Freaky CreaturesThe strangest animals on Earth

Extinct

A blue whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling of the Natural History Museum's main hall in London
Extinct

The longest animals that ever lived

The longest animals known, living and extinct, ranked by length in metres from museum and journal figures, from giant dinosaurs to the blue whale.
A takahe, a large flightless bird with deep blue and green feathers and a heavy red beak, on short grass

Animals Declared Extinct That Were Found Again

A computer reconstruction of Titanoboa, a giant snake with grey-green patterned scales, coiled with its mouth open

Titanoboa: The Snake as Long as a Bus

A computer reconstruction of Quetzalcoatlus, a giant pterosaur with a long beak and neck, flying low over water
Extinct

Quetzalcoatlus: The Giraffe-Tall Flying Reptile

Quetzalcoatlus stood about 12 feet tall and had wings spanning around 11 meters. Here is how the largest flying animal known got off the ground.

An old printed illustration of a Steller's sea cow, a huge manatee-like animal with a forked tail, feeding on seaweed in shallow water
Extinct

Steller's Sea Cow: Gone in 27 Years

A giant cousin of the manatee was found in the Bering Sea in 1741. By 1768 hunters had wiped it out. This is the story of Steller's sea cow.

A painted reconstruction of Dunkleosteus, a huge armoured prehistoric fish with a bony head plate and blade-like jaws, swimming above the sea floor
Extinct

Dunkleosteus: The Armored Fish With a Killer Bite

Dunkleosteus ruled a tropical sea over Ohio 360 million years ago. It had no teeth, just self-sharpening bony blades and one of the strongest bites of any fish.

A huge dark fossil megalodon tooth held in one hand next to a small white great white shark tooth in the other
Extinct

Megalodon: How Big Was the Giant Shark?

No full megalodon skeleton has been found, so its size comes from teeth and backbones. Estimates for the biggest run from under 50 feet to about 80 feet.

A life-size model of a shaggy dark brown woolly mammoth with long curved tusks among young fir trees
Extinct

The Woolly Mammoth and Plans to Bring It Back

The last woolly mammoths died on a remote Arctic island about 4,000 years ago. Now a company wants to edit elephant genes to make a mammoth-like animal.

A museum model of a grey dodo with a large hooked beak standing in a glass display case
Extinct

The Dodo: What Really Happened to It

The dodo was a giant, flightless pigeon from Mauritius that vanished within a century of Dutch sailors landing there in 1598. Here is how it happened.