In just the past few centuries, several of the world’s most
fascinating animals have disappeared completely from our planet.
Though some are certainly just the natural course of things,
most of the animals on this list became extinct through human
activity. Here are some truly fascinating but extinct animals…
1. Tasmanian Tiger Though its name and appearance may suggest
otherwise, the Tasmanian Tiger was not a tiger at all, but a
marsupial. They became extinct on the mainland of Australia
before the arrival of Europeans, but persisted on the island of
Tasmania, which is famous for the Tasmanian tiger’s close
relative, the Tasmanian Devil. 2. Elephant Bird Measuring in at
a whopping 10 feet tall and 880 pounds, the four species of
elephant birds that lived on Madagascar were once the biggest
birds on the planet. It’s unclear exactly when and how these
massive flightless birds became extinct, though it is likely
that human activity wiped out the elephant bird in the 17th
century. When European naturalists and e