570 vanished lives

79Recently extinct

The bucardo was the first extinct animal briefly brought back as a clone—and the first to go extinct twice.

84Paleozoic

A thick skull roof capped this heavy plant-eating mammal relative.

92Cenozoic

Long clawed forelimbs made this horse relative walk on its knuckles.

93Cenozoic

A huge deep-skulled omnivore belonged to the entelodonts, not to true pigs.

94Cenozoic

A spiked tail club completed the armor of this giant glyptodont.

96Cenozoic

A broad face, forward-looking eyes and single-toed feet distinguished this giant kangaroo.

97Cenozoic

This black-bear-sized beaver had ridged teeth and depended on extensive wetlands.

100Recently extinct

This large coastal sea lion bred on rocky islands across the Sea of Japan.

105Paleozoic

Crossbars projected from the spines of its tall sail above a broad plant-processing body.

111Cenozoic

Nearly everything known directly comes from one enormous skull, leaving the body unusually uncertain.

112Cenozoic

It resembled a rhinoceros but belonged to the extinct brontotheres and carried paired nasal horns.

113Cenozoic

A massive body, broad feet and four ossicones made this giraffid resemble both deer and cattle.

114Cenozoic

Short blade-like canines, long forelimbs and a sloping back suited pursuit of large prey.

115Cenozoic

Ice Age art usually shows this immense cat without the heavy mane of many modern male lions.

116Cenozoic

Without large predators, this heavy island rabbit evolved small ears and lost efficient hopping.

120Recently extinct

This palm-sized insect bat fell from island-wide abundance to a final acoustic signal in 2009.

138Paleozoic

Paired bony bosses formed a rough crown on the skull of this large, probably plant-eating therapsid.

140Cenozoic

Two enormous hollow nasal horns and a smaller rear pair belonged to an embrithopod, not a rhinoceros.

169Paleozoic

A tiny head joined a barrel-shaped giant body whose broad ribs enclosed a vast plant-fermenting digestive system.

176Cenozoic

Strong limbs could still bear weight, yet long feet paddled through water and the ear region was adapting to underwater sound.

177Cenozoic

Bundles of enamel-wrapped tooth columns and broad limbs helped it crop aquatic plants in tidal flats and shallow water.

178Cenozoic

Rear-shifted nostrils and four tusks document a distinctive skull; a short trunk is a soft-tissue reconstruction inferred from the bones.

179Cenozoic

This rhinoceros-sized marsupial clipped plants with two forward incisors and moved between seasonal water sources.

218Paleozoic

A beak, short tusks and powerful forelimbs made this one of the most common burrowing herbivores of the Late Permian.