Favorite extinct animals and why they died out.

[mynah]

All those wonderful South American animals that were virtual copies of Old World horses, antelopes, etc., but were more closely related to sloths, anteaters and armadillos. I don't know why they went extinct, but Pyrotex gave me an idea there.

 

The sloth spends most of its life hanging upside down from trees and doing not much else. One can think of many ideas why it would go extinct: Forgetting to eat, accidentally mating with moss-covered logs (if it bothers at all), mistaking its kids for epiphytic cacti, etc. - but its toilet habits make it most vulnerable. Strangely, the sloth is very particular about where it goes to poop. Just as well it only poops once every eight days, because it takes all day to climb down its tree, relieve itself and climb back again. In that time, it is fair game for any passing jaguar or anaconda.

 

If the sloth is not extinct because of this, imagine what foolish habits its relatives must have had to die out?

 

I call this my Semi-Hibernation Induced Termination (S.H.I.T.) theory. :)

[Moontanman]

The biggest of all vegetarian dinosaurs, the Moronodon, it was driven to extinction by it's intellectual superiors, the ferns :)

[freeztar]

Spore me the details. :)

[mynah]

I've also heard between chicken and salmon. YUMMMY

Crocodiles taste like chicken, too (I know from personal experience) - but like very lean chicken. I do believe, though, there are other reasons why they are not extinct - most of these located at their front end. The ancient Egyptians considered a mixture of crocodile dung and honey an effective contraceptive. It worked so well (albeit retroactively) that the ancient Egyptians are now extinct.