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This article is about living or extinct large animals. For other uses, see Megafauna (disambiguation). The African bush elephant (foreground), Earth's largest extant land mammal, and the Masai ostrich (background), one of Earth's largest extant birds. In zoology, megafauna (from Greek μέγας megas "large" and Neo-Latin fauna "animal life ...
- Shea Gunther
- Glyptodon. Glyptodons were enormous armored mammals that became extinct around 10,000 years ago. Roughly the size of a VW Beetle, the glyptodon were well-armored against attacks from predators.
- Argentavis. The Argentavis has the distinction of being the largest flying bird ever discovered. The massive bird could grow to be 24 feet, wingtip to wingtip, twice the size of the Andean condor, which is one of the largest birds in the world today.
- Paraceratherium. The Paraceratherium were enormous beasts that lived around 25 million years ago in what is now Asia (China, India, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan).
- Megalania. Megalania (Varanus priscus), whose name translates to "ancient great roamer," was a giant carnivorous goanna that may have grown up to 23 feet long and weighed more than 4,000 pounds.
- Bob Strauss
- The Giant Mammals of the Cenozoic Era. During the latter part of the Cenozoic Era—from about 50 million years ago to the end of the last Ice Age—prehistoric mammals were significantly bigger (and stranger) than their modern counterparts.
- Aepycamelus. Name: Aepycamelus (Greek for "tall camel"); pronounced AY-peeh-CAM-ell-us. Habitat: Plains of North America. Historical Epoch: Middle-Late Miocene (15-5 million years ago)
- Agriarctos. Name: Agriarctos (Greek for "dirt bear"); pronounced AG-ree-ARK-tose. Habitat: Woodlands of western Europe. Historical Epoch: Late Miocene (11 million years ago)
- Agriotherium. Name: Agriotherium (Greek for "sour beast"); pronounced AG-ree-oh-THEE-ree-um. Habitat: Plains of North America, Eurasia and Africa. Historical Period: Late Miocene-Early Pleistocene (10-2 million years ago)
- North American horses. European settlers introduced horses when they landed in the New World. But little did they know the thunderous sound of ancient horses' hooves once covered the continent.
- Glyptodon. Glyptodon looked like a supersize version of its distant relative, the armadillo. Like its cousin, Glyptodon protected itself with a shell made of bony plates.
- Mastodons. Mastodons (Mammut) entered North America about 15 million years ago, traveling over the Bering Strait land bridge, long before their relative, the mammoth, according to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Canada.
- Mammoths. Mammoths (Mammuthus) traveled to North America about 1.7 million to 1.2 million years ago, according to the San Diego Zoo. Although there are some anatomical differences between mammoths and mastodons, both are members of the proboscidean family.
Updated. 20/06/23. Megafauna are large animals that roamed the Earth during the Pleistocene, 2.5 million to 11,700 years ago. In Australia, megafauna included the huge wombat-shaped Diprotodon and giant goanna Megalania. European megafauna included Woolly Rhinoceroses, Mammoths, Cave Lions and Cave Bears.
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Jun 21, 2021 · What Is Megafauna: The Definition and Examples of Living and Extinct Species. Greentumble Biodiversity, Endangered Species June 21, 2021. Megafauna are the planet’s largest animals. Today the term generally refers to vertebrates: herbivores weighing over 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) and to carnivores weighing over 100 kilograms (220 pounds ...
Jul 26, 2019 · If you’ve gone on an African safari, chances are you’ve heard of the Big Five, the must-see list of iconic megafauna. Lions, leopards, elephants, African buffalo, and rhinoceroses are “what ...
