The following is a list of
megafauna discovered by science since the beginning of the 19th century (with their respective date of discovery). Some of these may have been known to native peoples or reported
anecdotally but had not been generally acknowledged as confirmed by the scientific world, until conclusive evidence was obtained for formal studies. In other cases, certain animals were initially considered hoaxes – similar to the initial reception of mounted specimens of the duck-billed
platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)[1] in late 18th-century Europe.
In
zoology, megafauna (from
Greek μέγας megas "large" and
Neo-Latinfauna "animal life") are large animals. The most common thresholds to be a megafauna are weighing over 46 kilograms (100 lb)[2][3][4] (i.e., having a mass comparable to or larger than a
human) or weighing over a
tonne, 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb)[2][5][6] (i.e., having a mass comparable to or larger than an
ox).
This list includes some of the more notable examples discovered in modern times.
^Richard A. Farina; Sergio F. Vizcaino; Gerry De Iuliis (2013). "The Great American Biotic Interchange". Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana. p. 150.
ISBN978-0-253-00230-3.
^Bernhard A. Huber; Bradley J. Sinclair; Karl-Heinz Lampe (2005). "Historical Determinants of Mammal Species in Africa". African Biodiversity: Molecules, Organisms, Ecosystems. Springer. p. 294.
ISBN978-0-387-24315-3.
^Groves, C.P. & Bell, H.B. 2004. New investigations on the taxonomy of the zebras genus Equus, subgenus Hippotigris. Mammalian Biology. 69: 182-196.