10 Most Amazing Extinct Animals

 

Tyrannosaurus Rex (extinct 65 million years ago) 

Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time, measuring up to 43.3 feet long, and 16.6 ft tall, with an estimated mass that goes up to 7 tons. Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small and they retained only two digits.

Fossils of T. rex have been found in North American rock formations dating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period at the end of the Maastrichtian stage, approximately 68.5 to 65.5 million years ago; it was among the last dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. More than 30 specimens of T. rex have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. Some researchers have discovered soft tissue as well. The abundance of fossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects of its biology, including life history and biomechanics.




Quagga: half zebra, half horse (extinct since 1883) 

One of Africa's most famous extinct animals, the quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in great numbers in South Africa's Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State. It was distinguished from other zebras by having the usual vivid marks on the front part of the body only. In the mid-section, the stripes faded and the dark, inter-stripe spaces became wider, and the hindquarters were a plain brown. The name comes from a Khoikhoi word for zebra and is onomatopoeic, being said to resemble the quagga's call.

The quagga was originally classified as an individual species, Equus quagga, in 1788. Over the next fifty years or so, many other zebras were described by naturalists and explorers. Because of the great variation in coat patterns (no two zebras are alike), taxonomists were left with a great number of described "species", and no easy way to tell which of these were true species, which were subspecies, and which were simply natural variants. Long before this confusion was sorted out, the quagga had been hunted to extinction for meat, hides, and to preserve feed for domesticated stock. The last wild quagga was probably shot in the late 1870s, and the last specimen in captivity died on August 12, 1883 at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.

Because of the great confusion between different zebra species, particularly among the general public, the quagga had become extinct before it was realized that it appeared to be a separate species. The quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied. Recent genetic research at the Smithsonian Institution has demonstrated that the quagga was in fact not a separate species at all, but diverged from the extremel


Thylacine: the Tasmanian Tiger (extinct since 1936) 

The Thylacine was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. Native to Australia and New Guinea, it is thought to have become extinct in the 20th century. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger (due to its striped back), and also known as the Tasmanian Wolf, and colloquially the Tassie (or Tazzy) Tiger or simply the Tiger. It was the last extant member of its genus, Thylacinus, although a number of related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene.

The Thylacine became extinct on the Australian mainland thousands of years before European settlement of the continent, but survived on the island of Tasmania along with a number of other endemic species such as the Tasmanian Devil. Intensive hunting encouraged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributory factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat. Despite being officially classified as extinct, sightings are still reported.


Steller's Sea Cow: the defenseless beast (extinct since 1768) 

Formerly found near the Asiatic coast of the Bering Sea, it was discovered in in 1741 by the naturalist Georg Steller, who was traveling with the explorer Vitus Bering. The sea cow grew up to 7.9 meters (25.9 ft) long and weighed up to three tons, much larger than the manatee or dugong. It looked somewhat like a large seal, but had two stout forelimbs and a whale-like tail. According to Steller, "The animal never comes out on shore, but always lives in the water. Its skin is black and thick, like the bark of an old oak..., its head in proportion to the body is small..., it has no teeth, but only two flat white bones—one above, the other below". It was completely tame, according to Steller. Fossils indicate that Steller's Sea Cow was formerly widespread along the North Pacific coast, reaching south to Japan and California. Given the rapidity with which its last population was eliminated, it is likely that the arrival of humans in the area was the cause of its extinction elsewhere as well. There are still sporadic reports of sea cow-like animals from the Bering area and Greenland, so it has been suggested that small populations of the animal may have survived to the present day. This remains so far unproven.


Irish Deer: the largest deer that ever lived (extinct about 7,700 years ago) 

The Irish Elk or Giant Deer, was the largest deer that ever lived. It lived in Eurasia, from Ireland to east of Lake Baikal, during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The latest known remains of the species have been carbon dated to about 5,700 BC, or about 7,700 years ago. The Giant Deer is famous for its formidable size (about 2.1 meters or 7 feet tall at the shoulders), and in particular for having the largest antlers of any known cervid (a maximum of 3.65 meters/12 feet from tip to tip and weighing up to 90 pounds).

Discussion of the cause of their extinction has still focused on the antlers (rather than on their overall body size), which may be due more to their impact on the observer than any actual property. Some have suggested hunting by man was a contributing factor in the demise of the Irish Elk as it was with many prehistoric megafauna, even assuming that the large antler size restricted the movement of males through forested regions or that it was by some other means a "maladaptation". But evidence for overhunting is equivocal, and as a continental species, it would have co-evolved with humans throughout its existence and presumably have adapted to their presence.


Caspian Tiger: the third largest (extinct since 1970) 

The Caspian tiger or Persian tiger was the westernmost subspecies of tiger, found in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Caucasus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan until it apparently became extinct in the 1970s. Of all the tigers known to the world, the Caspian tiger was the third largest.

The body of this subspecies was quite stocky and elongated with strong legs, big wide paws and unusually large claws. The ears were short and small, and gave the appearance of being without hair on the tips. Around the cheeks the Caspian tiger was generously furred and the rest of its fur was long and thick. The colouration resembled that of the Bengal tiger. Male Caspian tigers were very large and weighed 169-240 kg. Females were not as large, weighing 85-135 kg. There are still occasional claims of the Caspian tiger being sighted.


Aurochs: a very large type of cattle (extinct since 1627)

One of Europe's most famous extinct animals, the aurochs or urus (Bos primigenius) were a very large type of cattle. Aurochs evolved in India some two million years ago, migrated into the Middle East and further into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago.

By the 13th century A.D., the aurochs' range was restricted to Poland, Lithuania, Moldavia, Transylvania and East Prussia. The right to hunt large animals on any land was restricted to nobles and gradually to the royal household. As the population of aurochs declined, hunting ceased but the royal court still required gamekeepers to provide open fields for the aurochs to graze in. The gamekeepers were exempted from local taxes in exchange for their service and a decree made poaching an aurochs punishable by death. In 1564, the gamekeepers knew of only 38 animals, according to the royal survey. The last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland. The skull was later taken by the Swedish Army and is now the property of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm.

In the 1920s two German zookeepers, the brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck, attempted to breed the aurochs back into existence (see breeding back) from the domestic cattle that were their descendants. Their plan was based on the conception that a species is not extinct as long as all its genes are still present in a living population. The result is the breed called Heck Cattle, 'Recreated Aurochs', or 'Heck Aurochs', which bears an incomplete resemblance to what is known about the physiology of the wild aurochs


Great Auk: largest of all auks (extinct since 1844) 

The Great Auk was the only species in the genus Pinguinus, flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until recent times, but is extinct today. It was also known as garefowl, or penguin.

Standing about 75 centimetres or 30-34 inches high and weighing around 5 kg, the flightless Great Auk was the largest of the auks. It had white and glossy black feathers. In the past, the Great Auk was found in great numbers on islands off eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain, but it was eventually hunted to extinction. Remains found in Floridan middens suggest that at least occasionally, birds ventured that far south in winter as recently as in the 14th century.


Cave Lion: one of the largest lions ever (extinct 2,000 years ago) [Wiki]

The cave lion, also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and a wide variety of prehistoric art. This subspecies was one of the largest lions. An adult male, which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf (Germany), had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m and a length of 2.1 m without a tail, which is about the same size as a very big modern lion. This male was even exceeded by other specimens of this subspecies. Therefore this cat may have been around 5-10% bigger than modern lions. It apparently went extinct about 10,000 years ago, during the Würm glaciation, though there are some indications it may have existed as recently as 2,000 years ago, in the Balkans.


Dodo: the archetype of extinct species (extinct since late 17th century)

The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall (three feet), lived on fruit and nested on the ground. The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity. The adjective phrase "as dead as a dodo" means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead. The verb phrase "to go the way of the dodo" means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past.




More Info:
Did you know that 99.9% of all species that have ever existed on Earth are now extinct? Ross Piper's book Extinct Animals: An Encyclopedia of Species that Have Disappeared during Human History highlights 65 creatures that are presumed extinct. Grouping his two- to four-page entries into chronological chapters, the author goes backward in time, beginning with the golden toad, the Eskimo curlew, and five others that were last seen less than 100 years ago, and ending more than 50,000 years ago with the likes of the megatooth shark and the giant ape. Homo erectus and its near relatives are included, too.

10 Hotels Made With Weird Things

Card Keys

Card Keys
This building was built from 200,000 card keys. Each room and every wall, even the toilets, are made of card keys. The hotel was built by Bryan Berg, who has a world record in building a house of cards.

Containers

Containers
The Tonghe Shanzi Landscape Design company has built their incredible five star Xiang Xiang Xiang Pray House hotel entirely out of shipping containers! Looking like a drab shipping container village from the outside, the hotel oozes luxurious design inside its twenty-one cozy guest rooms, arranged on a hillside in Changski, China. Each room is fitted with traditional Chinese décor, skylights, high-design furniture and more!

The container hotels could also be designed in one city, and easily transported to another, making pop-up hotels possible anywhere. The Xiang Xiang Pray House will open in August of 2012.

Chocolate

Chocolate
Karl Lagerfeld has designed a hotel made entirely of chocolate.
This eccentric designer has created "The Magnum Chocolate Hotel Suite" to celebrate the launch of Magnum Ecuador and Ghana ice creams, which are made with specially selected cocoa beans sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in Ecuador and Ghana. Using 10.5 tonnes of chocolate, it includes a chocolate sculpture of French male model, Karl's muse, Baptise Giabiconi, draped seductively on the chocolate bed.

Clay, reed, wood and shell stone

 Clay, reed, wood and shell stone
Located near Orel's riverbank, 18 miles away from the city of Dnepropertrovsk in the Ukraine, the Friend Hotel is steeped in a lush and green forest. Before its construction, Ryntovt Design did an extended ecological analysis taking into account the local resources and energy of the area. The interior spaces are harmonious with the beautiful outdoors, and only "ecologically harmless materials" like clay, reed, wood, and shell stone, were used in construction.

Tubes

Tubes
Designed by t3arc, the recycled pipe TuboHotel accommodates two people in a queen-size bed with panoramic views of the Sierra del Tepozteco, Mexico. The goal in designing the modular hotel was to build fast and affordable accommodation.

Railway Carriages

Railway Carriages
This amazing hotel, named “Controversy Inn,” consists of four train carriages recycled into a building that is comfortable, with beds that have a theme, and a breakfast room. "Controversy" is located at Farm in Hoogwoud, the Netherlands. This eco-hotel consists of various vintage items that are recycled into something new again. Like a table made of boards of traffic signs, and even a bed made from old ships.


Sand

Sand
They have the sun, the sand, and the sea, but you can't get much more of the beach where they've also got the world's largest and only sand castle hotel, made entirely of sand on Weymouth beach in Dorset, UK.

The open air family room with a sea-side view has a double and a single bed made of sand which will set you back a mere $21 (£10) a night to sleep under the starry skies. You can wake up to the ocean when the “tide laps through the door.”

Salt

Salt
Palacio de Sal (Spanish for “Salt Palace”) is a hotel built from salt blocks. It is located at the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, 350 kms south of Bolivia's capital, La Paz.

The hotel walls are made of salt blocks stuck together with a cement-like substance made of salt and water. During rainy seasons, the walls are strengthened with new blocks, while the owners ask the guests to avoid licking the walls to prevent deterioration.

Caravans

Caravans
Crazy project by a group of friends from Berlin, Germany, urban camping under a roof! To achieve this, they refurbished an old factory in Neukolln, renovated the hangar, then set out to transform it into a hotel by installing old caravans and mobile homes. Called Hutten Palast, which could translate to "Caravan Palace," you sleep in the privacy of your caravan, while sharing common areas under a roof. The furniture and decor were hunted for by the owners. The hotel also has a terrace garden and a cafe restaurant. (Link)


Wine Casks

Wine Casks
Ever fall asleep alongside a good glass of French wine? How about inside a cask of a good French wine? The De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel in the Netherlands salvaged four wine casks from Switzerland and converted them into rooms.

Formerly filled with 14,500 liters of Beaujolais wine from a French chateau, each now holds a modest two-person room with standard amenities and even an attached bathroom and sitting room. Visitors from all around the world have traveled to the quaint northern port town of Stavoren to stay in one of these upcycled rooms.

10 Most Fascinating Tunnels



This unusual tunnel can be seen in California's Sequoia National Park. The drive is cut through the tree trunk of a Sequoia which fell in 1937. Instead of removing it from the road, the park administration decided to cut a tunnel in it. It's 5.18 m. (17 ft.) wide and 2.44 m. (8 ft.) high.


Prairie Lights is Texas's premier holiday drive-through park, featuring more than 4 million lights along the shores of beautiful Lynn Creek Park on Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie. Visitors are amazed by the world's longest light tunnel and the Holiday Village out-of-car experiences.

This beautiful train tree tunnel is located in Kleven, Ukraine. It's called the Tunnel of Love.

Photo by Oleg Gordienko, original caption by the photographer is Green Mile.

Road Through Rock Formation, Red Rock Canyon, Utah, USA. 



This has to be one of the most surreal, psychedelic and fun forms of public transport. The Tunnel connects East Nanjin Rd on the Bund, and Pudong near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, running under the Huangpu river in Shanghai, China. It's a psychedelic trip in a glass capsule along the 647-meter flashing, strobing tunnel.


This building and an adjacent one had been used for exhibition space and art classes for over 30 years and they're both scheduled to be torn down to make way for a new larger structure. So, as a final farewell, local Houston artists, Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, turned them into an art installation known as "Inversion." Using boards from the outside of the houses they created a large funnel-like vortex running between the two that ends in a small hole in an adjacent courtyard. It's a cool effect particularly for those who always wanted to experience a black hole without the whole "being crushed to a quantum singularity" end result. (Link | Via)



Imagine having this cool public market pop up in your town? Well the lucky residents of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, are actually getting one! The mayor announced the commencement of construction on the huge tunnel-shaped market hall which will flash images of gigantic fresh fruits and vegetables via LCD screens on the inside and be lined with balconied apartments offering killer views on the outside. This true mixed-use development combining residences, shopping, restaurants and a public market will be a central hub of activity for citizens and tourists. The project is being developed by Provast and was designed by MVRDV.

The new icon for Rotterdam is expected to be completed in 2014.

This stunning flower walkway is the known as the Wisteria Tunnel, situated in the Kawachi Fuji Garden in Kitakyushu, Japan.



Unusual tunnel for runoff or rock slides.



Underwater tunnel at the L'Oceanographic Center in Valencia, Spain.