Random Extinct Animal Generator: 150 Lost Animals, Mammoth to Dodo

One press names an animal the world has lost, from Cambrian seas to a tortoise that died in 2012, with its era and one checked line.

Random Extinct Animal Generator: 150 Lost Animals, Mammoth to Dodo

  1. HelicoprionBefore the dinosaurs
  2. ScutosaurusBefore the dinosaurs
  3. PulmonoscorpiusBefore the dinosaurs
  4. MorganucodonBeside the dinosaurs
  5. ArthropleuraBefore the dinosaurs
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Random Extinct Animal Generator: 150 Lost Animals, Mammoth to Dodo: how it works

This list holds 150 extinct animals and not one dinosaur, because those have their own random dinosaur generator. Press New extinct animals and five come up, each with an era badge and one checked line. It doubles as a random prehistoric animal generator: 114 of the 150 were gone before 1500, and the other 36 were lost after it.

Four eras, cut around the dinosaurs

Dinosaurs first appear about 243 to 233 million years ago, and all but the birds died out 66 million years ago. Those two dates split the list. Before the dinosaurs holds 38 animals, from Dickinsonia to Dimetrodon. Beside the dinosaurs holds 38: pterosaurs, sea reptiles and early mammals. After the dinosaurs holds 38, from Titanoboa to the woolly mammoth. Lost since 1500 holds 36. Tap After the dinosaurs and Birds together and the draw comes from those 8 alone.

Sketch it or quiz it

Draw one animal and sketch it from the line alone: a millipede 2 metres long, or a whale that still had four legs. For a quiz, press Hide all facts, read out a name and ask for its era, then tap the card to check.

Tips

  • Tap Lost since 1500 for animals people saw and wrote about. Each is in the IUCN Red List's Extinct category, checked in September 2026.
  • Split a long name to say it: Ambulo, cetus. It means walking whale, as the card says.
  • Lock one animal, press again and only the others change. With 20 on screen, Print gives a fact sheet.

Questions and answers

Why does the random extinct animal generator leave out dinosaurs?

They fill their own page, 206 of them. That leaves room for the animals most often mistaken for dinosaurs. Pteranodon was a flying reptile and Mosasaurus a sea lizard. Dimetrodon, sail and all, is more closely related to mammals than to any dinosaur, and it died out about 40 million years before the first one.

Why is the quagga missing?

Lost since 1500 holds only animals with an Extinct entry of their own on the IUCN Red List. The quagga is classed as a subspecies of the plains zebra, so it has none. Animals that have not been seen for decades but are not yet listed as Extinct are left out as well.

How exact are the dates?

A fossil animal gets its period, plus a figure such as Tiktaalik's 375 million years only where its Wikipedia article gives one that fits the range in the Paleobiology Database. A recent loss gets what is on record. The Dodo card gives 1662, the last widely accepted sighting, which is not the same as the year it died out.

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All 150 extinct animals

Before the dinosaurs 38

  • Acanthostega Early four-limbed animal from East Greenland, about 365 million years ago. Eight digits on each hand.
  • Aegirocassis Ordovician filter-feeder from Morocco, about 480 million years ago. Over 2 m long, the giant of its day.
  • Anomalocaris Cambrian sea hunter from Canada's Burgess Shale. At up to 38 cm, one of the largest animals of its time.
  • Arthropleura Carboniferous millipede from Europe and North America. At 2 m or more, the largest land arthropod known.
  • Bothriolepis Devonian armoured fish found worldwide, with more than 60 species. Most were about 30 cm long.
  • Cameroceras Ordovician squid relative with a straight shell. A Swedish one reached about 2 m; bigger claims are doubtful.
  • Cephalaspis Early Devonian jawless fish about the size of a trout. Its name means head shield. It fed on the bottom.
  • Coelurosauravus Late Permian gliding reptile from Madagascar. Its wings were held out by long bony rods that were not ribs.
  • Crassigyrinus Early Carboniferous swamp hunter from Scotland. Up to 2 m long, with tiny limbs and very large jaws.
  • Dickinsonia Flat, ribbed animal of the sea floor, older than the Cambrian. Found in Australia and Russia. Still a puzzle.
  • Dimetrodon Permian sail-back from Texas and Oklahoma. A mammal relative, gone 40 million years before any dinosaur.
  • Diplocaulus Carboniferous to Permian amphibian from North America, known at once by its skull shaped like a boomerang.
  • Dunkleosteus Late Devonian armoured fish with blade-like jaws. New studies put the largest at about 4.1 m, not 10 m.
  • Edaphosaurus Sail-backed plant-eater, Late Carboniferous to Permian. North America and Europe. Name means pavement lizard.
  • Eryops Permian amphibian from Texas and New Mexico, 1.5 to 2 m long. Among the largest land animals of its time.
  • Estemmenosuchus Horned mammal relative from Perm, Russia, about 267 million years old. Name means crowned crocodile.
  • Eurypterus Silurian sea scorpion, the state fossil of New York. Over 95% of known sea scorpion fossils are this genus.
  • Gorgonops Late Permian hunter from South Africa, 1.2 to 2 m long. Name means Gorgon face. Canine teeth reached 12 cm.
  • Haikouichthys Cambrian jawless fish from Yunnan, China, about 518 million years ago. Among the earliest known vertebrates.
  • Hallucigenia Cambrian worm with legs and back spines, from Canada and China. First drawn upside down and back to front.
  • Helicoprion Permian shark relative found worldwide. Its lower jaw held a spiral whorl of teeth. Name means spiral saw.
  • Ichthyostega Late Devonian, from Greenland. One of the first four-limbed animals able to bear its weight on land.
  • Inostrancevia Late Permian sabre-tooth from Russia and southern Africa. At 3 to 3.5 m, the largest gorgonopsian known.
  • Isotelus Ordovician trilobite and the state fossil of Ohio. The largest species, found in Manitoba, grew past 70 cm.
  • Jaekelopterus Early Devonian sea scorpion from Germany, 2.3 to 2.6 m long. The largest arthropod ever found.
  • Lystrosaurus Tusked plant-eater that survived the great extinction 252 million years ago. Found from Antarctica to India.
  • Meganeura Dragonfly-like insect from Commentry, France, about 300 million years ago. Wingspan about 65 to 75 cm.
  • Megarachne Late Carboniferous sea scorpion from Argentina. Name means great spider, as it was first taken for one.
  • Mesosaurus Early Permian swimming reptile. Fossils in both southern Africa and South America backed continental drift.
  • Moschops Middle Permian plant-eater from South Africa. Name means calf face. Its thick skull was likely for butting.
  • Opabinia Cambrian oddity from Canada's Burgess Shale, about 505 million years old. Five eyes and a clawed trunk.
  • Paradoxides Middle Cambrian trilobite found around the world. Big for a trilobite: the record specimen is 37 cm long.
  • Prionosuchus Early Permian amphibian from north-eastern Brazil. Shaped like a gharial and put at more than 5.5 m long.
  • Pulmonoscorpius Early Carboniferous scorpion from Scotland. The largest one found was more than 70 cm long.
  • Rhizodus Carboniferous freshwater hunter from the United Kingdom, more than 5 m long. Its name means root tooth.
  • Scutosaurus Late Permian armoured plant-eater from Russia, weighing over a tonne. Its name means shield lizard.
  • Stethacanthus Devonian to Carboniferous shark relative. Males had a first back fin shaped like an anvil or ironing board.
  • Tiktaalik Devonian fish with limb-like fins, about 375 million years ago. Found in 2004 on Ellesmere Island, Canada.

Beside the dinosaurs 38

  • Adalatherium Late Cretaceous mammal from Madagascar, 70 to 66 million years ago. Its name means crazy beast.
  • Albertonectes Late Cretaceous plesiosaur from Alberta. At 12.1 m, the longest elasmosaur known; about 7 m of that was neck.
  • Archelon Late Cretaceous sea turtle from South Dakota. At 4.6 m from head to tail, the largest turtle ever documented.
  • Beelzebufo Late Cretaceous frog from Madagascar, about 70 million years ago. Its name means devil toad.
  • Castorocauda Jurassic mammal relative from China, about 164 million years ago. Named for its beaver-like tail. Ate fish.
  • Cretoxyrhina Cretaceous shark found worldwide, 107 to 73 million years ago. Nicknamed the Ginsu shark, after the knife.
  • Deinosuchus Cretaceous alligator relative from North America. Name means terrible crocodile. It likely ate dinosaurs.
  • Dimorphodon Early Jurassic pterosaur. Mary Anning found the first one at Lyme Regis in 1828. Name means two-form tooth.
  • Elasmosaurus Late Cretaceous long-necked plesiosaur from Kansas. Edward Cope first rebuilt it with the head on the tail.
  • Eudimorphodon Late Triassic pterosaur found at Cene, Italy, in 1973. Among the oldest pterosaurs known. Wingspan about 1 m.
  • Globidens Late Cretaceous mosasaur first described from Alabama. Its rounded, globe-like teeth crushed shells.
  • Hatzegopteryx Late Cretaceous pterosaur from Transylvania, Romania. Among the biggest, with a wingspan put at 10 to 12 m.
  • Ichthyosaurus Early Jurassic ichthyosaur from Europe, up to 2 m long. One species, I. anningae, is named after Mary Anning.
  • Koolasuchus Early Cretaceous amphibian from Victoria, Australia, up to 3 m long. The state's fossil emblem since 2022.
  • Kronosaurus Early Cretaceous short-necked plesiosaur from Queensland, Australia. Named after Kronos, the Greek Titan.
  • Leedsichthys Jurassic plankton-eater from Europe and Chile, about 16.5 m long. The largest ray-finned fish known.
  • Liopleurodon Jurassic short-necked plesiosaur from Europe, 166 to 155 million years ago. Name means smooth-sided teeth.
  • Morganucodon Early mammal relative, from about 205 million years ago. First found in Wales. Name means Glamorgan tooth.
  • Mosasaurus Late Cretaceous sea lizard, 82 to 66 million years ago. First found near Maastricht. Name means Meuse lizard.
  • Ophthalmosaurus Jurassic ichthyosaur from Europe, about 4 m long. Its name means eye lizard, for its extremely large eyes.
  • Parapuzosia Late Cretaceous ammonite from Africa, Europe and North America. The largest species measured about 2 m.
  • Plesiosaurus Early Jurassic sea reptile from Dorset, England, about 3.5 m long. Small head, long neck and four flippers.
  • Pteranodon Late Cretaceous pterosaur from Kansas, wingspan over 6 m. Known from more fossils than any other pterosaur.
  • Pterodactylus Late Jurassic pterosaur from Bavaria, Germany. The first pterosaur to be named and known as a flying reptile.
  • Pterodaustro Cretaceous pterosaur from Argentina. About a thousand bristle-like teeth let it strain food like a flamingo.
  • Quetzalcoatlus Late Cretaceous pterosaur from Texas, 68 to 66 million years ago. Named after the Aztec feathered serpent.
  • Repenomamus Early Cretaceous mammal from China, up to badger size. One fossil shows it attacking a Psittacosaurus.
  • Rhamphorhynchus Late Jurassic pterosaur from Solnhofen, Germany. It had a long tail ending in a vane and ate mainly fish.
  • Sarcosuchus Cretaceous crocodile relative from Niger and Brazil, 130 to 112 million years ago. About 9 to 9.5 m long.
  • Sharovipteryx Triassic glider from Kyrgyzstan, known from one fossil. Its gliding skin stretched from the back legs.
  • Shonisaurus Late Triassic ichthyosaur and the state fossil of Nevada. One dig there uncovered 37 very large ones.
  • Simosuchus Late Cretaceous crocodile relative from Madagascar, about 75 cm long. Name means pug-nosed crocodile.
  • Tanystropheus Triassic reptile from Europe and Asia. Its neck of 13 long bones was longer than its body and tail together.
  • Temnodontosaurus Early Jurassic ichthyosaur, the first ever described. Joseph and Mary Anning found the first skull in Dorset.
  • Tupandactylus Cretaceous pterosaur from Brazil's Crato Formation. One had a head crest a third as long as its wingspan.
  • Tylosaurus Late Cretaceous mosasaur found mostly in North America. The largest species grew to more than 13 m.
  • Volaticotherium Jurassic gliding mammal from China, about 164 million years ago. It had a skin flap like a flying squirrel's.
  • Xiphactinus Late Cretaceous hunting fish, 5 to 6 m long. One Kansas fossil holds a 1.9 m fish it had swallowed whole.

After the dinosaurs 38

  • Ambulocetus Early whale from Pakistan, 48 to 47 million years ago. Name means walking whale, and it still had four legs.
  • American mastodon Ice age elephant relative from North America that browsed on trees. Last recorded about 11,000 years ago.
  • Andrewsarchus Middle Eocene mammal from Inner Mongolia, China. Known from a skull 83.4 cm long that was found in 1923.
  • Argentavis Late Miocene bird from Argentina, 9 to 6.8 million years ago. At about 70 kg, the heaviest flying bird known.
  • Basilosaurus Eocene whale, 41 to 34 million years ago. Name means king lizard, as it was first mistaken for a reptile.
  • Castoroides Giant beaver of ice age North America, bear-sized at 90 to 125 kg. First found in an Ohio peat bog in 1837.
  • Cave bear Ice age bear of Europe and Asia, gone about 24,000 years ago. For all its size it ate mostly plants.
  • Columbian mammoth Ice age mammoth found from Canada to Costa Rica, up to 4.2 m at the shoulder. Gone about 12,000 years ago.
  • Deinotherium Elephant relative of Africa and Eurasia, Miocene to Early Pleistocene. Tusks curved down from the lower jaw.
  • Diprotodon Wombat relative from Australia and the largest marsupial known, up to 3,500 kg. Gone about 40,000 years ago.
  • Dire wolf Ice age hunter of the Americas, 125,000 to 10,000 years ago. La Brea Tar Pits hold the most fossils.
  • Doedicurus Armoured South American giant with a spiked tail club. The latest fossils may be 8,000 to 7,000 years old.
  • Elasmotherium Giant rhino of Eastern Europe and Asia, alive until at least 39,000 years ago. No horn has ever been found.
  • Elephant bird Flightless giants of Madagascar, gone by about 1000 AD. Their eggs are the largest of any bird or reptile.
  • Gastornis Giant flightless bird of Paleocene and Eocene Europe. Once cast as a hunter, now thought a plant-eater.
  • Gigantopithecus Giant ape of southern China, known only from teeth and four jaws. First spotted in a drugstore in 1935.
  • Glyptodon Giant armadillo relative from South America with a domed shell of bony plates. Gone about 11,000 years ago.
  • Haast's eagle Largest eagle known, 10 to 18 kg, from New Zealand's South Island. It hunted moa and died out around 1445.
  • Irish elk Giant deer from Ireland to Siberia, gone about 7,700 years ago. Antlers over 4 m wide, a record for deer.
  • Kelenken Terror bird from Patagonia, about 15 million years ago. Its only fossil was found by a high school student.
  • Livyatan Miocene sperm whale from Peru, named for Herman Melville. At 36 cm, the largest biting teeth of any animal.
  • Megaladapis Koala lemur of Madagascar, up to 1.5 m long. Still alive when people reached the island 2,300 years ago.
  • Megalania Giant monitor of Australia, gone about 50,000 years ago. The largest land lizard known, put at 4.5 to 7 m.
  • Megalodon Giant shark of oceans worldwide, 23 to 3.6 million years ago. Name means big tooth. Known mostly from teeth.
  • Megatherium Giant ground sloth from South America, as big as an elephant at up to 4 tonnes. Gone about 12,000 years ago.
  • Paraceratherium Hornless rhino of Eurasia, 34 to 23 million years ago. At 15 to 20 tonnes, among the largest land mammals.
  • Pelagornis Oligocene to Pleistocene seabird with tooth-like beak spikes. One species had the widest wingspan known.
  • Phorusrhacos Terror bird from southern Argentina, 18 to 13 million years ago. Flightless meat-eater, first found in 1887.
  • Purussaurus Miocene giant caiman of the Amazon region. Skull up to 1.4 m long; body estimates run from 9.5 to 10.9 m.
  • Smilodon Sabre-toothed cat of the Americas, gone by about 8,200 years ago. Not a close relative of the tiger.
  • South Island giant moa Flightless bird of New Zealand. Females could browse 3.6 m up, the tallest bird known. Gone by about 1445.
  • Stupendemys Largest freshwater turtle known, from northern South America, 13 to 5 million years ago. Males had horns.
  • Thylacoleo Marsupial lion of Australia, gone about 40,000 years ago. Its name means pouch lion, but it was no cat.
  • Thylacosmilus Sabre-toothed hunter from South America, Late Miocene to Pliocene. A marsupial relative, not a cat.
  • Titanoboa Snake from Colombia, 60 to 58 million years ago. Up to 12.8 m long, the largest known when named in 2009.
  • Titanomyrma Eocene giant ant from Germany and Wyoming. Its biggest species is the largest ant known, living or fossil.
  • Woolly mammoth Ice age elephant of the north. Mainland herds died out about 10,000 years ago, Wrangel Island's about 4,000.
  • Woolly rhinoceros Ice age rhino of northern Eurasia, shown in cave paintings. The youngest firm records are 14,000 years old.

Lost since 1500 36

  • Atitlán grebe Flightless water bird found only on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. The last two birds were seen in 1989.
  • Aurochs Wild ancestor of farm cattle; bulls stood up to 1.8 m tall. The last known cow died in Poland in 1627.
  • Bluebuck South African antelope, gone around 1800. The first large African mammal recorded as lost in historic times.
  • Bramble Cay melomys Rodent of one low cay on the Great Barrier Reef, last seen in 2009. The sea kept washing over its island.
  • Caribbean monk seal Seal of the Caribbean, first noted on Columbus's second voyage. Last confirmed at Serranilla Bank in 1952.
  • Carolina parakeet Parrot native to the eastern United States. The last known bird, Incas, died at Cincinnati Zoo in 1918.
  • Chinese paddlefish River giant of the Yangtze in China, recorded at over 3.6 m. The last one seen alive was caught in 2003.
  • Christmas Island pipistrelle Tiny bat of 3 to 4.5 g, found only on Christmas Island, Australia. The last one was detected in August 2009.
  • Delcourt's giant gecko Largest gecko known, at least 60 cm long. The one specimen sat unlabelled in a Marseille museum until 1986.
  • Dodo Flightless pigeon relative from Mauritius. The last widely accepted sighting was in 1662.
  • Falkland Islands wolf The only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands. Charles Darwin saw it in 1833. It was gone by 1876.
  • Gastric-brooding frogs Two Queensland frogs that raised their young in the mother's stomach. Last seen in 1983 and 1987.
  • Golden toad Bright orange toad from about 4 square km of cloud forest at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Last seen 15 May 1989.
  • Great auk Flightless seabird of the North Atlantic. The last two confirmed birds were killed off Iceland in June 1844.
  • Harelip sucker River fish found only in the United States, with a lower lip in two lobes. The last was collected in 1893.
  • Huia Wattlebird of New Zealand's North Island. Females had long curved beaks, males short. Last confirmed in 1907.
  • Japanese sea lion Sea lion of Japan and Korea. The last confirmed record was a young animal caught off Hokkaido in 1974.
  • Kauaʻi ʻōʻō Forest songbird from Kauaʻi, Hawaii. Last seen in 1985 and last heard in 1987. The last of its whole family.
  • Lake Pedder earthworm Known from a single worm collected on a Lake Pedder beach in Tasmania in 1971. The lake was flooded in 1972.
  • Laughing owl Owl found only in New Zealand, named for its odd calls. It was largely or completely gone by 1914.
  • Lyall's wren Flightless songbird of Stephens Island, New Zealand. Described in 1894 and killed off by cats by about 1895.
  • New Zealand grayling River fish found only in New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting was in 1923, with a final report in 1929.
  • Passenger pigeon Once flew in billions over North America. The last one, Martha, died at Cincinnati Zoo on 1 September 1914.
  • Pinta Island tortoise Giant tortoise from Pinta in the Galápagos. The last one, Lonesome George, died on 24 June 2012.
  • Poʻouli Honeycreeper from the slopes of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaii. Discovered only in 1973 and last seen in 2004.
  • Rocky Mountain locust Locust of western North America. An 1875 swarm was put at 12.5 trillion insects. The last was caught in 1904.
  • Rodrigues solitaire Flightless bird of Rodrigues, the dodo's closest relative and the size of a swan. Gone by the late 1700s.
  • Round Island burrowing boa Burrowing snake found only in Mauritius. It was last seen on Round Island in 1975.
  • Saint Helena earwig The world's largest earwig, up to 84 mm long, from the island of Saint Helena. Not seen alive since 1967.
  • Schomburgk's deer Deer of the swampy plains of central Thailand, near Bangkok. It is thought to have been gone by 1938.
  • Sea mink The largest mink, from the Gulf of Maine coast. Gone around 1900, and only described by science in 1903.
  • Slender-billed curlew Wader that wintered around the Mediterranean. The last certain sighting was in Morocco in February 1995.
  • Spectacled cormorant The largest cormorant known, from Bering Island. Georg Steller met it in 1741. The last lived around 1850.
  • Steller's sea cow Dugong relative up to 9 m long, from the Commander Islands. Met by Europeans in 1741 and hunted out by 1768.
  • Thylacine Striped marsupial hunter, also called the Tasmanian tiger. The last known one died at Hobart Zoo in 1936.
  • Yunnan lake newt Newt found only near Kunming Lake in Yunnan, China. Despite long searches it has not been seen since 1979.

How this list was compiled: Own list of 150 extinct animals that are not dinosaurs, written and checked on 2026-09-19. Each entry's dates, place and one-line fact were read from its English Wikipedia article, fetched as raw text (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=raw&title=...; the article is in each item's x.wiki) and reworded. Fossil animals were cross-checked for period against the Paleobiology Database API (https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/taxa/single.json?show=app&name=...; the call is in x.check and its age range in x.pbdb). Its ranges are coarse stage bins, so where it and the article disagree the card gives the period or a range, not one figure, and four animals whose dating or classification was in dispute were dropped. The Lost since 1500 group holds only species the IUCN Red List puts in its Extinct category. iucnredlist.org refuses scripted requests (HTTP 403), so the category was read from GBIF's copy of the list (IUCN 2026, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Version 2026-1, https://doi.org/10.15468/0qnb58, through https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/{key}/iucnRedListCategory and the checklist search, 2026-09-19); the taxon id is in x.iucn. The quagga, Xerces blue and Tecopa pupfish were left out because that list gives them no Extinct entry of their own, and so was any animal it does not yet class as Extinct. The date dinosaurs appear (about 243 to 233 million years ago) is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur, checked the same day. Licence: own work