7. The Cave Lion – One Of The Largest Lions Ever

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It is also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion. This subspecies of lion existed more than 2000 years ago in the territories that form present day Europe. An adult specimen which was found in 1985 in Germany had a shoulder height of 1.2 meters and 2.1 meters in length (not including the tail).

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Other specimens were found and the average shows that this cave lion was around 10% larger than the present day lions in the savanna. The majority of the cave lion population disappeared around 10.000 BC. However, some remains indicate that the species continued to exist until around 2.000 years ago, in the Balkans.

 

8. The Dodo Bird

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It is already one of the most famous recently extinct species. The Dodo (or Raphus Cucullatus) was a flightless bird from the island of Mauritius. It went extinct very recently, in the 17th century. It lived on fruit and nested on the ground. The disappearance of the species is, yet again, attributed to human activity.

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