14 Interesting Prehistoric Creatures DONE
Published in Entertainment at April 19th, 2017 at 9:05 AM
The History of our planet has gave us some of the most weird and fierce creatures to walk this earth. Thanks to the work of palaeontologists we can learn and discover new creatures from out planets past. And some of them are truly fascinating. From giant flesh eating dinosaurs to hulking monster sea killers, here are 14 Interesting Prehistoric Creatures.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex
Okay let’s kick off this list with the most obvious and most well known prehistoric creature. The Tyrannosaurus Rex. This beast is without a doubt one of the most bad-ass dinosaurs in existence!
Although not the biggest creature from the prehistoric era, It was a force to reckoned with as full grown t-rexes were around 40 feet tall and weighed about 8,160 kilograms.
These things were pretty much at the top of the food chain with their main diet being the triceratops. To simply put it, These things invoked fear back in it’s hayday.
Estemmenosuchus
They don’t make animals like this anymore. Estemmenosuchus is one of the most bizarre-looking prehistoric monsters; it belonged to the group of the dinocephalians, and despite their dinosaur-like appearance, they were actually more closely related to mammals… including us!
Estemmenosuchus was the size of a rhinoceros, and it too had a horn on its nose, but it also had antler-like horns on the top of its head, and strange, bony protrusions coming out of its cheeks; no one knows what they were used for.
Acrophyseter
This was an ancient relative of today’s sperm whale, which as we all know (or should know) is huge, eats lots of squid and has never been known to attack humans without provocation. Acrophyseter was the complete opposite; it was moderately sized, and didn’t feed on squid but rather on other marine mammals and even on sharks!
Its horrible-looking teeth were deadly weapons and have given Acrophyseter and its ancient relatives the nickname of “killer sperm whales”. Acrophyseter fossil remains have been found in Peru; it lived in the Miocene period, which seems to have been the best epoch for scary marine monsters including giant dolphins, colossal sharks and even monster penguins and seals.
Epicyon
Epicyon could well be described as a giant pitbull on steroids. It was a member of the Canidae or dog family, but whereas modern day canids are built for speed and endurance, Epicyon was built for brute strength, and had jaws so powerful that they could crush bone as if they were crackers! This beast ruled the plains of North America for fifteen million years, before it was replaced by big cats.
Edestus
Today’s great white shark probably has some of the most nightmarish set of teeth in Nature, but its distant prehistoric relative Edestus was so scary that it would make the great white look almost cute. Edestus was about seven meters long and was one of the top predators of the Carboniferous seas.
However, scientists still don’t know how it used its extraordinary teeth; instead of constantly losing the worn out teeth and replacing them with the new ones growing in rows behind, as modern day sharks do, Edestus didn’t lose its teeth at all; instead, the new teeth pushed the old teeth out of the mouth and, eventually, the gums and teeth would protrude out of the mouth like a pair of monstrous scissors.
Gorgonopsids
This creature has earned some popularity recently thanks to the British sci fi show “Primeval”, where it was the very first monster to appear. Although real life gorgonopsids where a tad smaller than the TV version (the largest species, such as Inostrancevia and Leontocephalus, could grow up to six meters long), they were just as terrifying; as a matter of fact, they were the dominant predators during the late Permian, before dinosaurs and their relatives took over.
Terror birds (Phorusrhacids)
Terror birds, formally known as Phorusrhacids, were the top predators in South America and parts of North America during the Miocene, Pliocene and Early Pleistocene periods, before they were replaced by big cats and other carnivorous mammals.
They were unable to fly, but could run very fast (as fast as a cheetah, according to some scientists!) and were very large; the largest species could grow up to three meters tall and weigh up to half a ton.
Madtsoia
Madtsoia would be the worst nightmare of anyone with a phobia of snakes. Although only fragmentary remains are known, it is claimed to have reached the immense length of 15-20 meters! This creature appeared in the Cretaceous period and possibly dined on dinosaurs. It was similar to today’s boas and pythons in that it was not venomous, but rather squeezed its victims to death using its immense muscular strength.
Purussaurus
Purussaurus was a gigantic caiman (a relative to alligators) that lived in what is today known as the Amazonian rainforest. Back in Purussaurus’ days, 8 million years ago, that region was actually a vast inland sea teaming with crocodiles, gharials, fresh water whales, giant rodents and enormous turtles.
Purussaurus was the top predator in that sea, and with good reason; at 12-15 meters long, maybe more, it was one of the largest crocodilians ever to have existed.
Entelodon
Although pigs, wild boars and warthogs today are known to eat meat on occasion, they are basically vegetarian.
On the other hand, the Entelodon, a prehistoric pig relative, was a full time carnivore and possibly one of the most monstrous-looking mammals ever. Standing on all fours, this beast was as tall as a man, and had an immense head armed with powerful jaws and sharp teeth.
Azhdarchids
Azhdarchids were a kind of pterosaur (most popularly known as pterodactyls) which included the largest flying creatures ever to have existed. Some of them had wingspans of 12 to 15 meters, making them as large as a small plane (although they were obviously not as heavy).
But what makes Azhdarchids really strange are their body proportions; they had ridiculously long legs, necks and beaks, and very small bodies, as well as relatively short wings.
Xenosmilus
Since the formidable Smilodon (better known as sabre-toothed tiger) is too well known, we have decided to go for a refreshing change.
Enter Xenosmilus, possibly the nastiest feline ever to have existed. The remains of this very large cat (the size of a lion or tiger, but more robust) were recently found in Florida along with the remains of many unlucky giant peccaries (similar to wild pigs) that fell prey to it.
Instead of strangling prey or breaking their neck as lions do, or stabbing them as the sabre toothed tiger did, Xenosmilus acted more like a shark or a carnivorous dinosaur, biting off a huge chunk of flesh and causing massive blood loss and shock in a matter of seconds.
Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon)
This is a fairly well known prehistoric monster, but it is just so big and scary that it deserves to be in this list. Megalodon (technically called a Carcharocles megalodon) was a gigantic shark, closely related to today’s makos and great whites. It could grow up to 20 meters long and weigh up to 60 tons, being almost six times larger than Tyrannosaurus rex!
Spinosaurus
-When Jurassic Park III was released in 2001, many people complained that the beloved lawyer-eating T-Rex had been replaced with a “made up” dinosaur. Well first off, Let’s forget Jurassic Park 3 even happened and secondly, In reality, Spinosaurus did exist… and it was indeed bigger than T-Rex.
The remains of this enormous predator were discovered in Egypt in 1915, and the palaeontologist who studied them was already convinced that it was drastically bigger than T-Rex. However, this couldn’t be proved as the fossils were sadly destroyed in a bombing during WWII.
Recently, however, new fossils have been found, and Spinosaurus was finally declared to be the largest carnivorous dinosaur of all times. Yeah we know it’s a kick in the childhood for Jurassic Park fans but it’s true.
