Top 10 Extinct Animals

[Music] they may be gone but their myths and legends shall live on we can use the size of the orcs bones to work out how tall they actually stood welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the top ten extinct animals and that might well be at the half of explaining why small alone isn't around anymore for this list we're considering animal species that are no longer walking the earth whether due to natural causes or human intervention we're excluding dinosaurs for now since there are just so many of them we could probably give them a list all their own [Music] number 10 the ground sloth what once was a unique beast that thrived during the Ice Age periods is now known for associating with a dim-witted animated film character upon their extinction over 10,000 years ago it's believed to be no coincidence that the deaths of the ground sloth are linked to humanity's entry into the North American regions though climate change was also a factor but in the 1820s one was uncovered here on skidaway Island which was the first one found in the United States with large and dangerous looking claws speculation remains to this day about whether this variation of sloth only used them to collect bark from trees though it's most likely that these mammals were herbivores although slow-moving its massive size was protection against smaller predators like the saber-tooth cat number 9 the baiji commonly referred to as the Chinese river dolphin the majestic creature could only be found in the Yangtze River in the Asian country where it got its name affectionately nicknamed the goddess of the Yangtze the baiji became victim to the growing advances and industrialization of modern china that led to massive water pollution by the end of the 20th century there were possibly only 13 wild dolphins left in the Yangtze repeated efforts were made to conserve the species but an expedition in 2006 failed to discover any remaining baiji in the river the last living baiji known as Chi Chi died in 2002 for the international conservation community it really needs to act as a wake-up call that we need to be far more efficient and far more quick to react to conservation crises in the future number 8 the Eurasian or European cave lion people tend to associate the king of the jungle as a largely African species but this extinct eurasian subspecies may prove otherwise speculated to have become extinct around 10,000 years ago these beasts were huge on average over seven feet long without the tail and could weigh 700 pounds massive in size and a massive tongue twister to say as their official name is the pintada leo spelaea their fates were sealed when settlers made their way into their homes and the rest as they say is history but I do find it astounding that he would have faced up to a cave bear yeah definitely I think maybe an ultimate experience number 7 the Irish elk it has ant+ so vast and elaborate they stretched 12 feet from tip to tip despite its name this species of deer was not exclusive to Ireland making its way across Eurasia and northern Africa for thousands of years and this is what we would expect for an animal that had a lifestyle like giant deer an open plains runner probably high stamina and this essentially is typical of an aerobic machine the Irish elk is known for being the largest species of deer ever found as they could have stood at 12 feet with antler height included unable to survive subarctic conditions which caused a lack of good food it's been suggested that the last of these deer may have died about 11,000 years ago in Ireland hence its given name others may have survived the Ice Age through Europe but were probably hunted down the case of the Irish shell reveals that faced with a changing world too highly evolved the design and actually proven animals I'm doing number six the elephant-bird many of the mountain specimens have been put together with a number of bones from different specimens native to Madagascar these ostrich look-alikes are believed to have come to an end in the 17th or 18th century the frickin dove the elephant bird weighed around half a ton well it's not fully known how the birds died out it's believed that human activity is the number one suspect initially widespread across all areas of the island there's evidence of their homes being demolished while the birds themselves were hunted which led to their untimely demise fossilized eggs of the species have remained and have become an increasingly priceless commodity across museums to this day although there were several factors threatening the birds survival it could have been people eating the eggs who dealt the species its final blow number five the quagga despite its adorable name this subspecies of zebra is no more native to South Africa the quagga became victim to the hunting of early Dutch settlers and later by Afrikaners to provide meat and skins disappearing mostly in the 1850s the wild quagga became officially extinct a few decades later though some captured ones could be found in zoos on August 12th 1883 the very last captive specimen died writing the final entry into the lifespan of this impressive species we are reviving an extinct species of Quokka and that is for the benefit of future generations number 4 the saber-tooth cat for nearly two million years this monstrous beast dominated the primal landscape of the Americas misleadingly known as a saber-toothed tiger these predators were vastly known far and wide for their curved and massive canine teeth once the teeth are engaged those vessels can be sawed by those serrated edges on front or back despite officially having the cat in their name they're not closely related to the modern animals and were in fact more agile choosing to pounce from trees than attacking with their almost footlong teeth with the Smilodon being the most well these mammals vicious nature proved to be their downfall at the end of the last ice age as most of their chosen prey had either died out or had ironically been hunted by the cats themselves thus the saber-tooth cat became extinct through its own means of hunting the art of killing always strives toward perfection and given the chance a saber-toothed cat might well evolved again number three the dodo if you've seen the animated movie ice age you can recall a joke that implied this famous bird died out during that time period but this is actually untrue the dodo seems so bizarre and comical but by the 18th century some scientists started it had ever existed at all due to their hunting by Dutch sailors that had arrived on the island of Mauritius the flightless bird became extinct however their official extinction was only confirmed in the 19th century despite their increasing rarity in the 17th century the Dodos are constantly on the lookout for foreign fruit pantsing on it before competitors arrived slow and unafraid of humans the dodo was only a little over three feet tall and between 25 and 45 pounds but achieved contemporary fame by appearing in pop culture like Disney's Alice in Wonderland number 2 the thylacine a ferocious flesh-eater that terrorized all the other beasts best known as the Tasmanian tiger this is the first purely nocturnal creature to make our list not only did they look like dogs but they seemed to behave like them evidence suggests that these native Australians were very shy in nature and became extinct in the mainland around 2,000 years ago yet survived until the 1930s in Tasmania there are even some people who think the thylacine still exists today amazingly some thylacines had hang on until the motion-picture age this film shows one pathetically pacing around its cage in the Hobart zoo general sightings were reported across Western Australia and Tasmania until 1980 leading to a vested interest in the species once again in 1983 Ted Turner offered a $100,000 reward for proof that these carnivorous marsupials are still alive while the thylacine is still considered extinct the reward is still out there so everyone keep looking under the scene sure they do exist no doubt in my mind at all and I'm amazed that now on us is penguin has come up with one but it'll happen guarantee it'll happen before we unveil our number one pick here are a few honorable mentions not much smaller than an elephant extraordinary in size and strength sparing neither man nor wild beasts it's exchanged hands for huge sums of money it even became a brand name the incredible size of the species population was larger than what most people could comprehend when a flock of passenger pigeons approached a town many villagers thought the apocalypse was upon them they grew to 25 feet in length and weighed 8,000 pounds these unknown beings were only 1 metre tall and it is believed they lived on Flores Island until at least 12,000 years ago number one the woolly mammoth it was the ADI mammoth that grew truly huge some standing over 4 metres tall at the shoulder and weighing twice as much as an African bull elephant truly one of the animal Giants it remains the greatest shame that this mammoth species is no longer with us surviving through the Ice Age thanks to its obvious woolly exterior the mammoths coexisted with human life for years in the New World it's clearly inspired cave art we've been transfixed by their majesty for thousands of years humanity used the prehistoric elephant for tools and homes however with the shift in climate the mammoths started losing grasp on their homes and safety and migrated to other pastures the last living population remained on wrangle island in the Arctic Ocean until 4000 years ago where these woolly mammoths would finally conclude their existence the surface of tusks che microscopic scratches possibly caused when mammoths use them to care ice and snow while foraging for food do you agree with our list fascinating what's your favourite extinct animal you don't think that's why there are no great ox here today 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Channel: WatchMojo.com

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Keywords: animals, nature, extinct, hunting, endangered, quagga, ground sloth, eurasian cave lion, european cave lion, saber-toothed cat, elephant bird, baiji, thylacine, wooly mammoth, irish elk, top 10, WatchMojo, Extinction, Hydrogen (Chemical Element)

Id: 2jUqRal-SFQ

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 04 2015