The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is a zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 museum located on the grounds of Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. It is one of three museums which collectively comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.It has three parts:* the Harvard University Herbaria* the Museum of Comparative Zoology* the Harvard Mineralogical Museum....

. The current director of the museum is James Hanken

James Hanken

James Hanken is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University as well as the director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.Hanken received his bachelors degree and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He then did post-doctoral research at Dalhousie University...

, the Louis Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University.

Many of the exhibits in the museum have not only zoological interest but also historical significance. These include a fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 sand dollar

Sand dollar

The term Sand dollar refers to species of extremely flattened, burrowing echinoids belonging to the order Clypeasteroida. Some species within the order, not quite as flat, are known as sea biscuits...

 which was found by Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 in 1834, Captain Cook's mamo

Mamo

A mamo or hoohoo is a bird of the genus Drepanis. These nectarivorous finches were endemic to Hawaii but are now extinct.The Hawaiian name may be related to the name of the ōō , a bird with a similar appearance...

, and two pheasant

Pheasant

Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...

s that once belonged to George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

.

This museum and the other institutions that comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural History are physically connected to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, and is particularly strong in New World ethnography and...

; for visitors, one admission ticket grants access to both museums.

History

The Museum of Comparative Zoology was founded in 1859 through the efforts of zoologist Louis Agassiz

Louis Agassiz

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...

, and the museum is sometimes referred to as "The Agassiz" after its founder. Agassiz designed the collection to illustrate the variety and comparative relationships

Comparative anatomy

Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:...

 of animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

 life.

Departments

The museum comprises twelve departments: Biological Oceanography, Entomology

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

, Herpetology

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

, Ichthyology

Ichthyology

Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...

, Invertebrate Paleontology

Invertebrate paleontology

Invertebrate paleontology is sometimes described as Invertebrate paleozoology or Invertebrate paleobiology....

, Invertebrate Zoology

Invertebrate zoology

Invertebrate zoology is the biological discipline that consists of the study of invertebrate animals, i.e. animals without a backbone...

, Mammalogy

Mammalogy

In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems...

, Marine invertebrates

Marine invertebrates

Marine invertebrates are animals that inhabit a marine environment and are invertebrates, lacking a vertebral column. In order to protect themselves, they may have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton, but this is not always the case....

, Malacology

Malacology

Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology which deals with the study of the Mollusca , the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, octopus and squid, and numerous other kinds, many of which have shells...

, Ornithology

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

, Population Genetics

Population genetics

Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...

, and Vertebrate Paleontology

Vertebrate paleontology

Vertebrate paleontology is a large subfield to paleontology seeking to discover the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord, through the study of their fossilized remains...

. The Ernst Mayr Library

Ernst Mayr

Ernst Walter Mayr was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, historian of science, and naturalist...

 and its archives join in supporting the work of the museum. The Ernst Mayr Library is a founding member of the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Displays

In contrast to more modern museums, the Harvard Museum of Natural History has many hundreds of stuffed animals

Taxidermy

Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...

 on display, from the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Notable exhibits include whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

 skeleton

Skeleton

The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

s, the largest turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

 shell ever found (eight feet long), "the Harvard mastodon

Mastodon

Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...

", a 50 feet (15.2 m) long Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus is an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaur. It was among the largest pliosaurs, and is named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Cronus.-Discovery and species:Kronosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous Period ....

 skeleton, the remains of a Dodo

Dodo

The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....

, and a Coelacanth

Coelacanth

Coelacanths are members of an order of fish that includes the oldest living lineage of Sarcopterygii known to date....

 preserved in fluid.

Prehistoric and extinct animals

The collection

Collection (museum)

A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...

 of prehistoric and extinct animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

s on display

Display

Display may refer to:* Display , an American thoroughbred racehorse* Display , a form of animal behaviour* Display advertising, type that typically contains text, i.e., copy, logos, images, location maps, etc....

, considered to be one of the largest in the northeast United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, includes (note that some are casts

Casting

In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...

 and models

Model (physical)

A physical model is a smaller or larger physical copy of an object...

):

Canis dirus- Dire Wolf

Dire Wolf

The Dire Wolf, Canis dirus, is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis, and was most common in North America and South America from the Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch living 1.80 Ma – 10,000 years ago, existing for approximately .- Relationships...

Smilodon

Smilodon

Smilodon , often called a saber-toothed cat or saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodonts. This saber-toothed cat was endemic to North America and South America, living from near the beginning through the very end of the Pleistocene epoch .-Etymology:The nickname "saber-tooth" refers...

Eryops

Eryops

Eryops meaning "drawn-out face" because most of its skull was in front of its eyes is a genus of extinct, semi-aquatic amphibian found primarily in the Lower Permian-aged Admiral Formation of Archer County, Texas, but fossils are also found in New Mexico and parts of the eastern United...

Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian from the late Devonian period, with many features akin to those of tetrapods . It is an example from several lines of ancient sarcopterygian "fish" developing adaptations to the oxygen-poor shallow-water habitats of its time, which led to the...

Ophiacodon

Ophiacodon

Ophiacodon was a large pelycosaur. Its fossils were found in Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada.Ophiacodon was at least two meters in length, and the largest species were up to . It is estimated to have weighed from . The size of the various species increased during the Early Permian epoch until its...

Probelesodon

Probelesodon

Probelesodon is an extinct genus of chiniquodontid cynodont. Fossils have been found from Argentina and Brazil of Triassic age. Specimens were first discovered from the Chañares Formation in La Rioja Provence, Argentina that date back to the Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic. A new...

Probainognathus

Probainognathus

Probainognathus is a genus of meat-eating mammal-like reptile that lived during the lower Upper Triassic of South America. This creature had an incipient squamosal-dentary jaw-cranium joint, which is a clearly mammalian anatomical feature. It was at the very least closely related to the family of...

Vincelestes

Vincelestes

Vincelestes is an extinct genus of actively mobile mammal, that lived in what would be South America during the Early Cretaceous from 130—112 mya, existing for approximately ....

Gobiconodon

Gobiconodon

Gobiconodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal. It weighed 10–12 pounds and measured 18-20 inches, and might have resembled a large and robust opossum.-Species:...

Australopithecus

Australopithecus

Australopithecus is a genus of hominids that is now extinct. From the evidence gathered by palaeontologists and archaeologists, it appears that the Australopithecus genus evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago before spreading throughout the continent and eventually becoming extinct...

Homo

Homo

Homo may refer to:*the Greek prefix ὅμο-, meaning "the same"*the Latin for man, human being*Homo, the taxonomical genus including modern humans...

Menoceras

Menoceras

Menoceras is a genus of extinct, small rhinoceros endemic to most of southern North America and ranged as far south as Panama during the early Miocene epoch. It lived from around 30.7—19.7 Ma, existing for approximately .-Behaviour:...

Mesohippus

Mesohippus

Mesohippus is an extinct genus of early horse. It lived some 40 to 30 million years ago from the late Eocene to the mid-Oligocene...

Teleoceras

Teleoceras

Teleoceras is an extinct genus of grazing rhinoceros that lived in North America during the Miocene epoch, which ended about 5.3 million years ago, all the way to the early Pliocene epoch....

Equus

Equus (genus)

Equus is a genus of animals in the family Equidae that includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Within Equidae, Equus is the only extant genus. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. This article deals primarily with the extant species.The term equine...

Lestodon

Lestodon

Lestodon is an extinct genus of ground sloth from South America. The etymology of the name means "robber tooth." Lestodon is placed as member of the Mylodontidae as indicated by the lobed form of the last tooth in the dentition.-External links:*...

Panochthus

Panochthus

Panochthus is an extinct genus of glyptodont, who lived in Argentina during the Pleistocene epoch.It could reach 3 m of length; the upper skull and the body were protected by hemispherical armor composed of hundred of rounded scales. The tail, short and wedge-shaped, consisted of small bony...

Toxodon

Toxodon

Toxodon is an extinct mammal of the late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs about 2.6 million to 16,500 years ago. It was indigenous to South America, and was probably the most common large-hoofed mammal in South America at the time of its existence....

Moropus

Moropus

Moropus is an extinct genus of mammal, belonging to a group called chalicotheres, which were perissodactyl mammals, endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~23.0—13.6 Mya, existing for approximately ....

Mammut americanum- American mastodon

American mastodon

The American mastodon is an extinct North American proboscidean that lived from about 3.7 million years ago until about 10,000 BC. It was the last surviving member of the mastodon family. Fossil finds range from present-day Alaska and New England in the north, to Florida, southern...

Coryphodon

Coryphodon

Coryphodon is an extinct genus of mammal. It was widespread in North America between 59 and 51 million years ago. It is regarded as the ancestor of the genus Hypercoryphodon of Mid Eocene Mongolia....

Merycoidodontidae- Oreodont

Oreodont

Oreodons, sometimes called prehistoric "ruminating hogs," were a family of cud-chewing plant-eater with a short face and tusk-like canine teeth...

s

Stenomylus

Stenomylus

Stenomylus is an extinct genus of miniature camelid native to North America. Its name is derived from the Greek στείνος, "narrow" and μύλος, "molar."...

Hypertragulus

Hypertragulus

Hypertragulus is an extinct genus belonging to the family Hypertragulidae, within the order Artiodactyla, endemic to North America during the Eocene to Miocene, living , existing for approximately ....

Platygonus

Platygonus

Platygonus is an extinct genus of herbivorous peccary of the family Tayassuidae, endemic to North America from the Miocene through Pleistocene epochs , existing for approximately ....

Latimeria chalumnae- Coelacanth

Coelacanth

Coelacanths are members of an order of fish that includes the oldest living lineage of Sarcopterygii known to date....

Dinodontosaurus

Dinodontosaurus

Dinodontosaurus is a genus of dicynodont therapsid. It was one of the largest herbivores of the Triassic and had a beak corneum...

Pteranodon

Pteranodon

Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...

Exaeretodon

Exaeretodon

Exaeretodon is a genus of traversodontid cynodont; several species are known, from various formations. E. argentinus, E. frenguelli, and E. vincei are from the Carnian-age Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina. E. major and E. riograndensis are from the Ladinian-age portion of the Santa Maria...

Massetognathus

Massetognathus

A relative of Cynognathus, Massetognathus was a plant-eating cynodont belonging to the Traversodontid family. This cynodont lived in what is now South America, in Brazil and Argentina during the Middle Triassic period .Massetognathus was about long. It had cheek teeth specially adapted to...

Thrinaxodon

Thrinaxodon

Thrinaxodon was a cynodont, an ermine-sized therapsid. Pits on the skull suggest that Thrinaxodon may have had whiskers, and by extension a protective covering of fur. There are suggestions that it was warm-blooded...

Belesodon

Belesodon

Belesodon is a genus that was described by the species Belesodon magnificus.- Species:Belesodon magnificus, was the first cynodont found in the Santa Maria Formation in Paleorrota, Brazil. It was described by Friedrich von Huene in...

(?)

Dinnebitodon

Stupendemys

Stupendemys

Stupendemys is a prehistoric genus of freshwater turtle. Its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the late Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 6 to 5 million years ago....

Tylosaurus

Tylosaurus

Tylosaurus was a mosasaur, a large, predatory marine lizard closely related to modern monitor lizards and to snakes.-Paleobiology:...

Megalania

Megalania

Megalania is a giant extinct goanna or monitor lizard. It was part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene, and appears to have disappeared around 40,000 years ago...

Hyperodapedon

Hyperodapedon

Hyperodapedon is a genus of rhynchosaur from the late Triassic period . The type species of Scaphonyx , Scaphonyx fischeri that once thought to be a dinosaur, is now known to be based on dubious material and therefore should be a nomen dubium...

Homeosaurus

Homeosaurus

Homeosaurus is an extinct genus of sphenodont reptile. It was found in limestone in Bavaria, Germany, and looks similar to the modern tuatara, to which it is closely related....

Toxochelys

Toxochelys

Toxochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Cretaceous period. It is the most commonly found fossilized turtle species in the Smoky Hill Chalk, in western Kansas. Toxochelys was about 2 m in length...

Platychelys

Eurysternum

Xiphactinus

Xiphactinus

Xiphactinus was a large, 4.5 to 6 m long predatory bony fish that lived in the Western Interior Sea, over what is now the middle of North America, during the Late Cretaceous. When alive, the fish would have resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon...

Paleothyris

Paleothyris

Paleothyris was a small, agile, anapsid reptile which lived in the Middle Pennsylvanian epoch in Nova Scotia . Paleothyris had sharp teeth and large eyes, meaning that it was a nocturnal hunter. It was about a foot long. It probably fed on insects and other smaller animals found on the floor of its...

Edops

Edops

Edops is an extinct genus of temnospondyl.-References:*Ruta, M., Pisani, D., Lloyd, G. T. and Benton, M. J. 2007. A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 274: 3087-3095....

Diploceraspis

Diploceraspis

Diploceraspis was a lepospondyl amphibian. It lived in Ohio during the Permian period. It closely resembles Diplocaulus, and is a relative. It generally sports the same features as Diplocaulus....

Greererpeton

Greererpeton

Greererpeton is an extinct genus of tetrapods from the Early Carboniferous period of North America.Greererpeton had an elongated body adapted for swimming, reaching up to in length, including the tail. Its body had 40 vertebrae, twice the usual amount, and a flattened skull about long...

Bothriolepis

Bothriolepis

Bothriolepis was the most successful genus of antiarch placoderms, if not the most successful genus of any placoderm, with over 100 species found on every continent.-Description and palaeobiology:...

Osteolepis

Osteolepis

Osteolepis is an extinct genus of lobe-finned fish from the Devonian period. It lived in the Orcadian Lakes of northern Scotland....

Eusthenopteron

Eusthenopteron

Eusthenopteron is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish which has attained an iconic status from its close relationships to tetrapods. Early depictions of this animal show it emerging onto land, however paleontologists now widely agree that it was a strictly aquatic animal...

Cephalaspis

Cephalaspis

Cephalaspis was a genus of armored goldfish-sized to trout-sized detritivorous fish that lived in freshwater streams and estuaries of early Devonian Western Europe...

Edaphosaurus

Edaphosaurus

Edaphosaurus is a genus of prehistoric synapsid which lived around 303 to 265 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous to early Permian periods. The name Edaphosaurus means "ground lizard" and is derived from the Greek edaphos/εδαφος and σαυρος/sauros...

Dimetrodon

Dimetrodon

Dimetrodon was a predatory synapsid genus that flourished during the Permian period, living between 280–265 million years ago ....

Xenacanthus

Xenacanthus

Xenacanthus is a genus of prehistoric sharks. The first species of the genus lived in the later Devonian period, and they survived until the end of the Triassic, 202 million years ago. Fossils of various species have been found worldwide....

Pantylus

Pantylus

Pantylus is an extinct lepospondyl amphibian from the Permian period of North America.Pantylus was probably a largely terrestrial animal, judging from its well-built legs. It was about long, and resembled a lizard with a large skull and short limbs. It had numerous blunt teeth, and probably chased...

Tremalops

Acheloma

Acheloma

Acheloma is an extinct genus of temnospondyl that lived during the Early Permian. The type species is A. cumminsi. Trematops milleri has been synonymized with Acheloma. Like other trematopids, Acheloma was a large terrestrial carnivore. One species, A...

Seymouria

Seymouria

Seymouria was a reptile-like labyrinthodont from the early Permian of North America and Europe . It was small, only 2 ft long...

Diplocaulus

Diplocaulus

Diplocaulus is an extinct genus of leponspondyl amphibian from the Permian period of North America.- Description :...

Diadectes

Diadectes

Diadectes was a genus of large, very reptile-like amphibians that lived during the early Permian period...

Deinonychus

Deinonychus

Deinonychus was a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid dinosaur. There is one described species, Deinonychus antirrhopus. This 3.4 meter long dinosaur lived during the early Cretaceous Period, about 115–108 million years ago . Fossils have been recovered from the U.S...

Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal...

Stegoceras

Stegoceras

Stegoceras is a genus of plant-eating pachycephalosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous period....

Tenontosaurus

Tenontosaurus

Tenontosaurus is a genus of medium- to large-sized ornithopod dinosaur. The genus is known from the late Aptian to Albian ages of the middle Cretaceous period sediments of western North America, dating between 115 to 108 million years ago...

Protoceratops

Protoceratops

Protoceratops is a genus of sheep-sized herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur, from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was a member of the Protoceratopsidae, a group of early horned dinosaurs...

Coelophysis

Coelophysis

Coelophysis , meaning "hollow form" in reference to its hollow bones , is one of the earliest known genera of dinosaur...

Heterodontosaurus

Heterodontosaurus

Heterodontosaurus is a genus of small herbivorous dinosaur with prominent canine teeth which lived in the Early Jurassic of South Africa. It was similar to a hypsilophodont in shape, and ate plants, despite its canines.Heterodontosaurus is currently known from specimens of the SAFM from South...

Corythosaurus

Corythosaurus

Corythosaurus is a genus of duck-billed dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period, about 77-76.5 million years ago. It lived in what is now North America...

Triceratops

Triceratops

Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...

Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus is an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaur. It was among the largest pliosaurs, and is named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Cronus.-Discovery and species:Kronosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous Period ....

Steneosaurus

Steneosaurus

Steneosaurus is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous . Fossil specimens have been found in England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Morocco.-Species:...

Temnodontosaurus

Temnodontosaurus

Temnodontosaurus was an ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic, some 198 and 185 million years ago , in Europe...

Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period, around 216 to 199 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. Plateosaurus is a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod"...

Gualosuchus

Chanaresuchus

Chanaresuchus

Chanaresuchus is an extinct genus of proterochampsian archosauriform. It was of modest size for a proterochampsian, being on average just over a meter in length. Fossils have been found from the Chañares Formation in La Rioja Provence, Argentina, dating back to the Ladinian stage of the Middle...

Gracilisuchus

Gracilisuchus

Gracilisuchus is an extinct genus of tiny crurotarsan from the Middle Triassic. It was a suchian close to the ancestry of crocodiles, and was at one time thought to be a dinosaur, but this hypothesis has since been rejected...

Mesorhinosaurus(?)

Aepyornis- Elephant Bird

Elephant bird

Elephant birds are an extinct family of flightless birds found only on the island of Madagascar and comprising the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis.-Description:...

Raphus cucullatus- Dodo

Dodo

The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....

Alca impennis- Great Auk

Great Auk

The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...

Dinornis- Giant Moa

Monachus tropicalis- Caribbean Monk Seal

Caribbean Monk Seal

The Caribbean monk seal or West Indian monk seal is an extinct species of seal. It is the only seal ever known to be native to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The last verified recorded sighting occurred in 1952 at Serranilla Bank...

Hydrodamalis gigas- Steller's Sea Cow

Steller's Sea Cow

Steller's sea cow was a large herbivorous marine mammal. In historical times, it was the largest member of the order Sirenia, which includes its closest living relative, the dugong , and the manatees...

Meganeura

Meganeura

Meganeura is a genus of extinct insects from the Carboniferous period approximately 300 million years ago, which resembled and are related to the present-day dragonflies. With wingspans of more than 75 cm , M. monyi is one of the largest known flying insect species; the Permian Meganeuropsis...

Eryon

Eryon

Eryon, meaning red , is an extinct genus of decapod crustaceans from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Its remains are known from the Solnhofen limestone. It reached a length of around , and may have fed on particulate matter on the sea bed....

Menippe

Menippe

Menippe can refer to:* Menippe in Greek mythology:** Menippe, daughter of Orion, see Menippe and Metioche** Menippe, one of the Nereids** Menippe, one of the Amazons** Menippe, daughter of Peneus* 188 Menippe, an asteroid...

Potamon

Isotelus

Isotelus

Isotelus is a genus of asaphid trilobite from the middle and upper Ordovician period, fairly common in the Northeastern United States, northwest Manitoba, southwestern Quebec and southeastern Ontario...

Mecochirus

Mecochirus

Mecochirus is an extinct genus of lobster-like decapod crustaceans, containing 17 species....

Bumastis

Eurypterus

Eurypterus

Eurypterus is an extinct genus of sea scorpions. They existed during the Silurian Period, from around 432 to 418 million years ago.There are fifteen species belonging to the genus Eurypterus, the most common of which is Eurypterus remipes, the first eurypterid fossil discovered and the state...

Paradoxides

Paradoxides

Paradoxides was a genus of relatively large trilobites found throughout the world during the Mid Cambrian period ....