5 Long-Gone Beasts That Once Roamed Minnesota

Not only is Minnesota the 'Land of Ten Thousand Lakes' but it's also the place where several unique species of wildlife call "home". However, there was once a time where animals like the Giant Ground Sloth and Mastodon roamed the Minnesota prairie.

Here's a look at 5 surprising animals that used to live in Minnesota.

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1) Wooly Mammoth: Lived in Minnesota until approximately 10,000  years ago.

Believe it or not, the Woolly Mammoth once grazed on the Minnesota prairie during the Pleistocene Age. These massive animals found the areas of central and southern Minnesota particularly favorable, as during this time period, they sat on the edge of the glaciers.

2) Giant Beaver: Lived in Minnesota until approximately 11,700 years ago.

With the scientific name of Castoroides ohioensis, these Giant Beavers were the ancestors of modern rodents like squirrels, porcupines, and yes, modern beavers. As you might expect, these giant beavers were much larger than their cousins, with some reaching the size of modern black bears. Regarding their size, these beavers were around 9 feet long and weighed up to 500 pounds. Can you imagine an animals of this magnitude building a dam in the Minnesota River these days?

3) Bison Occidentalis (Wood Bison): Lived in Minnesota until approximately 11,700 years ago.

The wood bison was very similar to its cousins, which still live in North America to this very day. One key difference was its size, as the wood bison was around 15% larger than the modern bison. The first fossils of the wood bison discovered in Minnesota were found in 1955 during the construction of Interstate 35 in St. Paul.

4) Mastodon: Lived in Minnesota until approximately 10,000 years ago.

Not only did the Mastodon look similar to the Woolly Mammoth, but it also went extinct around the same time, during the end of the Pleistocene Age. One big difference between the two was diet. Mammoths were primarily grazers, eating grasses, while Mastodons were mainly browsers, eating tree branches, twigs and shrubs.

5) Dire Wolf: Lived in Minnesota until approximately 10,000 years ago.

The Dire Wolf, just like most of the animals on this list, went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene Age This was due to several factors, including the extinction of the large prey that the wolves depending on, like ancient horses, bison and yes, even the North American Camel.

These are just 5 of the animals that used to roam within the borders of what, would one day become Minnesota. To see the full list, check out this article from A - Z animals.