Terrible prehistoric animals. The most famous prehistoric predators
There are a lot of things people are afraid of, from phobias of small insects and spiders to giant predators like crocodiles, sharks and bears. However, even these terrible beasts cannot be compared with the prehistoric monsters that once lived on our planet.
Azhdarchids were a type of pterosaur, flying reptiles that many people think of as dinosaurs with wings (even though they belong to a completely different family). The name comes from the Persian word meaning “dragon”, and it is not surprising - after all, these creatures were the size of giraffes, and their wingspan exceeded 20 meters. They also had a gigantic head and a toothless beak almost the size of their own body.
Entolodonts are an extinct family of pig-like creatures that lived on Earth about 37 million years ago. These giant creatures could be found in North America, parts of Europe and even Asia. Like their modern relatives, entelodonts were omnivores, with a diet consisting of both meat and vegetation, meaning they had incredibly sharp teeth. A distinctive feature of these terminator pigs are the large protrusions on their heads that look like horns. These animals often fought with each other, and left inch-deep dents on the enemy's skulls. Such power is justified, because they reached 120 cm in height and 3 meters in width, and weighed about 450 kg.
Unlike most modern aquatic reptiles, Liopleurodon was truly a gigantic creature. Liopleurodon lived in the oceans for about 5 million years and disappeared about 155 million years ago. Their exact size is difficult to determine due to the lack of remains, but experts believe that these creatures reached a length of 9 meters. This means that they weighed about 1600 kilograms, and could easily hunt any aquatic creatures.
Gigantopithecus has recently come into the spotlight, even though virtually no one knew about it for centuries. And all thanks to his appearance in the new Disney film “The Jungle Book”. Gigantopithecus was essentially a giant orangutan that lived in the forests of India and China about 100,000 years ago. They were so huge (3 meters tall and 500 kg weight) that they are considered the largest primates of all time.
Many people think of saber-toothed tigers as just big cats, but Xenosmilus was more than just a big cat - it had a powerful build and very large muscles. Because of this, he resembled a cross between a leopard and a bear. Its unique appearance and build meant that it hunted differently than most saber-toothed cats. Using his protruding jaw, he tore large pieces of flesh from the victim so that he would die from blood loss while trying to escape.
This sea creature, which is a distant relative of modern lobsters, was discovered only in 2014, when its remains were found in Morocco. Egirokassid reached almost two meters in length, that is, it could be as tall as an adult. However, he was not a bloodthirsty predator. It ate in much the same way as modern whales eat - it sucked water into its mouth and used its teeth as a filter for food.
The remains indicate that Argentavis was the largest bird in history. With the height of an adult human and a weight of 80 kg, it is larger than any living bird. However, unlike other large birds, Argentavis was unlikely to act like a predator, since its structure did not allow it to hunt prey. It is also unlikely that, with such a gigantic size, Argentavis could fly like its modern relatives. It is believed that it hovered in the air, only occasionally flapping its wings to gain altitude.
Few things scare people as much as bugs and insects. They are so creepy that giant versions of the most common insects are often featured as monsters in horror films. Arthropleura could just be mistaken for a monster from a horror movie. These giant centipedes reached two and a half meters in length. They were so huge that they had no enemies among predators, and they are still considered the largest land invertebrates in the history of the planet.
Nowadays, the largest snakes can reach eight meters in length at best, but they are all outnumbered by the Titanoboa. It weighed more than a ton and measured more than fifteen meters in length. This snake lived in the swampy jungles of South America a little after the death of the dinosaurs. Like boa constrictors, titanoboa was not poisonous, and it strangled victims with a force of 28 kilograms of force per square centimeter. After the death of the dinosaurs, Titanoboa was the largest predator on the planet for 10 million years.
Dragonflies are not the most terrible creatures in the world, although some are afraid of them. But few would not be afraid of this distant relative of the dragonfly, which was the size of a child. The flying insect, which lived on Earth 300 million years ago, had a wingspan of 66 centimeters, and its body length was 30 cm. Like its modern relatives, Meganeura was carnivorous and fed mainly on invertebrates and amphibians.
Although modern fish are full of ugly and scary ones, all of them, including piranhas, fade next to the dunkleosteus. This giant fish lived on the planet about 360 million years ago and, with a body length of 6 meters and weighing a ton, is one of the largest fish in history. Its size indicates that it was a predator, and thanks to its powerful jaw and large teeth it could eat all the creatures it came across in the water.
In 2005, scientists discovered the remains of Carbonemys in a coal mine in Colombia. This is an extinct species of giant tortoise that lived on Earth 60 million years ago. The creature's shell alone reached two meters in length, and the weight of carbonemys reached up to a ton. That is, this turtle could be the same size as a small car. While Carbonemis is not the largest turtle in history, it is certainly the most terrifying. Her powerful jaws allowed her to hunt animals larger than herself.
Gorgonopsians are a species of therapsid that are the ancestors of modern mammals. Roughly speaking, they were a cross between reptiles and mammals, and inhabited the Earth about 250 million years ago. Gorgonops were one of the largest predators of their time, and could equal the size of a large bear. Moreover, the length of the skull of these monsters was 60 cm.
Although they were not technically crocodiles, Sarcosuchus closely resembles modern reptiles with their long bodies and scales. But at the same time, they are twice the size of the crocodiles we know. Some scientists believe that Sarcosuchus continued to grow throughout its life, eventually reaching a length of 12 meters. However, they weighed about 8 tons, and their skin was so thick that it could serve as armor - a useful quality, considering that they lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Sharks are already the scariest creatures on the planet, but Megalodon takes it to the next level. These giant sea creatures lived about 2.5 million years ago and are now considered one of the largest and deadliest killers in history. The basking shark could grow up to 18 meters in length and looked like a larger version of the man-eating white shark. The worst thing is that its mouth contained teeth 15 cm long and 10 cm wide. Thanks to its gigantic size, the megalodon could devour a wide variety of prey, including whales, large sea turtles and dolphins.
Mammoth Columbus- one of the largest mammoths to ever exist on earth, a relative of the more common woolly mammoth. The remains of Colombian mammoths were found along the route from Canada to Mexico. The famous woolly mammoths left their traces in Northern Asia, Russia, and Canada. Their main difference is that the Columbian mammoths were practically not covered with hair, which makes them similar to modern elephants, and their tusks were much larger than those of woolly mammoths.
The height of Colombian mammoths was approximately 3-4 m, and their weight reached 5-10 tons. Columbian mammoths have the largest tusks among the elephant family. 3.5 in length, rounded, incredibly strong, they were used to fight all predators, including humans.
Giant sloths. Today, the sloth is one of the cutest creatures, photos of which receive millions of “likes” on social networks. Their ancient ancestors did not seem so charming.
Several species of giant sloths are known. Those that lived in North America were the size of rhinoceroses, and ancient man may have often dined on them. However, the largest of the giant sloths, Megatherium, lived in South Africa about 10 thousand years ago and were at least the size of an elephant. About 6 m from head to tail, weighing 4 tons, with sharp teeth and long nails, sloths seemed quite formidable animals. Moreover, there is an assumption that they were predators.
The last species of giant sloths lived on the Caribbean islands approximately 4.2 thousand years ago.
Gigantopithecus- the largest primate to ever walk the earth. This relative of the orangutan deserved its name: the three-meter animal weighed 500 kg and was huge even for the prehistoric world. Interestingly, Gigantopithecus is very similar to images of the Yeti. True, Gigantopithecus died out 100 thousand years ago. In addition, if at that time the giant primates did not think of hiding from people, then it is unlikely that any of them are now hiding in the highlands, scaring tourists under the guise of Bigfoot.
Gigantopithecus lived on Earth for approximately 6-9 million years, feeding on the fruits of Southeast Asia. But with climate change, tropical forests turned into arid savannas, and Gigantopithecus began to die out from lack of food.
Cave hyena reached 1 m in height at the shoulders and weighed from 80 to 100 kg. According to calculations based on studies of fossilized remains, a cave hyena was capable of knocking down a 5-year-old mastodon that weighed a ton.
Cave hyenas lived in packs, sometimes consisting of 30 individuals. This made them stronger hunters: together they could attack a 9-year-old mastodon weighing all 9 tons. Needless to say, the man hardly dreamed of meeting a pack of hungry hyenas.
The population of cave hyenas began to decline 20 thousand years ago and finally disappeared 11-13 thousand years ago. Scientists suggest a struggle with humans for cave space during the last ice age as one of the reasons that influenced the extinction of cave hyenas.
Smilodon- an extinct genus of saber-toothed cats, contrary to stereotypes, which has little in common with saber-toothed tigers.
Saber-toothed cats first appeared 42 million years ago. There were many species of them, most of which became extinct before the appearance of humans. However, at least two species of saber-toothed cats could have been encountered by primitive man in America. They were the size of a modern African lion and weighed as much as a Siberian tiger.
Smilodon was an incredibly strong animal - it could easily attack a mammoth. Smilodon used a special tactic: first it waited for prey, approached unnoticed and quickly attacked.
Despite its “saber-toothed” nature, Smilodon does not have the most powerful bite among cats. Thus, the bite of a modern lion is perhaps three times stronger. But the Smilodon’s mouth swung open 120 degrees, which is half the capabilities of the current lion.
dire wolf- no, “terrible” is not an epithet here, but the name of a species of wolves that lived in North America. Dire wolves appeared about a quarter of a million years ago. They are similar to modern gray wolves, but much tougher. Their length reached 1.5 m, and their weight was about 90 kg.
The dire wolf's bite force was 29% stronger than the gray wolf's bite force. Their main diet was horses. Like many other carnivores, the dire wolf went extinct 10,000 years ago during the last ice age.
American Lion, despite the name "lion", he was closer to the modern panther than to the lion. American lions inhabited North America about 330 thousand years ago.
The American lion is the largest known wild cat in history. On average, the individual weighed about 350 kg, was incredibly strong and easily attacked the bison. So even a group of primitive people would not be delighted to meet one of the American lions. Like their previous comrades, American lions went extinct during the last Ice Age.
Megalania- the largest lizard known to science - lived in Australia and began to disappear approximately 50 thousand years ago, i.e. at the same time as humans began to populate the continent.
The size of megalania is a subject of scientific debate. According to some data, its length reached 7 m, but there is an opinion that the average length was about 3.5 m. But not only size is important: megalania was a poisonous lizard. If its victim did not die from loss of blood, then it certainly died from poisoning - in any case, hardly anyone managed to escape alive from the mouth of megalania.
Short-faced bear- one of those types of bears that primitive man might have encountered. The ancient bear was about 1.5 meters at the shoulders, but as soon as he stood on his hind legs, he stretched up to 4 m. If this does not sound scary enough, then add this detail: thanks to his long limbs, the bear reached a speed of up to 64 km/ h. This means that Hussein Bolt, whose record is 45 km/h, would easily have been his for dinner.
Giant short-faced bears were among the largest carnivores in North America. They appeared about 800 thousand years ago, and died out 11.6 thousand years ago.
Quincans, land crocodiles appeared quite a long time ago - 1.6 million ago in Australia. The giant ancestors of crocodiles reached 7 m in length. Unlike crocodiles, quincans lived and hunted on land. In this they were helped by long powerful legs to catch up with prey over long distances, and sharp teeth. The fact is that crocodiles use their teeth mainly to grab the victim, drag it away with water and drown it. The teeth of the land quincana were intended for killing; they pierced and literally cut the victim. The Quincans became extinct approximately 50 thousand years ago, having lived for about 10 thousand years side by side with primitive man.
Today, humans are the dominant predator on the planet. However, we have occupied this position within a relatively short period of time—the earliest known human, Homo Habilis, first appeared about 2.3 million years ago.
Even though we dominate animals to this day, many of these animals have extinct ancestors that were much larger and stronger than the ones we are familiar with. The ancestors of these animals looked like creatures from our worst nightmares. The frightening thing is that if humanity disappears or simply loses its dominance, these creatures, or similar ones, could potentially regain the right to exist.
1. Megatherium
Today, sloths climb trees slowly and do not pose a threat to animals that live in the Amazon. Their ancestors were the complete opposite. During the Pliocene era, Megatherium was a giant sloth in South America, weighing up to four tons and reaching 6 meters in length from head to tail.
Although it primarily walked on four legs, tracks show that it was able to stand on two legs to reach the leaves of tall trees. It was the size of a modern elephant, and yet it was not the largest animal in its habitat!
Archaeologists suggest that Megatherium was a scavenger, and stole the carcasses of dead animals from other carnivores. Megatherium was also one of the last giant Ice Age mammals before their extinction. Their remains appear in the relatively late fossil record of the Holocene, a period that saw the rise of humankind. This makes humans the most likely culprit in Megatherium's extinction.
2. Gigantopithecus
When we think of a giant ape we usually think of the fictional King Kong, but the giant ape actually existed a long time ago. Gigantopithecus is an ape that existed approximately 9 million to 100 thousand years ago, approximately the same period as the rest of the hominid family.
Fossil evidence shows that Gigantopithecus was the largest ape that ever lived, standing almost 3 meters tall and weighing half a ton. Scientists have been unable to determine the cause of the extinction of this giant ape. However, some crypto-zoologists have suggested that Bigfoot and Yeti "sightings" may be related to the lost generation of Gigantopithecus.
3. Armored fish
Dunkleosteus (lat. Dunkleosteus) was the largest of the prehistoric armored placoderm fish (lat. Placodermi). Her head and chest were covered with an articulated armor plate. Instead of teeth, these fish possessed two pairs of sharp bony plates that formed a beak structure.
Dunkleosteus was probably extirpated by other placoderms that had the same bony plates for protection, their jaws powerful enough to cut and pierce armored prey. One of the largest known specimens found, it was 10 meters long and weighed four tons, making it one of the fish you definitely don't want to catch on a spinning rod!
This fish was not at all picky about food; it ate fish, sharks, and even fish of its own family. But they probably suffered from indigestion caused by the fossilized remains of half-digested fish. Scientists from the University of Chicago concluded that Dunkleosteus had the second-strongest bite among fish. These giant armored fish became extinct during the transition from the Devonian to the Carboniferous period.
4. Terrorist Bird
Most flightless birds today - the ostrich or penguin, for example, pose no danger to humans, however, there was one flightless bird that terrorized the earth.
Phorusrhacidae, also known as the “terrorist bird,” are a species of birds of prey and flightless birds that were the largest raptor species in South America between 62 million and 2 million years ago. They reached approximately 1-3 meters in height. The prey of the terrorist bird were small mammals... and, by the way, horses. They used their massive beaks to kill in two ways: by picking up small prey and throwing it to the ground, or by delivering targeted strikes to important parts of the body.
Although archaeologists have not yet fully determined the reasons for the extinction of this species, the last of its fossils appear around the same time as the first humans.
5. Haast's Eagle
Birds of prey have always left their mark on the human psyche. Fortunately, we are much larger than the largest eagle. However, there were once birds of prey that were large enough to hunt humans.
Haast's eagle lived on the South Island of New Zealand, and was the largest known eagle, weighing up to 16 kg, with a wingspan of 3 meters. The prey were 140 kg flightless moa birds, which were unable to protect themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles, which reached speeds of up to 60 km per hour.
Legends from early Maori settlers say that these eagles could lift and devour small children. But early on, settlers in New Zealand hunted mainly large flightless birds, including all species of moa, which eventually led to their extinction. The loss of natural prey caused the Haast's eagle to become extinct when its natural food source was exhausted.
6. Giant Lizard Ripper
Today, the Komodo dragon is a fearsome reptile and the largest lizard on the planet, but it would be dwarfed by its ancient ancestors. Megalania, also known as the Giant Ripper Lizard, is a very large monitor lizard. The exact proportions of this creature have varied, but recent studies have shown that Megalania was about 7 meters long and weighed between 600 and 620 kg, making it the largest land lizard ever known.
Its diet consisted of marsupials: giant kangaroos and wombats. Megalania belongs to the clan toxicofera, which has poisonous secreting glands, this lizard is the largest poisonous vertebrate of all known. Although we couldn't imagine lizards of this size living in the outback, the first Aboriginal people of Australia may have encountered living Megalania. The species most likely became extinct when the first settlers hunted megalanias for food.
7. Short-faced bear
Bears are among the largest mammals on Earth, with the polar bear even holding the title of the largest of all land predators. Arctodus - also known as the Short-faced Bear, lived in North America during the Pleistocene. The Short-faced Bear weighed about one ton, and standing on its hind legs reached a height of 4.6 meters, making the Short-faced Bear the largest mammalian predator that ever existed.
Although the short-faced bear was a very large predator, archaeologists have discovered that it was actually a scavenger. Being a scavenger, however, isn't a bad idea at all, especially when you're fighting saber-tooth tigers and wolves for food. Like most other large animals of the Pleistocene era, the short-faced bear lost most of its food sources with the arrival of humans.
8. Deinosuchus
Modern crocodiles are the living remains of dinosaurs, but there was a time when crocodiles hunted and ate the above dinosaurs. Deinosuchus is an extinct species related to the alligator and crocodile that lived during the Cretaceous period. Deinosuchus is translated from Greek as “terrible crocodile.”
This crocodile was much larger than any modern one, measuring up to 12 meters and weighing ten tons. It was similar in appearance to its smaller relatives, with large, robust teeth designed for crushing, and a back covered in armored plates of bone.
The main prey of Deinosuchus were large dinosaurs (who else can boast of this?), and in addition to them sea turtles, fish and other unfortunate victims. Potential evidence for the danger of Deinosuchus comes from Albertosaurus fossils. These are samples of the teeth of Deinosuchus and Tyrannosaurus rex, which means there is a good chance that these two brutal predators engaged in bloody fights.
9. Titanoboa
No creature evokes more fear in the human psyche than a snake. Today, the largest snake is the reticulated python, with an average length of 7 meters.
In 2009, archaeologists made a shocking discovery in Colombia by comparing the shapes and sizes of fossilized vertebrae of modern snakes with an ancient snake Titanoboa reached a maximum length of 12 to 15 meters and weighed up to 1,100 kg, making it the largest snake to ever crawl the planet. Since this is a recent discovery, little is known about Titanoboa, but one thing is known: the whole world will be afraid of a 15-meter snake, no matter if there is a phobia or not.
10. Megalodon
Before 1975, most people's phobias centered around snakes and spiders. Everything changed when the movie Jaws was released, the antagonist of the film was a great white shark (non-existent), which made many people hysterical and prevented them from entering the ocean. Today, the largest great white sharks typically reach 6 meters in length and weigh 2,200 kg. However, there was once a shark that was twice the size of the largest modern great white sharks.
Megalodon - meaning "big tooth" - is a shark that lived from 28 to 1.5 million years ago. Megalodon was all about the prefix "mega": its teeth were 18 cm long, and fossil remains show that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 16–20 meters. While today great white sharks hunt seals, Megaladon consumed whales as food. Scientists speculate that the species became extinct due to ocean cooling, falling sea levels and declining food sources. If there was a chance that megaladon existed in modern times, then man would be landlocked. However, in the giant ocean, there could be a great white shark lurking in the abyss, and there is always the chance that something like a megaladon will return to the world.
Millions of years ago the world was different. It was inhabited by prehistoric animals, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Dinosaurs, sea predators of monstrous size, giant birds, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers - they have long disappeared, but interest in them does not fade.
The first inhabitants of the planet
When did the first living creatures appear on Earth? More than three and a half billion years ago, single-celled organisms arose.
It took as much as two billion years before multicellular living organisms appeared. Approximately 635 million years ago, the Earth was inhabited, and at the beginning of the Cambrian period, by vertebrates.
The most ancient remains of living organisms found to date date back to the late Neoproterozoic.
During the Cambrian period, life existed only in the seas. The most prominent representatives of prehistoric animals of that time were trilobites.
Due to frequent underwater landslides, many living organisms were buried in the mud and survived to this day. Thanks to this, scientists have a fairly complete picture of the structure and lifestyle of trilobites and other ancient marine inhabitants.
Prehistoric animals actively developed on land and in the sea. The first inhabitants of wet places on the Earth's surface are arthroplasties and centipedes. In the mid-Devonian, amphibians joined them.
Ancient insects
Having appeared in the early Devonian period, insects successfully developed. Many species have disappeared over time. Some of them were gigantic in size.
Meganeura belonged to the genus of dragonfly-like insects. Its wingspan was up to 75 centimeters. She was a predator.
Ancient insects have been studied quite well. And ordinary tree resin helped scientists with this. Hundreds of millions of years ago, it flowed down tree trunks and became a death trap for careless insects.
They have been perfectly preserved in their original transparent sarcophagi to this day. Thanks to amber, into which fossilized resin has turned, today anyone can admire the ancient inhabitants of our planet.
Prehistoric sea animals - dangerous giants
During the Triassic period, the first marine reptiles appeared. They could not, like fish, live completely underwater. They needed oxygen, and they periodically rose to the surface. Outwardly, they looked like land dinosaurs, but differed in their limbs - sea inhabitants had fins or webbed feet.
The first to appear were nothosaurs, which reached a size of 3 to 6 meters, and placodes, which had three types of teeth. Placodus were small in size (about 2 meters) and lived close to the shore. Their main food was shellfish. Nothosaurs ate fish.
The Jurassic period is the era of giants. Plesiosaurs lived at this time. The largest species reached a length of 15 meters. These include Elasmosaurus, which had a surprisingly long neck (8 meters). The head, compared to the massive body, was small. Elasmosaurus had a wide mouth armed with sharp teeth.
Ichthyosaurs - large reptiles that averaged 2-4 meters in length - were similar to modern dolphins. Their feature is huge eyes, which indicates a nocturnal lifestyle. They, unlike dinosaurs, had skin without scales. It is assumed that ichthyosaurs were excellent deep-sea divers.
More than forty million years ago there lived Basilosaurus, an ancient whale of enormous size. The length of a male individual could reach 21 meters. It was the largest predator of its time and could attack other whales. Basilosaurus had a very long skeleton and moved by bending its spine, like a snake. It had vestigial hind limbs 60 centimeters long.
Marine prehistoric animals were very diverse. Among them are the ancestors of modern sharks and crocodiles. The most famous marine predator of the ancient world is the megalodon, which reached 16-20 meters in length. This giant weighed about 50 tons. Since the skeleton of this shark consisted of cartilage, nothing survived except the animal's enamel-covered teeth. It is assumed that the distance between the open jaws of the megalodon reached two meters. It could easily fit two people.
Prehistoric crocodiles were no less dangerous predators.
Purussaurus is an extinct relative of modern caimans that lived approximately eight million years ago. Length - up to 15 meters.
Deinosuchus is a crocodile from the alligator genus that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period. Outwardly, it was not much different from modern representatives of the species. The body length reached 15 meters.
The most terrible: ancient lizards
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric sizes continue to amaze. It is difficult to imagine that such giants once reigned on the planet.
The Mesozoic era is the time of dinosaurs. Appearing at the end of the Triassic, they became the main form of life in the Jurassic and suddenly disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous.
The species diversity of these ancient lizards is amazing. Among them were terrestrial and aquatic species, flying species, herbivores and predators. They also differed in size. Most dinosaurs were huge, but there were also very small dinosaurs. Among predators, Spinosaurus stood out especially for its size. The length of his body ranged from 14 to 18 meters, height - eight meters. With its elongated jaws it resembled modern crocodiles. Therefore, it is assumed that he led an amphibious lifestyle. A special feature of Spinosaurus was the presence of a spinal ridge that resembled a sail. It made him seem taller. Paleontologists believe that the sail was used by the animal for thermoregulation.
Ancient birds
Prehistoric animals (photos can be seen in the article) were also represented by flying lizards and birds.
Pterosaurs appeared in the Mesozoic. Presumably, the largest of them was Ornithocheirus, which had wings with a span of up to 15 meters. He lived in the Cretaceous period, was a predator and preferred to hunt large fish. Pteranodon is another large flying predatory lizard of the Cretaceous period.
Among prehistoric birds, Gastornis was striking in its size. The two-meter-tall individuals had a beak that could easily break bones. It is not precisely established whether this extinct bird was a predator or consumed plant food.
Fororacos is a bird of prey that lived in the Miocene. The height reached 2.5 meters. Its curved, sharp beak and powerful claws made it dangerous.
Extinct animals of the Cenozoic era
It began 66 million years ago. During this time, thousands of species of living beings appeared and disappeared on Earth. What were the most interesting extinct prehistoric animals of that time?
Megatherium is the largest mammal of that era. It is assumed that it was a herbivore, but it is possible that Megatherium could kill other animals or feed on carrion.
Woolly rhinoceros - was covered with thick red-brown hair.
Mammoth is the most famous extinct species of elephant. Animals lived two million years ago and were twice as large as modern representatives of their species. Many remains of mammoths have been found, very well preserved thanks to the permafrost. By historical standards, these majestic giants became extinct quite recently - about 10 thousand years ago.
Of the predatory prehistoric animals, the most interesting is the Smilodon, or saber-toothed tiger. It was no larger in size than the Amur tiger, but it had incredibly long fangs, reaching 28 centimeters. Another feature of Smilodon was its short tail.
Titanoboa is an extinct giant snake. A close relative of the modern boa constrictor. The length of the animal could reach 13 meters.
Documentary films about prehistoric animals
Among them are such as “Sea Dinosaurs: Journey into the Prehistoric World”, “Land of the Mammoths”, “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs”, “Prehistoric Chronicles”, “Walking with Dinosaurs”. There are a lot of good documentaries created about the life of ancient animals.
“The Ballad of Big Al” - the amazing story of one Allosaurus
This film is part of the famous Walking with Dinosaurs series. He talks about how a perfectly preserved skeleton of an Allosaurus was found in the USA, which scientists named Big Al. The bones showed how many fractures and injuries the dinosaur suffered, and this made it possible to reconstruct the history of its life.
Conclusion
Prehistoric animals (dinosaurs, mammoths, cave bears, sea giants) that lived in the distant past still amaze the human imagination today. They are clear proof of how amazing the Earth's past was.
Today, humans are the dominant predator on the planet. However, we have occupied this position within a relatively short period of time—the earliest known human, Homo Habilis, first appeared about 2.3 million years ago.
Even though we dominate animals to this day, many of these animals have extinct ancestors that were much larger and stronger than the ones we are familiar with. The ancestors of these animals looked like creatures from our worst nightmares. The frightening thing is that if humanity disappears or simply loses its dominance, these creatures, or similar ones, could potentially regain the right to exist.
1. Megatherium
Today, sloths climb trees slowly and do not pose a threat to animals that live in the Amazon. Their ancestors were the complete opposite. During the Pliocene era, Megatherium was a giant sloth in South America, weighing up to four tons and reaching 6 meters in length from head to tail.
Although it primarily walked on four legs, tracks show that it was able to stand on two legs to reach the leaves of tall trees. It was the size of a modern elephant, and yet it was not the largest animal in its habitat!
Archaeologists suggest that Megatherium was a scavenger, and stole the carcasses of dead animals from other carnivores. Megatherium was also one of the last giant Ice Age mammals before their extinction. Their remains appear in the relatively late fossil record of the Holocene, a period that saw the rise of humankind. This makes humans the most likely culprit in Megatherium's extinction.
2. Gigantopithecus
![](https://i1.wp.com/mirfactov.com/wp-content/uploads/2939.jpg)
When we think of a giant ape we usually think of the fictional King Kong, but the giant ape actually existed a long time ago. Gigantopithecus is an ape that existed approximately 9 million to 100 thousand years ago, approximately the same period as the rest of the hominid family.
Fossil evidence shows that Gigantopithecus was the largest ape that ever lived, standing almost 3 meters tall and weighing half a ton. Scientists have been unable to determine the cause of the extinction of this giant ape. However, some crypto-zoologists have suggested that Bigfoot and Yeti "sightings" may be related to the lost generation of Gigantopithecus.
3. Armored fish
Dunkleosteus (lat. Dunkleosteus) was the largest of the prehistoric armored placoderm fish (lat. Placodermi). Her head and chest were covered with an articulated armor plate. Instead of teeth, these fish possessed two pairs of sharp bony plates that formed a beak structure.
Dunkleosteus was probably extirpated by other placoderms that had the same bony plates for protection, their jaws powerful enough to cut and pierce armored prey. One of the largest known specimens found, it was 10 meters long and weighed four tons, making it one of the fish you definitely don't want to catch on a spinning rod!
This fish was not at all picky about food; it ate fish, sharks, and even fish of its own family. But they probably suffered from indigestion caused by the fossilized remains of half-digested fish. Scientists from the University of Chicago concluded that Dunkleosteus had the second-strongest bite among fish. These giant armored fish became extinct during the transition from the Devonian to the Carboniferous period.
4. Terrorist Bird
Most flightless birds today - the ostrich or penguin, for example, pose no danger to humans, however, there was one flightless bird that terrorized the earth.
Phorusrhacidae, also known as the "terrorist bird", is a species of birds of prey and flightless birds that were the largest raptor species in South America between 62 million and 2 million years ago. They reached approximately 1-3 meters in height. The prey of the terrorist bird were small mammals... and, by the way, horses. They used their massive beaks to kill in two ways: by picking up small prey and throwing it to the ground, or by delivering targeted strikes to important parts of the body.
Although archaeologists have not yet fully determined the reasons for the extinction of this species, the last of its fossils appear around the same time as the first humans.
5. Haast's Eagle
Birds of prey have always left their mark on the human psyche. Fortunately, we are much larger than the largest eagle. However, there were once birds of prey that were large enough to hunt humans.
Haast's eagle lived on the South Island of New Zealand, and was the largest known eagle, weighing up to 16 kg, with a wingspan of 3 meters. The prey were 140 kg flightless moa birds, which were unable to protect themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles, which reached speeds of up to 60 km per hour.
Legends from early Maori settlers say that these eagles could lift and devour small children. But early on, settlers in New Zealand hunted mainly large flightless birds, including all species of moa, which eventually led to their extinction. The loss of natural prey caused the Haast's eagle to become extinct when its natural food source was exhausted.
6. Giant Lizard Ripper
Today, the Komodo dragon is a fearsome reptile and the largest lizard on the planet, but it would be dwarfed by its ancient ancestors. Megalania, also known as the Giant Ripper Lizard, is a very large monitor lizard. The exact proportions of this creature have varied, but recent studies have shown that Megalania was about 7 meters long and weighed between 600 and 620 kg, making it the largest land lizard ever known.
Its diet consisted of marsupials: giant kangaroos and wombats. Megalania belongs to the clan toxicofera, which has poisonous secreting glands, this lizard is the largest poisonous vertebrate of all known. Although we couldn't imagine lizards of this size living in the outback, the first Aboriginal people of Australia may have encountered living Megalania. The species most likely became extinct when the first settlers hunted megalanias for food.
7. Short-faced bear
Bears are among the largest mammals on Earth, with the polar bear even holding the title of the largest of all land predators. Arctodus - also known as the Short-faced Bear, lived in North America during the Pleistocene. The Short-faced Bear weighed about one ton, and standing on its hind legs reached a height of 4.6 meters, making the Short-faced Bear the largest mammalian predator that ever existed.
Although the short-faced bear was a very large predator, archaeologists have discovered that it was actually a scavenger. Being a scavenger, however, isn't a bad idea at all, especially when you're fighting saber-tooth tigers and wolves for food. Like most other large animals of the Pleistocene era, the short-faced bear lost most of its food sources with the arrival of humans.
8. Deinosuchus
Modern crocodiles are the living remains of dinosaurs, but there was a time when crocodiles hunted and ate the above dinosaurs. Deinosuchus is an extinct species related to the alligator and crocodile that lived during the Cretaceous period. Deinosuchus is translated from Greek as “terrible crocodile.”
This crocodile was much larger than any modern one, measuring up to 12 meters and weighing ten tons. It was similar in appearance to its smaller relatives, with large, robust teeth designed for crushing, and a back covered in armored plates of bone.
The main prey of Deinosuchus were large dinosaurs (who else can boast of this?), and in addition to them sea turtles, fish and other unfortunate victims. Potential evidence for the danger of Deinosuchus comes from Albertosaurus fossils. These are samples of the teeth of Deinosuchus and Tyrannosaurus rex, which means there is a good chance that these two brutal predators engaged in bloody fights.
9. Titanoboa
No creature evokes more fear in the human psyche than a snake. Today, the largest snake is the reticulated python, with an average length of 7 meters.
In 2009, archaeologists made a shocking discovery in Colombia by comparing the shapes and sizes of fossilized vertebrae of modern snakes with an ancient snake Titanoboa reached a maximum length of 12 to 15 meters and weighed up to 1,100 kg, making it the largest snake to ever crawl the planet. Since this is a recent discovery, little is known about Titanoboa, but one thing is known: the whole world will be afraid of a 15-meter snake, no matter if there is a phobia or not.
10. Megalodon
Before 1975, most people's phobias centered around snakes and spiders. Everything changed when the movie Jaws was released, the antagonist of the film was a great white shark (non-existent), which made many people hysterical and prevented them from entering the ocean. Today, the largest great white sharks typically reach 6 meters in length and weigh 2,200 kg. However, there was once a shark that was twice the size of the largest modern great white sharks.
Megalodon - meaning "big tooth" - is a shark that lived from 28 to 1.5 million years ago. Megalodon was all about the prefix "mega": its teeth were 18 cm long, and fossil remains show that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 16–20 meters. While today great white sharks hunt seals, Megaladon consumed whales as food. Scientists speculate that the species became extinct due to ocean cooling, falling sea levels and declining food sources. If there was a chance that megaladon existed in modern times, then man would be landlocked. However, in the giant ocean, there could be a great white shark lurking in the abyss, and there is always the chance that something like a megaladon will return to the world.
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