Here on Street Prophets, we often have diaries about critters: pooties, woozles, wild things, and so on. While wandering through the Oregon Museum of Science and Technology (OMSI) recently, I happened to encounter some really old critters.
Shown above is a fossil skeleton of a Dire Wolf (Canis dirus). The Dire Wolf lived in North America 20,000 years ago, working in packs these wolves hunted bison, horses, and other animals. About 5,000 years ago it became extinct.
Show above is a resin cast of the skull of Allosaourus fragilis. This animal flourished during the Late Jurassic Period (from about 156 to 145 million years ago). It was extinct long before any human ancestors existed.
North America 39 to 20 million years ago (as shown in the drawing above) had very different flora and fauna that it does today. At this time, the volcanoes in the Cascade mountains were active.
Shown above are replicas of the fossil remains of a cat-like animal known as Nimravus. This animal is sometimes called a false sabertooth.
Shown above is the skull of an ancient Miomastodan which migrated to the Americas from Asia some 10-20 million years ago.
Shown above is the lower jaw from a mastodon. The American mastodon, which was hunted by American Indians, weighed about 5 tons and stood about 9 feet tall.
Shown above is a drawing of a mastodon.
Shown above is the lower jaw from a mammoth. Mammoths first crossed the Bering Strait into North America about 1.5 million years ago. Like the mastodon, they were later hunted by American Indians.
Shown above is a drawing of a mammoth.
Shown above are the fossil remains of a Mesozoic Proto-Bird from about 150 million years ago.
This is Street Prophets Saturday, an open thread devoted to talking about what we’ve encountered, thought about, ranted out, or eaten recently.