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Extinct: Glyptodon
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Genus Leedsichthys
was a genus of gigantic pachycormid fish that lived in the oceans of the Mesozoic. Largely considered to be one of the largest bony fish to ever live, this behemoth could grow up to 32 feet long (some estimates put it at 53 feet). This giant fish although it had alot of teeth was probably a gentle filter feeder like extant basking sharks. leedsichthys had no recorded predator with specimens known to escape the Liopleurodon which was the top predator of the time, their large and powerful tail probably helped them out run and out maneuver the giant reptile.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Chordata-Actinopterygii-Pachycorminformes-Pachycormidae-Leedsichthys
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Genus Waimanu
waimanu is a genus of early penguin like birds which in Antarctica during the middle Paleocene (60 mya). Waimanu is one of the earliest penguins currently known to science and showed several characteristics common to penguins today as it was flightless and seemingly well adapted for wing based diving and may have resembled a loon in shape. In fact DNA analyses and anatomy show a close relationship between penguins and loons.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Chordata-Aves-Sphenisciformes-Wainamu
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Genus Prionosuchus
was a genus of large Temnspondyl amphibians from Permian Brazil. Prinosuchus is the largest described species of amphibian ever found, with individuals growing up to 30 ft long! Prinosuchus while an amphibian looks and acts very similar to extant crocodiles like the gharial, as it had a long snout and body and short legs. They presumably had a similar lifestyle as well as they probably were ambush hunters and fed primarily on fish and aquatic animals.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Chordata-Tetrapoda-Amphibia-Temnspondylia-Archegosauridae-Prionosuchus
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Genus Pycnosteus
Pycnosteus is an extinct genus of jawless fish from the Devonian period. these ancient aganathans probably cruised through the primal vegetation, eating any small invertebrates it displaces.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Chordata-Agnatha-Pteraspidomorphi-Heterostraci-Pycnosteidae-Pycnosteus
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Mauritius Blue Pigeon (Alectroenas nitidissima)
EXTINCT
… was a species of blue pigeon formerly endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. It has two extinct relatives from the Mascarenes and three extant ones from other islands. The bird was first mentioned in the 17th century and was described several times thereafter, but very few accounts describe the behaviour of living specimens. Several stuffed and at least one live specimen reached Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. Only three stuffed specimens exist today, and only one bird was ever depicted when alive. The species is thought to have become extinct in the 1830s due to deforestation and predation…
(read more: Wikipedia) (illustration by G. Haasbroek, ca. 1790)
Posted on January 26, 2013 via fauna with 162 notes
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Bringing Extinct Birds Back to Life, One Cartoon at a Time
Filmmaker Ceri Levy was working on a documentary called The Bird Effect, about how our feathered friends influence our lives, when he took on a side project, organizing an exhibition, “Ghosts of Gone Birds,” at the Rochelle School in London in November 2011.
“Its purpose was to highlight the risk of extinction that is faced by many bird species in the world today,” Levy noted. “The premise of the show was to get artists to represent an extinct species of birds, and to breathe life back into it.”
Levy sent a list of nearly 200 extinct bird species to famous artists, musicians, writers and poets, inviting them to create bird-centric pieces. A cut of the profits from the sale of the artwork would go to BirdLife International’s Preventing Extinctions Programme, which aims to protect 197 critically endangered bird species.
Acclaimed poet and novelist (also, environmental activist) Margaret Atwood knitted a Great auk—a large flightless seabird last seen off of Newfoundland in 1852. Sir Peter Blake, a British pop artist who famously designed the cover of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, submitted a collage, titled “Dead as a Dodo,” which consists of a long list of extinct and endangered birds. But the most prolific contributor by far was Ralph Steadman. The British cartoonist, who illustrated the 1967 edition of Alice in Wonderland and Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, painted more than 100 colorful and sometimes silly birds—or “boids,” as he called them in emails to Levy. - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.
Illustrations by Ralph Steadman
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Labrador Duck.
It’s not certain why this species became extinct during the late 1800s. It was hunted for food, but not extensively because it apparently tasted bad. The decline in mussels and similar shellfish, on which the labrador duck exclusively depended, has been thought to be the primary reason behind their disappearance.
It wintered around the coasts of New Jersey and new England, and bred on Labrador.
(restoration by John James Audubon.) -
Finished my sketch! Fixes still need to be made (especially to legs and hooves), but overall I’m very pleased. There’s an ugly herd of Aphelops unseen off to the side, but they’re getting cut from the team since I think they detract from the overall picture. Now I’m going to transfer everything piece by piece over to my clayboard and start scratching away!
Also, a flashing camera on graphite is awful. I should have known better…
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Slowly but surely making some progress. :)
