570 vanished lives

49Mesozoic

A conical thumb spike and batteries of chewing teeth equipped this adaptable herbivore.

50Mesozoic

Protoceratops was a small, beaked ceratopsian from Late Cretaceous Mongolia. Its neck frill and four-legged body distinguish it from its predator Velociraptor.

51Mesozoic

Coelophysis was a slender, two-legged theropod from the Late Triassic. Many skeletons occur together at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.

52Mesozoic

Plateosaurus was a Late Triassic sauropodomorph from central Europe. It combined a long neck with grasping hands and strongly developed hind limbs.

53Mesozoic

Dilophosaurus wetherilli was a large Early Jurassic predator from northern Arizona. Two thin crests on its skull gave it its name.

54Mesozoic

Microraptor was a small feathered theropod from Early Cretaceous China. Long feathers on both forelimbs and hind limbs created several aerodynamic surfaces.

55Mesozoic

Yi qi was a small Jurassic theropod with feathers and preserved traces of a wing membrane. A rod-like element extending from the wrist made its wing unlike a modern bird's.

56Mesozoic

Pteranodon was a toothless pterosaur above the Late Cretaceous seas of North America. It was a flying reptile, not a bird or a dinosaur.

57Mesozoic

Elasmosaurus platyurus was a long-necked marine reptile from Late Cretaceous Kansas. A 2013 reassessment counted 72 preserved neck vertebrae in its holotype.

58Mesozoic

A streamlined reptile converged on the body plan of dolphins while retaining enormous eyes.

59Mesozoic

Liopleurodon was a Jurassic pliosaur: a marine reptile with a large skull, short neck and four flippers. Its teeth and bones should be distinguished from television size reconstructions.

60Cenozoic

The largest known snake moved through hot tropical swamps after the dinosaurs vanished.

61Cenozoic

A tall flightless predator used a deep hooked beak to strike prey on the ground.

62Cenozoic

Argentavis magnificens was a giant bird from Late Miocene Argentina. Its flight is reconstructed from incomplete fossils and aerodynamic models, not observations of a living bird.

63Cenozoic

The largest known land mammal was a hornless rhinoceros relative built to browse high foliage.

64Cenozoic

Knob-like skull horns and long canines crowned this rhinoceros-sized herbivore.

65Cenozoic

This long-bodied early whale still carried tiny external hind limbs.

66Cenozoic

Huge teeth in both jaws armed a macropredatory sperm whale.

67Cenozoic

Ever-growing saber canines evolved independently in this marsupial relative.

68Cenozoic

This long-necked hoofed mammal belonged to a uniquely South American lineage.

69Cenozoic

A heavy-bodied native ungulate grazed and browsed beside Ice Age giants.

70Cenozoic

This enormous grazing rhinoceros probably supported a large horn on its forehead.

71Cenozoic

A thick coat and flattened horn equipped this rhinoceros for cold, dry mammoth steppe.

72Recently extinct

This plains zebra had bold stripes in front fading into a plain brown rear body.