Prehistoric animals

Animals from the past were very different from the creatures we know today. During the ice age, some interesting and amazing species roamed the Earth, such as the short faced bear, saber toothed tiger, and the giant beaver. Unfortunately, these impressive animals did not survive the extreme environmental changes of that era. Here are some interesting facts about these extinct giants and other incredible animals that lived alongside them.

Giant ground sloth

Animals were bigger in size and weight before the ice age. The sloth that we know today is approximately the size of a dog, but before they were about 9 feet tall and would weigh 2,200 pounds rather than 9-17 pounds like today. Giant sloths were herbivores, they relied on their hind feet and claws to grab leaves from trees. They died due to humans hunting them since they were considered easy targets since they consumed food out in the open fields.

The saber tooth tiger

The saber tooth tiger had canines that measured 7 inches and could open 130dg. Saber tooth tigers aren’t related to lions but they weighed twice as much (over 600p) and were a foot shorter. The reason they weighed more than a regular lion was due to their muscular body. The cause of extinction of the saber tooth tigers was that the animals they hunted began to die out. The animals the saber tooth tigers hunted were sloths, bison, young mammoths and mastodons. The climate was a huge impact for all the animals alive during this time. The weather was too wet for the animals to live.

The woolly mammoths

Woolly mammoths were alive 4,000 years ago and could live for 60 years. They were about 12 feet tall and weighed six to eight tons, with tusks that measured 15 feet. Woolly Mammoths resemble elephants but they were covered in dark thick hair. They would feed off plants, they were herbivores. The cause of death of these animals was climate change and human impacts. The climate began to get wetter which caused the ice to melt into rivers which couldn’t sustain the plants that the mammoths ate. Humans hunted the mammoths for their incredible fur which they used for clothes, they also ate the mammoths, and used them to build weapons for hunting.

I interviewed some of my friends and teachers what their thoughts were about how much animals had changed through the eras and this is what they had in mind after:

Ms. Escobar said, “I didn’t know Woolly Mammoths’ tusks were 15 feet.”

Melisa Almazan said, “I didn’t know that those animals lived that long ago.”

Zaelyn De Leon said, “ I was shocked to read that a sloth back then was 10 feet tall.”

In conclusion

The fascinating facts and stories about these giant creatures gives us insight into a time when the Earth was a very different place. These remarkable creatures adapted to their environments in unique ways, yet they ultimately submitted to the challenges of climate change and human activities. Their extinction serves as a great reminder of the impact environmental shifts and human actions can have on wildlife.