26Dodo bird
The Dodo bird which has been long extinct was actually a giant pigeon. It was endemic to the island of Mauritius. It grew and lost its ability to fly due to Island Gigantism. It was first discovered by Dutch sailors. The word dodo loosely translates to "fat-arse" in Dutch.
27. The mythological Cyclops most possibly originated from natives from Mediterranean islands finding the prehistoric remains of extinct dwarf elephants. The skull of these dwarf elephants was only twice the size of humans and their central nasal cavity was easily mistaken for a central eye socket.
28. The Pyrenean ibex is the only species ever to become 'un-extinct' after being cloned in 2009. Unfortunately, though, the clone lived only for seven minutes and was extinct once again.
29. The now extinct Salish Wool Dog, sheared like sheep and prized for making the famous and rare "Salish" blankets, as the Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest did not have sheep and wild mountain goat wool was difficult to gather.
30. Gigantopithecus blacki is an extinct genus of ape, which stood up to 3 meters tall, weighed as much as 540 kg and have existed from perhaps nine million years to as recently as one hundred thousand years ago. They were actually contemporary with modern humans for tens of thousands of years.
