Weirdest Extinct Animals

[Queequeg]

As some of you know, I have a lot of interests/obsessions/fetishes.  One of them is Paleontology.  So, to kick-start a discussion on weird extinct animals.  Everybody is free to post pictures of a favorite/intereresting/famous extinct animal.  Basically, like a porno thread, only replace "needs implants" with "needs fur/canines/wings/scales."  For The Brain and Ogle, there will be no effective difference.

This was initially inspired by this creature.

I'm willing to bet that more than a few guys here can guess why the Cotylorhynchus went extinct.  It's body fat % is up there with the average WoW player.

The Lycaenops is named after the modern Wolf, for obvious reasons.  It has large canines, large eyes, runs with its legs underneath its body like most modern animals, and some limited hair.  The weird thing? This animal predates the success of the dinosaurs by tens of millions of years.  This is particularly weird when you consider that similarly unrelated Synapsids and Mammals ended up with the same basic body structure:
This fellow, the largest land mammalian predator, is related to horses and goats.
This Thylacine was related to the Kangaroos.


Anyone have any specific species they thinks is bizzare?  And yes, "Whatever species Queequeg comes from" is an option.

[Caliga]

Dude, this shit isn't even CLOSE to as weird as some of the Precambrian lifeforms in the fossil record.  Crap that lacks bilateral symmetry, etc.

[Queequeg]

Dude, this shit isn't even CLOSE to as weird as some of the Precambrian lifeforms in the fossil record.  Crap that lacks bilateral symmetry, etc.

LOL can they be: Shoggoths?

Post pictures Caliga.  Share with the class. 

[Caliga]

Nein, I must be off to bed.  Wikipedia is your friend.

[CountDeMoney]

The Members Only jacket.  Not seen in its natural habitat since the late 1980s.  In a Monte Carlo SS.  Smelling like Drakkar Noir.

"When you put it on...something happens."

[Tonitrus]

The Members Only jacket.  Not seen in its natural habitat since the late 1980s.  In a Monte Carlo SS.  Smelling like Drakkar Noir.

"When you put it on...something happens."

Mine was black.

I was: "The Cool"

[Neil]

I'm willing to bet that more than a few guys here can guess why the Cotylorhynchus went extinct.  It's body fat % is up there with the average WoW player.

Except not.  Clearly, they would have been well-adapted for the time they initially occupied, and the species seems to have survived longer than the vast majorty of mammal clades.  In fact, an animal of that size would have had a significant advantage, simply due to its size.

Given that fat doesn't fossilize, I don't think you're able to measure the body fat percentage of the animal.  However, given that animals who live in warm climates tend to stay fairly lean, we can assume that the animal probably didn't carry that much fat.

[CountDeMoney]

Mine was black.

Mine was merlot.  Or burgundy, to you white people.

[Jaron]

My yuppie papa used to make me wear one of those when I was a kid.

[Tonitrus]

Given that fat doesn't fossilize, I don't think you're able to measure the body fat percentage of the animal.  However, given that animals who live in warm climates tend to stay fairly lean, we can assume that the animal probably didn't carry that much fat.

You obviously have not visited the southern United States, I see.

[Neil]

Given that fat doesn't fossilize, I don't think you're able to measure the body fat percentage of the animal.  However, given that animals who live in warm climates tend to stay fairly lean, we can assume that the animal probably didn't carry that much fat.

You obviously have not visited the southern United States, I see.

Southern trash aren't really animals, except in the technical sense.

And no.

[Queequeg]

Except not.  Clearly, they would have been well-adapted for the time they initially occupied, and the species seems to have survived longer than the vast majorty of mammal clades.  In fact, an animal of that size would have had a significant advantage, simply due to its size.

Given that fat doesn't fossilize, I don't think you're able to measure the body fat percentage of the animal.  However, given that animals who live in warm climates tend to stay fairly lean, we can assume that the animal probably didn't carry that much fat.

All giant herbivores must go through a phase (youth) where they are very vulnerable, and unless the ungainly size of their chest cavity and weight displacement of their two front legs were different in their youth, I don't see them being the nimblest of baby synapsids.  At least the baby ornithopods had their legs underneath their body.

[Neil]

Except not.  Clearly, they would have been well-adapted for the time they initially occupied, and the species seems to have survived longer than the vast majorty of mammal clades.  In fact, an animal of that size would have had a significant advantage, simply due to its size.

Given that fat doesn't fossilize, I don't think you're able to measure the body fat percentage of the animal.  However, given that animals who live in warm climates tend to stay fairly lean, we can assume that the animal probably didn't carry that much fat.

All giant herbivores must go through a phase (youth) where they are very vulnerable, and unless the ungainly size of their chest cavity and weight displacement of their two front legs were different in their youth, I don't see them being the nimblest of baby synapsids.  At least the baby ornithopods had their legs underneath their body.

That's how large Permian land animals were built.  Look at the pareiasaurs, who are built pretty similar apart from their larger heads.  Really, the small head is what's exceptional about the animal you showed us.  The Permian bodyplan was successful for fifty million years, although the legs were moving underneath the animal towards the end of the period.  Nevertheless, animals like that thrived up until the Great Dying.

To write off an animal as ridiculous that flourished far longer than the great apes have is a little presumptuous on your part.

[Queequeg]

I don't see them surviving in any post-Permain environment, especially as their brain cavity appears ridiculously tiny even compared with early Triassic and  Permian synapsid herbivores.  They look like stegasaurs sans plates and efficient weight distribution. 

How long do you think it would last against a cave lion?  Or a Utahraptor? 

[Neil]

I don't see them surviving in any post-Permain environment, especially as their brain cavity appears ridiculously tiny even compared with early Triassic and  Permian synapsid herbivores.  They look like stegasaurs sans plates and efficient weight distribution. 

How long do you think it would last against a cave lion?  Or a Utahraptor?

What a ridiculous thing to say.  They wouldn't survive the Great Dying, since they're far too large.  In fact, their sheer size would probably be useful in helping them survive.  Given that the brain-to-weight ratio is probably greater than your average sauropod, it's probably a lot less important than you think.

At any rate, it's not particularily useful to attempt to assess the survivability of animals outside of their time period.  Is the lion any less of an impressive predator because it would have a tough time of it in the Jurassic?