History UsefulNotes / PrehistoricLifeMammals

* As we'll say later, not all rhinoceros-looking fossil mammals were real rhinos; but they'll probably get [[DidNotDoTheResearch identified as such in popular media]]. The most well-known are ''Uintatherium'' and ''Brontotherium'', both found in huge numbers in several fossil deposits of Western Usa. The poor uintathere is perhaps [[TheWoobie the most mistreated]] extinct mammal of them all: expect somebody describing its appearence as "[[PrehistoricMonster monstrous/scary]]". Right, it had six giraffe-like horns and two upper protruding tusks: but, honestly, if ''Uintatherium'' was alive today, it would appear not more scary than an elephant, rhino, hippo or giraffe... Also expect a crack about its "tiny" brain (just what happens to its Woobiesaurian equivalent, ''[[StockDinosaurs Stegosaurus]]''), and just like the stegosaur, expect the writer saying [[TooDumbToLive its dumbness being the real reason of its extinction!]] In RealLife, uintatheres were among the very first mammals to reach large size (up to a modern-day rhino), and their body-plan was ''very successful'' at the time, to the point they roamed northern continents in huge numbers for million years in Early Cenozoic, before being substituted by the even larger brontotheres (see below).

* Horses. The eternal symbol of Evolution. Almost the same level the Dodo is the icon of extinction. And yet, horse ancestors weren't so cool-looking compared to most other extinct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungulate hoofed mammals]], really. The most famous of these is, obviously, the [[RuleOfCool less horse-like]] of them all: ''Eohippus'' --> ''Hyracotherium'' --> ''Eohippus'' --> ''Protorohippus''. An almost-unbelievable ScienceMarchesOn affair has encircled horse's evolution, despite its iconic role in popular science. Anyway, all this doesn't involve us so much. Expect to see this (whatever name is to be used) small, basal ungulate called ''horse'' anyway, despite it, actually, having nothing more in common with horses than with tapirs or rhinoceri: the "Hyracotheohippus stew" includes several different early ungulates, some of theme ''were'' horse-ancestors and some weren't. Systematics of primitive ungulates (called "Condylarths") is a total mess. Among sure horse ancestors, they make a [[AWorldwidePunomenon sort of pun if read together]]: ''Mesohippus'', ''Merychippus'', ''Pliohippus'' and dozens other ''hippus''... all North American. Also worth of note is ''Hipparion'' which, sadly, breaks the pun having ''hippus'' as prefix: it also breaks the geographic rule, being an Old World critter, an offshot of the horse tree which didn't leave any descendents. Remember that ''all'' modern equines did descend from North American ancestors. And oh: the latter were not only horse's ancestors: also donkey's and zebra's, never forget this. Modern equids are so closely related each others, they could well be considered variations of a single kind of animal; indeed, they are all put in a single genus, ''Equus''.

As said in StockDinosaurs, only ''few'' kinds of prehistoric mammals will appear in Fictionland, generally those from the Ice Ages. EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs, useless to say it.

But if there weren't dinos, extinct mammals as a whole would be much, ''much'' more popular than they are today: a lot of them were in RealLife as large and powerful as many stock dinosaurs. Not to mention the fact a consistent part of them were the ancestors of modern hairy, milk-producing vertebrates. In short, they would be ''very'' interesting guys to show in fiction. And yet most of them still remain docu-related animals - if they're lucky enough.

Programs from the 2000s like ''[[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]'' and the ''IceAge'' film series tried to partially avert the trope, but even these shows didn't escape the EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs fate: not only the well-known case of "Dawn of Dinosaurs". Though it's little-known, Walking With was initially intended to show ''prehistoric mammals'', but producers received money "only for a show about dinosaurs" - only after the dinosaurs' success they could start with ''Beasts'', changed to a simple sequel at that point.

* There were A LOT of other extinct elephant relatives in prehistory: not so in {{Prehistoria}}. Don't expect to see any proboscideans in TV outside docus unless it's a woolly mammoth or an [[StockDinosaurs American mastodon]], even though many of them were far cooler-looking than the latter two. If you don't believe us, take a look at the following examples. ''Platybelodon'' resembled a cross between an elephant and a hippo, with its shovel-like lower jaws. Smaller than modern elephants, it was once classified within the "mastodonts", but the latter has revealed to be an artificial assemblage of archaic proboscideans, only united by one thing: they had a pair of tusks ''both'' in their upper jaw ''and'' in the lower one. In ''Platybelodon'', the upper ones were small and normal-looking; the lower tusks were placed on the tip of the jaw, were flat and very untusk-like, maybe used to "gather" ground-level vegetation like a literal shovel. The platybelodont is often shown with a bizarre ''flat'' trunk, but this is actually unproven--trunks have not bones within, so they didn't fossilize. Other "mastodonts" were more similar to elephants, but even they would appear cool-looking by our standards: see ''Anancus'' the "European mastodon", with its straight, spear-like upper-tusks (while the lower ones were almost missing). A more primitive proboscidean lineage includes the huge ''Deinotherium'' ("terrible beast"). Unlike the former, it had only two tusks like modern pachyderms.... only, they ''grew out of the lower jaw''. Curved downwards, the function of these tuskes is still uncertain (maybe to leave the bark out from trees). Some deinotheres were as big as the aforementioned giant mammothes, but others were not bigger than a modern Asian elephant. Deinotheres lived in most Cenozoic era, and some managed to survive enough to meet our first human ancestors in Africa.

* Though are very rarely mentioned, prehistoric and modern hyraxes are very interesting. Today, hyracoideans are small, guineapig-like mammals living in african savannahs and forests. Once, however, they were very diversified, and some were even ''cow-sized'', like the meaningfully-named ''Titanohyrax''. Hyraxes were once the dominant group of large herbivorous mammals in Africa along with elephants, but then were replaced by the still-ruling odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Hyraxes, along with Desmostylians, Sirenians and Proboscideans, make together the so-called “Paenungulates” (“almost hoofed”). Once thought related with ''true'' hoofed mammals (the “ungulates”), they are now believed a more ancient mammalian branch, arisen in Africa and related with some modern shrew-like animals still-living here. Together, all these mammals have recently been grouped in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrotheria Afrotheres]] (“African beasts”).

A cold safari: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea Cave Lion]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_atrox American Lion]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracinonyx American Cheetahs]]

* Bears are a very recent group. They have roamed our planet for only 5 to 10 million years. Many prehistoric bears were rather different than our grizzlies: for example, the North American Short-faced Bear (''Arctodus'') had long limbs and a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin bulldog-like snout]] and was probably an agile runner and specialized hunter. The most famous extinct bear is, however, the Cave Bear (''Ursus spelaeus''), whose remains are extremely abundant in European caves. Quite similar to a modern kodiak in shape and size, but with a bigger hump on its shoulder and a more prominent skull, Cave Bear is often portrayed as [[EverythingsWorseWithBears the archenemy of Neanderthals]], because both lived in the same places (Pleistocene Europe) and were forced to share the same caves to repair themselves from the rigid Ice Age winters. But it's more probable that Neanderthals were actually the worst enemies of cave bears, and some think they could even have contributed to cave bears' extinction.

* Prehistoric wolves and hyenas were not so different-looking than ours, but sometimes were larger. The Dire Wolf (''Canis dirus'') was a sort of wolf bigger than ours, possibly a hunter of giant bisons in competition with lions. It has been often found in the same tarpits in which ''Smilodon'' remains have been discovered, along with several other American mammals (elephant relatives, ground sloths, but modern-living mammals as well); the most famous is ''Rancho la Brea'', in Los Angeles. Of course, not all extinct dogs were large, don't forget there were fox-ancestors as well. Among extinct hyenas (which by the way, are more closely related to cats than dogs) we can mention the Cave Hyena, similar to modern spotted hyenas but living in northern territories during the Ice Ages. Other hyena species were very different: some were as large as bears, others resembled more cheetah or even weasels! On the other hand, some extinct canid were deceptively hyena-like: ''Borophagus'' from the Middle Cenozoic is one example, while the archaic ''Hesperocyon'' was more weasel-like. As a side-note: all modern domestic dogs from Chihuahuas to Great Danes descend from the grey wolf, no matter how big they are or how they look; an amazingly rapid evolution, really, lasted only few thousands years.

* Horses. The eternal symbol of Evolution. Almost the same level the Dodo is the icon of extinction. And yet, horse ancestors weren't so cool-looking compared to most other extinct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungulate hoofed mammals]], really. The most famous of these is, obviously, the [[RuleOfCool less horse-like]] of them all: ''Eohippus'' --> ''Hyracotherium'' --> ''Eohippus'' --> ''Protorohippus''. An almost-unbelievable ScienceMarchesOn affair has encircled horse's evolution, despite its iconic role in popular science. Anyway, all this doesn't involve us so much. Expect to see this (whatever name is to be used) small, basal ungulate called ''horse'' anyway, despite it, actually, having nothing more in common with horses than with tapirs or rhinoceri: the "Hyracotheohippus stew" includes several different early ungulates, some of theme ''were'' horse-ancestors and some weren't. Systematics of primitive ungulates (called "Condylarths") is a total mess. Among sure horse ancestors, they make a [[AWorldwidePunomenon sort of pun if read together]]: ''Mesohippus'', ''Merychippus'', ''Pliohippus'' and dozens other ''hippus''... all North American. Also worth of note is ''Hipparion'' which, sadly, breaks the pun having ''hippus'' as prefix: it also breaks the geographic rule, being an Old World critter, an offshot of the horse tree which didn't leave any descendents. Remember that ''all'' modern equines did descend from North American ancestors. And oh: the latter were not only horse's ancestors: also donkey's and zebra's, never forget this. Modern equids are so closely related each others, they could well be considered variations of a single kind of animal; indeed, they are all put in a single genus, ''Equus''.

* ''Brontotherium'' is the prototype and the most well-known member of its group of mammals, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin brontotheres]]. While ''Uintatherium'' was not related with any modern hoofed mammals, brontotheres were distant relatives of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perissodactyla horses, tapirs and rhinos]]. The biggest brontotheres were almost Triceratops-sized or Elephant-sized, and their cool-name indeed means "thunder beasts". They had a more rhino-like look than uintathere, having one single "horn" on their nose: ''Brontotherium'' 's prominence was forked and slingshot-like, while that of ''Embolotherium'' (the brontothere portrayed in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]) was shovel-like and not forked. Like uintathere, brontotheres too roamed plains of the northern continents in huge numbers in Early Cenozoic: then they eventually gone extinct, perhaps because they weren't capable to adapt to the diffusion of the very first grasslands which replaced their former food (made of scrub and non-grass herbs).

* Here is Our Majesty, the biggest land mammal ever lived - though some [[ScienceMarchesOn recent research]] seems to indicate that some mammoths were heavier, but certainly not as tall. Despite its really gigantic size - it was as tall as an apatosaur up to the shoulders, and weighed as ''three'' elephants or, better, as three ''T. rex''es - it still had a quite slender, elegant frame: a sort of muscular giraffe with long neck, small hornless head, and long, slender limbs. Its behavior itself was probably more giraffe-like than rhinoceros-like, browsing the tree tops. In short, it was the new mammalian brachiosaur. Lived at the middle of the Cenozoic (the Age of Mammals), and was only the biggest member of a whole group of extinct "rhinoceri" (better, rhino-relatives): the Hyracodontids, most of them were horse-sized and more similar to horses than to rhinoceros. Our record-holder is also a prime example of IHaveManyNames among prehistoric critters: now called ''Paraceratherium'', its traditional names are ''Indricotherium'' and ''Baluchitherium''.

* South America was isolated from other continents for most of the Mammal Age, and thus its fauna developed in its own direction. There were not only elephant-size sloths and tank-like glyptodonts: there were also less-armoured but still odd-looking "ungulates", not related with any modern animal today, but similar in shape/size to camels, horses, hippos, buffalos, elephants, rhinos, hyraxes, and even chalicotheres (a great example of Convergent Evolution). The two most represented are ''Macrauchenia'' and ''Toxodon''. ''Macrauchenia'' was a bit camel-like; often depicted with a floppy, elephantine nose because of the shape of its skull, but we don't know if it really had this thing. ''Toxodon'' was more like a stock-built, no-horned buffalo, but it has also been compared with a rhino or a hippo. These two guys lived during the Ice Ages in South American grasslands ("pampas"), and were among the latest members of their groups; but other relatives lived much earlier, always in South America.

* Once, "ungulates" (hoofed mammals) were believed a natural group of mammals; now we know that several mammalian lineages reached the ungulate body-plan independently, and they do not make a real ensemble. Those which lived at the beginning of the Cenozoic were rather undifferentiated each other, and did not resemble most modern hoofed mammals. The two most famous are the small "ur-horse" Eohippus/Hyracotherium/Protorohippus and the large ''Uintatherium'', both from the Eocene epoch: among the other eocenic "ungulates", ''Coryphodon'' and ''Phenacodus'' are frequently portrayed in books. ''Coryphodon'' was perhaps the first land mammal to exceed 1 ton in weight, and was rather similar to an hippo in shape. ''Phenacodus'' was not larger than a dog: with its several small hoofed digits, it was similar to ''Eohippus'' with a very long tail, and it is often mentioned as the prototypical "basal ungulate". Just like Eo/Hyraco/Protorohippus, ''Phenacodus'' could have been a possible prey of the famous giant bird ''Gastornis''; while the massive ''Coryphodon'' and ''Uintatherium'' were too powerful to be threatened by any predator when adults, like modern rhinos and elephants.

* Now we enter the world of the most successful ungulates today, Artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), and how could make this without starting with the most spectacular extinct deer (and one of the most astonishing mammals ever)? But wait: even though it is commonly referred as the "Irish elk", ''Megaloceros'' (more precisely ''Megaloceros giganteus'', also called "Megaceros" in older sources) was more related with European fallow-deer. Maybe it was not the largest deer ever (being moose-sized), but its antlers were another stuff: they could make the modern mooses' ones appear insignificant in comparison. Each one was ''as long as the entire animal's body'', and each one weighed more than 100 kg. Obviously, only males had such a thing above, as most modern deer. Some scientists said that ''just this headgear'' was the cause of its extinction, having grown too much, and making the animal too clumsy... but this is unlikely; if they actually were too big, evolution would have made it smaller at one point, simply. ''Megaloceros'' lived in Europe in the Ice Ages alongside woolly mammoths and other large mammals, and was possibly prey for ancient human-ancestors; its nickname "irish elk" is due to its remains are very common in {{Oireland}}.

* In prehistory, extinct relatives of camels and llamas were very diversified: the great majority of them were North American, where they started their evolution. Some were even taller than our modern dromedaries: ''Aepycamelus'' was a sort of giraffe-like animal with very elongated neck and limbs. Other "camels" were more antelope-like and runned the ancient North American plains. The well-known specializations for desert-life has appeared very recently in camel story, and regard only modern Old World species: their ancient North American relatives lived mainly in grasslands, thus is unlikely they would have fat-storing humps and resistence against thirst.

* Many hoofed mammals of the distant past were pig-like in shape: indeed, the pig-frame was the most primitive among "ungulates", still retained by some modern hoofed mammals, the best example being boars, peccaries and also the tapir (which is a perissodactyl). Most prehistoric pseudo-boars were small, but some were not: Entelodonts are the most striking ones. They were bison-sized at the most, and had several bony knobs on their head and jaws, resembling giant warthogs, but their tusks were much smaller than a warthog's or a babyrousa's, and didn't protrude out of the mouth. Their food habits are still unclear: they might be scavengers that drove away small predator from their kill, but also ate vegetation and might even be active hunters sometimes. North American ''Daeodon'' (also called ''Dinohyus'') is the largest and one of the most depicted entelodont. [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] has shown an unnamed Asian relative, and affected its appearence [[CarnivoreConfusion to make it scarier]], exaggerating the opening of its mouth.

* ''Andrewsarchus'' is one of the most enigmatic mammals, from the first part of the Cenozoic (the Eocene period). Only a skull is known, about 3 ft long and vaguely wolf-like. Some argue it was the largest carnivorous land mammal ever, but we haven't any proof about that; it might be omnivorous instead. It is often depicted as a scavenger of large herbivores' carcasses, but has also been shown as an active hunter. ''Andrewsarchus'' was traditionally considered to be closely related to the much smaller Mesonychids. However, [[http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/08/mesonychians_part_iii_andrewsa.php later]] [[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007062 phylogenetic studies]] indicate that it might have actually been a close relative of the aforementioned entelodonts (though obviously any phylogenetic placement is only tentative at this point).

* Among those ancient dolphin-like cetaceans, some reached very unusual traits compared with the modern ones (even though our Narwal is not far away): ''Squalodon'' ("shark-toothed") had serrated teeth similar to a shark; ''Eurhinodelphis'' ("good-nosed dolphin") had a prominent upper jaw similar to a swordfish as well as the unrelated ichthyosaur ''Eurhinosaurus''. But the most astonishing is ''Odobenocetops'' the "walrus whale", with its two long tusks protruding backwards, and ''asymmetrical'' just like the modern single-tooth of the narwhal (in both case, the overgrown tooth is the left). The function of both the teeth of the odobenocetops and the tooth of the narwhal is still uncertain (maybe courtship device). Of course the ''Odobenocetops'' was the chosen cetacean in Sea Monsters as a prey of the giant shark "Megalodon", just because [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]].

My, what big teeth you have: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_melvillei Leviathan]]''

* After Ankylosaurs went extinct, evolution decided to create their mammalian equivalents: the glyptodonts. They were Xenarthrans as well, but related to armadillos rather than to sloths. Lived in South America for dozen million years, before going extinct only few thousands years ago: in short, they had the same identical history of their cousins, the giant sloths. Both groups were veggie-eaters (despite giant sloth might be at least partially scavengers), and when adult, they feared no predators except humans. There is a secret behind giant sloth's and glyptodonts' success: their backbone. It was far, far stronger that every other mammal, thus permitting them carrying such heavy bodies around withouth suffering back pain. ''Glyptodon'' is the most well-known glyptodont, but it's also worth of mention ''Doedicurus'': with its mace-like tail, it was the most ''Ankylosaurus''-like of them all. These were among the biggest glyptos, and thus [[RuleOfCool the most depicted]]. Talking about glyptodonts' armor, it was the most powerful among every land-vertebrate (tortoises excluded). It was made by a ''single piece'' made by several ossicles fused together, smooth and usually round-shaped, unlike ankylosaurs whose armor was more flexible and spiky. With their compact frame and rigid armor, Glyptodonts were probably slower-moving than ankylosaurs, but still faster than a Galapagos' tortoise. Despite these differences, the glyptodont's armor was astonishingly similar to an ankylosaur's; only the upper parts of the body were covered, the underbelly was unarmored like ankylosaurs and hairy like modern armadillos; the head had a "shield" again like ankylos, and their tail was also covered by bone. Like ''Megatherium'', also ''Glyptodon'' was known by ancient humans; but we are not sure what was the real thing that made these amazing animals extinct: climatic changes? Human hunting? Or what? Now, only far smaller xenarthrans survive; armadillos, tree-sloths and true anteaters (sadly, the natural history of anteaters is poorly-understood).

* The rodents' fossil record is very scant: no surprise, since they are so small, and small animals usually hardly fossilize unlike the large ones. Even though most ancient rodents were similar-looking to ours, there were also some striking guys in the past: for example, ''Castoroides'' was a land-living beaver-relative as large as a black bear; Ceratogaulids had a couple of hornlet on their nose; while several South American capybara-like forms, such as ''Phoberomys'', were ''cow-sized'' and the largest rodents ever. It's not a casual connection, that modern-day capybara (South-American as well) is the biggest modern rodent: as already said, South American mammals were, and still are, ''very unfamiliar'' to a North American or European observer. On the other hand, Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares and pikas) had always had the same small-size and look they still preserve today. They are a sibling group of rodents, with a similar dentition but more specialized to eat grass. It’s hard to believe, but the affinity lagomorphs / true rodents was definitively proven only [[ScienceMarchesOn few years ago]]. Before, rabbits and so on were once thought not related at all with rats and squirrels!

* Another group of prehistoric mammals which have recently been found to be related with rodents is a much more surprisingly one: Primates. Given the subjective relevance of this group by our standards, they are described in a section on their own. However, one close relative of primates can be mentioned here: ''Plesiadapis''. Living at the very start of the Mammal Era, it was a sort of middle way between a squirrel and a monkey, with a lemur-body but gnawing teeth like a rodent. Living in trees, it resembled a lot some ancient mammals which lived in the former Dinosaur Era, particularly ''Purgatorius'' (see [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles The Origin Of Mammals]]. Today, there’s still an animal which strongly resembles ''Plesiadapis'', though devoid of gnawing teeth: the Tupay. Improperly called “tree-shrew”, the latter was once classified as an “insectivore” (see below).

Leap of faith: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptictidium Leptictidium]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalambdalestes Zalambdalestes]]''

* Traditionally we have put in the “Insectivores” group all those mammals whose anatomy is comparable to that of most Mesozoic mammals: small size, generic mouse-like look and non-specialized teeth. Actually modern insectivores (bug-eaters) are very different among each other; while the most commonly known (hedgehogs, moles, shrews) ''are'' closely related, many other less-familiar “insectivores” (tupays, tenrecs, sengis) are not. Their resemblance is just due to the fact they still preserve a body-plan similar to the most common one in the Mesozoic, while non-insectivoran mammals modified it becoming more recognizable. Several "insectivores" are known from the Cenozoic's fossil record, but they, being usually small, are rather uncommon like rodents. Maybe the most famous and specialized is ''Leptictidium'', a hopping animal similar to a 3 ft long kangaroo with shrew-like teeth and (maybe) a shrew-like mobile nose. Not related with any modern mammal, ''Leptictidium'' appears the main character in the first [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] episode, and was also the inspiration for Scrat in the IceAge films. [[hottip:*:However, note that Scrat doesn't correspond to any RealLife extinct mammal.]] More shrew-like, ''Zalambdalestes'' lived before the non-avian dinosaurs’ extinction—Late Cretaceous, along with guys like ''[[StockDinosaurs Velociraptor, Oviraptor,]]'' and ''[[StockDinosaurs Protoceratops]]''. Traditionally believed an “insectivore”, recent research seem suggest it was a proto-marsupial.

Flight of fancy: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeochiropteryx Palaeochiropteryx]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetetherium Planetetherium]]''

* During mammal evolution, some groups reached the ability to glide. The most known extinct glider is perhaps ''Planetetherium'', belonging to the same group of the so-called “flying lemur” of our days. But no other mammalian group managed to fly actively like bats. Just like birds, bats are a very poorly-known group in fossil record, both for the same reason: their skeleton is way too fragile to fossilize well. Despite this, awesomely well-preserved bat remains have been discovered in the most famous fossil deposit from Early Cenozoic: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messel_pit Messel Pit]], in Germany. This deposit has also many, many other early mammals: among them, the aforementioned hopping bug-eater ''Leptictidium'' and the basal ungulate ''Propalaeotherium'' have been recently made famous by Walking With (even though the propalaeothere ''wasn't'' an early "horse" as said in the program). These and other mammals from this deposit are so well preserved that ''even their fur and stomach contents are known''. In short, we know'em almost like they were still-living animals. The very first bats have been discovered here, and show us all the traits associated with their modern relatives: fingered wings, large ears, and even structure for echolocating are known from these finds. This has lead scientists to make an intriguing hypothesis: perhaps some sort of gliding proto-bats were already living on Earth ''before'' pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs disappeared? This would also mean bat-winged critters ''did'' exist at the Age of Dinosaurs, thus making the "Mesozoic bat-winged fliers" trope partially TruthInTelevision.

Scales, or not-scales? ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eomanis Eomanis]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotamandua Eurotamandua]]''

Giant rhinowombat: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon Diprotodon]]''

* Australian mammalofauna hasn't changed much since the non-avian dinosaur extinction (not counting human influence of course): there have always been [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupialia marsupials]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotremata monotremes]] in the LandDownunder. Since modern Australian mammals are already so bizarre-looking, how would their predecessors have looked? Not unlike their descendants, really; but some were a bit larger. The UpToEleven examples were the herbivorous Diprotodonts, called after their most well-known member: ''Diprotodon''. Related with modern wombats, they were a lot bigger: the largest species reached the size of a rhinoceros. With their robust limbs and massive body, they literally resembled hornless rhinos, and resembled also several extinct “Ungulates” (like the South American ''Toxodon'' or the early ''Coryphodon''). Indeed, Australian marsupials have made an extraordinary case of Convergent Evolution with “placental” mammals. Among differences between diprotodonts and ungulates, other than (of course) their reproductive system, is that the former had the same rodent-like incisors seen in modern wombats.

* Ancient Australia seen also an unique animal which has no modern relatives: ''Thylacoleo'', (“pouched lion”) nicknamed the “marsupial lion”. It was so-called because its body shape, sharp claws, and short head remember modern big-cats; but unlike the latter, it had ''rodent-like incisors'' instead of the classic fangs. Scientists once thought it was indeed vegetarian like a rodent; they now know it was predatory. Not only that, it could have been the most efficient mammalian predator ever. Despite being not bigger than a jaguar, some think it was able to kill [[BadAss even Diprotodonts and giant kangaroos!]] There was another marsupial which convergently resembled a cat even more than the former: the similar-named ''Thylacosmilus'' (“pouched smilodont”), nicknamed the “marsupial sabertooth”. The same size of the “marsupial lion”, ''Thylacosmilus'' had two ever-growing upper fangs virtually identical to actual sabre-toothed cats, and possibly used in the same way. To protect these fangs, the lower jaw has a couple of bony “sheaths” covered with skins, which could have given it a curious “drooping lips” appearance. The most curious thing, however, is ''Thylacosmilus'' was not Australian at all: it was ''South-American'', and lived before ''true sabertoothed cats'' (''Smilodon populator'') outcompeted it in South American plains. Today, possums and possum-like animals are the only marsupials left here. Their Aussie relatives were more lucky: before the Ice Ages, placental mammals didn’t manage to reach the LandDownUnder (rats-bats excluded). That’s why kangaroos, wombats and so on are still-living today. Sadly, their enlarged relatived missed the opportunity, perhaps due to a new kind of colonizers arrived only some thousands years ago: humans.

* [[StockPhrase Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]. ''[[RunningGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]''. '''[[OverlyLongGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]'''. '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis NO!!!]]''''' Man '''didn't descend''' from other modern apes (that is, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons): we humans '''and''' chimps/gorillas/orangutans/gibbons all descend from a common ancestor, often called "ape" in popular media but no more closely related to chimps as it was to ourselves. Primate evolution is of particular interest for obvious reasons, but it'd be a too long argumentation here, and would go much beyond the aim of this trope: talking about the most interesting extinct critters. Indeed, most ancient non-hominid primates ''weren't'' particularly interesting compared to their modern descendents: their look was a lot monotonous, some resembled more a lemur, other a tarsier, other a monkey, and other modern apes. Most of them were small as well, although oversized baboons and overgrown lemurs are known in fossil record. We can mention one representant for each lineage, from the furthest to the nearest to humans. ''Adapis'' was an ancient relative of lemurs; ''Omomys'' was a sort of proto-tarsier; ''Aegyptopithecus'' was one of the first true monkeys. For exctint apes, see below.

* Due to jungles not being good places for fossilization, not many species of extinct apes are known. The most notable one is ''Gigantopithecus'', a relative of the orangutan (that also exhibited gorilla-like characters). Its name means "giant ape", and with reason. It measured up to 10 feet when standing upright, ''two times'' bigger than a modern silverback gorilla: a sort of middle-way between a Real-life gorilla and KingKong. Not only that, it was discovered near the Himalayas: could it be the mythical [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Yeti]]? If so, this would mean it could be ''still alive'' (don't be too excited: experts say it's ''highly improbable'' that such a large animal has remained unobserved for such a long amount of time...). Sadly, the only certain thing we know about it is just a lower fossil jaw; the shape of the teeth show us it was a plant-eater, possibly specialized to a bamboo-based diet, to the point that some experts think competition with ''the giant panda'' actually drove it to extinction. Other extinct apes were once considered true human ancestors, or at least the common ancestors of apes and humans, but now are believed only distant relatives which shared some apparently human-like traits. ''Proconsul'', ''Dryopithecus'', "Ramapithecus" (now ''Sivapithecus''), and still others, are often mentioned in old textbook for this, but now their relevance is drastically fallen down.

* The beings included in the Australopithecines evolutionary grade are generally ape-like, being to the rest of apes what baboons are to other old-world monkeys: savannah-adapted relatives of a mostly forest-living group. As we get torwards modern times, the species of australopithecines become steadily more bipedal, adapt their feet to ground locomotion, and generally become more human-like. In the past, all the closest relatives of the genus ''Homo'' were classified in the genus ''Australopithecus'' (“southern apes”, because were found in Africa). As ScienceMarchesOn, recent taxonomical revisions have split off 2 other significant genera from ''Australopithecus'': the earlier ''Ardipithecus'', and the specialized ''Paranthropus'' (“near-human”). The latter included some robust, man-sized species (''P. boisei'', ''P. robustus'') adapted to a strict diet made of bamboos or other fibrous plants; the other australopithecines were much smaller and more gracile, and were more generalist-feeders. [[hottip:*:Interestingly, modern gorillas and chimpanzees make a very similar case: the first are big, robust and bamboo-eating like ''Paranthropus'', the latter are small, agile, and all-eating like ''Australopithecus''.]] Significant species of ''Australopithecus'' are ''A. afarensis'', best known for the specimen found in 1971 and known as [[TheBeatles Lucy]]; and ''A. africanus'' (the first discovered australopithecine, in 1925), likely an ancestor of the genus ''Homo''. But the following story is a totally different one.
[[/folder]]

* [[StockPhrase Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]. ''[[RunningGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]''. '''[[OverlyLongGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]'''. '''''[[ThisIsSparta NO!!!]]''''' Man '''didn't descend''' from other modern apes (that is, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons): we humans '''and''' chimps/gorillas/orangutans/gibbons all descend from a common ancestor, often called "ape" in popular media but no more closely related to chimps as it was to ourselves. Primate evolution is of particular interest for obvious reasons, but it'd be a too long argumentation here, and would go much beyond the aim of this trope: talking about the most interesting extinct critters. Indeed, most ancient non-hominid primates ''weren't'' particularly interesting compared to their modern descendents: their look was a lot monotonous, some resembled more a lemur, other a tarsier, other a monkey, and other modern apes. Most of them were small as well, although oversized baboons and overgrown lemurs are known in fossil record. We can mention one representant for each lineage, from the furthest to the nearest to humans. ''Adapis'' was an ancient relative of lemurs; ''Omomys'' was a sort of proto-tarsier; ''Aegyptopithecus'' was one of the first true monkeys. For exctint apes, see below.

[[folder:From slothes to bats]]

Big Badass Slothes: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium Megatherium]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylodon Mylodon]]'', and others

* One of the largest land mammals that ever lived, ''Megatherium'' had the same size of an elephant or a ''T. rex'': reached 5 m when fully erect, and its name means...well... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin big beast]]. Lived just few thousands years ago in South America, and ancient humans knew it, to the point that they actually might have used it and other relatives as a... living pantry! Megathere's remains have been discovered in ancient caves, and it is said that some human hunters enclosed some of these animals in those caves. In old portraits, ''Megatherium'' was classically shown with a horse-like head and sometimes a giraffe-like tongue to reach foliage on the tree-tops; the horsehead and giraffe-tongue are probably mere fantasies, but the high-browsing habits aren't; indeed, the robustness of its body allowed it to stay only on its hindfeet (which, curiously, had only one claw each), while the three-clawed forefeet were used to pull down branches. Actually, our "big-beast" was not a horse o a giraffe relative... was a ''sloth''. More precisely, the stock animal within the group called “Giant Ground Slothes”, related with anteaters and armadillos, not to ungulates. Megatherium represent the UpToEleven example, but many other "giant slothes" weren't so giant-things (even though still large by human standards). Very strongly-built and weaponed with enormous claws, they were actually capable to walk around with their body upright, a bit like giant bears. Being members of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarthra Xenarthran]] group, they were prevalently South American (some of them migrated to the North however) and had primitive teeth: nonetheless, they were so well-adapted to their environments that they flourished for almost the entire length of the Mammal-Ages: they got mysteriously extinct only few thousand years ago. It's also worth noting that modern slothes are just members of the same group, but specialized to the familiar tree-living style. Their slowness is arguably an evolved trait to mimetize them within the canopy; giant ground slothes were arguably faster-moving, like a modern giant anteater.

* After Ankylosaurs went extinct, evolution decided to create their mammalian equivalents: the glyptodonts. They were Xenarthrans as well, but related to armadillos rather than to sloths. Lived in South America for dozen million years, before going extinct only few thousands years ago: in short, they had the same identical history of their cousins, the giant sloths. Both groups were veggie-eaters (despite giant sloth might be at least partially scavengers), and when adult, they feared no predators except humans. There is a secret behind giant sloth's and glyptodonts' success: their backbone. It was far, far stronger that every other mammal, thus permitting them carrying such heavy bodies around withouth suffering back pain. ''Glyptodon'' is the most well-known glyptodont, but it's also worth of mention ''Doedicurus'': with its mace-like tail, it was the most ''Ankylosaurus''-like of them all. These were among the biggest glyptos, and thus [[RuleOfCool the most depicted]]. Talking about glyptodonts' armor, it was the most powerful among every land-vertebrate (tortoises excluded). It was made by a ''single piece'' made by several ossicles fused together, smooth and usually round-shaped, unlike ankylosaurs whose armor was more flexible and spiky. With their compact frame and rigid armor, Glyptodonts were probably slower-moving than ankylosaurs, but still faster than a Galapagos' tortoise. Despite these differences, the glyptodont's armor was astonishingly similar to an ankylosaur's; only the upper parts of the body were covered, the underbelly was unarmored like ankylosaurs and hairy like modern armadillos; the head had a "shield" again like ankylos, and their tail was also covered by bone. Like ''Megatherium'', also ''Glyptodon'' was known by ancient humans; but we are not sure what was the real thing that made these amazing animals extinct: climatic changes? Human hunting? Or what? Now, only far smaller xenarthrans survive; armadillos, tree-slothes and true anteaters (sadly, the natural history of anteaters is poorly-understood).

Among those ancient dolphin-like cetaceans, some reached very unusual traits compared with the modern ones (even though our Narwal is not far away): ''Squalodon'' ("shark-toothed") had serrated teeth similar to a shark; ''Eurhinodelphis'' ("good-nosed dolphin") had a prominent upper jaw similar to a swordfish as well as the unrelated ichthyosaur ''Eurhinosaurus''. But the most astonishing is ''Odobenocetops'' the "walrus whale", with its two long tusks protruding backwards, and ''asymmetrical'' just like the modern single-tooth of the narwhal (in both case, the overgrown tooth is the left). The function of both the teeth of the odobenocetops and the tooth of the narwhal is still uncertain (maybe courtship device). Of course the ''Odobenocetops'' was the chosen cetacean in Sea Monsters as a prey of the giant shark "Megalodon", just because [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]].

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium Big Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylodon Slothes]]: ''Megatherium'' and ''Mylodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon Big Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus Armadillos]]: ''Glyptodon'' and ''Doedicurus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoroides Big]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratogaulidae Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoberomys Rodents]]: ''Castoroides'', Ceratogaulids, and ''Phoberomys''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapis After dinosaurs… squirrel-monkeys]]: ''Plesiadapis''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptictidium Leap]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalambdalestes of faith]]: ''Leptictidium'' and ''Zalambdalestes''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeochiropteryx Flight]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetetherium of fancy]]: ''Palaeochiropteryx'' and ''Planetetherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eomanis Scales]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotamandua not-scales?]]: ''Eomanis'' and ''Eurotamandua''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon Giant rhinowombat]]: ''Diprotodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procoptodon Giant koalaroo]]: ''Procoptodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacosmilus When big cats]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacoleo had a pouch]]: ''Thylacosmilus'' and ''Thylacoleo''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus Sonic the giant echidna]]: Prehistoric Long-beaked Echidnas

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution Are we really descended from apes?]]: Ancestral Primates

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominoidea An overview about Hominids]]: Prehistoric Hominoids

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus Between a Bigfoot and a Silverback]]: ''Gigantopithecus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecina Nearly humans]]: Australopithecines

King Kong was a horse: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moropus Moropus]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicotherium Chalicotherium]]'', and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancylotherium Ancylotherium]]''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_melvillei My, what big teeth you have]]: ''Livyatan''

Saber- scimitar- dirk- whatever- toothed cats: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus Machairodus]], ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium Homotherium]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon Megantereon]]'', and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis Dinofelis]]''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_evolution A run toward the future]]: Horse Ancestors

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uintatherium Saber-toothed rhino]]: ''Uintatherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontotherium Thunder]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embolotherium beasts]]: ''Brontotherium'' and ''Embolotherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsinoitherium The Pharaoh’s megahorn]]: ''Arsinoitherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelodonta_antiquitatis Woolly]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium_sibiricum unicorns]]: Woolly Rhinos and ''Elasmotherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium The Brontomammal has many names]]: ''Paraceratherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicotherium King Kong]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moropus was a horse]]: ''Chalicotherium'' and ''Moropus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia South American]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodon imitators]]: ''Macrauchenia'' and ''Toxodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryphodon Hooves,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacodus what an invention!]]: ''Coryphodon'' and ''Phenacodus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaloceros_giganteus Up To Eleven trophy]]: Irish Elk

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetoceras Rhinozelle]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivatherium mooseraffe]]: ''Synthetoceras'' and ''Sivatherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_priscus Tatanka’s]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_antiquus relatives]]: Steppe Bison and ''Bison Antiquus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepycamelus Humps,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomylus humps]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelops nowhere]]: ''Aepycamelus'', ''Stenomylus'', and ''Camelops''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeodon Darker and edgier]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodon Pumbaas]]: ''Daeodon'' and ''Entelodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus Badassotherium]]: ''Andrewsarchus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychia Hoofed Stanley]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotheriidae small-mouthed Pat]]: Mesonychids and Anthracotheriids

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakicetus When whales]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus were wolves]]: ''Pakicetus'' and ''Ambulocetus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus A dinosaur of whale]]: ''Basilosaurus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_columbi Columbian]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_imperator emperors]] in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_sungari Dzungarian]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_trogontherii steppes]]: Columbian Mammoth, Imperial Mammoth, Songhua River Mammoth, and Steppe Mammoth

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinotherium Forks]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platybelodon shovels]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anancus spears]]: ''Deinotherium'', ''Platybelodon'', and ''Anancus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant Lilliputian cyclopes]]: Dwarf Elephants

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeritherium All began with a tapir]]: ''Moeritherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protosiren Seaweed-eating]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmostylus walruses]]: ''Protosiren'' and ''Desmostylus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanohyrax Elephant’s kin?]]: ''Titanohyrax''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus Saber-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium scimitar-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon dirk-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis whatever-]] toothed cats: ''Machairodus'', ''Homotherium'', ''Megantereon'', and ''Dinofelis''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea A cold]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracinonyx safari]]: American Lions and American Cheetahs

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_spelaeus Everything's even worse]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus with extinct bears]]: Cave Bears and Short-faced Bears

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_dirus Big]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_hyena Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borophagus Wolfhyenas]]: Dire Wolves, Cave Hyenas, and ''Borophagus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyon Bear-dogs]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusmilus pseudo-cats]]: ''Amphicyon'' and ''Eusmilus''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miacis I’m not a weasel]]: ''Miacis''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyaenodon I’m not a hyena]]: ''Hyaenodon''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea A cold]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracinonyx safari 1]]: American Lions and American Cheetahs

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeritherium In the principle was a tapir]]: ''Moeritherium''

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_spelaeus A cold]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus safari 2]]: Cave Bears and Short-faced Bears

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution Did mankind really descend from apes?]]: Ancestral Primates

* [[StockPhrase Man-Descended-From-Apes]]. ''[[RunningGag Man-Descended-From-Apes]]''. '''[[OverlyLongGag Man-Descended-From-Apes]]'''. '''''[[ThisIsSparta NO!!!]]''''' Man '''didn't descend''' from other modern apes (that is, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons): we humans '''and''' chimps/gorillas/orangutans/gibbons all descend from a common ancestor, often called "ape" in popular media but no more closely related to chimps as it was to ourselves. Primate evolution is of particular interest for obvious reasons, but it'd be a too long argumentation here, and would go much beyond the aim of this trope: talking about the most interesting extinct critters. Indeed, most ancient non-hominid primates ''weren't'' particularly interesting compared to their modern descendents: their look was a lot monotonous, some resembled more a lemur, other a tarsier, other a monkey, and other modern apes. Most of them were small as well, although oversized baboons and overgrown lemurs are known in fossil record. We can mention one representant for each lineage, from the furthest to the nearest to humans. ''Adapis'' was an ancient relative of lemurs; ''Omomys'' was a sort of proto-tarsier; ''Aegyptopithecus'' was one of the first true monkeys. For exctint apes, see below.

* Before cats, bears, dogs and hyenas appeared on Earth, there were their pseudo-looking relatives, whose appearence was similar to their successors or a mix of these animals. Bear-dogs are more correctly called Amphicyonids: some were very fox- or wolf-like, while others were more similar to bears. ''Amphicyon'' is the prototype of the group. A [[AllAnimalsAreDogs very dog-like]] "bear-dog" appears in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]. Nimravids (the pseudo-cats) were also very diversified: the aforementioned ''Eusmilus'' was indeed a sabretoothed member of the pseudo-cat family, while the namesake ''Nimravus'' was more similar to modern big cats. The latter has left a perforated skull which could reveal an astonishing story; maybe it was stabbed in its head... just by its relative ''Eusmilus''. Sadly, in some sources, Nimravid are wrongly treated as [[TaxonomicTermConfusion actual cats]].

* A recent discovery (2008) made in Peru, ''Livyatan melvillei'' possesses what may be the largest functional teeth of any animal. Full stop. The size of the partially preserved skull indicates that ''Livyatan'' reached a length between 44-57 feet in length possessing a head three meters long. It was quite similar to the modern sperm whale, only it had teeth in both of it's jaws. And these teeth were ''massive'', at their largest growing to a little over a foot in length. It is theorized to be one of the area's apex predators, along with the giant shark ''C. megalodon'', who lived in the same area at the same time. It's also theorized that they may have had a similar taste in preferred prey too; baleen whales. It's also one of those prehistoric animals who's name is a reference, too. "Livyatan" is the Hebrew name for the legendary biblical sea monster Leviathan and "melvillei" is named after Herman Melville, the author of ''MobyDick''.

* A recent discovery (2008) made in Peru, ''Livyatan melvillei'' posesses what may be the largest functional teeth of any animal. Full stop. The size of the partially preserved skull indicates that ''Livyatan'' reached a length between 44-57 feet in length possessing a head three meters long. It was quite similar to the modern sperm whale, only it had teeth in both of it's jaws. And these teeth were ''massive'', at their largest growing to a little over a foot in length. It is theorized to be one of the area's apex predators, along with the giant shark ''C. megalodon'', who lived in the same area at the same time. It's also theorized that they may have had a similar taste in preferred prey too; baleen whales. It's also one of those prehistoric animals who's name is a reference, too. "Livyatan" is the Hebrew name for the legendary biblical sea monster Leviathan and "melvillei" is named after Herman Melville, the author of ''MobyDick''.

* A recent discovery (2008) made in Peru, ''Livyatan melvillei'' posesses what may be the largest functional teeth of any animal. Full stop. The size of the partially preserved skull indicates that ''Livyatan'' reached a length between 44-57 feet in length possessing a head three meters long. It was quite similar to the modern sperm whale, only it had teeth in both of it's jaws. And these teeth were ''massive'', at their largest growing to a little over a foot in length. It is theorized to be one of the area's apex predators, along with the giant shark ''C. megalodon'', who lived in the same area at the same time. It's also theorized that they may have had a similar taste in preferred prey too; baleen whales. It's also one of those prehistoric animals who's name is a reference, too. "Livyatan" is the Hebrew name for the legendary biblical sea monster Leviathan and "melvillei" is named after Herman Melville, the author of MobyDick.

* Among the first fish-shaped cetaceans, ''Basilosaurus'' reached the length of a modern baleen whale, but was much more slender, sometimes mentioned "[[UpToEleven eel-like]]" (by the way, it was still a whale!). When first discovered, its elongated shape was misidentified for a mosasaur-like marine reptile: hence its strange, dinosaurian-sounding name ("king lizard"). At that time, all whales still were active hunters, like modern orcas and sperm whales, but still with differentiated teeth: pointed the anterior ones, serrated the posterior, an old legacy which betrays their origins from land mammals. The first filter-feeders appeared much more recently, when our planet turned colder and immense shoals of krill began to float in polar waters. Other cetaceans, however, remained small and active predators, originating our dolphins. See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans here]] to learn more about this fascinating story.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_columbi Columbian]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_imperator emperors]] in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_sungari Dzungarian]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_trogontherii steppes]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinotherium Forks]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platybelodon shovels]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anancus spears]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant Lilliputian cyclopes]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeritherium In the principle was a tapir]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protosiren Seaweed-eating]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmostylus walruses]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanohyrax Elephant’s kin?]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus Saber-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium scimitar-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon dirk-]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis whatever-]] toothed cats

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea A cold]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracinonyx safari 1]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_spelaeus A cold]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus safari 2]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_dirus Big]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_hyena Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borophagus Wolfhyenas]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyon Bear-dogs]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusmilus pseudo-cats]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miacis I’m not a weasel]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyaenodon I’m not a hyena]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_evolution A run toward the future]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uintatherium Saber-toothed rhino]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontotherium Thunder]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embolotherium beasts]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsinoitherium The Pharaoh’s megahorn]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelodonta_antiquitatis Woolly]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium_sibiricum unicorns]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium The Brontomammal has many names]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicotherium King Kong]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moropus was a horse]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia South American]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodon imitators]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryphodon Hooves,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacodus what an invention!]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaloceros_giganteus Up To Eleven trophy]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetoceras Rhinozelle]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivatherium mooseraffe]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_priscus Tatanka’s]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_antiquus relatives]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepycamelus Humps,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomylus humps]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelops nowhere]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeodon Darker and edgier]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodon Pumbaas]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus Badassotherium]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychia Hoofed Stanley]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotheriidae small-mouthed Pat]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakicetus When whales]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus were wolves]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus A dinosaur of whale]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium Big Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylodon Slothes]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon Big Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus Armadillos]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoroides Big]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratogaulidae Badass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoberomys Rodents]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapis After dinosaurs… squirrel-monkeys]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptictidium Leap]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalambdalestes of faith]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeochiropteryx Flight]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetetherium of fancy]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eomanis Scales]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotamandua not-scales?]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon Giant rhinowombat]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procoptodon Giant koalaroo]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacosmilus When big cats]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacoleo had a pouch]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus Sonic the giant echidna]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution Did mankind really descend from apes?]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominoidea An overview about Hominids]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus Between a Bigfoot and a Silverback]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecina Nearly humans]]

* Australian mammalofauna hasn't changed much since the non-avian dinosaur extinction (not counting human influence of course): there have always been [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupialia marsupials]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotremata monotremes]] in the LandDownunder. Since modern Australian mammals are already so bizarre-looking, how would their predecessors have looked? Not unlike their descendants, really; but some were a bit larger. The UpToEleven examples were the herbivorous Diprotodonts, called after their most well-known member: ''Diprotodon''. Related with modern wombats, they were [[{{Understatement}} a bit bigger]]: the largest species reached the size of a rhinoceros. With their robust limbs and massive body, they literally resembled hornless rhinos, and resembled also several extinct “Ungulates” (like the South American ''Toxodon'' or the early ''Coryphodon''). Indeed, Australian marsupials have made an extraordinary case of Convergent Evolution with “placental” mammals. Among differences between diprotodonts and ungulates, other than (of course) their reproductive system, is that the former had the same rodent-like incisors seen in modern wombats.

* Traditionally we have put in the “Insectivores” group all those mammals whose anatomy is comparable to that of most Mesozoic mammals: small size, generic mouse-like look and non-specialized teeth. Actually modern insectivores (bug-eaters) are very different among each other; while the most commonly known (hedgehogs, moles, shrews) ''are'' closely related, many other less-familiar “insectivores” (tupays, tenrecs, sengis) are not. Their resemblance is just due to the fact they still preserve a body-plan similar to the most common one in the Mesozoic, while non-insectivoran mammals modified it becoming more recognizable. Several "insectivores" are known from the Cenozoic's fossil record, but they, being usually small, are rather uncommon like rodents. Maybe the most famous and specialized is ''Leptictidium'', a hopping animal similar to a 3 ft long kangaroo with shrew-like teeth and (maybe) a shrew-like mobile nose. Not related with any modern mammal, ''Leptictidium'' appears the main character in the first [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] episode, and was also the inspiration for Scrat in the IceAge films. [[hottip:*:However, note that Scrat doesn't correspond to any RealLife extinct mammal.]] More shrew-like, ''Zalambdalestes'' lived before the non-avian dinosaurs’ extinction—Late Cretaceous, along with guys like ''[[StockDinosaurs Velociraptor, Oviraptor,]]'' and ''[[Protoceratops]]''. Traditionally believed an “insectivore”, recent research seem suggest it was a proto-marsupial.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus_hartmanni Sonic the giant echidna]]

* There were A LOT of other extinct elephant relatives in prehistory: not so in {{Prehistoria}}. Don't expect to see any proboscideans in TV outside docus unless it's a woolly mammoth or an [[StockDinosaurs American mastodon]], even though many of them were far cooler-looking than the latter two. If you don't believe us, take a look at some examples. ''Platybelodon'' resembled a cross between an elephant and a hippo, with its shovel-like lower jaws. Smaller than modern elephants, it was once classified within the "mastodonts", but the latter has revealed to be an artificial assemblage of archaic proboscideans, only united by one thing: they had a pair of tusks ''both'' in their upper jaws ''and'' in the lower ones. In ''Platybelodon'', the upper ones were small and normal-looking; the lower tusks were placed on the tip of the jaws, were flat and very untusk-like, maybe used to "gather" ground-level vegetation like a literal shovel. The platybelodont is often shown with a bizarre ''flat'' trunk, but this is actually unproven--trunks have not bones within, so they didn't fossilize. Other "mastodonts" were more similar to elephants, but even they would appear cool-looking by our standards: see ''Anancus'' the "European mastodon", with its straight, spear-like upper-tusks (while the lower ones were almost missing). A more primitive proboscidean lineage includes the huge ''Deinotherium'' ("terrible beast"). Unlike the former, it had only two tusks like modern pachyderms.... only, they ''grew out of the lower jaw''. Curved downwards, the function of these tuskes is still uncertain (mayb to leave the bark out from trees). Some deinotheres were as big as the aforementioned giant mammothes, but others were not bigger than a modern Asian elephant. Deinotheres lived most Cenozoic era, and some managed to survive enough to meet our first human ancestors in Africa.

* Among extinct members of the elephant clan, don't forget some island-dwellers which lived in the Ice Ages and almost managed to survive until human history: the oxymoronic [[OxymoronicBeing dwarf elephants]]. Yes, they were real, and some ''sheep-sized''. Most of them lived in the Mediterranean islands, but other lived elsewhere; all achieved their dwarfism probaby by lacking of plenty of food or because they lose the necessity to defend against big mainland predators. Just for curiosity: many of the larger elephant and elephant relative bones (and the smaller ones, too) which were found in the Mediterranean were identified by the ancient Greeks as the remaining bones of monsters, heroes and animals from the [[ClassicalMythology Age of Heroes.]] Some of these bones were identified as cyclopes, due to the alleged misunderstanding of the elephant's nasal opening, put in the place where cyclopes'd have their one eye. But... this is a myth on its own. No elephant skulls were found as often said. The fossils of Anceint Greece are way too fragmentary due to geological forces (earthquakes and volcanoes) to allow something as fragile as a skull to survive intact.

* Though are very rarely mentioned, prehistoric and modern hyraxes are very interesting. Today, hyracoideans are small, guineapig-like mammals living in african savannahs and forests. Once, however, they were very diversified, and some were even ''cow-sized'', like the meaningfully-named ''Titanohyrax''. Hyraxes were once the dominant group of large herbivorous mammals in Africa along with elephants, but then were replaced by the still-ruling odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Hyraxes, along with Desmostylians, Sirenians and Proboscideans, make together the so-called “Paenungulates” (“almost hoofed”). Once thought related with ''true'' hoofed mammals (the “ungulates”), they are now believed a more ancient mammalian branch, arisen in Africa and related with some modern shrew-like animals still-living here. Together, all these mammals have recently been grouped in the Afrotheres (“African beasts”).

* Prehistoric wolves and hyenas were not so different-looking than ours, but sometimes were larger. The Dire Wolf (''Canis dirus'') was a sort of wolf bigger than ours, possibly a hunter of giant bisons in competition with lions. It has been often found in the same tarpits in which ''Smilodon'' remains have been discovered, along with several other American mammals (elephant relatives, ground sloths, but modern-living mammals as well); the most famous is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits Rancho la Brea]], in Los Angeles. Of course, not all extinct dogs were large, don't forget there were fox-ancestors as well. Among extinct hyenas (which by the way, are more closely related to cats than dogs) we can mention the Cave Hyena, similar to modern spotted hyenas but living in northern territories during the Ice Ages. Other hyena species were very different: some were as large as bears, others resembled more cheetah or even weasels! On the other hand, some extinct canid were deceptively hyena-like: ''Borophagus'' from the Middle Cenozoic is one example, while the archaic ''Hesperocyon'' was more weasel-like. As a side-note: all modern domestic dogs from Chihuahuas to Great Danes descend from the grey wolf, no matter how big they are or how they look; an amazingly rapid evolution, really, lasted only few thousands years.

* Many prehistoric ungulates resembled deers in body-shape and head-shape, but again, not all were members of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervidae deer family]] like ''Megaloceros''. Many of them had very unfamiliar-looking horns/antlers above their heads. Among pseudo-deers, the most portrayed are ''Synthetoceras'' and ''Sivatherium''. The former was a distant camel-relative, but was antelope-shaped and also with a bit of rhino inside: it had three horns, two of them were antelope-looking, but the third one was on its ''nose'' and was forked just like that of ''Brontotherium'', though longer and more slender. ''Sivatherium'' was moose-like and very large (2.5 m tall at the shoulder), and had deceptively moose-like pseudo-antlers: it actually was a giraffe relative, a sort of short-necked giraffe. Just about this detail: remember the classic Lamarckian "lenghtening of the giraffe's neck" we have learned at school? Indeed, no other extinct mammal has has such a long neck other than our giraffe: modern animals often are not so overshadowed by their prehistoric relatives, really.

* The mesonychids were the first meat-eating mammals which obtained a size larger than a house cat. Rather dog-like or hyena-like in shape, they had hooves in their feet similar to modern pigs. Once, mesonychians were considered the ancestors of whales, because their skull (specifically their teeth and earbones) resembles that of the most primitive cetacean known, ''Pakicetus''. We know now that the [[ScienceMarchesOn hippopotamus]] is the closest relative of whales and dolphins. The fossil record of prehistoric hippos is poorly known; on the other hand, the similar-looking Anthracotheres have a rich number of species described. They were probably the closest hippopotamus relatives, or even their ancestors. THe main difference with hippos is their much smaller mouth; they probably didn't "yawn" like hippos do today.

* ''All'' mammals were small and rodent-shaped in their evolutionary beginnings. Some became larger and more derived after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but none to the same level as whales. The first whale ancestors appeared only 10 million years or so after the non-avian dinosaurs' extinction. Once thought to have descended from doglike mesonychids (see above), whales [[ScienceMarchesOn are now thought to be]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even-toed_ungulate artiodactyls]] (even-toed ungulates), such as camels, pigs, cattle, deer and particularly hippopotami. The first whales may have descended from the aforementioned anthracotheres, or possibly ''Indohyus'' ("Indian pig"), which was only discovered in 2007. They probably spent much of their time on land, feeding on dead fish and drowned animals. ''Ambulocetus'' (the "walking whale") is a good example of this: still four-limbed, it was already a good swimmer, but still resembled anything but a whale. ''Walking With Beasts'' showed it as an ambush-hunter of small land-mammals, like a modern Nile Crocodile; actually its lifestyle is unknown. Maybe ''Ambulocetus'' was a specialist fish-hunter like modern otters.

[[folder:From slothes to kangaroos]]

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium Megatherium]]'': One of the largest land mammals that ever lived, ''Megatherium'' had the same size of an elephant or a ''T. rex'': reached 5 m when fully erect, and its name means...well... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin big beast]]. Lived just few thousands years ago in South America, and ancient humans knew it, to the point that they actually might have used it and other relatives as a... living pantry! Megathere's remains have been discovered in ancient caves, and it is said that some human hunters enclosed some of these animals in those caves. In old portraits, ''Megatherium'' was classically shown with a horse-like head and sometimes a giraffe-like tongue to reach foliage on the tree-tops; the horsehead and giraffe-tongue are probably mere fantasies, but the high-browsing habits aren't; indeed, the robustness of its body allowed it to stay only on its hindfeet (which, curiously, had only one claw each), while the three-clawed forefeet were used to pull down branches. Actually, our "big-beast" was not a horse o a giraffe relative... was a ''sloth''. More precisely, the stock animal within the group called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Sloth Giant Ground Slothes]], related with anteaters and armadillos, not to ungulates. Megatherium represent the UpToEleven example, but many other "giant slothes" weren't so giant-things (even though still large by human standards). Very strongly-built and weaponed with enormous claws, they were actually capable to walk around with their body upright, a bit like giant bears. Being members of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarthra Xenarthran]] group, they were prevalently South American (some of them migrated to the North however) and had primitive teeth: nonetheless, they were so well-adapted to their environments that they flourished for almost the entire length of the Mammal-Ages: they got mysteriously extinct only few thousand years ago. It's also worth noting that modern slothes are just members of the same group, but specialized to the familiar tree-living style. Their slowness is arguably an evolved trait to mimetize them within the canopy; giant ground slothes were arguably faster-moving, like a modern giant anteater.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodont Glyptodonts]]: After Ankylosaurs went extinct, evolution decided to create their mammalian equivalents: the glyptodonts. They were Xenarthrans as well, but related to armadillos rather than to sloths. Lived in South America for dozen million years, before going extinct only few thousands years ago: in short, they had the same identical history of their cousins, the giant sloths. Both groups were veggie-eaters (despite giant sloth might be at least partially scavengers), and when adult, they feared no predators except humans. There is a secret behind giant sloth's and glyptodonts' success: their backbone. It was far, far stronger that every other mammal, thus permitting them carrying such heavy bodies around withouth suffering back pain. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon Glyptodon]]'' is the most well-known glyptodont, but it's also worth of mention ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus Doedicurus]]'': with its mace-like tail, it was the most ''Ankylosaurus''-like of them all. These were among the biggest glyptos, and thus [[RuleOfCool the most depicted]]. Talking about glyptodonts' armor, it was the most powerful among every land-vertebrate (tortoises excluded). It was made by a ''single piece'' made by several ossicles fused together, smooth and usually round-shaped, unlike ankylosaurs whose armor was more flexible and spiky. With their compact frame and rigid armor, Glyptodonts were probably slower-moving than ankylosaurs, but still faster than a Galapagos' tortoise. Despite these differences, the glyptodont's armor was astonishingly similar to an ankylosaur's; only the upper parts of the body were covered, the underbelly was unarmored like ankylosaurs and hairy like modern armadillos; the head had a "shield" again like ankylos, and their tail was also covered by bone. Like ''Megatherium'', also ''Glyptodon'' was known by ancient humans; but we are not sure what was the real thing that made these amazing animals extinct: climatic changes? Human hunting? Or what? Now, only far smaller xenarthrans survive; armadillos, tree-slothes and true anteaters (sadly, the natural history of anteaters is poorly-understood).

** Prehistoric [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodentia rodents]]: The rodents' fossil record is very scant: no surprise, since they are so small, and small animals usually hardly fossilize unlike the large ones. Even though most ancient rodents were similar-looking to ours, there were also some striking guys in the past: for example, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoroides Castoroides]]'' was a land-living beaver-relative as large as a black bear; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratogaulidae ceratogaulids]] had a couple of hornlet on their nose; while several South American capybara-like forms, such as ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoberomys Phoberomys]]'', were ''cow-sized'' and the largest rodents ever. It's not a casual connection, that modern-day capybara (South-American as well) is the biggest modern rodent: as already said, South American mammals were, and still are, ''very unfamiliar'' to a North American or European observer.

** Prehistoric "insectivores": Traditionally we have put in this group all those mammals whose anatomy is comparable to that of most Mesozoic mammals: small size, generic mouse-like look and non-specialized teeth. Actually modern insectivores (bug-eaters) are very different among each other; while the most commonly known (hedgehog, mole, shrew) ''are'' closely related, many other less-familiar insectivores are not. Their resemblance is just due to the fact they still preserve a body-plan similar to the most common one in the Mesozoic, while non-insectivoran mammals modified it becoming more recognizable. Several "insectivores" are known from the Cenozoic's fossil record, but they, being usually small, are rather uncommon like rodents. Maybe the most famous and specialized is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptictidium Leptictidium]]'', a hopping animal similar to a miniaturized kangaroo with a shrew-like head and teeth; not related with any modern mammal, ''Leptictidium'' appears the main character in the first [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] episode, and was also the inspiration for Scrat in the IceAge films. [[hottip:*:Scrat doesn't correspond to any RealLife extinct mammal]].

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat Prehistoric bats]]: Just like birds, bats are a very poorly-known group in fossil record, both for the same reason: their skeleton is way too fragile to fossilize well. Despite this, awesomely well-preserved bat remains have been discovered in the most famous fossil deposit from Early Cenozoic: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messel_pit Messel Pit]], in Germany. This deposit has also many, many other early mammals: among them, the aforementioned hopping bug-eater ''Leptictidium'' and the basal ungulate ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propalaeotherium Propalaeotherium]]'' have been recently made famous by Walking With (even though the propalaeothere ''wasn't'' an early "horse" as said in the program). These and other mammals from this deposit (among them, several primates and the first pangolins) are so well preserved that ''even their fur and stomach contents are known''. In short, we know'em almost like they were still-living animals. The very first bats have been discovered here, and show us all the traits associated with their modern relatives: fingered wings, large ears, and even structure for echolocating are known from these finds. This has lead scientists to make an intriguing hypothesis: perhaps some sort of gliding proto-bats were already living on Earth ''before'' pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs disappeared? This would also mean bat-winged critters ''did'' exist at the Age of Dinosaurs, thus making the "Mesozoic bat-winged fliers" thing partially TruthInTelevision.

** Mammals of prehistoric Australia: Australian mammalofauna hasn't changed much since the non-avian dinosaur extinction (not counting human influence of course): there have always been [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupialia marsupials]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotremata monotremes]] in the LandDownunder. Since modern Australian mammals are already so bizarre-looking, how would their predecessors have looked? Not unlike their descendants, really; but some were a bit larger. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procoptodon Giant kangaroos]] were 10 ft tall, with a short tail and a flat snout; while [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon diprotodonts]] were even larger, ''rhino-sized'', but were wombat relatives, and thus vegetarian. Monotremes, too, were amazing: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus giant echidna]] was as large as a sheep. Nevertheless, there was also a unique animal which has no modern relatives: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacoleo marsupial lion]], so-called because of its body shape and sharp claws, but with ''rodent-like incisors'' instead of the classic fangs. Scientists once thought it was indeed vegetarian; now they know it was predatory, just like another unusual marsupial from South America: the aforementioned "marsupial sabretooth", ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacosmilus Thylacosmilus]]''. Yes, there weren't only possums, once, in South America.

[[folder:Primate evolution]]

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution Prehistoric non-hominid primates]]: [[StockPhrase Man-Descended-From-Apes]]. ''[[RunningGag Man-Descended-From-Apes]]''. '''[[OverlyLongGag Man-Descended-From-Apes]]'''. '''''[[ThisIsSparta NO!!!]]''''' Man '''didn't descend''' from other modern apes (that is, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons): we humans '''and''' chimps/gorillas/orangutans/gibbons all descend from a common ancestor, often called "ape" in popular media but no more closely related to chimps as it was to ourselves. Primate evolution is of particular interest for obvious reasons, but it'd be a too long argumentation here, and would go much beyond the aim of this trope: talking about the most interesting extinct critters. Indeed, most ancient non-hominid primates ''weren't'' particularly interesting compared to their modern descendents: their look was a lot monotonous, some resembled more a lemur, other a tarsier, other a monkey, and other modern apes. However, the primitive ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapis Plesiadapis]]'' is worth of note: living at the very start of the Mammal Era, it was a sort of middle way between a squirrel and a monkey, with a lemur-body but gnawing teeth like a rodent. Indeed, it has recently been discovered ''rodents'' are the closest relatives of monkeys and apes. Most prehistoric primates were small like ''Plesiadapis'', although oversized baboons and overgrown lemurs are known in fossil record. But the main exception is ''Gigantopithecus'' (see further).

** Prehistoric hominids: [[{{Gandhi}} Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace]]. That's why this paragraph is at the bottom of the Mammal section. Technically [[PunyHumans a subset of Primates]], hominids is a group of animals somewhat controversial to talk about, for obvious ethical reasons: so we'll talk only about those which were not clearly human, and let's end our TimeTravel with australopithecines. The hominid group itself fluctuates in definition, going from all beings closer to us that to chimps, to all things closer to us that to baboons; the most widely accepted use includes the great apes; that's is, all beings closer to us that to gibbons, and that's the one to be used here. Anyway, this family split off from gibbons about 15 million years ago, and not long after, it split off in two main branches: The Asian branch, nowadays made up of the 2 species of orangutan; and the African branch, which includes gorillas, chimps and us. Focusing in that latter branch, the branch gorillas belong to splits off from the main branch 7 million years ago, and the chimp branch splits from the branch that would lead to us shortly after. That latter branch was subject to selective pressure due to having to adapt to the harshed savannah environment: The 2 modern chimp species split from each other at roughly the same time our branch split from Lucy (see below).

*** Extinct Apes: Due to jungles not being good places for fossilization, not many species of extinct apes are known. The most notable one is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus Gigantopithecus]]'', a relative of the orangutan (that also exhibited gorilla-like characters). Its name means "giant ape", and with reason. It measured up to 10 feet when standing upright, ''two times'' bigger than a modern silverback gorilla: a sort of middle-way between a Real-life gorilla and KingKong. Not only that, it was discovered near the Himalayas: could it be the mythical [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Yeti]]? If so, this would mean it could be ''still alive'' (don't be too excited: experts say it's ''highly improbable'' that such a large animal has remained unobserved for such a long amount of time...). Sadly, the only certain thing we know about it is just a lower fossil jaw; the shape of the teeth show us it was a plant-eater, possibly specialized to a bamboo-based diet, to the point that some experts think competition with ''the giant panda'' actually drove it to extinction. Other extinct apes were once considered true human ancestors, or at least the common ancestors of apes and humans, but now are believed only distant relatives which shared some apparently human-like traits. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proconsul Proconsul]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryopithecus Dryopithecus]]'', and "Ramapithecus" (now ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivapithecus Sivapithecus]]'') are often mentioned in old textbook for this, but now their relevance is drastically fallen down.

*** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus Australopithecus]]'' and its kin: In the past, all the closest relatives of the genus ''Homo'' were put in this genus: now this is not such anymore. The beings included in this evolutionary grade are generally ape-like, being to the rest of apes what baboons are to other old-world monkeys: savannah-adapted relatives of a mostly forest-living group. As we get torwards modern times, the species of australopithecines become steadily more bipedal, adapt their feet to ground locomotion, and generally become more human-like. Recent taxonomical revisions have split off 2 other significant genera from ''Australopithecus'': the earlier ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardipithecus Ardipithecus]]'', and the robust, man sized ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranthropus Paranthropus]]''. Significant species of Australopithecus are ''A. afarensis'', best known for the specimen known as [[TheBeatles Lucy]]; and ''A. africanus'' (the first discovered, in 1925), likely an ancestor of the genus ''Homo''. But this is another story.

* Many hoofed mammals of the distant past were pig-like in shape: indeed, the pig-frame was the most primitive among "ungulates", still retained by some modern hoofed mammals, the best example being boars, peccaries and also the tapir (which is a perissodactyl). Most prehistoric pseudo-boars were small, but some were not: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodontidae Entelodonts]] are the most striking ones. They were bison-sized at the most, and had several bony knobs on their head and jaws, resembling giant warthogs, but their tusks were much smaller than a warthog's or a babyrousa's, and didn't protrude out of the mouth. Their food habits are still unclear: they might be scavengers that drove away small predator from their kill, but also ate vegetation and might even be active hunters sometimes. North American ''Daeodon'' (also called ''Dinohyus'') is the largest and one of the most depicted entelodont. [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] has shown an unnamed Asian relative, and affected its appearence [[CarnivoreConfusion to make it scarier]], exaggerating the opening of its mouth.

* ''Andrewsarchus'' is one of the most enigmatic mammals, from the first part of the Cenozoic (the Eocene period). Only a skull is known, about 3 ft long and vaguely wolf-like. Some argue it was the largest carnivorous land mammal ever, but we haven't any proof about that; it might be omnivorous instead. It is often depicted as a scavenger of large herbivores' carcasses, but has also been shown as an active hunter. ''Andrewsarchus'' was traditionally considered to be closely related to the much smaller [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychia mesonychids]]. However, [[http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/08/mesonychians_part_iii_andrewsa.php later]] [[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007062 phylogenetic studies]] indicate that it might have actually been a close relative of the aforementioned entelodonts (though obviously any phylogenetic placement is only tentative at this point).

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychidae Hoofed Stanley]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotheriidae small-mouthed Pat]]

[[From deer to whales]]

[[folder:Carnivorous mammals (usually)]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other extinct mammals]]

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_elk Megaloceros]]'': Or more precisely, ''Megaloceros giganteus''. Now we enter the world of the most successful ungulates today, Artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), and how could make this without starting with the most spectacular extinct deer (and one of the most astonishing mammals ever)? But wait: even though it is commonly referred as the "Irish elk", ''Megaloceros'' (also called "Megaceros" in older sources) was more related with European fallow-deer. Maybe it was not the largest deer ever (being moose-sized), but its antlers were another stuff: they could make the modern mooses' ones appear insignificant in comparison. Each one was ''as long as the entire animal's body'', and each one weighed more than 100 kg. Obviously, only males had such a thing above, as most modern deer. Some scientists said that ''just this headgear'' was the cause of its extinction, having grown too much, and making the animal too clumsy... but this is unlikely; if they actually were too big, evolution would have made it smaller at one point, simply. ''Megaloceros'' lived in Europe in the Ice Ages alongside woolly mammoths and other large mammals, and was possibly prey for ancient human-ancestors; its nickname "irish elk" is due to its remains are very common in {{Oireland}}.

** Prehistoric pseudo-deer: Many prehistoric ungulates resembled deers in body-shape and head-shape, but again, not all were members of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervidae deer family]] like ''Megaloceros''. Many of them had very unfamiliar-looking horns/antlers above their heads. Among pseudo-deers, the most portrayed are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetoceras Synthetoceras]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivatherium Sivatherium]]''. The former was a distant camel-relative, but was antelope-shaped and also with a bit of rhino inside: it had three horns, two of them were antelope-looking, but the third one was on its ''nose'' and was forked just like that of ''Brontotherium'', though longer and more slender. ''Sivatherium'' was moose-like and very large (2.5 m tall at the shoulder), and had deceptively moose-like pseudo-antlers: it actually was a giraffe relative, a sort of short-necked giraffe. Just about this detail: remember the classic Lamarckian "lenghtening of the giraffe's neck" we have learned at school? Indeed, no other extinct mammal has has such a long neck other than our giraffe: modern animals often are not so overshadowed by their prehistoric relatives, really.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae Prehistoric Bovids]]: Bovids (the group containing buffalo, sheeps, goats and antelope; that is, all ruminants with ''true'' horns) are the most successful ungulate group today, and are very diversified: their prehistoric relatives were not much different in their appearence. We can mention however the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison giant bisons]] which lived in Ice Age North America. There were many species of them, some were larger than their present-day relatives and often with more developed horns as well; these traits were perhaps to defend themselves against prehistoric lions (see further). Only one specie of bison still remains in today-America.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelidae Prehistoric camels]]: In prehistory, extinct relatives of camels and llamas were very diversified: the great majority of them were North American, where they started their evolution. Some were even taller than our modern dromedaries: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepycamelus Aepycamelus]]'' was a sort of giraffe-like animal with very elongated neck and limbs. Other "camels" were more antelope-like and runned the ancient North American plains. The well-known specializations for desert-life has appeared very recently in camel story, and regard only modern Old World species: their ancient North American relatives lived mainly in grasslands, thus is unlikely they would have fat-storing humps and resistence against thirst.

** Prehistoric [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suidae pigs]]/pseudo-pigs: Many hoofed mammals of the distant past were pig-like in shape: indeed, the pig-frame was the most primitive among "ungulates", still retained by some modern hoofed mammals, the best example being boars, peccaries and also the tapir (which is a perissodactyl). Most prehistoric pseudo-boars were small, but some were not: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodontidae Entelodonts]] are the most striking ones. They were bison-sized at the most, and had several bony knobs on their head and jaws, resembling giant warthogs, but their tusks were much smaller than a warthog's or a babyrousa's, and didn't protrude out of the mouth. Their food habits are still unclear: they might be scavengers that drove away small predator from their kill, but also ate vegetation and might even be active hunters sometimes. North American ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeodon Daeodon]]'' (also called ''Dinohyus'') is the largest and one of the most depicted entelodont. [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]] has shown an unnamed Asian relative, and affected its appearence [[CarnivoreConfusion to make it scarier]], exaggerating the opening of its mouth.

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus Andrewsarchus]]'': One of the most enigmatic mammals, from the first part of the Cenozoic (the Eocene period). Only a skull is known, about 3 ft long and vaguely wolf-like. Some argue it was the largest carnivorous land mammal ever, but we haven't any proof about that; it might be omnivorous instead. It was traditionally considered to be closely related to the much smaller [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychia mesonychids]], the first meat-eating mammals which obtained a size larger than a house cat; however, [[http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/08/mesonychians_part_iii_andrewsa.php later]] [[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007062 phylogenetic studies]] indicate that it might have actually been a close relative of the aforementioned entelodonts (though obviously any phylogenetic placement is only tentative at this point). The mesonychids were once considered the ancestors of whales (see below) because their skull (specifically their teeth and earbones) resembles that of the most primitive cetacean known, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakicetus Pakicetus]]''; now we know that the [[ScienceMarchesOn hippopotamus]] is the closest relative of whales and dolphins. The fossil record of prehistoric hippos is poorly known; on the other hand, the similar-looking [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotheriidae anthracotheres]] have a rich number of species described, they were probably the closest hippopotamus relatives, or even their ancestors.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans Early whales]]: ''All'' mammals were small and rodent-shaped in their evolutionary beginnings. Some became larger and more derived after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but none to the same level as whales. The first whale ancestors appeared only 10 million years or so after the non-avian dinosaurs' extinction. Once thought to have descended from doglike mesonychids (see above), whales [[ScienceMarchesOn are now thought to be]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even-toed_ungulate artiodactyls]] (even-toed ungulates), such as camels, pigs, cattle, deer and particularly hippopotami. The first whales may have descended from the aforementioned anthracotheres, or possibly ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indohyus Indohyus]]'', which was only discovered in 2007. They probably spent much of their time on land, feeding on dead fish and drowned animals. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus Ambulocetus]]'' (the "walking whale") is a good example of this: still four-limbed, it was already a good swimmer, but still resembled anything but a whale. Among the first fish-shaped cetaceans, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus Basilosaurus]]'' reached the length of a modern baleen whale, but was much more slender, sometimes mentioned "[[UpToEleven eel-like]]" (by the way, it was still a whale!). When first discovered, its elongated shape was misidentified for a mosasaur-like marine reptile: hence its strange, dinosaurian-sounding name ("king lizard"). At that time, all whales still were active hunters, like modern orcas and sperm whales, but still with differentiated teeth: pointed the anterior ones, serrated the posterior, an old legacy which betrays their origins from land mammals. The first filter-feeders appeared much more recently, when our planet turned colder and immense shoals of krill began to float in polar waters. Other cetaceans, however, remained small and active predators, originating our dolphins.

Elephants had some still-living relatives which don't resemble elephants much, but share a similar inner anatomy and a similar dentition. Sirenians (manatees and dugongs) descended from hippo-like ancestors, but then achieved a fish-like shape very convergently with cetaceans (see further). Another group of sea mammals related with proboscideans is now totally extinct: the little-known Desmostylians. They were a sort of "herbivorous seals" which protruding teeth a bit like walruses, but ate weeds like their relatives the manatees.

Though are very rarely mentioned, prehistoric and modern hyraxes are very interesting. Today, hyracoideans are small, guineapig-like mammals living in african savannahs and forests. Once, however, they were very diversified, and some were even ''cow-sized'', like the meaningfully-named ''Titanohyrax''. Hyraxes were once the dominant group of large herbivorous mammals in Africa along with elephants, but then were replaced by the still-ruling odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Hyraxes, along with Desmostylians, Sirenians and Proboscideans, make together the so-called “Paenungulates” (“almost hoofed”). Once thought related with ''true'' hoofed mammals (the “ungulates”), they are now believed a more ancient mammalian branch, arisen in Africa and related with some modern shrew-like animals still-living here. Together, all these mammals have recently been grouped in the Afrotheres (“African beasts”).

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_spelaeus A cold]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus safari 2]]

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse Horse ancestors]]: The eternal symbol of Evolution. Almost the same level the Dodo is the icon of extinction. And yet, horse ancestors weren't so cool-looking compared to most other extinct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungulate hoofed mammals]], really. The most famous of these is, obviously, the [[RuleOfCool less horse-like]] of them all: ''Eohippus'' --> ''Hyracotherium'' --> ''Eohippus'' --> ''Protorohippus''. An almost-unbelievable ScienceMarchesOn affair has encircled horse's evolution, despite its iconic role in popular science. Anyway, all this doesn't involve us so much. Expect to see this (whatever name is to be used) small, basal ungulate called ''horse'' anyway, despite it, actually, having nothing more in common with horses than with tapirs or rhinoceri: the "Hyracotheohippus stew" includes several different early ungulates, some of theme ''were'' horse-ancestors and some weren't. Systematics of primitive ungulates (many of them called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condylarthra Condylarths]]) is a total mess. Among sure horse ancestors, they make a [[AWorldwidePunomenon sort of pun if read together]]: ''Mesohippus'', ''Merychippus'', ''Pliohippus'' and dozens other ''hippus''... all North American. Also worth of note is ''Hipparion'' which, sadly, breaks the pun having ''hippus'' as prefix: it also breaks the geographic rule, being an Old World critter, an offshot of the horse tree which didn't leave any descendents. Remember that ''all'' modern equines did descend from North American ancestors. And oh: the latter were not only horse's ancestors: also donkey's and zebra's, never forget this. Modern equids are so closely related each others, they could well be considered variations of a single kind of animal; indeed, they are all put in a single genus, ''Equus''.

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uintatherium Uintatherium]]'': As we'll say later, not all rhinoceros-looking fossil mammals were real rhinos; but they'll probably get [[DidNotDoTheResearch identified as such in popular media]]. The most well-known are ''Uintatherium'' and ''Brontotherium'', both found in huge numbers in several fossil deposits of Western Usa. The poor uintathere is perhaps [[TheWoobie the most mistreated]] extinct mammal of them all: expect somebody describing its appearence as "[[PrehistoricMonster monstrous/scary]]". Right, it had six giraffe-like horns and two upper protruding tusks: but, honestly, if ''Uintatherium'' was alive today, it would appear not more scary than an elephant, rhino, hippo or giraffe... Also expect a crack about its "tiny" brain (just what happens to its Woobiesaurian equivalent, ''[[StockDinosaurs Stegosaurus]]''), and just like the stegosaur, expect the writer saying [[TooDumbToLive its dumbness being the real reason of its extinction!]] In RealLife, uintatheres were among the very first mammals to reach large size (up to a modern-day rhino), and their body-plan was ''very successful'' at the time, to the point they roamed northern continents in huge numbers for million years in Early Cenozoic, before being substituted by the even larger brontotheres (see below).

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontotherium Brontotherium]]'': This is the prototype of its group of mammals, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin brontotheres]]. While ''Uintatherium'' was not related with any modern hoofed mammals, brontotheres were distant relatives of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perissodactyla horses, tapirs and rhinos]]. The biggest brontotheres were almost Triceratops-sized or Elephant-sized, and their cool-name indeed means "thunder beasts". They had a more rhino-like look than uintathere, having one single "horn" on their nose: ''Brontotherium'' 's prominence was forked and slingshot-like, while that of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embolotherium Embolotherium]]'' (the brontothere portrayed in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]) was shovel-like and not forked. Like uintathere, brontotheres too roamed plains of the northern continents in huge numbers in Early Cenozoic: then they eventually gone extinct, perhaps because they weren't capable to adapt to the diffusion of the very first grasslands which replaced their former food (made of scrub and non-grass herbs).

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsinoitherium Arsinoitherium]]'': Sometimes misspelled "Arsinotherium", it was the most peculiar-looking among "pseudo-rhinos", with its huge, yet light-weighed, hollow "quadruple-horn" (sometimes even asymmetrical). The same size as modern rhinos, this animal is often described as a "cross between a rhino and a hippo" because of its short legs and amphibious habits: it lived along the coasts bordering the shallow seas which covered modern-day Egypt, together with the ur-elephant ''Moeritherium''. It's worth noting that, unlike ''Moeritherium'', ''Arsinoitherium'' was ''not'' an elephant predecessor as said in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Sea Monsters]], and maybe didn't have that tapir-like nose seen in the program: this mammal is so strange that it is put in its own mammalian order, the Embrithopods, only distantly related to elephants.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros True prehistoric rhinos]]: Modern rhinos are often referred as "prehistoric-looking" in media (and the genus now housing the White Rhino (''Ceratotherium'') dates back 7 million years). Many classic prehistoric mammals were indeed rhino-looking though with different horn-shapes (the aforementioned six-horned ''Uintatherium'' and the fork-horned ''Brontotherium'' are the most well-known examples), but only some of the extinct "rhinoceroses" were ''really'' such. Among them, the most spectacular were the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelodonta_antiquitatis Woolly Rhino]], the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium_sibiricum Unicorn Rhino]], and above all, the Indricothere (ironically, this one wasn't so rhino-looking). The Unicorn (''Elasmotherium sibiricum'') is often confused with the Woolly (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') because of their similar appearence: however, the latter was not larger than modern white-rhinos and had ''two'' horns as well; the former was much larger (5 tons, like a modern bush elephant) and with one single horn... perhaps as long as a grown man, and put on the front rather than upon the nose: hence [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin unicorn rhinoceros]]. Both lived in the Ice Age in cold climates, alongside mammothes in northern Asia, but the elasmothere was southerner than the coelodont; the latter lived alongside the other, more popular woolly, ([[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder guess what]]). Interesting that both woollies have left soft part of their bodies other than bones, hair included. While the "unicorn rhinoceros" is often said to have been the inspiration of [[DeadUnicornTrope that other unicorn]] when still alive, but this is probably a legend. About Indricotheres (or Paraceratheres, depend on who you ask), they deserve their own entry below.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium Paracerathere]]: Here is Our Majesty, the biggest land mammal ever lived - though some [[ScienceMarchesOn recent research]] seems to indicate that some mammoths were heavier, but certainly not as tall. Despite its really gigantic size - it was as tall as an apatosaur up to the shoulders, and weighed as ''three'' elephants or, better, as three ''T. rex''es - it still had a quite slender, elegant frame: a sort of muscular giraffe with long neck, small hornless head, and long, slender limbs. Its behavior itself was probably more giraffe-like than rhinoceros-like, browsing the tree tops. In short, it was the new mammalian brachiosaur. Lived at the middle of the Cenozoic (the Age of Mammals), and was only the biggest member of a whole group of extinct "rhinoceri" (better, rhino-relatives): the Hyracodontids, most of them were horse-sized and more similar to horses than to rhinoceros. Our record-holder is also a prime example of IHaveManyNames among prehistoric critters: now called ''Paraceratherium'', its traditional names are ''Indricotherium'' and ''Baluchitherium''.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicotheriidae Chalicotheres]]: The best example of MixAndMatchCritter among prehistoric mammals: they had the head of an horse, the body-shape of a gorilla, and sloth-like forelimbs with hooked claws for pulling down branches or excavating the soil in search of roots: some nickname them [[MixAndMatchCritter sloth-horses]]. A very successful group of hoofed mammals, distantly related to horses and rhinos (like the aforementioned brontotheres); chalicotheres roamed for a long time in most continents, and some [[WildMassGuessing think]] the famous "Nandi Bear" that could live in modern African rainforests is just a surviving chalicothere. The two most well-known family-members are the north-american ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moropus Moropus]]'' and the Asian namesake ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicotherium Chalicotherium]]'' - the latter was even stranger since literally ''knuckle-walked'' like a gorilla. The latter was portrayed in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]], along with another species, african ''Ancylotherium'' - maybe the last chalicothere, unless the Nandi Bear....

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridiungulata South American Ungulates]]: South America was isolated from other continents for most of the Mammal Age, and thus its fauna developed in its own direction. There were not only elephant-size sloths and tank-like glyptodonts: there were also less-armoured but still odd-looking "ungulates", not related with any modern animal today, but similar in shape/size to camels, horses, hippos, buffalos, elephants, rhinos, hyraxes, and even chalicotheres (a great example of Convergent Evolution). The two most represented are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia Macrauchenia]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodon Toxodon]]''. ''Macrauchenia'' was a bit camel-like; often depicted with a floppy, elephantine nose because of the shape of its skull, but we don't know if it really had this thing. ''Toxodon'' was more like a stock-built, no-horned buffalo, but it has also been compared with a rhino or a hippo. These two guys lived during the Ice Ages in South American grasslands ("pampas"), and were among the latest members of their groups; but other relatives lived much earlier, always in South America.

** The most primitive Ungulates: Once, "ungulates" (hoofed mammals) were believed a natural group of mammals; now we know that several mammalian lineages reached the ungulate body-plan independently, and they do not make a real ensemble. Those which lived at the beginning of the Cenozoic were rather undifferentiated each other, and did not resemble most modern hoofed mammals. The two most famous are the small "ur-horse" Eohippus/Hyracotherium/Protorohippus and the large ''Uintatherium'', both from the Eocene epoch: among the other eocenic "ungulates", ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryphodon Coryphodon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacodus Phenacodus]]'' are frequently portrayed in books. ''Coryphodon'' was perhaps the first land mammal to exceed 1 ton in weight, and was rather similar to an hippo in shape. ''Phenacodus'' was not larger than a dog: with its several small hoofed digits, it was similar to ''Eohippus'' with a very long tail, and it is often mentioned as the prototypical "basal ungulate". Just like Eo/Hyraco/Protorohippus, ''Phenacodus'' could have been a possible prey of the famous giant bird ''Gastornis''; while the massive ''Coryphodon'' and ''Uintatherium'' were too powerful to be threatened by any predator when adults, like modern rhinos and elephants.

** There were A LOT of other extinct elephant relatives in prehistory: not so in {{Prehistoria}}. Don't expect to see any proboscideans in TV outside docus unless it's a woolly mammoth or an [[StockDinosaurs American mastodon]], even though many of them were far cooler-looking than the latter two. If you don't believe us, take a look at some examples. ''Platybelodon'' resembled a cross between an elephant and a hippo, with its shovel-like lower jaws. Smaller than modern elephants, it was once classified within the "mastodonts", but the latter has revealed to be an artificial assemblage of archaic proboscideans, only united by one thing: they had a pair of tusks ''both'' in their upper jaws ''and'' in the lower ones. In ''Platybelodon'', the upper ones were small and normal-looking; the lower tusks were placed on the tip of the jaws, were flat and very untusk-like, maybe used to "gather" ground-level vegetation like a literal shovel. The platybelodont is often shown with a bizarre ''flat'' trunk, but this is actually unproven--trunks have not bones within, so they didn't fossilize. Other "mastodonts" were more similar to elephants, but even they would appear cool-looking by our standards: see ''Anancus'' the "European mastodon", with its straight, spear-like upper-tusks (while the lower ones were almost missing). A more primitive proboscidean lineage includes the huge ''Deinotherium'' ("terrible beast"). Unlike the former, it had only two tusks like modern pachyderms.... only, they ''grew out of the lower jaw''. Curved downwards, the function of these tuskes is still uncertain (mayb to leave the bark out from trees). Some deinotheres were as big as the aforementioned giant mammothes, but others were not bigger than a modern Asian elephant. Deinotheres lived most Cenozoic era, and some managed to survive enough to meet our first human ancestors in Africa.

Among extinct members of the elephant clan, don't forget some island-dwellers which lived in the Ice Ages and almost managed to survive until human history: the oxymoronic [[OxymoronicBeing dwarf elephants]]. Yes, they were real, and some ''sheep-sized''. Most of them lived in the Mediterranean islands, but other lived elsewhere; all achieved their dwarfism probaby by lacking of plenty of food or because they lose the necessity to defend against big mainland predators. Just for curiosity: many of the larger elephant and elephant relative bones (and the smaller ones, too) which were found in the Mediterranean were identified by the ancient Greeks as the remaining bones of monsters, heroes and animals from the [[ClassicalMythology Age of Heroes.]] Some of these bones were identified as cyclopes, due to the alleged misunderstanding of the elephant's nasal opening, put in the place where cyclopes'd have their one eye. But... this is a myth on its own. No elephant skulls were found as often said. The fossils of Anceint Greece are way too fragmentary due to geological forces (earthquakes and volcanoes) to allow something as fragile as a skull to survive intact.

[[folder:Herbivorous mammals (usually)]]

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodontinae Whatever-toothed cats]]: There were dozens kinds of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_cat sabertoothed cats]] in RealLife other than the stock American ''[[StockDinosaurs Smilodon]]'' from the Ice Ages. Some of them are nicknamed according to the form of their fangs: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium Homotherium]]'' was the "Scimitar-tooth", ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon Megantereon]]'' the "dirktooth". While ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus Machairodus]]'' was the Euro-Afro-Asian sabertoothed equivalent of ''Smilodon'', not to mention the actual prototype of the group; many European paleoartists have considered ''Machairodus'' as the ''real'' stock sabretooth instead of ''Smilodon''. But there were also more familiar-looking cats in the past: these ones are mentioned later in another section. However, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis Dinofelis]]'', despite resembling more a leopard, was actually a short-fanged saber-toothed cat. The habits of all these whatever-toothed cats is still a mystery; certsinly, they were not identical among each other, and it's arguable they had different hunting styles according to the shape of their fangs; maybe some were solitary while others were pack-hunters, just like the difference between modern tigers/leopards/whatnot and lions. A curious thing is, some prehistoric meat-eating mammals which were not cats at all, developed a bewildering "sabre-toothed" look ''before'' true cats appeared: two main examples are the pseudo-cat ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusmilus Eusmilus]]'' (mentioned later) and the marsupial ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacosmilus Thylacosmilus]]'', in particular the latter, being closer to ''kangaroos'' than to cats. Imagine a [[MixAndMatchCritter sabretooth with a kangaroo pouch]] and you'll have the idea.

** Extinct relatives of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felinae modern cats]]: There were not only sabre/scimitar/dirk/whatevertooths in Prehistory. There were also more normal-looking cats, which together make the subfamily Felinae - while sabretooths make the Machairodontinae. The former are known as "biting cats" the latter "stabbing cats", [[CaptainObvious guess why]]. The most well-known "biting" cats were the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_atrox American Lion]] and its European cousin, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea Cave Lion]], both simply larger, Ice Ages-related subspecies of the modern lion, well adapted to live in colder climates along with the mammoths. Some think they were the main predators of ancient humans, but this is not certain. Anyway, it seems males haven't any mane, at least according to some prehistoric paintings. Another interesting biting cat was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracinonyx American Cheetah]], actually more related with cougar than to cheetah, possibly a specialized hunter of modern pronghorns (which developed their fastness just to escape these "cheetahs"). Not all prehistoric cats were large, though: most were as small as many modern felines, and one of them was the ancestor of our domestic friend.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursidae Prehistoric bears]]: Bears are a very recent group. They have roamed our planet for only 5 to 10 million years. Many prehistoric bears were rather different than our grizzlies: for example, the North American [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus short-faced bear]] had long limbs and a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin bulldog-like snout]] and was probably an agile runner and specialized hunter. The most famous extinct bear is, however, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_spelaeus cave bear]], whose remains are extremely abundant in European caves. Quite similar to a modern kodiak in shape and size, but with a bigger hump on its shoulder and a more prominent skull, Cave Bear is often portrayed as [[EverythingsWorseWithBears the archenemy of Neanderthals]], because both lived in the same places (Pleistocene Europe) and were forced to share the same caves to repair themselves from the rigid Ice Age winters. But it's more probable that Neanderthals were actually the worst enemies of cave bears, and some think they could even have contributed to their extinction.

** Prehistoric [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canidae canids]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyaenidae hyenas]]: Prehistoric wolves and hyenas were not so different-looking than ours, but sometimes were larger. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_dirus dire wolf]] was a sort of wolf bigger than ours, possibly a hunter of giant bisons in competition with lions. It has been often found in the same tarpits in which ''Smilodon'' remains have been discovered, along with several other American mammals (elephant relatives, ground sloths, but modern-living mammals as well); the most famous is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits Rancho la Brea]], in Los Angeles. Of course, not all extinct dogs were large, don't forget there were fox-ancestors as well. Among extinct hyenas (which by the way, are more closely related to cats than dogs) we can mention the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_hyena cave hyena]], similar to modern spotted hyenas but living in northern territories during the Ice Ages. Other hyena species were very different: some were as large as bears, others resembled more cheetah or even weasels! On the other hand, some extinct canid were deceptively hyena-like: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borophagus Borophagus]]'' from the Middle Cenozoic is one example, while the archaic ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperocyon Hesperocyon]]'' was more weasel-like. As a side-note: all modern domestic dogs from Chihuahuas to Great Danes descend from the grey wolf, no matter how big they are or how they look; an amazingly rapid evolution, really, lasted only few thousands years.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyonidae Bear-dogs]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravidae Pseudo-cats]]: Before cats, bears, dogs and hyenas appeared on Earth, there were their pseudo-looking relatives, whose appearence was similar to their successors or a mix of these animals. Bear-dogs are more correctly called Amphicyonids: some were very fox- or wolf-like, while others were more similar to bears. A [[AllAnimalsAreDogs very dog-like]] "bear-dog" appears in [[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]. Nimravids (the pseudo-cats) were also very diversified: the aforementioned ''Eusmilus'' was indeed a sabretoothed member of the pseudo-cat family, while the namesake ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravus Nimravus]]'' was more similar to modern big cats. The latter has left a perforated skull which could reveal an astonishing story; maybe it was stabbed in its head... just by its relative ''Eusmilus''. Sadly, in some sources, Nimravid are wrongly treated as [[TaxonomicTermConfusion actual cats]].

** The most primitive [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivora Carnivores in general]]: True carnivore (members of the order Carnivora) appeared soon after the start of the Mammal Age, but remained small and unspecialized for a long amount of time. In the Eocene most of them were still weasel- or genet-like like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miacis Miacis]]'' , but they already showed the separation in the two main branches still-living today: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caniformia dog branch]] (dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels and ''seals'') and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feliformia cat branch]] (cats, genets, mongooses and ''hyenas''). All modern large-sized carnivores, from bears to lions, wolves to walruses, descend from weasel-shaped critters. However, many small carnivores retain still today their ancient shape/size: because of their small size, they are much rarer in the fossil record and their evolution is less understood.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creodontia Creodonts]]: In the Early Cenozoic, at the time "true" carnivores were still weasel-like, creodonts occupied the ecological niche ruled by modern large carnivores. Very diversified in shape and size, their appearence included that of all modern carnivores (hyena-like, dog-like, bear-like, weasel-like, tiger-like, or a mix of all these). However, creodonts were more primitive and arguably slower-moving than our meat-eating mammals: this has been often cited as the cause of their extinction, but scientists aren't sure of that. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyaenodon Hyaenodon]]'' is regarded as the stock creodont. There were several species, from dog-sized to cow-sized: the largest hyaenodont species appears in Walking With as a formidable predator, but some hypothize it was mostly a scavenger. But even bigger creodonts are known to science, some of them could have even been the biggest land meat-eating mammals ever, rivalling the alleged "Biggest carnivore" ''Andrewsarchus''.

[[folder:The most classic prehistoric mammals]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus Giant mammoths]]: It is often heard the mammoth was bigger than a modern elephant. This is not true if we consider the stock guy, the hairy, curly-tusked tundra-dweller called [[StockDinosaurs Woolly mammoth]] all people know: but this ''is'' true talking about other mammoth species. There were indeed ''many'' species of mammothes in RealLife, and as a group they lived across most of the Ice-Ages world. The largest ones did challenge the "indricothere" (see later) as the "Biggest land mammal ever" title, but only if you count their weight (the indricothere would ever be taller than every mammoth, thanks to its giraffe-like body frame). The most famous are two American species, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_imperator Imperial mammoth]] and the southerner [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_columbi Columbian Mammoth]]; giant mammothes have been discovered in the famous US tar-pits like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits La Brea]] along with sabertoothed ''Smilodon fatalis'' and many other mammals (prehistoric camels, mastodons, giant ground sloths, giant wolves, pronghorns, American lions ans so on), some of them still-living today and other extinct after the Ice Ages. Other mammothes as large as the latter were the Asian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_trogontherii Steppe Mammoth]] and the less-known but possibly the largest of them all, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_sungari Mammuthus sungari]]''. The lower popularity of the giant mammothes (despite their size) compared to the woolly one is probably due to their more normal, less-spectacular appearence. They were more similar-looking to modern elephants than to the popular image of "the mammoth" because they were mostly hairless and with classic-shaped tusks (though longer than modern bush elephants); this because they inhabited relatively warmer climates, and their greater size was enough to preserve heat without the woolly covering.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodontinae Whatever-toothed cats]]: There were dozens kinds of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_cat sabertoothed cats]] in RealLife other than the stock American ''[[StockDinosaurs Smilodon]]'' from the Ice Ages. Some of them are nicknamed according to the form of their fangs: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium Homotherium]]'' was the "Scimitar-tooth", ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon Megantereon]]'' the "dirktooth". While ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus Machairodus]]'' was the Euro-Afro-Asian sabertoothed equivalent of ''Smilodon'', not to mention the actual prototype of the group; many European paleoartists have considered ''Machairodus'' as the ''real'' stock sabretooth instead of ''Smilodon''. But there were also more familiar-looking cats in the past: these ones are mentioned later in another section. However, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis Dinofelis]]'', despite resembling more a leopard, was actually a short-fanged saber-toothed cat. The habits of all these whatever-toothed cats is still a mystery; certsinly, they were not identical among each other, and it's arguable they had different hunting styles according to the shape of their fangs; maybe some were solitary while others were pack-hunters, just like the difference between modern tigers/leopards/whatnot and lions. A curious thing is, some prehistoric meat-eating mammals which were not cats at all, developed a bewildering "sabre-toothed" look ''before'' true cats appeared: two main examples are the pseudo-cat ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusmilus Eusmilus]]'' (mentioned later) and the marsupial ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacosmilus Thylacosmilus]]'', in particular the latter, being closer to ''kangaroos'' than to cats. Imagine a [[MixAndMatchCritter sabretooth with a kangaroo pouch]] and you'll have the idea.

** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium Megatherium]]'': One of the largest land mammals that ever lived, ''Megatherium'' had the same size of an elephant or a ''T. rex'': reached 5 m when fully erect, and its name means...well... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin big beast]]. Lived just few thousands years ago in South America, and ancient humans knew it, to the point that they actually might have used it and other relatives as a... living pantry! Megathere's remains have been discovered in ancient caves, and it is said that some human hunters enclosed some of these animals in those caves. In old portraits, ''Megatherium'' was classically shown with a horse-like head and sometimes a giraffe-like tongue to reach foliage on the tree-tops; the horsehead and giraffe-tongue are probably mere fantasies, but the high-browsing habits aren't; indeed, the robustness of its body allowed it to stay only on its hindfeet (which, curiously, had only one claw each), while the three-clawed forefeet were used to pull down branches. Actually, our "big-beast" was not a horse o a giraffe relative... was a ''sloth''. More precisely, the stock animal within the group called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Sloth Giant Ground Slothes]], related with anteaters and armadillos, not to ungulates. Megatherium represent the UpToEleven example, but many other "giant slothes" weren't so giant-things (even though still large by human standards). Very strongly-built and weaponed with enormous claws, they were actually capable to walk around with their body upright, a bit like giant bears. Being members of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarthra Xenarthran]] group, they were prevalently South American (some of them migrated to the North however) and had primitive teeth: nonetheless, they were so well-adapted to their environments that they flourished for almost the entire length of the Mammal-Ages: they got mysteriously extinct only few thousand years ago. It's also worth noting that modern slothes are just members of the same group, but specialized to the familiar tree-living style. Their slowness is arguably an evolved trait to mimetize them within the canopy; giant ground slothes were arguably faster-moving, like a modern giant anteater.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodont Glyptodonts]]: After Ankylosaurs went extinct, evolution decided to create their mammalian equivalents: the glyptodonts. They were Xenarthrans as well, but related to armadillos rather than to sloths. Lived in South America for dozen million years, before going extinct only few thousands years ago: in short, they had the same identical history of their cousins, the giant sloths. Both groups were veggie-eaters (despite giant sloth might be at least partially scavengers), and when adult, they feared no predators except humans. There is a secret behind giant sloth's and glyptodonts' success: their backbone. It was far, far stronger that every other mammal, thus permitting them carrying such heavy bodies around withouth suffering back pain. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon Glyptodon]]'' is the most well-known glyptodont, but it's also worth of mention ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus Doedicurus]]'': with its mace-like tail, it was the most ''Ankylosaurus''-like of them all. These were among the biggest glyptos, and thus [[RuleOfCool the most depicted]]. Talking about glyptodonts' armor, it was the most powerful among every land-vertebrate (tortoises excluded). It was made by a ''single piece'' made by several ossicles fused together, smooth and usually round-shaped, unlike ankylosaurs whose armor was more flexible and spiky. With their compact frame and rigid armor, Glyptodonts were probably slower-moving than ankylosaurs, but still faster than a Galapagos' tortoise. Despite these differences, the glyptodont's armor was astonishingly similar to an ankylosaur's; only the upper parts of the body were covered, the underbelly was unarmored like ankylosaurs and hairy like modern armadillos; the head had a "shield" again like ankylos, and their tail was also covered by bone. Like ''Megatherium'', also ''Glyptodon'' was known by ancient humans; but we are not sure what was the real thing that made these amazing animals extinct: climatic changes? Human hunting? Or what? Now, only far smaller xenarthrans survive; armadillos, tree-slothes and true anteaters (sadly, the natural history of anteaters is poorly-understood).

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscidea Other elephant relatives]]: There were A LOT of them in prehistory: not so in {{Prehistoria}}. Don't expect to see any proboscideans in TV outside docus unless it's a woolly mammoth or an [[StockDinosaurs American mastodon]], even though many of them were far cooler-looking than the latter two. If you don't believe us, take a look at these: the shovel-jawed ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platybelodon Platybelodon]]'' resembled a cross between an elephant and a hippo. The huge ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinotherium Deinotherium]]'' (appropriately named "terrible beast") had two tusks ''growing out of the lower jaw'', and some species were almost as big as the "indricothere". The ancestral ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeritherium Moeritherium]]'' (classicaly mentioned as "the first elephant") didn't resemble even an elephant: not bigger than a tapir, with its short trunk and short limbs it was also very tapir-looking rather than elephant-looking. But even more normally-looking proboscideans would appear cool-looking by our standards: other than the aforementioned giant mammoths, see the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anancus European mastodon]] and its sword-like tusks, just as as example. And oh, don't forget some island-dwellers which lived in the Ice Ages and almost managed to survive until human history: the oxymoronic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant dwarf elephants]]. Yes, they were real, and some ''sheep-sized''. Many of the larger elephant and elephant relative bones (and the smaller ones, too) which were found in the Mediterranean were identified by the ancient Greeks as the remaining bones of monsters, heroes and animals from the [[ClassicalMythology Age of Heroes.]] Some of these bones were identified as cyclopes, but no elephant skulls were. The fossils of Anceint Greece are way too fragmentary due to geological forces (earthquakes and volcanoes) to allow something as fragile as a skull to survive intact.

** Non-cetacean marine mammals: While cetaceans' natural history is now well-known, that of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnipedia Pinnipeds]] (seals, sea-lions, walruses, etc.) is still poorly-known: however, we are sure that they descended from bear-like or otter-like ancestors, and are a more recent group than whales. On the other hand, the third group of sea mammals, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirenia Sirenians]] (manatees and dugongs), are as ancient as cetaceans, and descended from hippo-like ancestors. There was a fourth group of sea mammals in the Cenozoic, the little-known [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmostylia desmostylians]], a sort of "herbivorous seals" which looked a bit like walruses, but ate weeds like manatees and were related to manatees. Together, Desmostylians and Sirenians were/are also distant elephant relatives, while seals/walruses/otaries were Csrnivores (another example of Convergent Evolution).

As said in StockDinosaurs, only ''few'' kinds of prehistoric mammals will appear in Fictionland, generally those from the Ice Ages. EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs, useless to say it. But if there weren't dinos, extinct mammals as a whole would be much, ''much'' more popular than they are today: a lot of them were in RealLife as large and powerful as many stock dinosaurs. Not to mention the fact a consistent part of them were the ancestors of modern hairy, milk-producing vertebrates. In short, they would be ''very'' interesting guys to show in fiction. And yet most of them still remain docu-related animals - if they're lucky enough. Programs from the 2000s like ''[[WalkingWithDinosaurs Walking With Beasts]]'' and the ''IceAge'' film series tried to partially avert the trope, but even these shows didn't escape the EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs fate: not only the well-known case of "Dawn of Dinosaurs". Though it's little-known, Walking With was initially intended to show ''prehistoric mammals'', but producers received money "only for a show about dinosaurs" - only after the dinosaurs' success they could start with ''Beasts'', changed to a simple sequel at that point. Here is a '''very''' partial list of extinct mammals. If you want to see more about the stock ones (Mammoths and sabertooth Cats) see StockDinosaurs.

[[The most classic prehistoric mammals]]

[[folder:Mammals]]