# Largest now extinct land animal living since invention of writing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707 "2022-08-15T18:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/1 "2022-08-15T18:23:30Z")
Continuing the discussion from [What exactly is an oliphaunt?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-an-oliphaunt/969670/21): This topic about oliphaunts made me wonder what the largest land animal is that is now extinct but which was still existing after humans invented writing (circa 3400BC). I think it’s the woolly mammoth (which lasted until about 2000BC) - but am I forgetting some huge creature? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/2 "2022-08-15T18:47:49Z")
I believe that aurochs are classified as megafauna. They were still being hunted in the middle ages. > **[Aurochs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs)** > > The aurochs (Bos primigenius) (/ˈɔːrɒks/ or /ˈaʊrɒks/) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to 180 cm (71 in) in bulls and 155 cm (61 in) in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene; it had massive elongated and broad horns that reached 80 cm (31 in) in length. > The aurochs was part of the Pleistocene megafauna. It probably evolved in Asia and migrated west and north during warm interglacial... From that article: The African aurochs may have survived until at least to the [Roman period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_period) as indicated by fossils found in [Buto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buto) and [Faiyum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faiyum) in the [Nile Delta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Delta).[[35]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs#cite_note-Linseele2004-35) It was still widespread in Europe during the time of the [Roman Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire), when it was widely popular as a battle beast in [Roman amphitheatres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphitheatre#Roman_amphitheatres). Excessive hunting began and continued until it was nearly extinct. By the 13th century, the aurochs existed only in small numbers in [Eastern Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe), and hunting it became a privilege of nobles and later royals.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs#cite_note-vVuure05-5) Fossils found in [West Bengal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal) indicate that the Indian aurochs may have survived until the early 12th century ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/3 "2022-08-15T19:04:31Z")
George R.R. Martin refers aurochs as still being in use in his _Game of Thrones_ books. Perhaps they’re different in Westeros than here on Earth, however. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/4 "2022-08-15T19:12:45Z")
Thanks. Aurochs weren’t as big as mammoths though. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/5 "2022-08-15T19:27:58Z")
The [Megatherium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium) weren’t as large but they did go up to 4 tons. The probably went extinct 12,000 years ago though. There were some reports they made it more recently, but apparently these have been discredited. No larger land animal made it to the time of writing than the wooly mammoth. The 20 ton Rhino relative; [Paraceratherium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium) died out many millions of years ago. The Wooly Mammoth was the 3rd largest after the steppe mammoth I mentioned in the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/6 "2022-08-15T20:04:55Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I think it’s the woolly mammoth (which lasted until about 2000BC) My recollection was that this was a dwarf variety on Wrangel Island, but the Wikipedia article on the woolly mammoth informed me they weren’t much smaller than normal (I didn’t see a size though) and there were a few other straggler popations that made it past the OP’s cutoff. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/7 "2022-08-15T20:10:03Z")
From Google, it seems your original dates for writing and the extinction of the wooly mammoth are correct, so that has to be the answer. I don’t think the aurochs is in the same ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/8 "2022-08-15T20:13:57Z")
As there are many animals still around bigger than Aurochs, they really don’t apply. Also they’re on their way back. Breeding programs are attempting to breed back to this stock. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/9 "2022-08-15T20:16:39Z")
Oh, I bet that will be ~~delicious~~ interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/10 "2022-08-15T22:21:46Z")
But did a literate person ever encounter a mammoth? It seems to me that the chronological datapoint is rather arbitrary unless we are talking about the possibility of a written record. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/11 "2022-08-15T22:24:57Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > But did a literate person ever encounter a mammoth? And live long enough to write about it… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/12 "2022-08-15T22:39:20Z")
That’s a reasonable point - but literate people can also report what non-literate people report. Tomorrow afternoon someone could find an inscription talking about a mammoth - which is pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/13 "2022-08-15T22:44:57Z")
That would be cool. Even a description passed down orally through generations to an eventual scribe. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/14 "2022-08-15T23:10:31Z")
There are mammoth emojis on cave walls. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/15 "2022-08-16T00:36:00Z")
Moas. Ok, not the heaviest, but they were 12 ft tall! Also, Elephant Birds (not quite as tall, but heavier). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/16 "2022-08-16T16:58:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That’s a reasonable point - but literate people can also report what non-literate people report. Tomorrow afternoon someone could find an inscription talking about a mammoth - which is pretty cool. Even cooler would be a talking mammoth. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/17 "2022-08-16T16:59:21Z")
Paging Doctor Dolittle (and Polynesia the parrot) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/19 "2022-08-16T17:04:28Z")
So the Aurochs are being slowly bred back but on the cutting edge of science side is the serious attempt to bring back mammoths using African Elephants as the host mother. > **[A New Company With a Wild Mission: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/science/colossal-woolly-mammoth-DNA.html)** > > With $15 million in private funding, Colossal aims to bring thousands of woolly mammoths back to Siberia. Some scientists are deeply skeptical that will happen. > **[The Woolly Mammoth Revival](https://reviverestore.org/projects/woolly-mammoth/)** > > The ultimate goal of Woolly Mammoth revival is to bring back this extinct species so that herds may re-populate tundra and boreal forest. or maybe not … > **[Bringing back the woolly mammoth and other extinct creatures may be impossible](https://www.science.org/content/article/bringing-back-woolly-mammoth-and-other-extinct-creatures-may-be-impossible)** > > Capturing enough of an extinct rat's genome to recreate it turned out to be harder than scientists thought So one possibility would be a wooly mammoth/Elephant hybrid. I think Oliphaunt or Mumak would be a good name for these hybrids. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/20 "2022-08-16T17:29:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Even cooler would be a talking mammoth. For all we know, there **were** talking mammoths. The problem is that none of them could write. Also, I have it on good authority that they were jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/21 "2022-08-16T17:41:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Also, I have it on good authority that they were jerks. So… not welcome here? 🦣 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707.md?page=2)