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Mammals described in 1758

  • LionFossils from the Middle Pleistocene era reveal a creature larger than today's lion. Paleontologists excavated bone fragments in caves across the United…
  • CattleAround 10,500 years ago, wild aurochs began their transformation into the cattle we know today. This process started in central Anatolia and the Levant near…
  • SheepArchaeological evidence places the domestication of sheep between 11,000 and 9000 BC in Mesopotamia. This region served as a primary center for turning wild…
  • HorseThe earliest known member of the horse family lived between 45 and 55 million years ago during the Eocene period. This creature was named Hyracotherium and…
  • Red deerThe red deer (Cervus elaphus) appeared in Europe by the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene around 800,000 years ago. These earliest forms belonged to the…
  • GoatArchaeological excavations at Ganj Dareh in Iran have uncovered goat remains dating back 10,000 years. These bones represent the earliest known evidence of…
  • European badgerCarl Linnaeus named the European badger Ursus meles in 1758 within his work Systema Naturae. The species likely evolved from the Chinese Meles thorali during…
  • TigerCarl Linnaeus described the tiger in 1758 within his work Systema Naturae. He assigned it the scientific name Felis tigris at that time.
  • WolfIn 1758, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus published Systema Naturae and listed the wolf as Canis lupus. He classified the domestic dog as a separate…
  • Brown bearCarl Linnaeus scientifically described the species under the name Ursus arctos in the 1758 edition of Systema Naturae. Brown bear taxonomy and subspecies…
  • DogIn 14,223 years ago, a dog was buried alongside a man and a woman in Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany. All three bodies had been sprayed with red hematite powder and…
  • American bisonBison first appeared in Asia during the Early Pleistocene, around 2.6 million years ago. They arrived in North America between 195,000 and 135,000 years ago…
  • DonkeyThe oldest fossil of the genus Equus dates to approximately 3.5 million years ago and was discovered in the US state of Idaho.
  • HippopotamusFifty-five million years ago, a common ancestor split from other even-toed ungulates. This lineage eventually gave rise to both whales and hippos.
  • HumanIn 2015, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarians worldwide. This number represents a tiny fraction of the global population…