honestly one of the worst things about
liking cool animals is the burden of
knowing you've missed out on most of
them
like no offense to all the cool animals
who exist in the present but man we have
lost so much
now i'm not asking for much here i
understand how silly it is to want
dinosaurs to roam the earth after not
being around for tens of millions of
years i will even compromise with the
creatures who've endured and would go
out with the ice age but what really
bugs me is the animals that are still
supposed to be around
ancient humans really didn't know what
they were missing even though they
believed in a world consisting of gods
and monsters even in reality the natural
world around them was much more wondrous
than it is in the modern world and that
sucks
want to get mad with me and go over all
the cool things you and i didn't get to
see
we'll hop on board and let's go back in
time although not as far as we usually
do
one thing to think of is animals who are
still around but who have gone extinct
in a region a great example of this
would be lions lions in the present are
really thought of as one of if not the
african animal but for a long time the
modern lion panthera leo had a huge
range across the old world not only did
it rule throughout most of africa but
also much of the middle east india and
parts of southwestern europe
this of course is why lions show up many
times in the folklore mythology and art
of these cultures even though now lines
are a continent away because in the
villages of mesopotamia or greece it
wasn't impossible to hear rumors of
lines nearby in the forest or stealing
farmer joe's cattle
personally one of my favorite pieces of
lion centric artwork is this palace
relief from the assyrian empire showing
a beautifully muscled puking lion being
hunted
of course this art also highlights the
main reason for the lions decline
they are just so impressive to humans
that our first instinct is to brutally
murder them it is because of excessive
hunting that these eurasian lions would
eventually disappear from the ancient
world as well the famous greek historian
herodotus tells us the lions were
relatively common in most of greece in
480 bce but were much less common by 300
bce until finally vanishing from greece
by 100 bce
the farther east you go the longer lions
survive in most of the near east lines
went extinct starting in the 10th
century a.d
yet they would still persist in some
remote locations
line numbers would continue to decrease
with the rise of gunpowder and firearms
making it much easier to hunt them and
the final lions of the near east would
die out in the 1800s with the last lion
of iraq being killed in 1918. in iran
lines would persist in the foothills of
the mighty zagros mountain range where
occasional sightings would happen
throughout the early 1900s and the last
pride of lines would be hunted down in
1963.
india is a similar story to the rest of
asia and as gunpowder spread line
numbers dwindled yet lions would
actually remain in india until
well the present day yup although it's
not spoken of too much outside of india
there still exists in the gear forest
the last asian lions these were only
protected because the forest was the
private hunting reserves of indian
rulers were kind enough not to slaughter
all of them the asiatic line differs in
a few substantial ways from their
african relatives they are overall
smaller than the african lion
the mane on the males is darker and less
developed than that of african specimens
meanwhile the tuft at the end of the
tail is larger another odd difference is
the fact that asiatic lines have a flap
of skin which runs along the belly which
an african lion lacks although this
isn't really a scientific observation
but to me asiatic lines all look just a
bit beaten up and sad i just want to
send them a get well soon card
of course i would probably be pretty
gloomy too if my kin were almost hunted
to extinction
some are not as lucky as these eurasian
lions equally as recognizable as the
lion is the elephant now most people
know that elephants are still found in
asia specifically southeast asia but
there were many other subspecies of
asian elephant that have now gone
completely extinct
of these lost asian elephants the
westernmost was the syrian elephant as
the name suggests this pachyderm was
found throughout syria as well as
mesopotamia and parts of the persian
gulf the other thing distinguishing it
from modern relatives was size measuring
in at 3.5 meters at the shoulder the
average syrian elephant would have been
as tall as the largest ever indian
elephants
the syrian elephant would seem to go
extinct in their environment by the year
700 bce but it is possible they make one
final appearance in history before
completely vanishing
if you know anything of ancient history
you might have heard of the general
hannibal known as an ingenious tactician
and the man who must destroy the roman
republic maybe hannibal's most memorable
action was taking his army which
included several war elephants through
the alps
of these war elephants most of which
were of the african species possibly a
smaller subspecies endemic to north
africa who died out during the roman
times making them yet another example of
a unique animal lost a time
one war elephant hannibal's personal
elephant was named cyrus and was
described as a larger and braver than
average elephant with a broken tusk
it is believed by some historians this
large well-trained elephant was in fact
from the syrian subspecies further
supported by the fact cirrus translates
to the syrian although not completely
confirmed i think it would be a great
footnote in history that the last syrian
elephant was a total badass in one of
the most important wars of ancient
history
on the other side of asia there was also
a unique population of elephants china
while being one of the oldest
civilizations on the planet
is also one of its most ecologically
diverse with many species of large
animals having been present in the
country including elephants
nowadays the few hundred asian elephants
of china are restricted to several parts
of the country and are actually on their
way to making a recovery but there's
more to the chinese elephant tale
ancient art and archaeological work has
confirmed that there was another
population of elephants in northern
china who have gone completely extinct
it was assumed for a long time that
these elephants were just another branch
of the asian elephants relegated to
china yet recent evidence may prove
otherwise
teeth from these elephants do not match
those of the genus eliphaz as well
artwork from ancient china shows
elephants with two well scientists call
fingers but i more inclined to call it
trunk nubs instead of the asian
elephant's singular nub
the teeth and two nubs instead match the
extinct animal paleoloxodon also known
as the straight-tusked elephant
besides their bulbous foreheads and long
straight tusks paleoloxodon also differs
from regular elephants for being even
more massive dwarfing even african bush
elephants and one species was possibly
the largest land mammal ever
although completely not set in stone the
idea that these bizarre giant elephants
were once thought of as another ice age
animal lost long before civilization may
have existed alongside historic humanity
would be as wondrous as mammoths living
alongside the egyptians
to actually reverse the pattern a bit
instead of animals who have gone extinct
everywhere but africa here we have
animals found everywhere else except
africa that's right bears
it appears i can't stop talking about
bears on this channel but i swear it's
all a big coincidence and the and the
bears are not holding me hostage
anyways this bear is called the atlas
bear named such because where it used to
roam the atlas mountains of north africa
if you're wondering how a big fuzzy bear
would have lived in africa
then you might not be too acquainted
with the atlas mountains it shares a
pretty temperate climate with the rest
of the mediterranean and the further you
go up the mountains the colder it gets
in fact it snows regularly near the
mountain summits some of these pictures
of the atlas look similar to the rockies
over here so it really isn't that
unbelievable a bear could live in these
african mountains
the bears themselves didn't differ too
much from surviving brown bears which
they are believed to be a subspecies of
although it is possible they might be
their own separate species of ursine the
atlas bearer was brownish black with
reddish orange fur on the underside it
was stockier than an average american
black bear with shorter claws and
muzzles so why did the atlas bear die
off
well like many other things in the
mediterranean world the romans really
put them in a sticky situation i will
admit bears are cool but the romans
thought they were cool enough to take
thousands away from the atlas mountains
to fight for their entertainment in the
coliseum and other arenas around the
roman empire atlas bears were imported
encaged and starved in order to make
them more desperate fighters and then
unleashed on some other animal or
christian but never to return to their
mountains the romans love for their
blood sport bled the atlas bear
population dry
it would shamble on for many more
centuries in greatly reduced numbers and
the final one would be hunted down and
killed in the 19th century
and now for maybe one of the more famous
ancient animals lost to time the auric
oryx once found across eurasia really
striked me as one of the greatest losses
in terms of extinct animals the fact
these giants used to roam the wild lands
of europe where nowadays the largest
herbivore in most of europe is a deer
would be a spectacle and the fact it is
so interwoven in ancient human culture
only to be snuffed out by modern times
once more puts a damper on things
to get into specifics oroks were large
wild bovines who lived similar to most
of its relatives they would live in
herds numbering no more than 30 members
in these herds both sexes would fight
and display for social status with
others and during mating seasons males
would engage in deadly battles for the
right to reproduce
besides these sometimes fatal battles an
adult auric in europe had nearly nothing
to fear
a large aura could grow 1.8 meters at
the shoulder and could weigh 700 to 1000
kilograms although more ancient oryx
have been estimated to weigh an immense
metric ton and a half
for comparison the eurasian brown bear
weighs about 250 to 300 kilos
the only thing that could weigh up to an
auric would have been a very large bull
moose and wisens or european bison
outside of europe it is possible adult
oryx would be slain by large predators
like the tiger
but because of their huge size and
menacing set of horns a european auric
might only be threatened by predators if
it were sick or a calf who are preyed
upon by wolves and bears
unkillable herds of healthy oryx would
have roamed europe and been a key part
in sustaining biodiversity
these grazers would have kept pockets of
europe free from the ever-encompassing
forest providing a habitat for many
plants and animals
to humanity as well oryx were invaluable
it's pretty hard not to notice but
cattle arguably the most important
domesticated animal are descended from
the wild auric the two different types
of kettle the humped sibu and the torn
kettle most are familiar with were
actually domesticated independently of
each other the former being bred from
the indian auric subspecies and the
latter from the eurasian variety
ever since we tamed and bred those first
oryx cattle have been a cornerstone of
civilization
forget democracy or laws did that stuff
ever plow your fields or make milkshakes
for you only with the help of our bovine
friends could we have any of that
culturally oryx have always been revered
by humans they appear in our cave
paintings figurines and other works of
art caesar wrote of them as animals
quote a little below the size of an
elephant and the romans would later
feature them in their arenas in greek
mythology it is said zeus took the form
of a bull auric during the creation of
europe
of course for how respected and
necessary these animals were they did
eventually go extinct the main cause for
their extinction was and tell me if
you've heard this before overhunting and
loss of habitat to their domesticated
descendants along with the spread of
various diseases due to contact with
cattle
the oryx range would slowly grow smaller
and smaller until the last few oryx
lived in eastern europe where they were
exclusively hunted by royalty
the final auric died of natural causes
in poland in the year 1627
and yet another amazing animal would be
lost a time
but there is hope for the auric
because of oryx being extinct and
european cattle farming becoming less
popular those unique areas of open
pastures might disappear within europe
along with all the diverse wildlife
which call it home a certain solution
would involve bringing back the auric
the dutch taurus program aims to breed
back the auric or technically an animal
very genetically and physically similar
to the auric from certain breeds of
cattle their final hope is to leave
these auric populations and let them be
reclaimed by european nature to roam in
free herds and support the open habitats
they once had a hand in keeping clear of
forest
so far the program now has a few hundred
animals they are able to work with and
the final goal is to be completed in 20
years so maybe in our lifetime we will
see the ancient auric return to europe
of course there are many animals i did
not mention who went extinct before
modern times that ancient people may
have known about but i wanted to keep
this to animals that the ancient
eurasian world knew of
still even these more speculative ideas
are fun to explore
is it possible the ancient romans heard
tales of the giant elephant bird native
to a mysterious far off african island
did the merchants of timbuktu ever
encounter the now long gone quagga the
zebra relative native to south africa
could the people of the indian ocean
know of the giant hosts eagle of new
zealand and the moa it hunted
all fantastical speculation but the
thought of it happening makes the
ancient world seem that much more
amazing once more it sort of sucks all
these creatures died out long before you
and i could ever have seen them but at
least they existed for ancient man where
these fantastical animals only made the
world seem that much more wondrous
well the channel sort of blew up in
between this and the last upload so to
all my new subscribers and viewers
welcome aboard as you can see i have a
real love of history alongside my love
for paleontology and zoology so i
thought combining the two passions would
make for a good video and i hope it's
received well
as always thanks for the artwork photos
and footage i used to make this and
thank you for watching
see ya