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Top 10 Most Beautiful Extinct Animals

We live in an age where science can turn back the clock, and similar to the movie series, extinct and lost animals from the world may soon appear... There are more extinct animals than there are living species on Earth, which makes us even more curious about their existence. It's no wonder we can't get enough of Jurassic Park movies. Luckily, we live in an age where science can turn back the clock, and similar to the movie series, has made some of the lost species from the world extinct. Bright Side has chosen which species may soon return to us and has selected the following 10 species that would be very interesting to see in real life.

1. Irish Elk

The Irish elk, Megaloceros giganteus, once roamed across Ireland and Siberia, but is now extinct. Known as the “Giant Elk,” the largest deer reached 2.14m in height and weighed 700kg. Their enormous antlers, which were up to 3.7m across, were used by males to intimidate rivals and attract mates. The Irish elk evolved over 400,000 years and became extinct around 5,000 years ago due to overhunting by humans and a lack of minerals, especially calcium, which is the main component of antlers.
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2. Japanese Honshu Wolf

The Japanese Honshu Wolf, also known as “canis lupus hodophilax”, once inhabited the islands of Shikoku, Hyushu and Honshu in Japan. It was the smallest of the canis lupus species, standing about 91.5 cm tall and 30.5 cm wide. Rabies and habitat destruction caused the wolf to become aggressive towards humans. The relationship between wolves and humans became increasingly tense, and their attacks led to hunting and extinction in 1905.
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3. Quagga

The quagga was a striking animal with a horse-like build and zebra-like coat. It was a small subspecies that lived 200,000 years ago and became extinct in the 19th century. Native to South Africa and known for its unique call, the quagga, also known as the quagga, disappeared in 1883, largely due to overhunting by humans to create more land for livestock and for meat and leather.
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4. Pinta Island Tortoise

The Pinta Island Tortoise, also known by its scientific name Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, is a species of giant tortoise native to the Galapagos Islands. They were heavily hunted for food in the 19th century. Their habitat was completely threatened in the 1950s when goats were introduced to the island to raise them. Despite many conservation efforts, by 1971, only one individual had survived, the famous tortoise named George. Despite attempts to mate with other species, George failed to produce any eggs that hatched, and he eventually died in 2012, marking the end of his lineage.
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5. Greater Auk

Also known by its scientific name Pinguinus impennis, the greater auk was a flightless bird similar to today's penguins. Like penguins, they were expert swimmers, storing fat under their skin to keep warm, and gathering in tight flocks and standing close together for protection. They were notable for their heavy hooked beaks, were about 90 cm tall, and lived in the North Atlantic until their extinction in the 19th century.

The main reason was that in the early 16th century, Europeans hunted the bird for its downy feathers to make pillows, and then they were hunted in North America for fishing, most of which were brutally treated, such as skinning for feathers or roasting alive. As they became rare, museums and collectors continued to hunt for auk specimens (dead specimens), leading to the species' extinction.
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6. Saber-toothed tigers

The saber-toothed tiger lived in North and South America at the end of the ice age, although it evolved into a complete species 2.5 million years ago. An adult saber-toothed tiger typically weighed 400kg, was 1.4m tall and 3m long. Although called saber-toothed tigers, their appearance was more like that of a bear because their forelimbs were short and strong, not suitable for racing. The distinctive saber-toothed teeth could be up to 30cm long, but were quite weak and fragile, and were only used to grab the soft flesh of unsuspecting prey. Smilodons could also open their jaws 120 degrees, but their bite force was quite weak.

Smilodons usually hunted larger prey such as bison, deer, and baby mammoths, and if necessary, they could even eat dead prey. Many hypotheses suggest that they lived in herds. Hunting small prey was too difficult for them, which may have been the reason why they did not survive later. However, the extinction of the saber-toothed tiger coincided with the time when humans appeared and learned to hunt animals.
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7. Steller's Seal

Also known as Hydrodamalis gigas, Steller's seals are a marine mammal with a similar appearance to a manatee, eating plants and having a massive size, they can be up to 9 meters long. This species was discovered by Georg Wilhelm Steller, and was soon hunted to extinction by Europeans in just 3 weeks.

The reason they were so easily captured was because of their docile nature and their instinct to swim to shallow waters to find food. They lived in coastal areas of the North Pacific until they were completely exterminated in 1768, people hunted them for meat as food, took their fat to make lamp oil and used their skin to cover boats. Sailors and hunters followed Steller's route to find and capture them.
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8. Moa

The Moa is a massive flightless bird native to New Zealand. It can grow to nearly 4 metres tall and weigh 230 kg. Despite its height, the anatomy of its spine shows that its neck is often stretched forward rather than upright, and its long neck forms a gentle slope that makes its calls louder through resonance.

The Moa was originally hunted only by the Haast's eagle, but that changed when the Maori people migrated to the island around 1300 AD. Within a century, hunting by humans drove the Moa to extinction, and with it the Haast's eagle.
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9. Mammoths

The woolly mammoth was most numerous in the icy regions of the northern hemisphere at the beginning of the Holocene (11,700 years ago). These giants could grow up to 3.35 metres tall and weigh 6 tonnes, almost as much as the African elephant, but they were more closely related to the Asian elephant.

Unlike normal elephants, the woolly mammoth had dark brown or blond fur, an extremely short tail that was tucked close to its body to keep warm. The mammoth had long tusks for fighting and foraging, so it was hunted not only for its meat but also for its ivory. But the main cause of its extinction was climate change at the end of the ice age. The melting ice cleared away their habitat, causing their population to plummet, leaving so few survivors that when humans continued to hunt them, they were gradually wiped out over the next 4,000 years.
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10. Tasmanian Tiger

The Tasmanian Tiger was the largest marsupial carnivore of modern times, evolving around 4 million years ago and becoming extinct in the 1930s, due to overhunting by humans, especially farmers, who killed their livestock and poultry. Other contributing factors to its extinction included the conversion of its habitat to farmland, natural disasters, and the introduction and encroachment of various dog species. This extraordinary animal lived in Tasmania, Australia, and New Guinea, and could grow up to 2 metres long.

The Tasmanian Tiger was primarily a nocturnal predator, preying on animals such as kangaroos, koalas, birds, and other small mammals. Its jaws could open up to 120 degrees, and its stomach could expand to accommodate large amounts of food when it lived in areas with limited prey. Rarely, both sexes of this species have pouches, and females use the pouches to protect their external genitalia as they navigate harsh environments.
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