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Originally posted by The Hooded One

As it happens, Ed and Eric Boyd have been discussing these very beasties, and Ed handed me this Realmslore to answer thy query:

We don't know exactly when either creature went extinct.
The Duergahydra went first, sometime around the year 50 DR, and the Mornhound died out far more recently (in the 1100s).

The Duergahydra, or ‘gray evil of the Underdark,’ was a smaller subspecies of the hydra. Possessed of a hard, gray stony hide and darkvision, it was an omnivorous, agile climbing and clinging lizard of long, whiplike build (long neck, long tail, central body about the size of a tall human) and swift, darting movement. All duergahydra were born with two necks and heads, and customarily kept one in reserve, bent around and hidden on their backs so as to resemble a hump or folded wings. However, if a duergahydra head or neck was damaged or severed, two grew in its place (unless the same preventative means as prevent trolls from regenerating were applied), from the stump or shrivelling and drying ruin of the original. In this way, an aggressive duergahydra could end up with six, seven, or more heads, becoming larger and slower with each one (until some became too massive to move at more than a painful crawl, and starved to death, losing their regenerative abilities with their lives). Duergahydra instinctively ‘knew’ they could heal, and were apt to be bold and aggressive in their hunting, literally sticking their necks into danger often. They were cunning, and quickly learned the details and tactics of prey and foes. Duergahydra always hunted alone, pairing only briefly (a matter of hours) to mate, and were fiercely independent. When they proved untrainable as mounts or guardians, and impossible to ‘cow’ or threaten into keeping away from human settlements or valuables, humans started slaughtering them on sight -- and eventually succeeded in eradicating them (unless some cunning mage kept eggs or live specimens in some sort of magical stasis).
Their ichor was useful in healing and regenerative potions known to the drow and illithids, who’d hunted them to near-extinction long before humans became widely aware of their existence.

Mornhounds, on the other hand, were all too useful, and eventually perished because of that. Resembling large, shaggy Irish wolfhounds, they would in 3.5e terms be very close to a dire wolf -- except that they were easily domesticated (to be steeds as well as hunters and sheep-herding experts usually able to operate without their human trainers), VERY loyal and very intelligent (able to carry messages and deliver them according to the situations they found, e.g. “give this scroll to Baeruld, but not if he’s a captive or Dunthlass is also present”).
In the wild, packs of mornhounds roamed the Heartlands and the Sword Coast North about as far north as the Evermoors, but many creatures (from orcs to dragons) found their flesh tasty and devoured them with enthusiasm, until they faded into the deepest woods, dwindling down to a few companions to human druids and wood elves . . . and eventually, oblivion.


So saith Ed. Enjoy!
THO

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