* Zygomaturus trilobus (a large marsupial herbivore) * Palorchestes azael (a marsupial "tapir") * Macropus titan (a giant kangaroo) * Procoptodon goliah (a hoof-toed giant short-faced kangaroo) * Wonambi naracoortensis (a gigantic Australian snake) * Thylacoleo carnifex (a leopard-sized marsupial lion) |
* the Tasmanian tiger - (thylacine) |
* Thylacinus cynocephalus (the thylacine or Tasmanian tiger) |
* Stellar's sea cow |
* Steller's sea cow |
No one disputes that a large number of species have recently (in geologic terms) become extinct. Around 10,000 years before the present, thirty-nine mammalian genera disappeared, almost all of them large-bodied "megafauna," including
Some prehistoric extinctions may be the sources of cryptozoological legends.
Such extinctions have continued to the present day. Within the last millennium, many other species have died off, such as