You might think that “living fossils” is an oxymoron, but this fascinating list of incredible animals that are living fossils proves otherwise.
You might mean that “ life fossils ” is a bit of an oxymoron , however you ’d be mistaken .
To be considered one , the living organism in question must more or less maintain the same general anatomy and behavior over millions of years while watching the rise and fall of many other still - evolving specie . A fascinating look at the world ’s most dumbfounding life fossils :
Living Fossils: Nautilus
Somewhere on the cephalopod ’s evolutionary journey from escargot to devilfish sits the Nautilus ; which has changed very footling in the last 500 million yr . At one full point , the oceans contained hundreds of different types , but now only six remain , all of which are find out along the deep slopes butt on Indo - Pacific coral reefs .
Like the squid and the octopus , the Nautilus has tentacles , but many more of them that lack suckers . It also lacks the complex central aflutter system of its ripe family members and has been shown to have a much poorer memory in comparison .
Sumatran Rhino
divvy up the embarrassing title of “ human beings ’s most endangered rhino ” with its Javan counterpart , it is forecast that there are fewer that 400 Sumatran rhino alive today .
piss its place in the impenetrable upland forests of Malaysia and Indonesia , this smallest of the rhino family is relatively well known because of studies done during a particularly stillborn 20 - year captive bringing up program . While litigious , theory connect the Sumatran rhino to theprehistoric woolly rhinoceroshave shown some deservingness .
Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew
While initially lumped into the same group as shrew because of their superficial resemblance , elephant shrew are not shrews at all . Part of the Sengi house of mammals found up and down East Africa , it is thought that aardvarks , manatee and even elephant may have evolve from a sengi - like critter . Fossil records show Sengi ’s presence in Africa going back 30 million years .
reference : Wikimedia
Alligator Snapping Turtle
This terrifying - looking turtle aboriginal to the Southeastern United States can produce to a massive 220 pounds and live past 150 year old . Legend has it that specimens have been find with Civil War - era musket balls embedded in their case . Sitting at the bottom of freshwater lake and tempt uninitiated Pisces right into its formidable jaw has proved over 200 million years to be an effectual strategy .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3VlyFmemyI
Coelacanth, The Living Fossil Fish
TheCoelacanthis one of the most famous of the living fossil . Captain Hendrick Goosen and Marjorie Courtenay - Latimer discovered the first specimen among a sportfishing haul in 1938 . This came as a massive shock to the scientific residential district as they were reckoned to have gone out 65 million long time ago .
In actuality , the Coelacanth has been around and keeping a low visibility for almost 400 million yr . Two distinct population have now been find , one in the West Indian Ocean and the other 6000 statute mile away in Indonesia .
seed : University of Chicago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzxOlFJtzg
Incredible Living Fossils: Horseshoe Crabs
Also known as the King Crab , theHorseshoe Crabis not actually a Cancer at all , as it ’s much more closely related to spider and pinch . Horseshoe Crab - case animal set off showing up around 400 million years ago and around 170 million years later , the species evolved to what we still see today .
Chevrotain
34 million age ago the Chevrotain ’s place was clean widespread , but now it ’s find only in Southeast Asia and Central - West Africa . Although it looks like a tiny cervid ( the Asiatic variety is know informally as the Mouse Deer ) , its line is not so clear cutting .
It does partake in the usual cervid trait of make a many - chambered gut to digest vegetation but differs in that its third venter is much less developed . It also has four toes like a pig and elongate canine tusks .
Incredible Living Fossils: Okapi
Found in the dense wood of Central Africa , this oddly dressed relation of the giraffe was a alien to Western science until 1901 . Because of its tough nature , it was for a time anticipate the African Unicorn .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQkEhmaChOU
Queensland Lungfish
In the Devonian period , 413 - 365 million years ago , there lived a thriving community of different types lungfish . Most of these are now only known from fossil disc , but the Queensland Lungfish , which even at the time was one of the most primitive of the bunch , continues to make its home at the bottom of slow flowing rivers of Southern Australia to this solar day .
Seriema
Once thought to be a case of prehistoric Hart Crane , research has pinpointed the Seriema ’s closest relations to the now - extinct giant Terror Birds . Growing to just under a meter in height , it ’s found in on the Savannah and open forests of South America .
It ’s mostly carnivorous , but given its comparatively feeble beak , the Seriema tenderize its food , small reptiles , birdie , and rodents by bashing them against rock’n’roll .
Source: Wikimedia
Source: Wikimedia
Source: Wikimedia
Source:University of Chicago
