(In Pics) Ten Extinct Animals which Survive only in Drawings

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The growth of the human race was, for much of it history, a slow and uncertain one. It was only in the last few hundred years, and specifically the 20th century, that this growth became truly explosive and started to have an serious impact on the world in which we live.

However, throughout history man’s predation on the environment has directly led to the extinction of other species. From our close cousins the Neanderthals, through to all sorts of prey species, man has caused many unusual and exotic creatures to disappear forever.

Mostly this was done in ignorance, and earlier generations only knew that the animals were useful to them, failing to recognise the harm they were causing. Many of these animals, gone before the advent of modern science and technology, now survive only in pictures, leaving us to piece together what they might have looked like.

Here are ten animals which we only know from pictures.

1. Dodo

*The poster child for human-led* *extinction*, the dodo is often portrayed as ungainly, stupid and ridiculous. However this early drawing by Jacob Hoefnagel, likely drawn from life, shows the animal as a much more upright, lean and agile creature, suggesting many of the depictions (and museum reconstructions) do this animal a disservice (Jacob Hoefnagel / *Public Domain*)

2. The Japanese Wolf

As with the dodo, stuffed examples and museum specimens exist of this small canid, the last surviving remnant of the Pleistocene Wolf, but none truly resemble the drawings of the living creature. Although similar in appearance to modern wolves, this species is unrelated and a combination of hunting and the introduction of rabies led to its extinction from *Japan* *in the early 20th century (Philipp Franz von Siebold /* *Public Domain*)

3. Aurochs

*The* *aurochs* is the ancestor of modern cattle, but a much larger and more aggressive creature altogether. Hunted to extinction in the early 17th century, attempts are being made to bring it back through selective breeding. Early drawings exist, which emphasize the immense musculature of this animal (British Museum / *Public Domain*)

4. Great Auk

All reconstructions of this large, flightless seabird are based on drawings of the plumage and stance made while the Great Auk was still alive. Depictions such as this one by Jean Gerrard Keulemans served as a guide for the restoration of the stuffed specimens in *museums. The Great Auk, unable to escape human predation, became extinct in the mid 19th century (John Gerrard Keulemans /* *Public Domain*)

5. Passenger Pigeon

*Said to flock in such numbers across the* *North American* continent that they blocked the sun, the Passenger Pigeon was completed gone by the start of the 20th century, hunted to extinction for sport and food. As many as 5 billion of these birds once existed, making them the most common bird in the Americas. Some photos exist of the last birds which were the basis of later drawings, but some drawings from life also exist (Mark Catesby / *Public Domain*)

6. Sea Cow

A more problematic depiction here, as Steller’s sketches of marine mammals were hampered by the distorting effect of water, leading the great naturalist to make errors in his depictions. However some sketches, such as this one depicting dead example that *Steller* *himself likely killed, show what the animal looked like in reality. This is thought to be the only depiction of a sea cow ever drawn from life (Friedrich Plenisner /* *Public Domain*)

7. Mammoth

*The mammoth is one of the most famous of extinct animals, hunted to extinction in the neolithic by early humans. We have found many* *skeletons* and even intact examples in the Siberian permafrost, and attempts are underway to bring back this species using DNA extracted from these remains. However, to see what the animal looked like in life, and how it was viewed by our ancestors, we need to turn to cave paintings such as Rouffignac in France (Cave Painter / *Public Domain*)

8. Barbary Lion

This leaner, meaner North African cousin to the extant modern lion may have survived as late as the 1960s in Morocco. Numerous photos exist of Barbary lions in zoos, but these are smaller and less ferocious examples than the Barbary Lion of old, a sad shadow of the original wild animal. These lions roamed the entire *North African* *coastline of the Mediterranean, and depictions of these creatures date back to the ancient Egyptians (Joseph Bassett Holder /* *Public Domain*)

9. Atlas Bear

*Africa has no bears, but when the* *Romans* colonised the North African coast it certainly appears that it did. Many Roman depictions survive of what is called the Atlas Bear (named for the Atlas mountains from Morocco to Libya, where the bear lived) where it appears to be heavier and more muscled than its American counterparts. Bones of the Atlas Bear have been discovered and, like the Tasmanian Tiger, there are perennial rumors of a small surviving population, hiding somewhere in the wilderness (Jerzystrzelecki / *CC BY 3.0*)

10. Imperial Woodpecker

For those in the know, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is the (maybe extinct, maybe not) holy grail of North American ornithology. However, such people will be quick to tell you that an even larger example existed further south in *Mexico*, the Imperial Woodpecker. As with the Atlas Bear, it is hoped that a small surviving population might exist somewhere, although habitat destruction makes this all but impossible. Based on drawings and stuffed examples, if still alive this is the largest woodpecker in the world (John Ridgay / *Public Domain*)

Top Image: An aurochs, extinct ancestor of the cow, depicted in a Roman mosaic at Villa Romana del Casale in Italy (José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Joseph Green

References

Joseph Green

Joseph Green is editor for Historic Mysteries, which combines his background in English Literature with a lifelong fascination for the strange and the unexplained. Read More