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Sri Lanka's wildlife encyclopedia

Extinct animals of Sri Lanka

During the ice ages, when sea levels were lower, Sri Lanka was joined to India by land. Lions, hippos and rhinos lived here then, and their fossils have been dug from the gem gravels of Ratnapura. These pages tell the story of animals the island has lost.

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Extinct · Ice-age Sri Lanka (late Pleistocene) Sri Lankan Hippopotamus Hexaprotodon sinhaleyus An extinct hippopotamus known from fossils in the Ratnapura gem pits, from a time when ice-age Sri Lanka was joined to India.
Sri Lankan Lion
Extinct · Ice-age Sri Lanka (late Pleistocene) Sri Lankan Lion Panthera leo sinhaleyus A prehistoric lion known only from fossil teeth found near Kuruwita in the Ratnapura gem gravels, described by P. E. P. Deraniyagala in 1939. Lions have not lived wild in…
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Extinct · Ice-age Sri Lanka (late Pleistocene) Sri Lankan Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sinhaleyus A prehistoric rhinoceros described from fossils of the Ratnapura beds, one of several large mammals that disappeared from the island after the last ice age.