Top 10 Most Fascinating Extinct Animals (Prehistoric)

With its thick coat and curved tusks up to four meters long, the mammoth survived the ice ages until it disappeared thousands of years ago. Scientists are now seriously working on its 'return'.

A compact, immensely strong cat with two gigantic, serrated twenty-centimeter fangs that it used to slice through the neck arteries of prehistoric bison.

The largest predatory shark that ever lived (up to eighteen meters long). Its jaws were so big that an adult human could stand upright inside them.

The peaceful flightless bird of Mauritius that went extinct within a few decades of its discovery because it had no fear of humans and introduced predators.

The largest flying creature ever: a pterosaur with an eleven-meter wingspan that stood as tall as a giraffe on the ground and stalked across the land in search of prey.

The iconic plant-eater with three massive horns and a bony neck frill that served to fend off attacks from Tyrannosaurus rex.

Not a tree dweller, but an elephant-sized colossus that lived on the ground with gigantic claws it could use to bend entire tree trunks.

A unique marsupial with stripes on its back that could open its jaws almost 90 degrees. The last known individual died in captivity in Hobart in 1936.

A feathered, bird-like hunter with a curved sickle claw on each foot that hunted in packs thanks to its intelligence and agility.

A gigantic cat that roamed Europe during the ice age and was depicted with awe by our ancestors in ancient cave paintings.