Which extinct animal do you wish was still around?

[Blue-Jay]

I'd have to vote for Gigantopithecus blacki. How freaking cool is a 9 foot tall ape?


I'd also like to see Aepyornis Maximus (the "elephant bird"): Foot long eggs could feed the world!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. This one:

Camping trips would be ever so much more exciting if these were still around.

[Blue-Jay]

3. That was my third choice.

I wouldn't want to run into one on a camping trip, but those dead fuckers really kick ass!

[harmonicon]

2. every one that was brought to extinction by man

saber toothed cats are cool and all, but I'd rather have a thylacine, sumatran tiger, dodo, etc.

[Blue-Jay]

4. There's a theory that many of the Ice Age animals were killed by people.

Including the mammoth and the saber toothed tiger.

[harmonicon]

14. yeah, I know.....

I'm not sure if that counts, seeing as it's just a theory. I learned recently that Mammoths existed until the historical era, but not where anyone was taking notice. Apparently just a few thousand years ago, a small version were still living on islands off of Siberia.

[Auggie]

44. A geologist pointed out to me their extinction coincides with the arrival

of people in New World -- North America. Makes sense.

[harmonicon]

45. that idea has been around for a long time

However, the accepted date of humans arriving in the Americas is sensibly now being pushed back from the 12k year mark that was bandied about for so long. Their also seems to be a correlation between the arrival of humans in Australia and the extinction of the megafauna there, though there is also a possible discrepancy of thousands or tens of thousands of years in that case as well. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, and the case is far more complex than the human-caused extinctions from the last several hundred years. In the case of the megafauna extinctions in the Americas and other areas, massive climatic change that aided the spread of humanity may have also played a hand in the future of other species. Whatever the case, I don't think we can compare the two eras. In the historical, and especially modern, era, the possibility of extinction was a known quantity. How people could and can act knowing that their actions will drive a species to extinction is unconscionable.

[LostInAnomie]

5. Wooly Mammoth or the Mastodon.

Really though, I think any Mega-Fauna in North America would be cool as hell.

[Fire Walk With Me]

28. Have you read John Varley's "Mammoth"?

[CorpGovActivist]

The Greak Auk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_auk">For very personal reasons, gladly shared over good tequila.

[Blue-Jay]

11. It's just an ugly penguin.

The cuter penguins survived for our amusement.

[CorpGovActivist]

17. Them thar's fightin' words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wucxq9VgupI">From this penguin lover, I invite you to retract. With contrition showing.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. I'm fond of the great auk, too...

When I was a kid, I had a set of bird flashcards that included the great auk, the carolina parakeet, and the ivory-billed woodpecker. I was so inspired by the hope that the ivory-bill might still exist somewhere, because it hadn't been officially declared extinct. I daydreamed that I might find specimens of the other two birds, and rescue them from annihilation.

[CorpGovActivist]

32. Is that latter the Arkansas swamp bird?

If so, I'm rooting for it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. Yes, the ivory bill...

I'm rooting for them too! :D

[flvegan]

6. Megalodon.

50 foot long shark...apex predator.

Happy fishing, boys.

[Blue-Jay]

8. We're gonna need a bigger boat.

[LeftyMom]

18. Uh, I seem to recall you're sufficiently unnerved by sharks that you'll not be seen

in any body of water that lacks a drain and soapdish.

:wtf:

[flvegan]

36. So I stay away from the ocean.

Maybe the whalers, dolphin killers, tuna overfishers and other marine life killing shitbricks do too.

I'll take the hit.

[LeftyMom]

38. Note to self: introduce you to role playing, dig up copy of Rokea book.

Or W:TA more generally.

If you could get past the geeky veneer, you'd totally dig it.

[Akoto]

55. Hah. Rokea!

I liked their culture more as Same-Bito, in Shapeshifters of the East. ;)

[Angleae]

27. With or without laser beams?

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. All of them.

It would be better than reality TV.

[Blue-Jay]

10. That would be a little too crowded for me.

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. Speaking of your first image, haven't you seen Harry and the Hendersons?

Antics ensue.

[Blue-Jay]

16. Yeah. Very similar, now that you mention it.

Here's a different "take" on Gigantopithecus:

[Fire Walk With Me]

62. Somehow that would be slightly less zany.

[Solon]

9. This one...

Troodon:



Rudimentary opposable thumb, and a large brain for its size.

[TZ]

13. Plesiosaurs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiosaur
I think they are very cool looking. Of course there are some that believe that they still exist as "Nessie" and "Champ" but I think thats unlikely, given how long and hard scientists have looked with sophisticated instruments.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. The carolina parakeet

While we're wagging fingers at eco-thugs around the world, we Americans need to remember that we obliterated this species from the face of the earth.

[Blue-Jay]

19. Those are pretty, but they're not COOL.

Here's COOL:
shonisaurus sikanniensis


Giant aquatic reptile.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. They're very cool, when they're no longer with us...

Take the Yangtze River Dolphin, for example...

:cry:

[XemaSab]

31. Good call.

Our only native parrot.

[End Of The Road]

49. My first choice, too. eom

[JVS]

20. Little girls with big eggs. It's a shame how we wiped them out with our massive hunts.

[Blue-Jay]

21. The quest for earrings drives people to do terrible things.

[JVS]

23. When they started wearing earrings so young, that was the beginning of the end.

True story: When my grandma was 70 years old, her husband died. She was devastated. A few days after the funeral, my mom sees her sitting there depressed and says "get in the car". Mom took her to get her ears pierced, which she had never had done because grandpa didn't want her to. It was a fun activity for them during a very sad time.

[FloridaJudy]

22. Archelon ischyros

A turtle the size of an SUV. Even if it does resemble Godzilla's pubic lice.

[Blue-Jay]

25. Gamera!

I am fully in support of tiny singing Japanese twin hotties.

[BarenakedLady]

29. T-Rex

Just cuz.

[stuntcat]

37. right on!

That's what I was fixing to say :headbang:

I'll add a meat-eating dinosaur with wings then, the pteranodon, it would swoop down and pick out who to eat! "aaaagghhh!" we'd hear as they flew off with their dinner.

But people would shoot them, we'd probably nuke the T-Rex's too :(

[Sanity Claws]

30. The Dodo

I just love the name.
Your choices were more educated than mine but it's hard to beat the name, Dodo.

[fortyfeetunder]

33. any big carnivore

that would be fun having one to chase folks around and randomly snack on one or two
:evilgrin:

[mitchum]

34. Domesticated dinosaurs like Dino Flinstone

I bet that was so cool

[Adsos Letter]

35. My bulldog, Beauregard...rip 1966-1973

:cry:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

39. Preferably all of them

Sadly I shudder to think which animals people will be listing on a response to a thread like this fifty years from now

[Liberal Veteran]

40. Passenger Pigeon

[GoddessOfGuinness]

52. Beautiful birds...

:cry:

[Yavin4]

41. A Truly Progressive Democratic President

One that uses the government to actually help people instead of corporations.

[BreweryYardRat]

42. There's a lot, but lately I'd have to say Argentavis, Haast's Eagle, or Megalania.

Argentavis in very crude model form, mainly to show you the wingspan. Extinct from habitat changes several million years ago.

Haast's Eagle, on the other hand, was about half the size. The species was killed off by the Maori settlers of New Zealand.



Those moas in the painting would have been about 6' tall.

Megalania got similar treatment from the aboriginal settlers of Australia. 20-foot monitor lizards, are, sadly, not popular with primitive peoples.

[Fox Mulder]

43. Every animal that went extinct because of man.

[EMdamascus]

46. I could be wrong

But I heard that early scorpions had wings! Probably led to the invention of screen doors. It would sure cut down on a lot of unnecessary trips to the store!

[DarkTirade]

47. I wanna herd of velociraptors.

That'll keep the salesmen and Jehova's Witnesses away from my door...

[TZ]

48. lol

I was wondering why no one had made this choice......:rofl:

[DarkTirade]

58. They're pretty smart, you could probably train 'em too. :)

[Brigid]

50. I wish the smilidon was still around.

AKA the saber-toothed cat. I want one for a pet. I wonder if Petsmart carries litter boxes that big. :evilgrin:

[seemunkee]

53. pterodactyls

I want to ride on one like this

[Dr. Strange]

54. zozosmom

[GaYellowDawg]

56. One of two:

1. Meganeura monyi, the largest known dragonfly. It had a wingspan of about 29.5 in. It couldn't live today because of lower oxygen levels (surface area:volume ratio problems) than when it existed, but I'd sure love to see one.



2. Homo erectus. Just so creationists would have to shut the hell up.

[lost-in-nj]

59. As a Dragon fly lover

I would have like to see them to....

lost

[Midlodemocrat]

57. DU poster Blue-Jay's squirrel.

:cry:

[MonkeyFunk]

60. Equus Pantomimi

[The Inquisitive]

61. T-rex and Megladon

Make you think twice each time you stepped foot outside/jumped into the ocean...