dodo-solitaire DODOS AND SOLITAIRES Perhaps the most famous extinct creature is the dodo; we often refer to defunct things as being "as dead as a dodo" while "dodo" is a byword for stupidity and obsolescence. It was one of four flightless pigeons: the Mauritius, Common or Brown Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), the much-debated Reunion White Dodo (Victoriornis imperialis), the Reunion Solitaire (was Ornithaptera solitarius, currently Theskiornis solitarius) and the Rodrigues Solitaire (Pezohaps solitarius). To people familiar with cooing fantail doves and feral city pigeons, it may seem odd to think of giant pigeons as dominant species, but this is what had happened. Mauritius is 500 miles (800 km) west of Madagascar. The island of Reunion is 100 miles (160 km) south west of Mauritius; Rodrigues is 300 miles (480 km) east of Mauritius. These islands make up the Mascarene islands.

Mauritius is approximately 10.5 million years old. Rodrigues is about 8 million years old. Reunion about 3 million. Everything on Mauritius was also on Reunion, apart from the dodo; which was theerefore flightless before Reunion was formed. COMMON DODO The Mauritius dodo (Common Dodo) became extinct in 1680. When first discovered, it was variously described as a wild turkey, a cassowary, a hooded swan, a booby or a bastard ostrich. It was actually a giant, flightless dove. Modern research and reconstruction suggest it was not as gentle and dove-like as once supposed; adult dodos could be aggressive, territorial and fight back. Far from being stupid and useless, it was well-adapted to its environment - an environment without mammals - and its demise was due to the introduction of predators it had not evolved to cope with. Its common name comes from the Portuguese "doudo" (foolish) and the Dutch "dodaarsen" (fat heavy bottom).

Teelingly, the Dutch also called it Walghvogel (disgusting bird) alluding to its inedible flesh. The Mascarene Islands had been discovered and settled by the Portuguese in the early 16th century (Arab traders had already visited, but did not settle). With no mammals, the islands were dominated by birds that had evolved to fill the niches occupied elsewhere by mammals. Mauritius had been discovered around 1500 by Portuguese ships seeking a route for the East Indies. They named it Island of Swans, suggesting they had sighted the dodo and mistaken it for a swan (it was about the size of a swan) It had never been inhabited by man. The Dutch named it after their prince, Maurits of Nassau. Both countries were building colonial empires, but politics between Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands meant the Dutch East India Company was first to establish a foothold in Mauritius where, in addition to finding a useful stopover, they logged the abundant ebony and released pigs to ensure a living larder.

In 1598, a large Dutch expedition to the East Indies from the Netherlands, commanded by Admiral Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck, ran into bad weather off the Cape of Good Hope. Five of the ships sailed east of Madagascar and, running out of food and water, landed on an island called Islo do Cerne (Island of Swans) on old Portugeuse charts. Sloops from the Amsterdam and the Gelderland discovered a natural harbour, which they called Warwijk Harbour after theAmsterdam's vice-admiral, Wybrant van Warwijk. Islo de Cerno was a tropical paradise of palm trees and ebony forests inhabited by pigeons, parrots and a strange, large, flightless bird. None of the wildlife showed any fear of them; the birds were docile and easy prey (although the hooked beak of the large, flightless bird apparently gave cause for concern). They called the large flightless bird a kermis-goose, since the harbour was found on the date of the annual kermis fair in Amsterdam.

They described them as "as big as our swan, with large heads, and on the head a veil as though they had a small hood on their head; they have no wings but in their place there are three or four black quills, and where there ought to be a tail, there are four or five small curled plumes of a greyish colour". For all its size, the only edible part was the breast and there was not much of it since the birds were less plump than geese. The "stomach" was also good eating. However much the stewed the rest of the bird, it was tough, sinewy, oily and bad tasting, hence the name "walghvogel" (nauseating.bird). Like a turkey, the strange bird stored fat in its rump, earning it another Dutch name "doedaars" (fat-arse), later rendered "dodo". They turned their attention from the kermis-goose to the much tastier pigeons. Despite being poor eating, within 75 years of its discover, the dodo was extinct.

In 1598, Cornelius Van Neck made Mauritius a Dutch possession and it became an important stopover for Dutch ships on long journeys across the Indian ocean. Crews slaughtered the birds in their hundreds for sport; the meat also made a welcome change from ship's rations. A Dutch captain reported: "We lived on Tortoises, Dodos, (Pink and Blue) Pigeons, Grey Parrots and other game, which the crews caught by hand." Of these creatures, only the Mauritian Pink Pigeon remains, and its numbers are critically low. The importance of Mauritius grew quickly and in 1599 an English report said: "This Island being situate to the East of Madagascar, and containing as much in compasse as all Holland, is a very high, goodly and pleasant land, full of green and fruitful vallies, and replenished with Palmito-trees, from wich droppeth holesome wine. Likewise here are very many trees of right Ebenwood as black as jet and smooth and hard as the very Ivory; and the quantity of this wood is so exceeding that many ships may be laden therewith.

For to sail into this haven you must bring the two highest mountains one over the other, leaving five small islands on your right hand; and so you may enter in upon 30 fadomes of water. Lying in the bay they had 10, 12 and 14 fadoms. On their left hand was a little island which they named Hemskerk Island." In spite of the birds being bad eating, men made sport of bludgeoning the docile dodo, and at first there were plenty of birds around. In1602 Captain Willem van West-Zanen recorded that his men killed "24 or 25 Dod-aarsen, so big and heavy that scarcely two were consumed at meal-time, and all that were remaining flung into salt." In 1613 the journal of Johan Verken, a German sailor from Leipzig, was published in Frankfurt-am-Main. Verken recorded the dodo's featherless face, the yellow feathers at the tips of its stumpy wings, and "in place of a tail four or five curly greyish feathers" The dodo was also far less docile "They are known as Tottersten or Walck birds.

They are found... in large numbers, though the Dutch have been catching and eating them daily, and not only these birds, but many other kinds.., which they beat with sticks and catch, taking care all the while that the Tottersten or Walck birds do not bite them on the arm or leg with their great, thick, curved beaks". Within 13 years of encountering predators, the supposedly dim-witted dodo had adapted its behaviour to defend itself with its powerful beak. The first man to mention the dodo (by that name and spelling) in print was Thomas Herbert, an English diplomat to the Persian Court who went to Mauritius in 1629. His 1634 account of his travels included observations of the dodo: " First, here and here only is generated the Dodo, which for shape and rareness may antagonise the Phoenix of Arabia: her body is round and fat, few weigh lesse then fifty pound, are reputed of more for wonder then for food, greasie stomackes may seeke after them, but to the delicate, they are offensive and of no nourishment.

Her visage darts forth melancholy, as sensible of Nature's injurie in framing so great a body to be guided with complementall wings, so small and impotent, that they serve only to prove her bird. The halfe of her head is naked, seeming covered with a fine vaile, her bill is crooked downwards, in the midst is the thrill (nostril), from which part to the end tis a light greene, mixt with a pale yellow tincture; her eyes are small and like to diamonds, round and rowling; her clothing downy feathers, her traine [tail] three small plumes, short and inproportionable, her legs suting to her body, her pounces sharpe, her appetite strong and greedy." The green spot may have been there to guide the young to peck at the parent's beak and make the parents disgorge food. He wrote that the dodo weighed fifty pounds, had a big appetite and that its 'fiery' stomach was capable of digesting stones. Because he wrote from memory and his later editions grew more elaborate, some of his descriptions are inaccurate.

Thomas Crosfield wrote in his diary that, in 1634, a Mr Gosling bestowed a "Dodar (a blacke Indian bird)" on the Oxford anatomy school. Though dodos defended themselves by pecking, they had not learned to flee from man. In 1631, a sailor wrote; "They displayed themselves to us with a stiff and stern face and wide open mouth" ... "very jaunty and audacious of gait, and would scarcely move a foot before us". Peter Mundy kept a travel journal between 1628 and 1634. He described two dodos kept at Surat, where the Dutch East India Company had a station, and where Jahangir, the Great Mogul of Persia, kept a menagerie. Mundy also saw dodos in Mauritius. Mundy was the first man to note that they occurred nowhere else in the world and wrote that they could "neither flye nor swymm, being Cloven-footed'. Dodos were taken to menageries in Amsterdam, Prague, Batavia, Nagasaki and London. They were tough enough to survive the long journeys, but ugly enough that no-one bothered to create breeding colonies.

When he visited Mauritius a second time, in the 1630s, he went looking for dodos and wrote "we Mett with none" indicating the bird's declining numbers. Despite the continued slaughter, the dodo continued to breed in the more inaccessible parts of the island. In 1644, Mauritius became a Dutch colony. In 1662, Volkert Iversen, a German sailor, was one of several sailors shipwrecked on a beach at Mauritius following ferocious storms. He spent 6 months on the still uninhabited island. By then, there were no dodos left on Mauritius, but they were still to be found on offshore islets that were by sandbars to Mauritius at low tide. Iversen's islet was likely to have been either the ële aux Cerfs or the ële d'Ambre Iversen wrote: "We also found here many wild goats and all kinds of birds which are not at all timid, perhaps since they are not used to seeing people who hunt them. They stood quite still and watched us and allowed us to approach them.

Among them were the birds known to the Indians as Dodderse, which are larger than geese, but unable to fly, having only little stumps of wings, but are fast runners. One party of us would chase them so that they ran towards the other party, who then grabbed them. When we had one tightly gripped around the leg it would cry out, then the others would come to its aid and be caught as well." The dodo had now learnt to run away from humans. In 1693 the French explorer and naturalist François Legaut reached Iversen's islet but did not find a single dodo. By 1680, the combined forces of humans and their introduced animals had rendered the dodo extinct. Joris Laerle of the Gelderland depicted a thin, muscular bird, very different from the fat, ungainly birds drawn in captive settings. Others erroneously depicted it with webbed feet. The most familiar depictions of dodo are of birds so fat that they could scarcely walk because their bellies dragged on the ground.

Although generally portrayed as fat, waddling creatures, the dodos' waistlines probably varied according to the season as they accumulated fat stores to see them through leaner times. It is also possible that that they shed their horny bill-sheaths annually during their general moult and wasting season or that juveniles had less robust beaks. The existence of white dodos on Reunion (under debate) is sometimes attributed to different colour phases or colour morphs of the common dodo; possibly immature dodos were white while adults varies from brown to grey. Most reconstructions of dodos are based on overweight specimens, including over-fed menagerie specimens, adding to their unfortunate image as slow, stupid and waddling creatures (Lewis Carroll must also shoulder much of the blame for the bird's poor image). Dodos were kept in menageries in the 1600s; there was one in the menagerie of Rudolph II in Prague (the bird was stuffed after its death), another in Amsterdam, Holland in 1626, one in the menagerie of Henry Frederick of Orange at Buitenhof (near den Haag, possibly this was the Amsterdam dodo).

Some sailor artists drew the dodo in its native habitat. According to Ferdinand von Hochstetter, a dodo was displayed in London in 1638. Sir Hamon Lestrange wrote: "About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a strange fowle hung out upon a cloth.., and myselfe with one or two more then in company went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest Turkey Cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker and of a more erect shape, coloured before like the breast of a yong cock feson [pheasant], and on the back of a dun or deare colour. The keeper called it a Dodo, and in the ende of a chymney in the chamber there lay a heape of large pebble stones, whereof hee gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs, and keeper told us she eats them (conducive to digestion)" Lestrange's described the bird's erect posture and proud bearing.

The pheasant colour would have been chestnut brown; dun indicates a mousy brown. Van Neck's description referred to "ashy grey with a white face". All in all, its colour was pretty nondescript. Its eyes were described as bright with white irises. The legs were yellow and the talons were black. François Gauche's description, based on dodos in Mauritius in 1638, was a mixture of myth, reality and confusion with other unfamiliar birds such as the cassowary. He wrote that it had no tongue. He also wrote that its single white egg was "the size of a penny bun" (one needs to know the size of a 1638 French penny bun!) and, more helpfully, the same size as that of the pink pelican (8cm x 6 cm). He added that dodos made their nests at ground level on a pile of grass in the woods. According to Gauche, it had a call "like a gosling" (soft cooing), but also that it had as many tail feathers as it was old! Its feathers were generally downy, which fits in with a flightless bird.

Those pictures of fat, ungainly dodos were drawn of the captive birds. A long sea voyage, incarceration in a small menagerie pen and an unsuitable diet (especially if visitors threw bread or other food to the bored exhibits) would have created lazy, overweight specimens. The taxidermy of that time involved stuffing the specimens with straw, this did not always make for lifelike shapes or poses. The skins were often poorly preserved and decayed, shrank or stretched in places, further distorting proportions. The chemicals used to preserve the skins (and hair or feathers) often contributed to fading or discolouration, with some colours fading more than others; this may have resulted in the debated existence of the Reunion White Dodo. Tragically, the bird picked up and preserved by Elias Ashmole in the seventeenth century was thrown away, except for its skull, beak and one foot, by a spring-cleaning curator at the Ashmolean in 1755. Preserved Dodo specimens became so rare that 1800s naturalists wondered if it had ever really existed; a scientist writing in 1801 even described the dodo as a "feathered tortoise"!

George Clark discovered dodo fossils five years after Darwin's "The Origin of Species" was published. Zoologist Richard Owen reconstructed Clark's fossil skeleton, basing his reconstruction on 17th century drawings and paintings of captive dodos, especially a 1626 painting by Roelandt Savery executed in about 1626. Owen's reconstruction showed a slow, fat bird that would be an obvious victim of Darwin's natural selection. Strickland and Melville, published their own study of the dodo in 1848, but did not challenge Owen's reconstruction. Modern studies indicate that Clark's version would have been crippled by its own weight. Dutch accounts give its weight at 25 kilos and modern calculations suggest 17 kilos. The question of why the dodo became extinct is no longer a simple one of it being stupid or over-hunted. It held little appeal as food. Even hunting for sport was limited and the population, though not vast, had to be large enough for it to be genetically healthy. What is beyond doubt is that the dodo was specialised for living at ground level on an island with no predators, no competing species and little disturbance.

In 1865, at a remote place on Mauritius called Mare aux Songes (near Mahébourg in the southeast of the island), George Clark, an amateur naturalist, retrived an entire fossil dodo. Many more were later discovered at the same site. The skeletons revealed that the bird was 75 cm tall, with undeveloped chicken-like wings, a small breast and strong, thick legs. Its head was very large in proportion to its body (larger than that of any existing birds) and equipped with a long, hooked bill. The keratin tip of the beak was shed and re-grown annually, and was used for eating, fighting and possibly in mating displays. Such a beak would have enabled the bird to exploit a wide variety of low-growing or fallen fruits. The forest floor beneath the tall ebony trees would have been relatively clear and the birds would have spent much of their time foraging. To provide calcium for their eggshells they would have eaten the plentiful snails, crabs and coral. They also swallowed stones to grind tough food in their gizzard and their large size indicates a long gut for digesting vegetation.

Flying requires a great deal of energy; without energy-dense foods or predators, there was no need for the dodo to expend energy on flight. It probably had a slow metabolism and would also have been long lived, perhaps up to 40 years. Like pigeons, dodos were probably very competitive during mating season. Being large, and needing plenty of food, they were probably not very sociable and may have been territorial to protect their favourite feeding areas. They probably established nesting territories, breeding in pairs rather than harems. We know that they laid a single egg in a ground-level nest. Being large birds, the chick would have developed slowly, perhaps taking 9 months to reach maturity. This means a dodo probably only bred every 2 years and that pairs remained together to raise their single offspring. Once independent of its parents, the young may have formed groups (the French naturalist Legaut wrote of crèches of young in the upland forests) until mature enough to find and defend their own territories. With no predators to keep the population down and with finite food and territory, it benefited the dodo to breed slowly. The only land mammals on Mauritius seem to have been bats.

There were reptiles such as geckos, lizards, snakes and giant tortoises (the latter also extinct). Mammals introduced deliberately or accidentally by man included cats, dogs, mongooses, pigs, goats, rats, rabbits and monkeys. Some of these were deliberately released to provide a living larder for sailors and settlers and for sport. The rich undergrowth was perfectly suited to pigs. They competed for ground-level fruit, they rooted, they no doubt trampled over nests, breaking eggs and killing chicks or simply driving the parents to abandon their nest. The only dodos not immediately in danger would have been the adults, but every spoiled breeding season would have meant an ageing population less likely to breed in the future. Excavations at the site of Fort Hendrik, the permanent base established by the Dutch in 1638, found no trace of dodo leftovers in the middens (kitchen waste) at the site. Iversen's islet, where the last dodos were seen, was north of the main island and as far as possible from Fort Hendrik.

This suggests that Fort Hendrik was a centre of ebony logging, with loggers working outwards from that point and driving the dodo progressively further away as its habitat was destroyed. However logging alone was not extensive enough to account for its extinction since parts of the forest were impenetrable to loggers. Other factors, such as introduced animals and a new-learnt fear of humans, probably caused the dodos to withdraw to the islet. That last outpost of dodos on their isolated islet would have been under great stress. The shortage of mates would have led to inbreeding, and the population was probably already moderately inbred. The destruction of nests and eggs on the mainland would have meant few youngsters in the population. The remaining birds were possibly too old to breed successfully. They were often cut off from the mainland and probably short of food and nesting materials. Any chicks they did manage to raise were probably not enough to replace the birds that died of old age or being eaten by desperate, shipwrecked sailors. In 1693, no dodos were found on the islet.

The following is from "New Zealand" by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1867); excerpts from Chapter IX "Kiwi and Moa, the wingless Birds of New Zealand" included comparisons with the dodo and its kin. "East of Madagascar, upon the Mascarene Islands (Bourbon, Mauritius, Rodriguez), -- from the bones collected by Mr. Bartlett upon Rodriguez in 1855, there are three species known, the Dronte or Dodo (Didus ineptus), the Solitaire (Pezophaps) and a new, much larger bird. All are extinct; but concerning the former two, it has been proved, that they lived in great numbers on those islands till within the 16th and 17th centuries. Even as late as 1638 a live Dodo was exhibited in England, the skin of which was afterwards transferred to the famous Museum of John Tradescant.

At a revision of this Museum in 1775 by the trustees, the damaged specimens were condemned among the rubbish, and unfortunately also the Dronte; the head and feet were all that was saved of it, and these parts, the only remnants of the extraordinary animal, are now exhibited as a great curiosity in the Asmolean Museum in Oxford [Footnote: Besides this, there is a breast-bone in Paris, a skull in Prague, a beak in Kopenhagen and a foot in London.]" One of the biggest tragedies was that the dodo, superbly specialised for its island habitat, was tough enough to survive long sea voyages to Europe. Had the dodo been more attractive or had a flavour suited to refined palates, it would have been bred at menageries or in parks in the same way as ornamental waterfowl, ornamental peacocks and fantail doves. REUNION WHITE DODO The debated fourth member of the dodo family was the white dodo of Reunion. Two eye-witness accounts and several paintings demonstrate how it differed from the Mauritius Dodo. In his account of a voyage by Captain Samuel Castleton on the Pearl in 1613, J.

Tatton described the Reunion white dodo: "There is a store of Land-fowl, both small and great, plentie of Doves, great Parrots and such like; and a great fowl of the bigness of a turkey, very fat, and so short-winged that they cannot flie, being white, and in a manner tame; and so are all other fowles, as having not been troubled or feared with shot." Their lack of fear made them defenceless against hunters. In 1646, Dutch navigator Willen Bontekoe van Hoorn, published details of his travels between 1618 - 1625 and wrote: "There were also some Dod-eersen which had small wings, but could not fly; they were so fat that they could scarcely walk, for when they trod their belly dragged along the ground." He did not mention their colour and it has been suggested that he was actually on Mauritius when he observed the birds. Although described as fat and waddling, the dodo's girth probably varied with the season, with them putting on fat reserves in bountiful seasons to see them through leaner seasons.

The reunion white dodo may have survived as late as 1770 due to the island's larger size and the slower growth of settlements on Reunion. De la Bourdannaye, the Governor of Mauritius and Reunion between 1735-46, sent either a solitaire or a white dodo to the Directors of the Company as a curiosity. It evidently died or was eaten en route as it never reached the Company. Most depictions of white dodos were based on a 1611 (or 1626) oil painting of a whitish specimen from Rudolf II's collection by Roelandt Savery. Savery was contracted to Rudolf II whose Prague collection included a "walghvogel" specimen described as being a "dirty off-white colouring" in an inventory of 1607-1611. This may have been based on a faded taxidermised specimen as many old taxidermy specimens fade to a cream colour. If Savery based his painting on that specimen, the "white dodo" could not have been from Reunion as the island was not visited by Europeans until 1635.

Nevertheless, Savery's depiction was copied by Pieter Holsteyn the Elder and Pieter Withoos, among others. Holsteyn's painting, probably dating to 1638, depicts a whitish, caricature-like dodo with yellow wings and a few feathers in its tail. At the base of its bill it has a black band (a trait found on the Rodrigues solitaire!) suggesting that it was not painted from life. Savery depicts the white dodo in a mythological setting. A painting of a white dodo by Pieter Withoos in 1680 depicts a white dodo in a park among accurately painted waterfowl, suggesting that his depiction of the dodo was also accurate. He portrayed it as having buttercup-yellow wings, a high-arched tail and a faint bluish tint towards the end of its otherwise white plumage. The eyelid was bright red, the legs and feet were ochre-yellow with black nails and the beak was far less hooked and pointed than that of the Mauritius dodo. In fact the end of the beak appears to have been trimmed off, perhaps for the safety of its keepers.

A drawing entitled "Dronte" (the Dutch and German name for the bird) is somewhat similar to the watercolour of "White Dodo of Rï¿½union" by Pieter Holsteyn and also resembles Roelandt Savery's 1626 depiction of a dodo standing. The unknown artist's drawing shows a tailless dodo, which is actually anatomically correct as many artists added fanciful plumes to their depictions. Some scientists believe the Reunion white dodo was actually an immature common dodo or a colour morph or colour phase of the common (brown) dodo. It was evidently not an albino since it had yellow wings and black claws, but it may have been a leucistic form. Mauritius dodos were variously depicted as brown or grey. Some believe young dodos may have been taken to Reunion from Mauritius by sailors. No dodo bones have been found on the island. Paintings of white dodos are generally used to illustrate articles on the Reunion solitaire, although this may be just as great an error since that bird is currently believed to be a type of ibis!

RODRIGUES SOLITAIRE Unlike the ungainly, inedible dodo, the graceful, long-necked solitaires were described as "delightfully beautiful and delightfully edible", with one early observer writing "The Females are wonderfully beautiful, some fair, some brown; I call them fair, because they are of the colour of fair Hair. They have a sort of Peak, like a Widow's upon their Beak, which is of a dun colour. No one feather is straggling from the other . . . The Feathers on their Thighs are round like shells at one end, and being there very thick, have an agreeable effect. They have two Risings on the Craws, and the Feathers are whiter there than the rest, which lively represents the fine bosom of a Beautiful Woman. They walk with so much stateliness and good Grace, that one cannot help admiring and loving them." François Leguat, a Huguenot refugee from France exiled to previously uninhabited Rodrigues for two years, described the Rodrigues solitaire in his memoirs, which were published in 1708.

Until 1875, when solitaire skeletons were found, his descriptions were considered fanciful. Archaeology finally upheld much of what he had written and his descriptions are now taken seriously. Leguat described the solitaires' mating dances and displays; the birds whirred their short wings and clapped them "like a rattle" against their sides. They guarded their nests and single chicks and were territorial driving away other solitaires from their territory. They also mated for life: "these two Companions never disunite". Leguat described the birds' annual "betrothal" ceremonies: "Some days after the young one leaves the nest a Company of 30 or 40 brings another young one to it; and the new-fledged Bird with its Father and Mother joyning with the Band, march to some bye Place. We frequently followed them, and found that afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in Couples, and left the two young ones together, which we call a Marriage." Thirty years after Leguat, another observer wrote: "When caught they make no sound, but shed tears", and said that they pined away quickly, refusing to eat in captivity.

As well as being monogamous, territorial and slow breeding (with only a single chick), the solitaires could also be aggressive, pecking fiercely and striking with their small wings. Their apparently useless wings were tipped with knobs "the size of musket balls" and these were used as weapons as well as being the source of the rattling sound when they danced. In spite of being described as useful, intelligent and beautiful, the opposite of the supposedly useless, stupid and ugly Mauritius dodo, the solitaire shared the dodo's fate. There were reports of solitaires on Rodrigues as late as 1761. In 1831, a long-time inhabitant of the island said he had never seen or heard of the solitaire, so it was certainly extinct by 1800. Several solitaire skeletons were unearthed on Rodrigues in 1875; these included the "widow's peak" and the "musket-ball wingclappers" described by Leguat. An insight into the "musket balls" has been gained from research into the extinct flightless bird from Jamaica, Xenicibis xympithecus.

Scientists found some specimens where the clubs appear to have been broken by another bird's clubbed wing indicating these birds used their bony bludgeons to fight territorial rivals and for defence against predators. Xenicibis was a chicken-sized member of the ibis family and fossils show that the metacarpus (one of the hand bones) was elongated and bulky and could be used as a jointed club or flail. Modern ibises grab each other by the beak and flail with their wings. The extinct Rodrigues Solitaire, which may have been either a relative of the Mauritius dodo or, like Xenicibis xympithecus, a relative of the ibis. REUNION SOLITAIRE or REUNION IBIS From all accounts, the Reunion (or Bourbon) solitaire (or Reunion Ibis) was slightly larger and more sturdily built bird than the Rodrigues solitaire. It had longer legs and these were muscled, suggesting it could run at greater speeds than its relative. Unlike the almost tailless Rodrigues solitaire, the Reunion solitaire had a large tuft-like feathered tail.

It was considered good eating and was extensively hunted for food, becoming extinct around 1700 (it was last reported in 1705) while the reunion white dodo apparently survived until 1770. Based on bones found on the island, some authorities believe the Reunion Solitaire to be a relative of the ibis, rather than a pigeon/dodo although most sites describing the Reunion solitaire show illustrations of the Reunion white dodo. Authorities now classify the Reunion solitaire as an ibis, Theskiornis solitarius, and ibis remains have been found on the island which support this classification. The ibis remains indicate the bird had not lost the ability to fly, although lack of predators allowed it to adopt a terrestrial lifestyle. Others have suggested that the Reunion solitaire and the Reunion dodo referred to the same bird in its lean and fat forms. It appears to have lived solitarily in deep forests near freshwater, feeding on invertebrates that caught or dug out of the mud with its long beak. When threatened, it reportedly tried to get away on foot, but used its wings for assistance and would sometimes glide short distances, especially downhill.

Travellers' reports and bone measurements indicate that it was well on its way to flightlessness, but was able to fly some distance under its own power after a running take-off. Was this the bird described by Mr Tatton, Chief Officer of Captain Samuel Castleton on the Pearl in 1613? "a great fowle of the bignesse of a Turkie, very fat, and so short winged, that they cannot fly, being white, and in a manner tame: and so be all other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared with shot. Our men did beat them down with sticks and stones. Ten men may take fowle enough to serve fortie men a day." In 1674, the French traveller Du Bois depicted a white bird on Reunion and wrote "These birds are so-called solitaires because they are always found alone. They are as big as a goose and their plumage is white, with black tips to the wings and the tail. The tail has some feathers resembling an ostrich. They have a long neck and a beak shaped like the wood-cocks but larger. Their legs and feet are like those of the turkey.

This bird is caught by running after it, as it flies very little. It is the best game of the island." This description suggests a type of ibis and, interesting, does not refer to it as flightless, merely states that it rarely flew. Carre, secretary of the French East Indies Company, wrote in 1669 that two Reunion solitaires were sent to the Royal menagerie, but that they did not arrive: "We wanted to preserve two of these birds to send them to France to His Majesty, but as soon as they came on board, they died of melancholy refusing to eat or drink." Between 1735 and 1746, Mahe de La Bourdonnais, governor of Mauritius and Reunion sent either a Reunion solitaire or a Reunion white dodo as a present to the director of the French East Indies Company, but it evidently expired en route as there are no records of it arriving in France.

DODO AND SOLITAIRE (HARMSWORTH NATURAL HISTORY) The entry for the Dodo and Solitaire in Harmsworth Natural History (1910) as a footnote to the section on the pigeon family: The dodo and its near ally the solitaire (family Diddae) are totally extinct members of the order, characterised by their very large size and massive build, accompanied by a complete incapacity for flight. The members of the group were entirely confined to the islands of Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodriguez. A native of Mauritius, and the sole representative of its genus, the dodo (Didus ineptus) was somewhat larger than a swan, with rudimentary wings, and a tail composed of short, curly feathers. The beak was very large and hooked, the body remarkably heavy, and the legs and feet short and stout. Large, clumsy, and defenceless, the dodo was a bird marked out for early destruction; and soon after its discovery it fell a prey to sailors, and the animals introduced by them into its island home.

A few scattered relics of stuffed specimens, together with bones dug up from the peat of Mauritius, are all that are left of this bird; but fortunately a good idea of its appearance is given in several contemporary pictures. It was discovered by Admiral Van Neck in 1598, was still abundant in 1601, and was known to be living eighty years later, although by 1691 it appears to have been exterminated. An allied bird inhabited Reunion, but its precise affinities are unknown. The gigantic flightless pigeon of Rodriguez known as the solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) survived till a later date than the dodo, having probably lingered on in the more remote parts of the island till 1761. It was much longer in the leg than the dodo, and had a proportionately. longer neck, and the males, which were far superior in size to the females, were furnished with a peculiar ball-like excrescence on each wing.

The French navigator Leguat, who visited Rodriguez in 1691, and found the solitaire abundant, has given a good account of its habits, and a truthful, if somewhat pre-Raphaelite, portrait; while of late years numerous fossil bones of the solitaire have been brought to Europe, so that we have now a fair idea of its organisation and affinities. Extinct Creatures | BizarBin.com Gigantopithecus, aka Big Foot —————————————————————— While seemingly not the most terrifying extinct creature on this list, there is something about this giant primate that should be taken into consideration. Namely, these apes being around at a time when humans already walked the earth… Just imagine standing eye-to-eye with a 10 feet tall, 1,200 pounds weighing gorilla and not having a flamethrower to defend yourself. A complete skeleton of these primates was never found, so scientists are still trying to fill in some of the blanks. Common believe is that they walked on all fours, so these pictures are more to demonstrate its frightening size.

However the anthropologist Grover Krantz proposed the idea that they did actually move around on 2 legs as he tried to connect this extinct animal to the existence of a creature that is rumored to still live today, the legendary Big Foot. The Tauntaun is 8.2 ft, just sayin… Argentavis Magnificens, the gigantic bird —————————————————————— This gigantic bird of prey is the largest bird to ever terrorize the skies. It had a wingspan of about the same size of a Learjet and could snatch its prey (you) from the ground and shallow it whole, in a single swoop. Even though I would give up a liver to see one of these magnificent bastards, I think we can all thank god almighty for hitting the reset button on this one. Enjoying the sun in your backyard, outdoor sports, riding a bike, forget about all that, it just wouldn’t be worth it if we’d have these monsters patrolling the sky. On the other hand, maybe we would have been able to domesticate them, and we would all be flying these things to work. Fuck Yeah!!

Titanoboa, the snake that would beat King Kong’s ass —————————————————————— Anaconda’s are already freaking huge, with the largest on record stretching a jaw-dropping 27-feet. However, nature’s early sketch of this animal, named the “Titanoboa cerrejonensis”, was on a whole different level of terror. This creature, which seem to have been lifted from a 70’s Monster movie, lived 60 million years ago. It grew to around 50 feet, weighed 2,500 pounds, and could probably crush you to death just by looking at you! Nature didn’t give it the ability to fly, but other than that this has to be the most bad-ass creature to ever existed. In fact, it actually survived the extinction event that wiped out all the dinosaurs, probably by curling up like a ball, while cackling madly at nature itself. SuperCroc, the name says it all… —————————————————————— Here we have another extinct creature that seems to have stepped right of the set of a Godzilla movie. Yes, it’s actually called SuperCroc, which sounds like a name a 6 year-old would have come up with.

But in all fairness, there isn’t another name that would do this seemingly invincible monster justice. SuperCrocs, which lived 112 million years ago, are pretty much the same armored, pant-shittingly scary things we see today, but with a horrifying twist. With today’s crocodiles, you basically have a period of fast growth, followed by a little bit of growth – but this guy wasn’t slowing down, at all! It just kept growing through it’s entire lifetime and are believed to reach the size of a bus (11.2–12.2 meters or 37–40 ft) and weighing almost 9,000 kg. In comparison, the largest saltwater crocodile on record weighed 1,200 kg. Just imagine the traffic jams this beast would have caused if it was still alive today… Amphicyonidae aka Bone-Crunching-Bear-Dog —————————————————————— We all know that bears are freaking mental, but because of the Care Bears and Winnie the Pooh, they just never seem so dangerous and kinda cute actually.

Of course not many of us have first-hand experience with getting mauled by a Grizzly, else the general consensus would have been totally different. However, if these Bear-Dogs were still around then I am sure this misconception wouldn’t have existed in the first place. When any animal has “bone-crunching” in its name, you know things are getting serious. What we have here are basically the scariest parts of a Lion, Wolf and a Bear, rolled into one big, Frankensteinian, writing machine of death. Scientists believe it was the True Dog, who caused its extinction. Even though they were about the same size as a large wolf, these true dogs were social animals and hunted in packs, outnumbering this monster. Bear-Dogs, on the other hand, responded to any form of social contact by biting a head off. It had the size and strength of a bear, the giant meat-slashing-teeth of a wolf and the claws, speed and dexterity of a Lion. At it’s time, 19 million years ago, it was the absolute apex predator as it ravaged the countryside of North America for, no less than, 5 million years.

Eventually nature admitted this beast to be seriously overpowered, effectively dividing its killing parts over 3 of the most ferocious animals we see today. Meganeura, The Giant Dragonfly —————————————————————— When God was taking a nap, the devil must have created this monstrosity just to prevent a single person from sleeping at night, and to collect the souls of children. Mageneura were Dragonfly-like insects that came in the size of a freaking Eagle, making them the biggest flying insects to ever existed. A R/C model of this bug would cause more panic than an Indian Earthquake! The good news is that flying bugs this size will never be coming back, as the change in oxygen levels, during this prehistoric time, resulted in its extinction. In the current atmosphere they, fortunately, wouldn’t be able to take up enough oxygen to support this massive size. Not much else is known about these horrors, except that flyswatters would now have come with metal spikes, if these things would still be flapping around our porch light.

Dude, put away that flyswatter before you piss it off… Solitare - definition of Solitare by The Free Dictionary Solitare - definition of Solitare by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . sol·i·taire 1. A gem, such as a diamond, that is set alone. 2. Games Any of a number of card games played by one person, especially Klondike. 3. Any of several thrushes found in the Americas and noted for having a beautiful song. 4. A large flightless bird (Pezophaps solitaria) of the Mascarene Islands that was closely related to the dodo and became extinct by the end of the 1700s. 5. A large flightless bird (Threskiornis solitarius) of Réunion Island, once thought to be related to the dodo but now regarded as a type of ibis. It became extinct in the early 1700s. [French, solitary, from Old French; see solitary .] solitaire (ˈsɒlɪˌtɛə; ˌsɒlɪˈtɛə) n 1.

(Games, other than specified) Also called: pegboard a game played by one person, esp one involving moving and taking pegs in a pegboard or marbles on an indented circular board with the object of being left with only one 2. (Card Games) the US name for patience 3 3. (Jewellery) a gem, esp a diamond, set alone in a ring 4. (Animals) any of several extinct birds of the genus Pezophaps, related to the dodo 5. (Animals) any of several dull grey North American songbirds of the genus Myadestes: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes) [C18: from Old French: solitary] sol•i•taire (ˈsɒl ɪˌtɛər) n. 1. any of various card games for one person in which the cards are arranged in predetermined patterns. 2. a precious stone, esp. a diamond, set by itself, as in a ring. 3. any of several New World thrushes of the genus Myadestes, noted for their beautiful songs. 4.

either of two extinct flightless birds akin to the dodo, Pezophaps solitaria and Raphus solitarius, that inhabited the Mascarene Islands. [1350–1400; Middle English < French < Latin sōlitārius solitary ] ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Rare and Extinct Creatures MESSYBEAST'S RARE AND EXTINCT CREATURES When I go to museums, I often take photos of extinct animals (some of which are alleged to exist in isolated places). I've also found old pictures and colour plates in turn-of-the-century encyclopaedias and Victorian/Edwardian natural history books. Rather than keeping the pictures to myself, I've created these pages for other people to enjoy and included information about each creature. This isn't a specific project, but more photos and more categories may be added if I see something interesting in a museum. This page has been split into an index and sub-pages to aid loading time. Each animal page opens in a new window. FURTHER READING The animals on this pare are just a few of the recently extinct species whose demise could have been avoided.

You can read about other recently extinct animals in some of the books below. The thylacine in particular is discussed on cryptozoology forums in relation to claimed sightings. The Encyclopedia of Vanished Species (David Day) Describes and illustrates (paintings/drawings, no photographs) extinct animals in the last few centuries including the elephant bird, moa, thylacine, quagga, warrah, subspecies of wolves, bears and others. Extinct (Anton Gill and Alex West) Reconstructs the form and habits of the dodo, thylacine, great auk, smilodon, irish elk and mammoth and investigates their extinction. Includes stills from the British TV series of the same name. Rumors of Existence: Newly Discovered, Supposedly Extinct and Unconfirmed Inhabitants of the Animal Kingdom (Matthew Bille) Includes recent claims of thylacine sightings. It is not only wild animals that have suffered extinction; a number of domestic livestock breeds have become extinct due to modern farming methods favouring animals suited to modern intensive farming methods and modern palates.

Recommended reading on extinct and endangered livestock: The Chance to Survive (Lawrence Alderson) Two Hundred Years of British Farm Livestock (Stephen J G Hall, Juliet Clutton-Brock) Solitaires - definition of solitaires by The Free Dictionary Solitaires - definition of solitaires by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . sol·i·taire 1. A gem, such as a diamond, that is set alone. 2. Games Any of a number of card games played by one person, especially Klondike. 3. Any of several thrushes found in the Americas and noted for having a beautiful song. 4. A large flightless bird (Pezophaps solitaria) of the Mascarene Islands that was closely related to the dodo and became extinct by the end of the 1700s. 5. A large flightless bird (Threskiornis solitarius) of Réunion Island, once thought to be related to the dodo but now regarded as a type of ibis. It became extinct in the early 1700s.

[French, solitary, from Old French; see solitary .] solitaire (ˈsɒlɪˌtɛə; ˌsɒlɪˈtɛə) n 1. (Games, other than specified) Also called: pegboard a game played by one person, esp one involving moving and taking pegs in a pegboard or marbles on an indented circular board with the object of being left with only one 2. (Card Games) the US name for patience 3 3. (Jewellery) a gem, esp a diamond, set alone in a ring 4. (Animals) any of several extinct birds of the genus Pezophaps, related to the dodo 5. (Animals) any of several dull grey North American songbirds of the genus Myadestes: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes) [C18: from Old French: solitary] sol•i•taire (ˈsɒl ɪˌtɛər) n. 1. any of various card games for one person in which the cards are arranged in predetermined patterns. 2. a precious stone, esp. a diamond, set by itself, as in a ring. 3.

any of several New World thrushes of the genus Myadestes, noted for their beautiful songs. 4. either of two extinct flightless birds akin to the dodo, Pezophaps solitaria and Raphus solitarius, that inhabited the Mascarene Islands. [1350–1400; Middle English < French < Latin sōlitārius solitary ] ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: 1000+ images about Extinct Animal Drawings on Pinterest | Great auk, Extinct animals and Birds Forward EXTINCT — CAROLINA PARAKEET (Conuropsis carolinensis). The eastern U.S. once had its own native parrot, the Carolina parakeet. But farmers cut down their forests & made fields, and then killed the birds for being "pests." Some were taken so that their feathers could adorn ladies’ hats & others became pets. The last wild parakeet was killed in 1904 in Florida.

The last captive bird, which oddly enough lived in the same cage in which the passenger pigeon Martha died (also extinct), died in… See More Image Gallery: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts Image Gallery: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts By Live Science Staff | April 12, 2011 12:54pm ET MORE Artistic Views of Ancient Beasts Credit: Marlene Donnelly There seems to be no end to the odd creatures that scientists find by digging up fossils. Here we celebrate some of the coolest extinct fish, mammals, dinosaurs, birds and other beasts discovered in recent years by showcasing the artistic representations that reveal what they might have looked like. Dino Turkey Credit: Michael W. Skrepnick This fleshed-out rendering by artist Michael Skrepnick best represents what a dinosaur called Hagryphus looked like. Plesiosaur Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation This artist s rendering reveals what an ancient marine reptile called a plesiosaur discovered in Antarctica may have looked like. The plesiosaur described in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, though not the same species, also sported four fins and a long neck.

Analyses of shark teeth embedded in the reptile s bones suggest a feeding frenzy of sorts once the reptile died. Aerosteon dinosaur Credit: Todd Marshall c 2008, courtesy of Project Exploration This flesh rendering of the predator Aerosteon shows its lungs (red) and air sacs (other colors) as they might have been in life about 85 million years ago. This huge carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 85 million years ago had a breathing system much like that of today s birds, a new analysis of fossils reveals, reinforcing the evolutionary link between dinos and modern birds. Megapiranha An artist s rendering of Megapiranha paranensis, a 3-foot-long ancestor of the modern piranha. Camarasaurus Credit: Mark Witton/Mike Taylor An artist impression of a camarasaurus, an extinct sauropod dinosaur thought to have lived 100 million years ago in what is now the Sahara Desert. Mammoth Credit: Stephan Shuster Lab, Penn State Drawing of a woolly mammoth. These beasts were bigger than mastodons and had curved rather than straight tusks. Most died off around 10,000 years ago.

Dunkleosteus terrelli Credit: Mark Westneat This prehistoric fish, Dunkleosteus terrelli, was big, mean, and it could bite a shark in two. Scientists say Dunkleosteus terrelli might have been "the first king of the beasts." The prehistoric fish was 33 feet long and weighed up to four tons. The creature lived 400 million years ago. Art by Karen Carr in the Field Museum s Evolving Planet exhibit. Monster Whale Credit: Brian Choo / Source: Museum Victoria This ancient whale, extinct 25 million years, was a vicious hunter, scientists figure. Though likely an ancestor of modern baleen whales, gentle giants of today’s seas this beast had monstrous teeth and huge eyes thought to have been good for hunting. Mega Fauna Credit: Carl Buell/Florida Museum of Natural History A 7-foot-tall prehistoric bird with a monster-size noggin arrived in North America from South America long before a land bridge connected the two continents, a new study reveals. The flightless, carnivorous terror birds—that s what scientists call them—likely hopped to North America via islands that came to form what is today the Isthmus of Panama.

Artist rendering of what North Florida may have looked like during about 2 million years ago. The terror bird is shown at the bottom left. Giant Snake Credit: Jason Bourque The extinct giant snake (shown in an artist s reconstruction) would have sent even Hollywood s anacondas slithering away. Researchers conservatively estimate the snake weighed about 2,500 pounds (1,140 kg) and measured nearly 43 feet (13 meters) from nose to tail tip. It was a type of non-venomous constrictor like anacondas and boas and lived in South America s rainforests some 60 million years ago. Aquatic Turtle Credit: Marlene Donnelly A half-shell turtle species that swam in China s coastal waters 220 million years ago is the oldest turtle known to date. It had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor. The ancient aquatic turtle, Odontochelys semitestacea, swam in the coastal waters of China. Airplane-Size Bird Credit: Ludger Bollen, from "Der Flug des Archaeopteryx", Quelle+Meyer Vlg.

Imagine a bird like an ocean-going goose almost the size of a small plane. That was this ancient, giant pseudo-toothed bird, or pelagornithid. It lived around what is now England 50 million years ago. Hurdia Victoria Reconstruction of Hurdia victoria, a 500-million-year-old monster-looking predator that was about 1.5 feet long. Three-Fingered Dinosaur Credit: Portia Sloan The fossilized hands from this plant-eating dinosaur reveal a transitional step in the evolution of modern wings from dino digits. The finding could resolve a debate over which fingers ultimately became embedded in the wing. This dinosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis, may have used its three-fingered hands to help it stand upright from a lying position. Its hand showed a vestigial first finger and robust second and third fingers. Giganotosaurus Credit: Joe Tucciarone Giganotosaurus was 47 feet long and weighed 8 tons. It lived 95 million years ago. It was not the biggest carnivore ever, though. That credit goes ti Spinosaurus, thought to reach 55 feet in length.

Troodon Credit: Todd Marshall Troodon had one of the largest brain-to-body size ratios of any known dinosaur and it is believed to have been one of the most intelligent dinosaurs that ever lived. Its large, slightly forward facing eyes suggest that it was a nocturnal creature with excellent depth perception and it had long arms that it could fold back like a bird. It lived about 70 million years ago. Darwinopterus Credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth The remains of this flying reptile, called Darwinopterus modularis, suggest the animals may have been an aerial predator, hunting small feathered dinosaurs (such as the one depicted here) and tiny gliding mammals some 160 million years ago. European Cave Bears Credit: Copyright N. Frotzler, University of Vienna European cave bears were the first of the mega-mammals to die out in the most recent historical round of big-time extinctions, going extinct around 13 millennia earlier than was previously thought, according to a new estimate.

The new extinction date, 27,800 years ago, coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in a reduction or total loss of the vegetation that the cave bears ate. Giant Ape Credit: McMaster University A gigantic ape standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds lived alongside humans for over a million years, researchers say. A fresh analysis of two previously found skulls determined they're 200,000 old, making them the oldest known examples of our species. Yet fossil records indicate musical instruments, drawings, needles and other sophisticated tools didn't appear until about 50,000 years ago, suggesting Homo sapiens had a pretty lowbrow culture for 150,000 years. Well, evolution takes time. Another team found the fossilized remains of what they think is humankind’s first walking ancestor, from 4 million years ago. Other research confirmed that the oldest human ancestor, from the time when we split with the apes, lived around 6 million years ago.

Oh, and you have to respect our relatively recent ancestors (the lowbrow folks) who we now know lived among 10-foot-tall gorillas that have since gone extinct. Maybe they were so busy running they had no time to paint or create alphabets. Woolly Rhino Credit: © Dionisio Álvarez The woolly rhinoceros grazed in the plains of what is now northern Thuringia in Germany. The climate at the time was icy cold and far drier than today, and fluctuated a great deal. Indohyus Credit: Carl Buell This ungulate Indohyus ranged in India 48 million years ago. Indohyus is a close relative of whales, and the structure of its bones and chemistry of its teeth indicate that it spent much time in water. In this reconstruction, it is seen diving in a stream, much like the modern African Mousedeer does when in danger. Glypto Armadillo Credit: Velizar Simeonovski This primitive, oversized armadillo relative, P. septentrionalis, likely weighed 200 pounds. It roamed high in the Andes in northern Chile 18 million years ago.

Smilodon Cat Credit: John Conway Weighing an average of 550 pounds (250 kilograms), this saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, had a weaker bite than modern-day lions. Saber-toothed cats, often incorrectly called tigers, were social creatures that had a bite far less powerful than commonly thought. Giant Eagle Credit: John Megahan. The Haast's eagle of New Zealand, which lived just 700 years go, was 40 percent larger than today's record holder, the Harpy eagle, and it topped the local food chain. Here one is shown attacking the extinct New Zealand moa. The eagle grew so large it approached the physical limits of flight. The eagle, which was the subject of cave paintings and mythological tales from New Zealand s first inhabitants, the Maori, went extinct soon after the arrival of man, as did a number of other species on the islands. [ READ MORE ] Dino-Baby Eater Credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth. A group of flying reptiles called Quetzalcoatlus may have strolled along a fern prairie eating baby dinosaurs for lunch.

The reptiles may have even snacked on Tyrannosaurus Rex babies. Research suggested Quetzalcoatlus, which lived during the age of dinosaurs some 230 million to 65 million years ago did not catch prey in flight, but rather stalked them on land. Author Bio Live Science Staff, For the science geek in everyone, Live Science offers a fascinating window into the natural and technological world, delivering comprehensive and compelling news and analysis on everything from dinosaur discoveries, archaeological finds and amazing animals to health, innovation and wearable technology. We aim to empower and inspire our readers with the tools needed to understand the world and appreciate its everyday awe. Live Science Staff, on Artistic Views of Ancient Beasts Credit: Marlene Donnelly There seems to be no end to the odd creatures that scientists find by digging up fossils. Here we celebrate some of the coolest extinct fish, mammals, dinosaurs, birds and other beasts discovered in recent years by showcasing the artistic representations that reveal what they might have looked like. Dino Turkey Credit: Michael W. Skrepnick This fleshed-out rendering by artist Michael Skrepnick best represents what a dinosaur called Hagryphus looked like.

Plesiosaur Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation This artist s rendering reveals what an ancient marine reptile called a plesiosaur discovered in Antarctica may have looked like. The plesiosaur described in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, though not the same species, also sported four fins and a long neck. Analyses of shark teeth embedded in the reptile s bones suggest a feeding frenzy of sorts once the reptile died. Aerosteon dinosaur Credit: Todd Marshall c 2008, courtesy of Project Exploration This flesh rendering of the predator Aerosteon shows its lungs (red) and air sacs (other colors) as they might have been in life about 85 million years ago. This huge carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 85 million years ago had a breathing system much like that of today s birds, a new analysis of fossils reveals, reinforcing the evolutionary link between dinos and modern birds. Megapiranha An artist s rendering of Megapiranha paranensis, a 3-foot-long ancestor of the modern piranha.

Camarasaurus Credit: Mark Witton/Mike Taylor An artist impression of a camarasaurus, an extinct sauropod dinosaur thought to have lived 100 million years ago in what is now the Sahara Desert. Mammoth Credit: Stephan Shuster Lab, Penn State Drawing of a woolly mammoth. These beasts were bigger than mastodons and had curved rather than straight tusks. Most died off around 10,000 years ago. Dunkleosteus terrelli Credit: Mark Westneat This prehistoric fish, Dunkleosteus terrelli, was big, mean, and it could bite a shark in two. Scientists say Dunkleosteus terrelli might have been "the first king of the beasts." The prehistoric fish was 33 feet long and weighed up to four tons. The creature lived 400 million years ago. Art by Karen Carr in the Field Museum s Evolving Planet exhibit. Monster Whale Credit: Brian Choo / Source: Museum Victoria This ancient whale, extinct 25 million years, was a vicious hunter, scientists figure.

Though likely an ancestor of modern baleen whales, gentle giants of today’s seas this beast had monstrous teeth and huge eyes thought to have been good for hunting. Mega Fauna Credit: Carl Buell/Florida Museum of Natural History A 7-foot-tall prehistoric bird with a monster-size noggin arrived in North America from South America long before a land bridge connected the two continents, a new study reveals. The flightless, carnivorous terror birds—that s what scientists call them—likely hopped to North America via islands that came to form what is today the Isthmus of Panama. Artist rendering of what North Florida may have looked like during about 2 million years ago. The terror bird is shown at the bottom left. Giant Snake Credit: Jason Bourque The extinct giant snake (shown in an artist s reconstruction) would have sent even Hollywood s anacondas slithering away. Researchers conservatively estimate the snake weighed about 2,500 pounds (1,140 kg) and measured nearly 43 feet (13 meters) from nose to tail tip.

It was a type of non-venomous constrictor like anacondas and boas and lived in South America s rainforests some 60 million years ago. Aquatic Turtle Credit: Marlene Donnelly A half-shell turtle species that swam in China s coastal waters 220 million years ago is the oldest turtle known to date. It had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor. The ancient aquatic turtle, Odontochelys semitestacea, swam in the coastal waters of China. Airplane-Size Bird Credit: Ludger Bollen, from "Der Flug des Archaeopteryx", Quelle+Meyer Vlg. Imagine a bird like an ocean-going goose almost the size of a small plane. That was this ancient, giant pseudo-toothed bird, or pelagornithid. It lived around what is now England 50 million years ago. Hurdia Victoria Reconstruction of Hurdia victoria, a 500-million-year-old monster-looking predator that was about 1.5 feet long.

Three-Fingered Dinosaur Credit: Portia Sloan The fossilized hands from this plant-eating dinosaur reveal a transitional step in the evolution of modern wings from dino digits. The finding could resolve a debate over which fingers ultimately became embedded in the wing. This dinosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis, may have used its three-fingered hands to help it stand upright from a lying position. Its hand showed a vestigial first finger and robust second and third fingers. Giganotosaurus Credit: Joe Tucciarone Giganotosaurus was 47 feet long and weighed 8 tons. It lived 95 million years ago. It was not the biggest carnivore ever, though. That credit goes ti Spinosaurus, thought to reach 55 feet in length. Troodon Credit: Todd Marshall Troodon had one of the largest brain-to-body size ratios of any known dinosaur and it is believed to have been one of the most intelligent dinosaurs that ever lived. Its large, slightly forward facing eyes suggest that it was a nocturnal creature with excellent depth perception and it had long arms that it could fold back like a bird. It lived about 70 million years ago.

Darwinopterus Credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth The remains of this flying reptile, called Darwinopterus modularis, suggest the animals may have been an aerial predator, hunting small feathered dinosaurs (such as the one depicted here) and tiny gliding mammals some 160 million years ago. European Cave Bears Credit: Copyright N. Frotzler, University of Vienna European cave bears were the first of the mega-mammals to die out in the most recent historical round of big-time extinctions, going extinct around 13 millennia earlier than was previously thought, according to a new estimate. The new extinction date, 27,800 years ago, coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in a reduction or total loss of the vegetation that the cave bears ate. Giant Ape Credit: McMaster University A gigantic ape standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds lived alongside humans for over a million years, researchers say. A fresh analysis of two previously found skulls determined they're 200,000 old, making them the oldest known examples of our species.

Yet fossil records indicate musical instruments, drawings, needles and other sophisticated tools didn't appear until about 50,000 years ago, suggesting Homo sapiens had a pretty lowbrow culture for 150,000 years. Well, evolution takes time. Another team found the fossilized remains of what they think is humankind’s first walking ancestor, from 4 million years ago. Other research confirmed that the oldest human ancestor, from the time when we split with the apes, lived around 6 million years ago. Oh, and you have to respect our relatively recent ancestors (the lowbrow folks) who we now know lived among 10-foot-tall gorillas that have since gone extinct. Maybe they were so busy running they had no time to paint or create alphabets. Woolly Rhino Credit: © Dionisio Álvarez The woolly rhinoceros grazed in the plains of what is now northern Thuringia in Germany. The climate at the time was icy cold and far drier than today, and fluctuated a great deal. Indohyus Credit: Carl Buell This ungulate Indohyus ranged in India 48 million years ago.

Indohyus is a close relative of whales, and the structure of its bones and chemistry of its teeth indicate that it spent much time in water. In this reconstruction, it is seen diving in a stream, much like the modern African Mousedeer does when in danger. Glypto Armadillo Credit: Velizar Simeonovski This primitive, oversized armadillo relative, P. septentrionalis, likely weighed 200 pounds. It roamed high in the Andes in northern Chile 18 million years ago. Smilodon Cat Credit: John Conway Weighing an average of 550 pounds (250 kilograms), this saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, had a weaker bite than modern-day lions. Saber-toothed cats, often incorrectly called tigers, were social creatures that had a bite far less powerful than commonly thought. Giant Eagle Credit: John Megahan. The Haast's eagle of New Zealand, which lived just 700 years go, was 40 percent larger than today's record holder, the Harpy eagle, and it topped the local food chain. Here one is shown attacking the extinct New Zealand moa.

The eagle grew so large it approached the physical limits of flight. The eagle, which was the subject of cave paintings and mythological tales from New Zealand s first inhabitants, the Maori, went extinct soon after the arrival of man, as did a number of other species on the islands. [ READ MORE ] Dino-Baby Eater Credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth. A group of flying reptiles called Quetzalcoatlus may have strolled along a fern prairie eating baby dinosaurs for lunch. The reptiles may have even snacked on Tyrannosaurus Rex babies. Research suggested Quetzalcoatlus, which lived during the age of dinosaurs some 230 million to 65 million years ago did not catch prey in flight, but rather stalked them on land.

Question: What type of creature was the now extinct Solitaire?
Answer: Bird