Concept
Megafauna
Related concepts (40)
Mammoth steppe
During the Last Glacial Maximum, the mammoth steppe, also known as steppe-tundra, was once the Earth's most extensive biome. It stretched east-to-west, from the Iberian Peninsula in the west of Europe, across Eurasia to North America, through Beringia (what is today Alaska) and Canada; from north-to-south, the steppe reached from the arctic islands southward to China. The mammoth steppe was cold and dry, and relatively featureless, though topography and geography varied considerably throughout.
Megalodon
Megalodon (ˈmɛgələdɒn ; Otodus megalodon), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a member of the family Lamnidae and a close relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). However, it is now classified into the extinct family Otodontidae, which diverged from the great white shark during the Early Cretaceous.
Machairodontinae
Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until about 11,000 years ago. The Machairodontinae contain many of the extinct predators commonly known as "saber-toothed cats", including the famed genus Smilodon, as well as other cats with only minor increases in the size and length of their maxillary canines.
Sturgeon
Automatic taxobox | name = Sturgeon | image = Acipenser oxyrhynchus.jpg | image_caption = Atlantic sturgeon(Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) | fossil_range = | taxon = Acipenseridae | authority = Bonaparte, 1831 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = *†Protoscaphirhynchus †Engdahlichthys †Anchiacipenser †Priscosturion Acipenser (paraphyletic) Huso Scaphirhynchus Pseudoscaphirhynchus Sturgeon is the common name for the 28 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae.
Equus (genus)
Equus (ˈɛkwəs,_ˈiːkwəs) is a genus of mammals in the family Equidae, which includes horses, asses, and zebras. Within the Equidae, Equus is the only recognized extant genus, comprising seven living species. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. The genus most likely originated in North America and spread quickly to the Old World. Equines are odd-toed ungulates with slender legs, long heads, relatively long necks, manes (erect in most subspecies), and long tails.
Eremotherium
Eremotherium (from Greek for "steppe" or "desert beast": ἔρημος "steppe or desert" and θηρίον "beast") is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae. Eremotherium lived in the southern North America, Central America, and northern South America from the Pliocene, around 5.3 million years ago, to the end of the Late Pleistocene, around 10,000 years ago. Eremotherium was widespread in tropical and subtropical lowlands and lived there in partly open and closed landscapes, while its close relative Megatherium lived in more temperate climes of South America.
Cave bear
The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word cave and the scientific name spelaeus are used because fossils of this species were mostly found in caves. This reflects the views of experts that cave bears may have spent more time in caves than the brown bear, which uses caves only for hibernation. It is thought to have been largely herbivorous.
Charismatic megafauna
Charismatic megafauna are animal species that are large—in the relevant category that they represent—with symbolic value or widespread popular appeal, and are often used by environmental activists to gain public support for environmentalist goals. Examples include tigers, lions, jaguars, hippopotamuses, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, giant pandas, brown and polar bears, rhinoceroses, kangaroos, koalas, blue whales, humpback whales, orcas, walruses, elephant seals, bald eagles, white-tailed and eastern imperial eagles, penguins, crocodiles and great white sharks among countless others.
Megalonyx
Megalonyx (Greek, "great-claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America. It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event at the end of the Pleistocene-Early Holocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. The type species, M. jeffersonii (also called Jefferson's ground sloth), the youngest and largest known species, measured about in length and weighed up to .
Pilosa
The order Pilosa paɪˈlous@ is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes anteaters and sloths (which include the extinct ground sloths). The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy". The biogeographic origins of the Pilosa are still unclear, but they can be traced back in South America as far as the early Paleogene (about 60 million years ago, only a short time after the end of the Mesozoic Era). The presence of these animals in Central America and their former presence in North America is a result of the Great American Interchange.