Extinction Is Forever Trivia Quiz

Scientists believe "Tyrannosaurus rex" lived in Western North America and Asia from approximately 72.7-66 million years ago, before the continents formed the way we know them today. He was a biped, with two forelimbs that had clawed digits at the end and a long tail. Considering that he stood up to 41 feet (12.5 m) tall and had sixty eight-inch (20 cm) long teeth, he was a fearsome sight to behold. "T-rex" was a carnivore, and was probably an apex predator, although some believe he was also a scavenger. It appears that his favorite food was other dinosaurs!

When the giant asteroid struck earth during the Cretaceous-Paleogene event sixty-six million years ago, an estimated 75% of the plant and animal life ceased to exist. The impact of the asteroid caused prolonged cold weather, what is called an impact winter, and plants were unable to grow. Freezing temperatures and the interruption of the food chain were two obstacles that many animals could not overcome. Those that did overcome the obstacles evolved into new species over time.

Cave bears lived in Europe about 1.8 million years ago-100,000 years ago. Skeletal remains show that they were approximately the same size as Kodiak bears today, weighing anywhere from 880 to 2,200 pounds (399 kg to 998 kg), and standing up to 10-11 feet (3-3.4 m) tall. While it is believed that they were largely vegetarian, there is evidence to suggest that they also ate fish, meat, and maybe even scavenged for food.

They are called cave bears because it appears that they lived close to caves; that preferred habitat made it possible for the extinct creature to be closely studied today. Many apparently died while in hibernation, due to old age or disease. While it is believed that they were worshiped by early humans in the area, they were also hunted. It is highly unlikely, however, that hunting alone or competition with humans for caves drove the cave bear to extinction. Scientists believe that the Last Glacial Maximum that occurred about 20,000 years ago contributed to the decline in cave bear numbers, as many of their favorite plants died out.

Smilodons are commonly called sabre-tooth tigers, and these natives of North and South America, who also had European and Asian relatives, actually had canine teeth (WOW!) that were seven to eleven inches (18-28 cm) long! Weighing more than 600 pounds (272 kg) and around nine feet (2.7 m) long, these carnivores preyed on creatures - like the woolly mammoth and bison - that were much larger than they were.

It is believed that sabre-tooth tigers became extinct when their main sources of food became scarce during the Late Pleistocene extinctions. While they were used to living in a cold environment, there was a short period of time when the climate was even more frigid, and the animals that were their main source of food died out. This was probably exacerbated by the over hunting by humans, who were also adjusting to climate change.

Woolly mammoths appeared in Siberia about 800,000 years ago, and lived in parts of Europe and North America. They preferred to live in steppe regions, as they were plant-eating animals. It is easier to study their appearance than some other prehistoric animals due to the fact that their remains have been found entombed in snow and ice.

They were magnificent creatures, with some males as tall as 10.5 feet (3.2 m) at the shoulder, and weighing up to 13,000 pounds (5.8 mt). A layer of fur covered their entire body, protecting them from cold weather, and they had glorious tusks that grew as long as 13 feet (4 m) in some males. As they are clearly related to the modern African elephant, scientists believe that they lived in maternal bands and had a life expectancy of about sixty years.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding which played a larger role in their extinction - climate change or over hunting - but in reality it was almost certainly due to a combination of both. Humans used mammoth bones for a variety of tools, and shelters made of the bones have been discovered. The tusks were used to carve figures, and mammoth meat was an important part of their diet. But the climate in the steppes was also changing, and the mammoths' habitat began to shrink. Groups gradually became extinct after their living conditions changed.

An interesting note - Scientists used to believe that the last group of mammoths that lived on Wrangle Island suffered from a shallow gene pool due to inbreeding, however, that is no longer the case. They don't know exactly what happened, but believe there was some sort of a sudden event that occurred -and, if that hadn't happened, woolly mammoths would still exit today.

Modern scientists are still uncertain whether the North African elephant, which lived north of the Sahara Desert, is a separate species or a subspecies of the African bush elephant that exists today. They do know, however, that while this plant eater looked a lot like its modern relatives, it was smaller in size, reaching a height of about 8 feet 2 inches (2.4m) at the shoulder in comparison to the height of the African bush elephant which is about 10-11 feet (3-3.4 m).

In spite of its smaller size, the North African elephant was still formidable, and considered to be a real asset during war. The ancient Egyptians, as well as the Nubians and Carthaginians, all used North African war elephants in their military operations. According to the historian Polybius, however, they were inferior in battle to the Indian elephants that were used by people who lived in Asia.

Unfortunately, the North African elephant was a victim of the ancient Romans' taste for animal baiting at their circuses. It was written that during the time Augustus was emperor (27 BC-14 AD) approximately 3500 North African elephants were killed during the games. The creature became extinct sometime during the fourth century AD.

Dodos were endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is located in the Indian Ocean. They preferred to live in forested areas, and are believed to have eaten insects, nuts, fruit, and the like. Their diet was based around the tambalacoque tree, which is called the dodo tree today. Related to modern pigeons and doves, the dodo stood about three feet (.9 m) tall, could weigh as much as fifty pounds (22.7 kg), and had a huge strong beak that could easily break open coconuts. They had very small wings, and could not fly.

European settlement on Mauritius caused habitat loss for the dodo, and the animals introduced to the island - pigs and dogs and the like - became the bird's predators. Dodos commonly laid their eggs in nests on the ground, which also left them vulnerable to invasive species. And they were easy to hunt, as they had no fear of humans, although it has been written that the European settlers did not care much for their meat.

While it is believed that dodos became extinct in 1662, as that was the last time they were seen, scientists agree that it was possible for small populations to continue living undetected for a time after that.

Steller's sea cow was first described by Georg Steller in 1741. Although at the time it lived in a rather small region between Russia and Alaska in the Bering Sea, it probably once had a wider range that was diminished by climate change. Steller spent about a year observing the animal while part of Bering's Great Northern Expedition, as the group was shipwrecked on Bering Island.

Steller's sea cow was related to today's dugong. It grew to be about 26-30 feet (7.9-9.1 m) long, and had very thick dark brown skin that protected it from rocks and ice. It was cold in the Bering Sea and a layer of blubber, about 3-4 inches (7.6-10 cm) thick, protected the animal from the cold. Primarily a kelp eater, Steller's sea cow spent most of its day eating and being a member of a very social family group.

Modern scientists believe that even before its discovery, Steller's sea cow was already becoming extinct due to climate change. While the animal may have been hunted by native people, the thick hide made it pretty tough to hunt in the ancient conventional manner. The European discoverers, however, finished them off, hunting them for their hides, blubber, and meat. While there isn't agreement as to when the last Steller's sea cow was seen, it was certainly extinct around the 1760s.

Although unrelated to penguins, the great auk looked quite a bit like them. It lived in the North Atlantic, from Canada to Spain to Norway. They lived on rocky islands and shores, and were related to modern-day puffins.

Standing as tall as three feet (.9 m), they weighed about eleven pounds (5 kg). Their wings were only about six inches (15 cm) long, and, therefore, were not used for flying. The great auk, however, was a great swimmer, and chased after fish and other crustaceans, its favorite food.

Many Native American cultures in North American revered the creature, made cloaks out of its skin, and were buried with its bones. Its down was a very valuable commodity in Europe, and European explorers caught the birds, using their meat for food or bait. While attempts were made to breed the birds, even early conservation laws could not save them.

Also called the Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine lived on mainland Australia, as well as Tasmania and New Guinea, preferring to live in forests and shrublands. Its disappearance in Australia and New Guinea approximately 3500 years ago predated European explorers; some scientists associate it with the introduction of dingoes to the area. Nevertheless, the population continued to thrive in Tasmania until 1936.

While commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger because of its stripes, the thylacine was also called the Tasmanian wolf because of its close resemblance to the "Canidae" family. A marsupial, both male and female thylacines had pouches. When mature it measured about 2 feet (.6 m) at the shoulder and could be over 4 feet long (1.2 m) and weigh about 40 pounds (18 kg). One surprising feature was that it could open its jaws to about 80 degrees; it did not, however, have large canines or a particularly hard bite. Its main food was probably birds, wallabies, and rodents.

Unfortunately, European settlers believed that thylacines also preyed on livestock. This led to the introduction of bounties on the animal by 1830. That, along with competition with wild dogs brought by settlers, habitat loss, and disease, led to the extinction of the thylacine with the last known one dying at the Hobart Zoo in 1936. The Tasmanian tigers in the picture were seen at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1902.

Scientists believe that the western black rhino appeared in the sub-Saharan grasslands of Africa seven or eight million years ago. One of the four subspecies of the black rhino, it is thought that throughout the 1900s as many as 850,000 of the creatures lived on the savanna.

Typically standing 5 feet tall (1.5 m) and measuring over 11 feet (3.3 m) long, the western black rhinoceros weighed 1500-2900 pounds (.68-1.3 mt). These huge creatures, like other black rhinos, had a prehensile upper lip which allowed them to easily pick up objects, like their favorite leafy plants. With notoriously poor eyesight, they relied on birds to warn them of approaching danger.

As farming operations expanded, the habitat of the western black rhinoceros began to shrink. And, even though protection programs were established and the animals were placed in conservation areas, the magnificent creatures suffered due to the efforts of poachers, who hunted them for their horns. Some cultures believed that the ground horn of the western black rhino possessed healing powers, while in others being able to use a horn for the handle of a knife held high status. Western black rhinos were declared to be extinct in 2011.