Arsiniotherium - Ethiopia

The “Omo Remains” refers to a collection of bones excavated by archaeologists between 1967 and 1974. These remains are the earliest known finds of the first anatomically modern humans emerging from Africa, an event estimated as having occurred in the middle of the Paleolithic era, over 200,000 years ago.

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Arsinoitherium - Arsinoitherium was a dinosaur dating from the late Eocene and the early Oligocene epochs; 30 to 36 million years ago. It could be found in Northern Africa, a time when the region featured a tropical environment. Arsinoitherium resembles a rhinoceros in appearance, but is more closely related to the elephant. With two large horns sprouting from its head and another pair of knobby horns directly behind the larger ones, this robust animal was solidly built and presented a tough challenge to any predator.

Elephant Bird - Madagascar

Aepyornis maximus - The elephant bird is an extinct flightless bird endemic to Madagascar. Remains of this giant suggests a height of 3 meters and a weight of 400 kilos. The eggs had a circumference of 1 meter and reached lengths of 34 centimeters. The volume of such an egg is equal to 6.5 ostrich eggs, currently the largest egg produced by any animal. The elephant bird could be found throughout Madagascar until the 17th century, when human encroachment caused their demise.

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The island of Madagascar formed when it broke away from the Indian sub-continent. As India drifted northwards to collide with Asia, Madagascar drifted westwards. It merged briefly with Africa and then drifted back out to sea and is now separated from Africa by the 416 kilometer Mozambique Channel. The long separation from Africa explains the absence of the larger mammals found on the mainland and why over 90% of the flora and fauna found on Madagascar is endemic only to Madagascar.

Dodo - Mauritius

Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, a small archipelago formed by the Réunion hotspot. This volcanic zone has been active over the last 65 million years and is responsible for creating the island of Mauritius 8 to 10 million years ago. It also formed the islands of Rodrigues and Réunion 2 million years ago.

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Raphus cucllatus - The dodo was first sighted by Portuguese sailors in 1507. They described it as a sluggish bird and not afraid of humans. It was a flightless bird, slightly larger than a turkey, and weighing a hefty 23 kilos. The dodo is one of three species making up the family Raphidae. The last recorded sighting of the dodo occurred in 1681. The two other members of the Raphidae family, the Réunion and Rodrigues solitaire, also became extinct. The dodo disappeared less than 100 years after their first encounter with humans.

Smilodon Populator - Argentina

The South American pampa stretches from the Andean foothills to the Atlantic coast. Once an ancient seabed, it is about 750,000 square kilometers in size. The western pampa is covered in shingle and sand, and the eastern half, by deposits of estuary silt washed down from the highlands during periods of massive floods.

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Smilodon populator - Having evolved in North America, Smilodon populator migrated to South America during the late Pleistocene epoch. This was the largest cat of the sabertooth species and weighed an average of 250 kilos, making it one of the largest felids; the tiger, at 300 kilos, currently ranks as the biggest cat. High shoulders and a sloped back gave it the appearance of a modern hyena. These cats became extinct about 10,000 years ago, a time period coinciding with the decline of the large herbivores throughout the Americas.

Cats of the Americas

There are currently seven species of large bodied cats in existence: the lion, leopard, tiger, jaguar, snow leopard, puma, and the cheetah. These seven cat species have had their original range limited by human encroachment and now face an uncertain future in their ability to survive.

The extinctions of the late Tertiary period eliminated three major groups of felids: metailurines, homotherines, and smilodontines. During the Pleistocene period an additional five species of the Felini tribe were lost to extinction. The total lost is about thirty species and represents four fifths of the larger cats known and identified over the last 10 to 12 million years. Extinctions are a normal process in the overall biological process and many factors can contribute to the demise of a species. Typical causes are loss of habitat, loss of food sources, or a severe and sudden change in climatic cycles, denying the animal sufficient time for an evolutionary adjustment. The loss of thirty species of felines over such a short period is a considerable tragedy and should be cause for providing a better understanding and strict protection for the seven species still in existence.

The felines depicted are the American cheetah, classified as Miracinonyx trumani, Barbourofelis fricki, and the American saber-toothed lion, classified as Smilodon fatalis.ture in their ability to survive.

Ankylosaurus - Alberta

The District of Alberta was creating in 1882. It had been part of the Northwest Territories and originally consisted of the southern section of present day Alberta. In 1905, Alberta was granted provincial status and was enlarged to its current size by absorbing the western portion of the District of Athabasca.

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Ankylosaurus was over 10 meters in length and featured a massive body propelled by powerful limbs. The upper body was protected by rows of spines and boney armored plating. The tail came to a tapered end and carried a heavy mass of bone on the tip. This club could be swung from side to side and deliver a stunning blow to any predator. Fossil remains of ankylosaurus were unearthed in the western regions of North America and have been dated to the Cretaceous period, over 60 million years ago.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker - Cuba

Campaphilus principalis - The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers. It measures between 48 to 53 centimeters in length. Both sexes have crests, with the male’s being bright red; the female’s is black. This species is thought to be extinct. The last known sighting was of a small population in Eastern Cuba during the late 1980’s. The decline of this species coincides with the unrestricted logging of the forest habitat necessary for the ivory-billed woodpecker’s survival.

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Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct people: the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. Each had arrived from the neighboring mainland. The Taíno had settled throughout the larger islands of the Caribbean. The Guanajatabey people were limited to the western sections of Cuba and may have been the first to arrive on Cuba. The Ciboney were also an early group and were mainly located in Central Cuba. The Taínos had called their island Caobana.

Columbian Mammoth - Nebraska

The Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in 1854; Omaha served as the territorial capital of Nebraska. The capital was moved to the town of Lancaster when Nebraska became a state. Lancaster was then renamed to honor Abraham Lincoln, the recently assassinated president.

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Mammuthus columbi - Mammoth is the common term for several extinct species closely related to the modern elephant. The Columbian mammoth evolved from the steppe mammoth and roamed an area stretching from the United States to Nicaragua during the late Pleistocene epoch. The Columbian mammoth sustained itself on the grasses of the vast savannahs of the Americas. Fossil evidence has shown the mammoth as one of the last large mammals falling into extinction in the Americas; the mammoth disappeared 12,500 years ago.

Triceratops - South Dakota

The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s refers to a large section of prairie land subjected to severe ecological damage resulting from farmers using a deep plowing method on the thin soil. The uprooted grass holding the topsoil together was further eroded by a series of droughts and eventually blew away as massive dust storms.

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Triceratops - During the late Cretaceous period, triceratops, Greek for “three-horned face,” appeared and spread over much of North America. It was the largest and heaviest of the ceratopsians. Triceratops shared its environment with tyrannosaurus and was heavily armed with two enormous brow horns and a smaller nose horn. The estimated length of a triceratops was 8 or 9 meters and its height was about 3 meters. It became extinct through an asteroid impacting the earth during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Steppe Mammoth - Russia

Russia, stretching across Europe and Asia, is the largest country in the world. At over 17,000,000 square kilometers, Russia is nearly as big as the combined area of Canada and China, the 2nd and 3rd largest countries. The land area controlled by the former Soviet Union consisted of over 22,000,000 square kilometers.

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Mammuthus trogontherii - The steppe mammoth is an extinct member of the elephant family and once roamed throughout Northern Eurasia during the middle Pleistocene epoch. This mammoth was the ancestral link between two other mammoths, the southern and woolly mammoth. Standing 4 meters tall, the steppe mammoth was the largest member of the elephantidae family. The tusks of an mature bull could reach lengths of 5 meters, but they did not extend out far from the body; the tusks had a sharp upwards curve.

Terror Crane - Belgium

Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the former West Germany, were the founding members of the European Union. The city of Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union; it also serves as the center for the Benelux secretariat and the headquarters for the NATO alliance.

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Gastornis giganteus - After the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the largest meat eaters in parts of Europe and North America were flightless birds known as “terror cranes.” Some of these cranes stood 2.1 meters tall and had massive jaws able to crush the small and medium-sized mammals of the day. Further examination of fossilized remains suggests these birds may not have been carnivores. The legs lacked the ability to pursue fast prey and the beak structure is more suitable to a herbivore. The terror crane debate is unresolved.

Archaeopteryx - Bavaria

Three German states style themselves as “Freistaat” or “free state.” Bavaria has used this description before the establishment of modern Germany through the 1946 constitution. The term does not enhance the status of Bavaria over other German states. Sachsen and Thüringen also use “Freistaat” in their official names.

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Archaeopteryx was a raven sized transitional species bridging the gap between true birds and non-avian feathered dinosaurs. Well preserved fossils have been found in the Solnhofen limestone beds of Bavaria and date back to the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago.  Archaeopteryx, unlike modern birds, had small teeth and a long bone tail. It also featured three claws on each wings, possibly used to snatch up prey or for clinging onto tree branches. The ability to fly may have been limited to short distances or gliding from tree to tree.

Ammonites - Hessen

Central Europe’s largest basalt formation is located in the Vogelsberg Mountains, a region in Northeastern Hessen. Basalt is an igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava at or near the earth’s surface. A multitude of layers descend from the peaks to the base of the Vogelsberg in ring-shaped formations.

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Ammonites are extinct cephalopods found throughout the open seas from the Paleozoic to the Cretaceous periods. The chambered nautilus is its closest living relative. Ammonites are “index fossils” and provide useful information in labeling the rock layers containing the ammonite fossils to specific geological time periods. During the Cretaceous-Paleogene event, about 66 million years ago, ammonites, non-avian dinosaurs, and three-quarters of the earth’s plant and animal life became extinct by an impact of a large comet or meteorite.

Archegosaurus dechini

Germany, despite being a relatively small country, has contributed substantially in the recovery and clarification of fossils ranging from flying amphibians, true pangolins, semi-turtles, and early hominids. The Messel Pit, a disused bituminous shale quarry near Darmstadt has been the source of numerous finds, but it is only one of many fossil sites in Germany. Lebach, a small town in Southwest Germany has revealed several partial skulls and other fossil fragments of Archegosaurus dechini. Members of the Archegosaurus genus lived throughout western and central Europe during the Permian geological period, about 250 to 300 million years ago. They were medium to large amphibians resembling crocodiles or gharials. Skull measurements suggest Achegosaurus dechini may have been about 4 meters in length; the tail and snout took up almost half of the total length.

Irish Elk - Ireland

The land bridge connecting Britain to the European mainland was severed 6,500 years ago, but Ireland had broken off from Britain several thousands years earlier. This allowed only some species from the mainland to cross the land bridge. Snakes, being slower in colonizing new areas, did not have time to cross into Ireland.

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Megaloceros giganteus - The Irish elk appeared 400,000 years ago and could be found from Ireland to Siberia and into Northern Africa. It stood over 2 meters at the shoulders and carried a rack of antlers with a spread of over 3.5 meters, the largest of any known cervid. With massive antlers and long powerful legs, the elk could out run or successfully face the few predators daring to challenge. The Irish elk became extinct 8,000 years ago. It could not escape early human hunters nor the environmental issues occurring in the Late Pleistocene.

European Jaguar - Italy

Italy is the only country on the European mainland featuring active volcanoes; Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Mount Stromboli being the most famous. Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD. Mount Etna, located on the island of Sicily, is the tallest of the Italian volcanoes; it stands at almost 3,400 meters. 

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Panthera gombaszoegensis - Fossil remains of the European jaguar were found in Olivola, Italy and dated as the earliest Panthera species in Europe. The Panthera genus includes lions, jaguars, leopards, and tigers. These cats, with the exception of the snow leopard, have anatomical features allowing them to roar. Most animals have triangular vocal chords, but those of the Panthera genus are squared and flattened. This produces a louder sound with a minimal amount of air having to pass over the vocal chords.

Aurochs - Moldova

Aside from bearing the national coat of arms, the flag of Moldova has the same design and color scheme as the Romanian flag. Moldova and Romania share a common bond in their historical lineage, a history reflected in their similar flags. The flag of Moldova can also be mistaken with those of Chad and Andorra.

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Bos primigenius - The lineage of domesticated cattle can be traced to the aurochs, a large grazing animal. Aurochs roamed throughout Europe and Northern Africa during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs. Extensive hunting by humans began to thin the herds. The aurochs herds were soon limited to a handful of areas including modern Lithuania, Moldova, and Poland. Efforts to save the dwindling numbers failed. The last aurochs, a female, died of natural causes in 1627 and brought the species to extinction.

Cryptoclidus - United Kingdom

The formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a complex history. The process began in 1175 with the Treaty of Windsor and reached its height in 1800 with the Act of Union. Scotland and Wales have reclaimed a new level of independence with their devolved parliamentary status.

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Plesiosauria - The genus Cryptoclidus consisted of medium sized specimens of the Plesiosauria order emerging during the Triassic period, over 200 million years ago. Cryptoclidus appeared during the late Jurassic period. It weighed 8 tonnes and grew to 8 meters in length. Despite having a bloated body, it may have been a fast and graceful swimmer feeding primarily on small soft-bodied animals. Cryptoclidus preferred the shallow oceans, but it has been suggested cryptoclidus may have heaved out of the water to breed.

Istiodactylus - Isle Of Wright

The Isle of Wright, once the center of the short-lived Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wihtwara, is separated from the English mainland by the Solvent, a strait measuring 32 kilometers in length and a width ranging from 4 to 8 kilometers. The Hurst Spit, located on the western end of the Solvent, shortens the range to only 1.6 kilometers.

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Istiodactylus was a genus in the order of Pterosauria, an order whose named is derived from Greek and translates as “winged lizard.” Istiodactylus existed during the early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago. It had a wingspan of 4 to 5 meters, was heavily built, and featured a rounded snout resembling a duckbill. Despite the oddly shaped snout, the mouth was fitted with sharp teeth and allowed the animal to easily tear into any food source. A typical diet consisted mostly of fish, but istiodactylus was not shy in picking up food scraps from carrion.