570 vanished lives

97Cenozoic

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

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.

140Cenozoic

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

154Cenozoic

Fan-shaped leaves and paired ovules continued the ginkgo body plan in a species that did not survive to the present.

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.

180Cenozoic

This two-meter flightless bird had a deep jaw and powerful legs, probably feeding on soft leaves, fruit and shoots.

196Cenozoic

Queens reached about seven centimeters long with a 16-centimeter wingspan, among the largest hymenopterans known.

197Cenozoic

A nearly complete impression preserves venation, legs, antennae and mouthparts, making it one of the finest fossil butterflies.

198Cenozoic

This robust fossil vespid combines traits recalling modern hornets and paper wasps, and may already have lived socially.

199Cenozoic

Its leaflike abdomen closely matches foliage, proving that sophisticated mimicry existed at least 47 million years ago.

200Cenozoic

Amber sealed an extinct mason-bee relative whose long hind-leg hairs show that it actively collected and transported pollen.

241Cenozoic

Tapir-sized and short-faced, it lived before proboscideans acquired the elephant's long trunk and giant body.

242Cenozoic

A widened jaw and flattened lower tusks formed a shovel-like cutting edge for tough vegetation.

243Cenozoic

Only the lower jaw carried tusks, curving downward beneath a body taller than most modern elephants.

244Cenozoic

Two upper and two lower tusks gave its elongated head a four-tusked profile absent from living elephants.

245Cenozoic

A long skull held powerful jaw muscles, while slicing molars evolved independently from carnivoran carnassials.