Not a big story, but nice reminder that some extinct megafauna were still with us in historic times:
Archaeological researchers at the University of Groningen have discovered that the aurochs, the predecessor of our present-day cow, lived in the Netherlands for longer than originally assumed. Remains of bones recently retrieved from a horn core found in Holwerd (Friesland, Netherlands), show that the aurochs became extinct in around AD 600 and not in the fourth century.
Locally extinct, that is, since they survived longer to the east:
The last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.
So close.
