Forgotten Fauna

Noah cared for many kinds of animals on the Ark that have now been extinct for some time. Dinosaurs are the most famous of these creatures. But Noah was familiar with many other animals that we have forgotten about.

Answers in Genesis has written a series of articles at ArkEncounter.com to feature some forgotten fauna. One example is the entelodont.

Originally classified as pig relatives, entelodonts are now considered a unique variety of animal. Based on their anatomy and other evidences, entelodonts were likely omnivorous—i.e., they would eat just about anything.

Numerous entelodont remains have been recovered across the Northern Hemisphere in rock layers that were likely deposited by pre-Babel, early post-Flood catastrophes. Their initial success was perhaps short lived, as entelodont fossils have only been found below Ice Age sediment.

Entelodonts ranged in size from about 2.5- to 6.9-feet high at the shoulder. The very largest examples may have exceeded 2,200 pounds!

Bizarre characteristics include mandibular tubercles—bony knobs on their lower jaws—and jugal flanges—large, flat, bony plates growing from their cheekbones. Their large heads were held aloft by a suspension bridge of muscles and tendons attached to tall vertebral spines above the shoulders. Entelodont necks were thus narrow yet very deep, like modern bison. Their canine teeth were exceptionally large, and each long, slender leg bore two hooved toes.

Entelodonts are just one example of a fascinating animal design lost in ages past. When we reflect on the present reality of extinction, let us look forward to the day when death, “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26), is destroyed.