Mountain Lion
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Lives in Southern California Extirpated (locally extinct Pronghorn Antelope Saber-toothed Cat but alive elsewhere) The pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) is These carnivores with extremely long canine teeth Extinct the fastest running animal in the Americas, reaching lived in the Americas from about 2.5 million to All megafauna on this page are speeds of more than 45 mph. It weighs 70 to 150 12,000 years ago. A bulky, muscular cat with a drawn to proportional scale, except Guadalupe Fur Seal pounds and has only two toes (no dewclaws), short tail, it is sometimes mistakenly called a the Gray Whale, which is depicted Guadalupe fur seals (Arctocephalus townsendi) breed fty percent smaller. and like other native artiodactyls it lacks saber-tooth tiger even though it is in the cat along the eastern coast of Guadalupe Island, approxi- upper canine teeth as well as upper family. The animal most likely ambushed and mately 140 miles west of Baja California, and have incisors. Both sexes have true horns, not pounced upon prey rather than chasing it been sighted along islands o the Southern California antlers, but unlike bovids, the pronghorn down like other cats. One of the most coast. Reduced to a few dozen by sealers in the sheds its sheath every fall, revealing a common nds in the La Brea Tar Pits is 19th century, the species now numbers about 10,000 small bony core around which a new the species Smilodon fatalis, which SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA but is still listed as endangered. sheath forms in the spring. The darkly stood about one meter high at the colored sheath is branched, hence the shoulder and weighed an estimated name pronghorn. 350 to 620 pounds. Bighorn Sheep The Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadenis) is one of three MEGA species of mountain sheep worldwide. The large horns of the males weigh up to 30 pounds, while the animals weigh up to 300 pounds. The characteristic horn clashing occurs between rams during mating season. The Bighorn Sheep’s ancestors crossed the Bering land bridge from Siberia during the Pleistocene Epoch Bison about 750,000 years ago and spread through western FAUNA North America. Once numbering in the millions, the The American bison (Bison bison) was once widespread population crashed to several thousand by 1900. in the grasslands of North America but was also found AN ILLUSTRATED MAP& GUIDE Subsequent conservation eorts have restored in the Pacic Northwest, where it was most common some populations. around Malheur Lake in Oregon and in the area between Eagle and Honey lakes in California. The bison Created for Megafauna Awareness Day 2010 at the disappeared from the Northwest early in the post glacial period, prior to the arrival of Europeans. Page Museum, this map and guide to Southern It died out in California about the time the Gray Whale Native Americans acquired horses but Mountain Lion California megafauna ties together living animals, Mottled gray and encrusted with barnacles, adult gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) before they had rearms. In California The Mountain lion (Puma concolor), also known as are 36 to 50 feet in length and weigh upward of 36 to 40 tons. A large female whale may today, it is found on ranches and a small puma or cougar, has a distinctive sandy color and the rich fossil record of the Los Angeles area, and be equal in weight to seven to eight African bull elephants. Highly migratory, the herd also roams Catalina Island. unusually long, black-tipped tail. The cougar is one of Eastern Pacic gray whale, also known as the California gray whale, spends summers Black Bear the most wide ranging mammals in North America. today's mega-city. feeding in the shallow coastal waters o northern and western Alaska. By October The black bear (Ursus americanus) is They are mostly solitary and may cover thousands of or November gray whales begin their southward migration to the shallow lagoons of North America's most common bear and acres in search of their food. These animals can be What are Megafauna? Baja California, Mexico. has coarse black, brown or cinnamon fur, found in all the major mountain ranges of a white patch on the throat or belly, and Southern California. Megafauna is an informal term for large mammals that weigh more a small tail. It is four to six feet long, stands than 100 pounds and refers to both living and extinct species. up to three feet tall at the shoulder, and It includes living animals such as elephants, hippos and whales, weighs between 125 and 500 pounds. Black bears today are found in sparsely and domesticated species like cows and horses. populated, forested areas. The term is most often used to describe the many large animals that lived during the Pleistocene Epoch, such as mammoths, mast- odons, saber-toothed cats, short-faced bears and dire wolves. Human Wild Burrow * Megafauna ourished during the Pleistocene, which lasted Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) The burro (Equus asinus) is a small equid 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago, but most megafauna disappeared originated in Africa around 200,000 years ago and are with large ears and a short, erect mane. worldwide by about 10,000 years ago in what is known as the now widespread, numbering about 6.8 billion In Southern California, it inhabits arid lands Ice Age extinction event. In North America, worldwide. Like other primates, humans are social by from Inyo to Imperial counties. Basically a nature but also utilize systems of communication to plant feeder, the burrow is very adaptable 33 out of 45 genera of large mammals became create complex social structures. A natural curiosity and will eat almost anything. Present wild extinct, including several species of mastodons, combined with the ability to pass on knowledge has populations in California descend from mammoths, bears, cats and stranger animals ‡ resulted in tools and skills through which humans can stock discarded by Spanish ranchers, Giant Short-faced Bear understand and inuence their environment. Only one 19th-century miners and the U.S. Cavalry such as car-sized relatives of modern armadillos The giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) lived in human has been found in the La Brea Tar Pits—a partial after World War I. Wild burros are protected known as Glyptodonts. Theories for these North America from 800,000 to 12,000 years ago. skeleton of a woman believed to be about 9,000 years by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and extinctions include climate change and overkill It stood ve feet tall at the shoulder and rose to an old—but the Greater Los Angeles area is now home to Burros Act of 1971. impressive 10 feet when standing. This bear was about 13 million people. by humans. taller than a polar bear and twice the weight of a grizzly, and is estimated to have weighed Megafauna Awareness Day between 1,700 to 2,500 pounds. Ground Sloth Horse First proposed as a "Megafauna Extinction Day" by paleontologist Paul S. Martin in the postscript to his 2005 Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths that All members of this family, which also includes zebras lived from 35 million to 12,000 years ago. Evolving from and donkeys, have a single toe on each limb, a bushy book, Twilight of the Mammoths, Los Angeles is a natural tree sloths in South America when the continent was dorsal mane and a long, well-haired tail. Although location for the rst Megafauna Awareness Day because separated from North America, ground sloths spread horse-like animals were once native to North of its unique status as a major metropolitan area with a north as the Isthmus of Panama emerged America, they disappeared more than 10,000 years huge fossil site, the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits. With fossils from the sea oor and connected the two ago. The herds of feral horses that are now found continents. Sloths found at the La Brea Tar in several locations throughout the Western literally embedded into the fabric of the city, the day is an Jaguar † Pits include Harlan's Ground Sloth United States are descended from domestic eort to spur public dialogue about what has been lost, (Paramylodon harlani), which stood animals introduced by European settlers. what needs to be saved, and the Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the largest cat native to more than six feet tall and weighed North America and third largest cat globally. They are 3,500 pounds, and the Shasta human role in relation to the rather shy creatures but have been known to bring Ground Sloth (Nothrotheriops large animals around us. down prey the size of a grown horse or a large bull. shastensis), which weighed Originally found from California to the Carolinas, about 500 pounds. jaguars were hunted to near extinction. Jaguars were added to the U.S. list of endangered species in 1997, following Mammoth litigation by the Center Cow Grizzly Bear A relative of the modern elephant, mammoths lived from for Biological Diversity. Cattle (or cows) are the most common large domesti- The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) is about 4.8 million to 12,000 years ago, though some species of cated ungulate or hoofed animal. They have been Tule Elk North America's second largest carnivore pygmy mammoths lived until about 6,500 years ago. domesticated since the early stone age, or about 10,000 The Tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes), considered after the polar bear, and is also found in Mammoths often had large, curving tusks and are believed to years ago. Today, it is estimated that there are 1.3 billion the smallest elk species in North America, is only Asia and Europe.