post your favourite extinct animal. The only requirement is that it has to be completely extinct to the best of all knowledge.


My favourite is the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Wolf. It was a carniverous marsupial originally found in Australia and Tasmania. (don't you Aussies have any native non-marsupial mammals? :p )

http://www.squeep.com/~fek/thylacine/misc/thylacine-print.jpg

The last known thylacine died in 1936, and the species was officially declared extinct in 1986. Damn shame, b/c it looks so interesting with those black marks, sort of like it's half canine and half tiger. Sightings have been rumoured since 1936 in the wild, but none have been confirmed.


What's so interesting about this species to me is that there is a viable attempt to clone it, and it might succeed. There is a preserved thylacine specimen in a museum somewhere, and mostly intact DNA was extracted from it, and the DNA might possibly be implanted into a living cell. Jurassic park is becoming a reality.

Cloning experiment: http://www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/

Not extinct yet, but close: The Kakapo

I like those mainly because Douglas Adams goes in depth about his adventures trying to track the Kakapo in Last Chance to See, which was a very good book.

Also not extinct yet, but critically close, The Northern White Rhino, which Douglas Adams also discusses. But I like these animals because I got a chance to see them at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Edit- I know, I'm bad at following rules.

Probably one of the many recently extinct species of wolves. Take your pick.

DINOSAURS!

I always loved the saber-toothed tigers when I was a kid.

Megalodon. Althought due to a hand full of odd happenings, can't be proven beyond a doubt that they didn't just move to deeper waters. *Jaws music plays in background*

Do Do. C'mon God, just give 'em another chance!

+1 for megalodon.


It was said in a documentary that if megalodons were reintroduced into the sea today, it wouldn't be long before all oceanic life died out - after which megalodons would all die out of hunger.

Purple People Eaters

...

...

What?

Humans! Oh wait, they aren't extinct yet.

The Dodo!!!
http://www.davidreilly.com/dodo/images/gallery/engraving_of_dodo11534121.jpg

Damn you, Impi, i was going to say that!

<3 Dodo

(Just a little FYI, since Ric Mentioned Adams above, the Dodo appears in "Salmon of Doubt", the little section that was published.)

I gotta go with my old sentimental favorite, the dinosaurs.

ninjas

Ninjas still exist. You just can't see them.

To prove it I hired a ninja to edit my post.

haha that's great

Do do's were killed by the introduction of dosmetic pigs that were let loose in the forests on the island. They ate all the do do's food and eggs, also disrupting mating habits. Pigs killed the do do. It didn't even taste nice, according to records.

My favourite: Loch Ness Monster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_elk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx

But it's not extinct .... yet.

I recently heard the Dodo may not actually be extinct. Has anyone else heard this?

I heard Santa's real!

Who knows what's extinct?

Well, ok, I don't have one, but I did a quick search and found one that seemed interesting.

http://home.hetnet.nl/~harrie.maas/speciesinfo/balitiger.htm

dodopark/dodo-is-still-alive!.jpg

There used to be some gigantic eagles in New Zealand. I want them back.

I love you Noble.

Now that I think about it, how about that species of mountain lion we wiped out in Afghanistan with all those fire-bombs?

Haast's eagle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpagornis

cool bird that was very big, flapped it's wings, and ate moas.