Extinct Animals of North America

Woolly mammoths, giant armadillos and three species of camels were among more than 30 mammals that were hunted to extinction by North American humans 13,000 to 12,000 years ago, according to the most realistic, sophisticated computer model to date. Scientists estimate that 539 species have gone extinct in the United States in the past 200 years. The Endangered Species Act provides us with hope that we can not only slow these extinctions, but also restore our native wildlife. *AMERICAN CHEETAH* The American cheetah has been extinct for about 10,000 years. Before the end of the last Ice Age, it lived across North America — its bones have been found from West Virginia to Arizona, and as far north as Wyoming. *AMERICAN LION* American lions roamed across North America for thousands of years. However, around 10,000 years ago, they went extinct, alongside many other ice age animals. The exact reasons are unknown. Their demise may have been due to human actions, climate change, or both. The distribution of the American lion was quite extensive, ranging from Central Alberta to Southern Mexico . Fossils appear most common along the western part of North America, but a few have been retrieved from the Eastern seaboard. *ICE AGE BISON* Although bison are an iconic North American mammal, they were absent from this continent for much of the Ice Age. For over a million years, the North American landscape was dominated by mammoths and ancient horses. *MAMMOTH* The Columbian mammoth disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene around 11,500 years ago, most likely as a result of habitat loss caused by climate change, hunting by humans, or a combination of both. *GIANT SHORT FACED BEAR* This is quite simply, the largest bear ever discovered and by default, a contender for the largest carnivorous land mammal ever to live. The Arctotherium angustidens was isolated primarily to the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch 2.5 million to 11,000 years ago. *SABER TOOTH CAT* The sabre-toothed cat lived alongside early humans, and may have been a fearsome enemy, say scientists. Several feline teeth - and a chunk of arm bone - were uncovered at a site in Germany known for the oldest discovery of human spears. *DIRE WOLF* Even before appearing as fictional pets in the television series Game of Thrones, dire wolves had long captured imaginations. Weighing around 150 pounds, the creatures were larger than the heaviest of today's gray wolves. But a new study of dire wolf genetics has startled paleontologists: it found that these animals were not wolves at all, but rather the last of a dog lineage that evolved in North America.