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37 Comparisons Of The Sizes Of Prehistoric Animal Ancestors And Their Modern Relatives By Roman Uchytel
Interview With Artist
Modern technology does not only let us enjoy the things that are in the present, but also things from the past. The software available, like Photoshop, helps us take a glimpse at what things looked like. Even though they still remain digital, they're pretty close to reality.
Roman Uchytel uses technology for this very reason. He uses Photoshop to show us a glimpse of things that have passed and most likely will never come back. To be more specific, he recreates prehistoric extinct species of animals as best as he can using the information that he has. And it's fair to say that he's been doing a pretty good job at it; he even published a book which you can find here.
For today's post, we show you only one of many of his series, where he compares the sizes of extinct species with their modern relatives and places them side by side. It's really surprising how some of the species were way bigger than you would've thought looking at their modern kin.
More info: twitter.com | prehistoric-fauna.com | Facebook | Instagram
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#1
denzoren 4 years ago
If they moved just as slowly I'd love to see that. "Oh no, the giant slot is after me...got some time to get lunch and then start running".
Shut Up 3 years ago
I need er believed in the bi le like..but since I was a kid I e kept putting together bit of information and I'm with the way our world is goin today, I believe Noah's ark and all these holy books are fact
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Leigh C. 4 years ago
At the museum here we have a skeleton replica of one of those. They were huge. 53910531_1...29b492.jpg 
Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 4 years ago
This could answer a lot of Bigfoot theories if there were a couple left hiding in the woods in Appalachia somewhere
El muerto 4 years ago
there where many especies of sloth, and the north american ones where smaller, this guy lived in south america
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Most of the animals shown here existed during the Pleistocene, otherwise known as Ice Age era, which lasted from around 2.58 million to 11m7 thousand years ago. As the term Ice Age signifies, it was a glacial period where most of the northern hemisphere was covered in, you guessed it, ice. The glaciations happened on and off in steady cycles which lasted from 41,000 to 100,000 years.
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#2
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
I want to see a person for comparison. I don’t think I’ve got much of an idea how big normal wombats get. Badger sized?
#3
IguanaCircusGirl2000 4 years ago
It looks like the smaller shark told a great joke to the larger one....
Andrew Gibb 4 years ago
What kind of shark wears big, baggy, gold trousers? MC Hammerhead!
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Bacony Cakes 4 years ago
dude that's a coastal warm water predator we would've seen it by now
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As you probably know by now, all of the ancestor species shown here are extinct. Almost all, if not all of these species went extinct in the so-called Quaternary period (2.58 million years before the present) in the Late Pleistocene. This period is marked by numerous megafaunal and other extinctions. This pulse extinction is characterized by the fact that there was a widespread absence of ecological successors, which caused a major shift in faunal habitats and relationships.
#4
Randall Elijah Parcia 1 year ago
How bout the barbary lion? Which was bigger? American cave lion or the barbary lion?
#5
Isaac Boykin 1 year ago
Not all sumatran orangutans look different from bornean orangutans apart from being taller and having fuller beards.
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Fact: life on Earth has suffered 5 major extinction events, and is going through one so-called Holocene extinction event right now. An extinction event is a widespread and rapid decrease in biodiversity. The greatest extinction event killed 90 to 96 per cent of all species. Scientists argue over the exact number of extinction events life has gone through, ranging from five to as many as twenty. The current extinction event is different from others because human activity plays a huge hand in it.
#6
Mangaboi 4 years ago
The clouded leopard only goes up to a humans knees, so this is about the size of a lion.
Burs 4 years ago
Yeah that is very deceiving. They should have used a lion as comparison.
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denzoren 4 years ago
Sabertooth cats were absolute tanks. Look at the size of that thing. Still cute though...definitely would kill me in one swipe.
Kay blue 4 years ago
A modern lion or tiger could kill you with one swipe.
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Random Anon 4 years ago
I don't know Latin so I'm going to ask, Smilodon Populator... popular smiling beast?
Amaranthim Talon 4 years ago
I've seen a skeleton of one on display in a museum. They weren't particularly huge
#7
Stille20 4 years ago
I remember as a child being fascinated when I first saw a Capybara this is wild...it's like a giant Guinea pig
Julia Atkinson 4 years ago
I wonder if the other giant animals sat next to it or went swimming with it?
Calypso poet 4 years ago
Those things smell worse than the flamingos and elephants! I love almost all animals. I would not hurt a capybara but I would not willing donate to it's birthday party!
Let's hope you learned something new today. If you didn't, or if you're up to learn even more cool stuff, Bored Panda is here to help you satisfy this thirst for knowledge. Here's our latest edition of "Today I Learned" posts that our community loves. Too general, want to learn something more animal-centric? No problem. Want to know more about silly bird names that ornithologists came up with? Or perhaps you want to know what insects really look like when they're flying? Let's not end this post about extinct species with a sad note: here's a story about reappeared elephant shrew species that we thought went extinct 50 years ago.
#8
Leslie Burleson 4 years ago
Weirdest damn animals. I didn't ever seen one of them actually alive until a few years ago
denzoren 4 years ago
They eat armadillos in my country....I wonder if they still would if it was that size.
Burs 4 years ago
Yes. Humans used to hunt them in South America. We were probably the reason why the giant mammals in America got extinct.
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#9
denzoren 4 years ago
Just for information...the current bison is approximately 2.5m or 8feet tall...that other guy could wreck a bus and not even break a sweat.
Aunt Messy 4 years ago
Modern bison are massive enough, thanks. If you've ever been close to one, you'd know they dwarf humans.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 4 years ago
Well - one of them's extinct, so I wouldn't be too jealous ;-)
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Tobias the Tiger 4 years ago
I remember seeing a painting of a long-horned bison in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado. Didn't think they were a real species.
Sandra Lynn 4 years ago
Wonder if the long horned ones were as bad tempered as the modern ones.?
Roman shared: "My favorite animal is the one I’m drawing right now. So every time I get a new favorite. Can you imagine that ancient rodents were the size of a rhinoceros, and extinct rhinos led the life of giraffes and were the tallest animals in the world?!"
#10
Jonny Man 4 years ago
One bite will kill you, whether it's in a lethal place or not. The sheer amount of nasty bacteria they keep in their mouths turns a wound septic in less than an hour, resulting in an unbelievably painful death. Horrible way to go... but rather genius way to kill prey for a reptile that is not naturally venomous!
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Safar Falahi 4 years ago
Sad how my country didnt care much about this Komodo. Heck they even want to make a park out of it. And Yes i'm from Indonesia where Komodo live right now.
#11
Surya Amriza 4 years ago
The last of the extinct elephants were seen at the battle of Minas Tirith.
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
This is the sort of size difference I was expecting with the mammoth. I didn’t realise that there were other extinct prehistoric pachyderms.
glowworm2 4 years ago
I remember as a kid learning about the mastodon before the mammoth. In Nebraska, there’s this awesome museum that has tons of ancient extinct elephant skeletons.
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Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I didn't know this elephant existed (the extinct one). Which, now I think of it, makes sense, but still...
"My wife and business partner Alexandra Antonova (Uchytel) is a great writer. She has so many cool ideas. Now we’re working on one idea—Prehistories (a series of prehistoric fairy tales). Now all we have to do is find a publisher."
#12
IlovemydogShilo 4 years ago
It's so sad to think that one is nearly as extinct as the other.😞😞😞😠😠😠
Angel Burd 4 years ago
And sadly, the Northern White Rhino is now functionally extinct as the last 2 living are both female.
#13
SomeCrazyDogLover 4 years ago
Why does the extinct cheetah look like an annoyed older sibling XD
Julia Atkinson 4 years ago
"I wish he'd stop following me around, I want to meet my girlfriend"
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Jon S. 4 years ago
I watched a documentary on fast animals which said increasing size generally results in slower speeds in animals. The cross-sectional strength of bones and muscles cannot keep up with cubically increasing weight. This is of particular concern when high speed places limbs under high stress. Large animals which do obtain high speeds, such as horses, frequently suffer broken limbs.
Load More Replies... Lucas Costa 1 month ago
After a bit or research and not yet confirmed but the bulk barn sized one ran at 70 mph-115 kph while the keto cat ran at 75 mph-120 kph
michaelheller 4 years ago
the giant cheetah was super fast, just not fast enough to outrun extinction#astroidsarefaster
#14
Jo Choto 4 years ago
So Asian elephants are relatively small, which would indicate that the mammoth was smaller than a modern day African elephant. Is that actually correct?
Mary Mulrooney 4 years ago
I feel from documentaries I've seen, that a few of these comparisons are not correct.
Load More Replies... Seabeast 4 years ago
Elephants aren't exactly "modern", they were around at the same time as mastodons and mammoths. It's just that they survived into the present day and their cousins did not.
Seabeast 4 years ago
LOL, somebody downvoted me for pointing out this fact. I guess they don't read?
Load More Replies... Marlowe Fitzpatrik 4 years ago
That Asian Elephant has very African tusks, though. Rare to see them this long, even on a picture
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
Oh. I’m a bit disappointed, I thought mammoths were much bigger than elephants.
S.Y.L 4 years ago
The woolly mammoth was more or less the same size as elephants. Steppe mammoths and Columbian mammoths were bigger.
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Lisa Shelton 4 years ago
Well giant sloths were 13 ft tall when they stood on their hind legs.
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#15
Lil Prime 4 years ago
Looks like the extinct ones saying DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO ME OR MY SON EVER AGAIN!!!
Analyn Lahr 4 years ago
The Siberian Tiger is, I believe, the largest cat alive today. That Ngandong looks twice its size. Nice kitty, good kitty. Do you like catnip? I'll just set it here...
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
More like, Next time your out cat'n around be home by midnight or your grounded.
#16
Binxyminxem 4 years ago
Paddington and his ancestor! Think I read Paddington bear was based on the spectacled bear at Chester Zoo
Amaranthim Talon 4 years ago
I'd never heard of a Spectacled bear- he looks like one of my puppers..
#17
emily arslain 4 years ago
the last male white rhino died in 2018, and there are only two females left. they live in Kenya I believe surrounded by armed gaurds 24/7. I don't know if this is true but I have heard they were going to try and use some sort of genetic engineering to impregnate the white rhinos? I don't know for sure though but it wouldn't surprise me if they least considered it.
Onion rings like to make your breath smelly 4 years ago (edited)
the extinct one looks like an elephant, giraffe, and a tapir mixed into one
katboxjanitor 4 years ago
Sad to think that the only possibility for more white Rhinos involves artificial insemination. Only 2 females left, I believe.
Sue Clifford 4 years ago
Unfortunately our white will be extinct if not guarded from trophy hunters.
#18
Seabeast 4 years ago
Some dun (buckskin) horses have ghost stripes on their legs. Norwegian Fjord horses often have that.
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Shika Louis 4 years ago
Imagine going for a ride on that thing - "hey Tony, I'm just off to ride Sunshine, bring me the stepper. Actually, might just use the ladder...
Chaotic-Pansexual (she/they) 4 years ago
This may be partially true but a lot of prehistoric horse relatives were actually much smaller than modern horses
KC Lancaster 4 years ago
I'm glad they've colored the extinct horse based on the quagga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga, especially since mankind made the quagga extinct in the wild by 1878. The-Quahka...a6530d.jpg 
Prilsy 4 years ago
But some other prehistoric horses were much smaller than current ones
Load More Replies... katboxjanitor 4 years ago
The stripes are a camouflage adaptation for many species. And the Przewalskii horse is so very interesting in person.
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
Because then it wouldn't look as impressive. The Przewalski's horse is the nearest thing we have left to a truly wild horse - all the rest are varying degrees of feral.
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Seán Baron 4 years ago
The best comparison would be a Quagga, but unfortunately it became extinct in 1883.
#19
K Tigress 4 years ago
I had a grade 4 teacher like that. The look and persona matched perfectly. Or in comparison of an Egyptian queen with a fierce persona. Take your pick. 😬
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KC Lancaster 4 years ago
According to: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-elephant-bird-1093723 - "The largest specimens the elephant bird Aepyornis were 10 feet tall and weighed about 1,000 pounds—still enough to make it the biggest bird that ever lived." Moa, on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa - "The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 m (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb)".
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#20
Naomi Pollock 4 years ago
Incorrect, the Afrikaans word seekoei means hippopotamus. which is a complete different species to the sea cow or Steller's sea cow.
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Linus Nilsson 4 years ago
The extinction of Stellers sea cow is what started research into human effect on the nature. They were so easy to hunt that they went extinct in just a few year from discovery. Before that, people looked at nature as an endless resource for food and materials
Taco Da Guinea Pig 4 years ago
I love sea cows!! I want to hug it and ride it and love it forever!
#21
denzoren 4 years ago
Adapted to eating leaves that were high up in their habitat...incase anyone was wondering.
Dynein 4 years ago
That was always the "obvious" theory but scientists checked the influence of neck length on grazing success and found that it doesn't really give an advantage... however, it IS known that giraffe males use their necks when fighting for females, where longer and stronger necks ARE an advantage.
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Joran Quinten 4 years ago
I heard a guy named Ford Prefect is singlehandedly responsible for what we now know as a giraffe
Leslie Burleson 4 years ago
Now that's a glow up. Get it ? The neck went up ? Sorry, I can't resist a good dad joke
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
The sivatherium actually looks fairly sensible when compared to a giraffe.
#22
DelvianBlue 4 years ago (edited)
If you've ever heard a group of modern lemurs howling, these extinct ones must have been awe-inspiring
#23
udw 4 years ago
i´ve seen the prehistoric moose in our museum, gigantic, .
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Cheryl Forbes 4 years ago
You need a person for scale to appreciate how large the modern moose is.
KC Lancaster 4 years ago
Here's the post I tried before - one of my favorite charts: Bigger-tha...40c407.jpg 
Elizabeth Calvert 4 years ago
Random side note, you shouldn't place carved pumpkins outside because moose love to eat them
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
I'll add this bit of information to my Halloween etiquette....
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#24
Quinn Alexander 4 years ago
They're NOT actually related to pigs. They're closer related to Hippos and, surprisingly, Whales.
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
You're going to need one giant rotissereie to turn that dude!
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Craig Reynolds 4 years ago
It may have gotten smaller but it didn't lose any of its attitude...
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
... Not sure, but I wouldn't want to be the one to tell either of them they were the loser!
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#25
Bella, Your Kitty-Loving Queen 4 years ago
Finally, one where the extinct animal doesn’t look like it wants to kill you!
Demongrrrrl 4 years ago
The extinct one looks more like a dromedary than a camel. Dromedaries have one hump (like the letter D has one bulge). The Bactrian camel has two humps, like a B has two bulges). Now you know how to tell them apart.
Leslie Burleson 4 years ago
Hey Mike ! Mike Mike Mike Mike ! Guess what day it is ? Hump Day ... 1-5 millions years ago
Arenite 4 years ago
If you wanna see Bactrians in action, rent “The Story of the Weeping Camel”. Terrific movie!
Kim Lorton 4 years ago
The modern, current camel, seems more advanced…it has learned how to smile!
#26
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Not too different in some ways, and I'd never want to irritate either of them!
Palo Sulek 4 years ago
so we, current people, sh*t our pants just the same way like our predecitors
#27
Martín Alfredo Burcheri Voet 1 year ago
Solamente que ese pico es de una rapaz
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emily arslain 4 years ago
birds are actually related to dinosaurs, I looked up the exact terminology for you "Birds evolved from a group of meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods. That's the same group that Tyrannosaurus rex belonged to, although birds evolved from small theropods, not huge ones like T. rex. The oldest bird fossils are about 150 million years old."
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Dodo 4 years ago
I'm mostly fine with the idea of the giant mammals and stuff. But for some reason the giant birds freak me out
LunaThePotat 4 years ago
Really it’s anything that lives in the sea the bigger the worse it is even dolphins freak me out a bit 😅
Load More Replies... Julia Atkinson 4 years ago (edited)
The seriema looks as though it's just made a snide remark about the size of the kelenken's wings
Juno French 3 years ago
The tiny wings are cute but the rest of it is bloody death on two legs
#28
Darin Colvey 4 years ago
The modern version is far scarier than that giant hoppy bunny thing, the modern 'roos are weirdly ripped.
Robecca Leyden 4 years ago
Gosh think about how powerful modern kangaroos are, the goliah would take out cars!
#29
Elizabeth Tunney 4 years ago
He is...Very Epic. I was kind of expecting a dire wolf, but eh dire wolves aren’t really wolves, are they? Oh, if you love wolves, check out Wolf Conservation Center or WCC. They have wolf webcams of real live wolves, you can even visit them in NY. Also, NC is the only state that has WILD red wolves AKA Canis Rufus. But, you can also find Gray wolves AKA Canis Lupis a little more often around more places,too.
Load More Replies... KC Lancaster 4 years ago
Pretty impressive - Epicyon was about 1.5 m (5 ft) long, and is estimated to have had a weight of 91–136 kg (200–300 lb) in the largest species (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicyon). I have a soft spot for Dire Wolves that weighed, depending on gender and individual differences, 55 to 80 kg, with the closest modern relative being the coyote (https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Canis-dirus).
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
The extinct guy ate camels. Which were native to North America, then moved to Asia, and now we haven't got any in North America. Which is just weird when you think about it.
#30
Katie Lutesinger 4 years ago
My local dinosaur museum has a prehistoric crocodile's skull on display, and the damn thing is the size of a smartcar! Thank goodness they're not around any more - modern crocodiles are scary enough!
Sooploosh MacSchnibble 3 years ago
I love crocodilians, but I know to give them a wide birth. they're smart and unpredictable.
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Seán Baron 4 years ago
Aren't crocodiles' living fossils' anyway? They've not changed in 450 million years.
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
I have seen them being referred to as Living Dinosaurs... maybe that's what you're thinking?
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Sandra Lynn 4 years ago
Did you know there once was a vegetarian crocodile? It had a very short snout...kind of like it had run into a tree headfirst.
Angeline Nealy 3 years ago
I live in Florida and I see absolutely huge sized caimen here. Now the extinct one is huge.
Cheryl Carter 3 years ago
There is a reason that they are extinct! I would like to keep it that way!! That could eat a whole adult is one bite!
#31
CD Mills 4 years ago
Right? Just purr while you are eating me and it will be cool! Pet...pet... scratch...munch.
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Laura Perkinson 4 years ago
Makes you wonder about humans being the demise of some of these animals and are still doing it!
#32
Simon Murray 4 years ago
You can't say that a hare is the living equivilent to a giant rabbit, they are different species altogether, there are giant rabbits to compare to!
Arenite 4 years ago
Maybe this is still in the common ancestor line? I don’t know when hares and rabbits split into separate species, but they must have quite a few common ancestors making of the trunk of their genetic family tree.
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therarestbanana 4 years ago
Island gigantism. PBS Eons made a few interesting videos about it!
Hugh Walter 4 years ago
Is that Minorcan as in the island of Minorca? Animals often grow large on islands? When did it go extinct . . . soon after Jason turned up with a ship full of warriors and some cooking-pots!?
#33
Blarrg 4 years ago
I guess. Hippos kill more people than wolves, sharks, elephants and lions combined.
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Angela B 4 years ago
Happy to be corrected, apparently even though a hippo is large in size, they are remarkably fast at running. Faster than the average human I believe.
Monday 4 years ago
You're right....the average human cannot outrun a hippo, which is why they kill so many people yearly. You think because they're so adorably pudgy and awkward looking you can get close and just run away...but they will catch you.
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#34
LadyGrimm 4 years ago
I actually feel like this graphic undersells the size of Argentavis magnificens. They were known to have up to 27ft wingspans, roughly the same a small airplane. They preyed on animals the size of modern cows.
Daniel Gómez 4 years ago
As far as I'm concerned, the Argentavis did not "prey" on any animals, since it apaprently did not hunt, same as the andean condor. It could have fed on animals as big as a cow, and even bigger, as long as they were dead. Condors only hunt when carrion is scarce, and argentavis might have done the same. No matter how impressive their size is, their talons lack(ed) the strength eagles' and other similar birds of prey do posses.
Load More Replies... D. Pitbull 4 years ago
THUNDERBIRD. Geezus. Ever seen an Andean Condor in real life (I mean... even a life size sculpture)... freakin'... ARRRGH!!! So thinking of a bird even BIGGER...
#35
Juds Conne 4 years ago
Love hyenas, their lineage and modern characteristics, especially the perfection of their heads and muzzles. Same for the South American Jaguar and its ancestors ( pictured above). When something works so well, not much needs to change.
Debrina Blackmoon 4 years ago
Related to mongooses, I found not long ago!
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Adrian Lui 4 years ago
did you know that female hyenas have a penis like organ? in copulation male hyenas insert their copulatory organ to the female's penis like reproductive organ, geezzz talk about painful sexual intercourse.
D. Pitbull 4 years ago
Hyenas are ... fascinating. The Female Hyena... freaks me the heck out. Just... read about the birthing. Okay, I'm breaking out in a cold sweat.
katboxjanitor 4 years ago
Just slight differences due to changes influenced by changes in their prey & predators and climate.
#36
Kind Pegasus 95 4 years ago
Monstro! I used to be terrified of him as a kid XD
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Annie 4 years ago
Interesting that their teeth evolved from large to small but with more teeth
john vans 4 years ago
Difference in diet - Sperm whales mainly hunt cephalopods like squids but Levyatan hunted other whales
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#37
Goth mouse (they/them) 4 years ago
I wonder if the giant gelada grazed on grass like the modern one?
Blarrg 4 years ago
Dunno, but I'm guessing that set of canines is not ornamental...
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Cristian Stoltz 4 years ago (edited)
These would be much easier to understand with a 1.7m human as a scale next to them...
Noelia Gianni 4 years ago
The modern gelada looks like he's extremely embarrased by the extinct giant gelada dad joke
James Zaworski 2 years ago
Our ancestors hunted and ate the giant baboon. https://jameszaworski.blogspot.com/2021/12/homo-erectus-preyed-on-giant-baboons.html
James Zaworski 3 years ago
Our ancestors had to deal with these guys. In fact, there is evidence of the associated faunal remains of Theropithecus long bones being smashed open to get the marrow associated with Acheulian stone tool technology. Pilbeam described Homo erectus killing and butchering of some 90 of these big guys in our ancestry. Homo erectus was pretty bad ass to confront these guys.
Jon S. 4 years ago
Geleda butts are unimpressive. They spend so long sitting on them that their display centre moved to their chests. You want to see them flex!
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What do you think ?
Burs 4 years ago
Great thread. It might have been nice to add a common factor to see the scale of the animals. Like a solute representing a human for example. (Not a banana for scale people…)
Jo Choto 4 years ago
This was really cool. Sad that it didn't get a lot of traffic. I was thinking about why animals have shrunk so much, and then I remembered reading an article in Discover magazine a couple of years ago about how creatures grown in carbon dioxide rich/lower oxygen atmospheres grow much bigger. I think back in the day, that was the earth's atmosphere and as oxygen levels have risen over millennia, the animal world has shrunk. So as we continue to churn out carbon dioxide with more people, and wipe down forest land, will we go back to that ancient atmosphere and end up with giant animals again?
Ozacoter 4 years ago
Yes and no. There was a moment in time where oxigen levels were higher, allowing animals like insects to be big (like the Carboniferous). But its not the case here. Most of this animals got extinct as a combination of prehistoric human hunting and the end of the ice age.
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Felix Feline 4 years ago
Many of the extinct animals shown here were the victims of over-hunting and human-caused habitat destruction. Wherever Homo sapiens arrived, mass extinctions of the megafauna quickly followed.
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
There's far more to it than was thought, and humans had little to do with many of the extinctions. A huge part of the Northern Hemisphere used to be a single, massive, tundra habitat which spread unbroken across continental Europe and Asia. The sheer size of this habitat allowed the megafauna to survive despite climate fluctuations. When this habitat was replaced with warmer forests and grasslands, then the megafauna had nowhere to go and died out. A similar, but somewhat more complex picture, was true in the Americas, but it is widely accepted that humans did little more than give the final push to species that were functionally extinct.
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K Tigress 4 years ago
I think scientist are trying to work on this. They are harvesting mammoth DNA so they can bring something back. But if successful the creature won't be perfect. Look it up! 🙂
Load More Replies... YoyoSthlm 4 years ago
It would be interesting to see the "first dog". Like when did you decide it is a dog, not a tamed wolf.
Ozacoter 4 years ago
It would look similar to a grey wolf. If you are interested in the topic. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-wolves-really-became-dogs-180970014/
Load More Replies... K Tigress 4 years ago
Yes loved this article but now can we have a "what would some creatures look like speculatively in the future" version of this? Please!
Ozacoter 4 years ago
You cant. Their looks will depend on how their future environment is and random luck like which mutations they get and which species evolve and not just get extinct.
Load More Replies... Helwin 4 years ago
So basically the extincts ones are bigger and fluffier versions of the modern ones ?
Ozacoter 4 years ago
Many species were smaller, they just showed big ones. For example in italy there used to be pigmy elephants. Google sicilian dwarf elephant
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Burs 4 years ago
Great thread. It might have been nice to add a common factor to see the scale of the animals. Like a solute representing a human for example. (Not a banana for scale people…)
Jo Choto 4 years ago
This was really cool. Sad that it didn't get a lot of traffic. I was thinking about why animals have shrunk so much, and then I remembered reading an article in Discover magazine a couple of years ago about how creatures grown in carbon dioxide rich/lower oxygen atmospheres grow much bigger. I think back in the day, that was the earth's atmosphere and as oxygen levels have risen over millennia, the animal world has shrunk. So as we continue to churn out carbon dioxide with more people, and wipe down forest land, will we go back to that ancient atmosphere and end up with giant animals again?
Ozacoter 4 years ago
Yes and no. There was a moment in time where oxigen levels were higher, allowing animals like insects to be big (like the Carboniferous). But its not the case here. Most of this animals got extinct as a combination of prehistoric human hunting and the end of the ice age.
Load More Replies... Felix Feline 4 years ago
Many of the extinct animals shown here were the victims of over-hunting and human-caused habitat destruction. Wherever Homo sapiens arrived, mass extinctions of the megafauna quickly followed.
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
There's far more to it than was thought, and humans had little to do with many of the extinctions. A huge part of the Northern Hemisphere used to be a single, massive, tundra habitat which spread unbroken across continental Europe and Asia. The sheer size of this habitat allowed the megafauna to survive despite climate fluctuations. When this habitat was replaced with warmer forests and grasslands, then the megafauna had nowhere to go and died out. A similar, but somewhat more complex picture, was true in the Americas, but it is widely accepted that humans did little more than give the final push to species that were functionally extinct.
Load More Replies... K Tigress 4 years ago
I think scientist are trying to work on this. They are harvesting mammoth DNA so they can bring something back. But if successful the creature won't be perfect. Look it up! 🙂
Load More Replies... YoyoSthlm 4 years ago
It would be interesting to see the "first dog". Like when did you decide it is a dog, not a tamed wolf.
Ozacoter 4 years ago
It would look similar to a grey wolf. If you are interested in the topic. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-wolves-really-became-dogs-180970014/
Load More Replies... K Tigress 4 years ago
Yes loved this article but now can we have a "what would some creatures look like speculatively in the future" version of this? Please!
Ozacoter 4 years ago
You cant. Their looks will depend on how their future environment is and random luck like which mutations they get and which species evolve and not just get extinct.
Load More Replies... Helwin 4 years ago
So basically the extincts ones are bigger and fluffier versions of the modern ones ?
Ozacoter 4 years ago
Many species were smaller, they just showed big ones. For example in italy there used to be pigmy elephants. Google sicilian dwarf elephant
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