Top 12 Examples Of Living Fossils

fossils are plants and animals that are considered extinct species. they are only known through fossil evidence, but they are discovered to be alive lately. dinosaurs are considered extinct animals. they lived on earth 65 million years ago, before human beings lived on it. all plants and animals were created at the same time. in fact, most living fossils that are alive today are similar to their relatives that lived millions of years ago.

There are 12 examples of living fossils

1-Koala
Allot of koalas has been found lately among 29 million-year-old skeletal remains. they are found in south America. they raise their babies in pouches.

2-Aardvark
The Aardvark is a nocturnal animal. it lives in Africa. the elephant is considered one of its living relatives. it has a little change from its relatives, so it is considered a living fossil.

3-Iriomote cat
iriomote cats are considered one of the living fossils. they can survive because they had little changing according to its original form, but scientists considered it on the edge of extinction. there are 100 iriomotes that survive on the island of Iriomote in japan.

4-Coelacanth
The Coelacanth became an extinct fish in 1938.although it is considered extinct species, it is discovered alive. the oldest fossil is 360 million years old. a lot of scientists thought they became extinct 80 million years ago.

5-Trapdoor spider
The trapdoor was existed since 85 million years. it can pop out and pounce on insects. Some species of trapdoor spiders have a huge plate on their posterior part of their bodies.

6-Red panda
Its relatives are skunks and weasels. it didn’t belong to the panda or the bear. its relatives have become extinct since tens of millions of years ago. red pandas feed on flowers, berries and a huge amount of bamboo because they can’t digest cellulose. they can taste the artificial sweetener aspartame.

7-Sumatran Rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros has some few changes from its relatives 16-23 million years ago. it is related to the woolly rhinoceros that became extinct 10000 years ago. Sumatran rhinoceros love to wallow in mud puddles. they use its horns and hooves if it is not deep enough.

8-Nautilus
Nautilus is considered one of the cephalopodes like octopus. it had little changes according its relatives 500 million years ago. it is the only cephalopodes that its bony skeleton is a shell.

9-Elephant shrew
Elephant shrew has not any relatives of elephants. It’s considered one of the living fossils millions of years ago. it has a long nose. its mom looks after its babies. it feeds them milk and insects. when its babies become 41-46 years, they leave their mom.

10-Monito del Monte

monito del Monte is considered one of the living fossils. it lives in South America. it has a long tail. it lives on trees. it made its nests on it.it eats insects and fruits.

11-Horseshoe crab
Horseshoe crab belongs to spiders and scorpions. they were found as fossils in strata 450 million years ago. it has a body under its enormous shell like the body of spiders.

12-Okapi
The okapi has a body like the giraffe. it is considered one the living fossils. its relatives are the prehistoric giraffes that lived on the earth 15 million years ago. a group of its relatives moved to the forest and didn’t have many changes. it has striped rear legs that made scientists in 1901 classified it as a zebra.

In biology and ecology, extinction is considered the end of any groups of organisms. more than 99 percent of all species that lived on earth are expected to be extinct because it cannot survive in the changing conditions.despite this extinction, some species can live which are called living fossils. most species that become extinct are never documented. a lot of scientists expect that up to half of the existing plants and animals will become rare by 2100.