5 less talked about pre historic animals

1)Sabre - toothed cats earned their name from their sword like canons.  They may have been spotted , striped or even plain , we dont know this for sure 

2)The woolly rhino earned its name from its thick shaggy grey -brown fur coat . The Neanderthal man lived along side the wolly rhino, as can be found in the cave paintings belonging to this era

3)The Irish elk was neither exclusive to Ireland nor was it an elk. It is a deer with huge antlers. The name Irish stuck because of the well preserved fossils first found in the lake sediments in Ireland.  A fun fact is that, this animal would have needed 400 kgs of food per day to get the energy needed for the antlers to grow

4) The Basilosaurus was a huge sea animal weighing about 6 tonnes( size of 6 elephants)! This animal is supposed to have moved like the present day eal

5)The aurochs are thought to be the wild stock from which European cattle breed descended . They grew extinct only in the 17th century. The ancient Romans went at great lengths to capture them to be used in arena fights

Take a look at our Prehistoric Book combo for kids here Pre Historic Book Combo


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