually to the royal household . As the population of aurochsdeclined , hunting ceased but the royal court still required gamekeepersto provide open fields for the aurochs to graze in . The gamekeeperswere exempted from local taxes in exchange for their service and adecree made poaching an aurochs punishable by death . In 1564 , thegamekeepers knew of only 38 animals , according to the royal survey . Thelast recorded live aurochs , a female , died in 1627 in the JaktorówForest , Poland . The skull was later taken by the Swedish Army and isnow the property of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm . In the 1920 s two German zookeepers , the brothers Heinz andLutz Heck , attempted to breed the aurochs back into existence ( seebreeding back ) from the domestic cattle that were their descendants . Their plan was based on the conception that a species is not extinct aslong as all its genes are still present in a living population . Theresult is the breed called Heck Cattle , ' Recreated Aurochs ', or ' HeckAurochs ', which bears an incomplete resemblance to what is known aboutthe physiology of the wild aurochsGreat Auk : largest of all auks ( extinct since 1844 ) [ Wiki ] TheGreat Auk was the only species in the genus Pinguinus , flightless giantauks from the Atlantic , to survive until recent times , but is extincttoday . It was also known as garefowl , or penguin . Standing about 75 centimetres or 30 - 34 inches high andweighing around 5 kg , the flightless Great Auk was the largest of theauks . It had white and glossy black feathers . In the past , the GreatAuk was found in great numbers on islands off eastern Canada , Greenland , Iceland , Norway , Ireland and Great Britain , but it waseventually hunted to extinction . Remains found in Floridan middenssuggest that at least occasionally , birds ventured that far south inwinter as recently as in the 14 th century . Cave Lion : one of the largest lions ever ( extinct 2 , 000 years ago ) [ Wiki ] The cave lion , also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion , is anextinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and a wide variety ofprehistoric art . This subspecies was one of the largest lions . An adultmale , which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf ( Germany ) , had a shoulderheight of around 1 . 2 m and a length of 2 . 1 m without a tail , which isabout the same size as a very big modern lion . This male was evenexceeded by other specimens of this subspecies . Therefore this cat mayhave been around 5 - 10 % bigger than modern lions . It apparently wentextinct about 10 , 000 years ago , during the Würm glaciation , thoughthere are some indications it may have existed as recently as 2 , 000 years ago , in the Balkans . Dodo : the archetype of extinct species ( extinct since late 17 th century ) [ Wiki ] TheDodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) was a flightless bird that lived on the islandof Mauritius . Related to pigeons and doves , it stood about a meter tall ( three feet ) , lived on fruit and nested on the ground . The dodo hasbeen extinct since the mid - to - late 17 th century . It is commonly used asthe archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurredduring recorded human history , and was directly attributable to humanactivity . The adjective phrase " as dead as a dodo " means undoubtedlyand unquestionably dead . The verb phrase " to go the way of the dodo " means to become extinct or obsolete , to fall out of common usage orpractice , or to become a thing of the past . If you enjoyed this article , you might also like . .. 10 of the World ' s Smallest Animals