Fascinating Extinct Animals You’ll Wish Were Still Around

There have been some really cool creatures on this planet in the past. Here are some of the weirdest, most wonderful things to ever stroll, stride, crawl or soar around the Earth.

Pinta Island Tortoise

Born in around 1910, Lonesome George was the very last Pinta Island Tortoise. He was first discovered in 1971, by which point all other members of his species were already gone.

Over the next forty years, anthropologists tried to find George a mate from his own species, but these efforts failed as even breeding with related tortoise species proved unviable. Lonesome George finally died in 2012.

Pachydyptes Ponderosus

Pachydyptes Ponderosus were a specie of absolutely giant penguins that lived in the late Eocene era, over 30 million years ago.

They were more or less identical to penguins that live today, except that the grew to around five feet tall and weighed as much as a grown human.

Mammuthus Creticus

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Mammuthus Creticus was a teeny tiny species of mammoth which only grew to around three feet tall. It was the tiniest species of mammoth in history, and would have made an excellent pet if it hadn’t died out.

It’s not yet clear at which point in history this particular mammoth lived.

Arsinoitherium

Two horns are better than one. The Arsinoitherium lived around 30 million years ago, and looked a lot like a rhino, except it had a pair of horns on its head, next to each other.