15.06.2019

The most terrible prehistoric inhabitants of the sea. Prehistoric predators: vivid species Terrible predator: short-faced bear

Earlier in our articles, we described giant animals and insects that lived millions of years ago. Today we have a list of prehistoric marine life that boggles the imagination with its size.

The giant lived on the territory of present-day Europe and Central America in the Jurassic period. The dimensions of the predator exceeded 25 meters, and the mass reached 150 tons. A quarter of the entire length of the body liopleurodon was a powerful head. Wide long flippers in length reached 3 meters. mouth prehistoric monster was armed with 30 cm teeth.

This large predator lived in all warm seas about 45 million years ago. The size of large individuals exceeded 21 meters. Basilosaurus was the most formidable predator of its period.

This is the most big shark that ever inhabited our planet. The megalodon lived 25 million years ago and in those days it had no equal. Outwardly, it looked like a large white shark, but much larger in size - on average, the body of the fish was 20 meters in length. Huge teeth of a prehistoric predator are found in almost all parts of the world.

megalodon and great white shark

The cetacean mammal was almost 18 meters long. Leviothan was the owner of the most toothy mouth. The teeth of the ancient sperm whale reached 36 cm in length with a diameter of 12 cm. These are teeth!

The length of the giant was 10 meters. The found lower jaw of a kronosaurus exceeded 2.5 meters! The powerful mouth made the Kronosaurus one of the most formidable and ferocious predators of the Cretaceous period.

The ancient animals of the Earth are animals that died out for some natural reason before the appearance of man. Sometimes they are called prehistoric animals. Some of them continued to exist even after the appearance of mankind and died out already through our fault.

The dodo or dodo is a large flightless bird. Its modern relatives are birds of the pigeon order. At one time, dodos densely populated the island of Mauritius, fed plant food, and the female dodo laid the only egg directly on the ground. Dodos disappeared only in the 17th century due to the fault of people and the animals they brought to the island.

The most famous ancient animals on Earth are mammoths. This species of elephant lived on our planet about 1.5 million years ago. Judging by the fossil remains, mammoths were larger than their modern relatives and their body was covered with wool. Mammoths ate exclusively plant foods and were desirable prey for primitive hunters. Why mammoths died out, there is no consensus.

Smilodon or saber-toothed tiger disappeared from the surface of our planet more than 2 million years ago. Smilodons were larger than modern tigers, and the long saber-shaped fangs on the upper jaw allowed it to hunt thick-skinned rhinos and elephants.

The giant ground sloth Megatherium lived about 2 million years ago on the American continent. The length of his body was 6 meters. Megatherium fed on the shoots of young trees, bending them to the ground with long front paws equipped with curved claws.

Another large flightless bird of antiquity with strong three-meter hind limbs is the moa. Moas lived in New Zealand until the 17th century and were completely destroyed by people.

The epiornis bird, also not flying, weighed up to 450 kilograms, and its height reached 3 meters. According to the assumption, the eggs of these birds could weigh up to 10 kilograms. Back in the 19th century, epiornis could be seen in Madagascar, but due to deforestation rainforest and ruthless extermination today these ancient birds have become completely extinct.

Chalicotherium is an ancient animal of the Earth with a horse's head and claws instead of hooves. Scientists attribute it to the detachment of artiodactyls. In an attempt to get high-lying plant food, chalicotherium on powerful hind limbs could reach up to 5 meters in height.

The ancient animal of the Earth, which, probably, was lucky to survive to this day, is the marsupial wolf. The body length is ancient mammal has up to 1 meter, plus the length of a half-meter tail. He lived in Australia, but by the time the Europeans discovered the mainland, he had survived only on the island of Tasmania (sometimes the wolf is called Tasmanian). Since the beginning of the 20th century, no one has seen a marsupial wolf alive, but it is, nevertheless, listed in the Red Book.

And the most mysterious and numerous ancient animals of the Earth are dinosaurs. Their name is translated as "terrible lizards." For 200 million years, they inhabited the earth's land almost everywhere and mysteriously died 60 million years ago. The most likely reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs is the collision of our planet with an asteroid, as a result of which the Earth's climate has changed in a detrimental way for dinosaurs.

The modern world with its inhabitants is so familiar to a person that the events of a century ago are perceived as beautiful. fantasy story. However, the evidence found by scientists makes us believe that prehistoric predators really existed.

Terrible predator: short-faced bear

Millions of years ago, the current places with built houses, highways, amusement parks were deserted and not people walked on them, but huge prehistoric predators, one of which was a short-faced bear giant size. Its height when standing on two legs reached 4 meters, and its weight was about 500 kilograms. There was an outward resemblance to modern counterparts, but unlike them, the giant could easily develop the speed of a horse when running (about 50 km / h).

Like all prehistoric predators, the bear possessed incredible strength and could destroy almost any animal with one blow. Having powerful jaws, this monster was able to bite even the strongest bones. When analyzing the found remains of the ancient giant, it was found that he ate everything that moved: horses, bison and even mammoths. The daily food allowance was approximately 16 kilograms of meat; this is 2-3 times more than a lion needs. The search for food in such quantities was facilitated by enlarged nasal cavities, allowing you to smell the prey within a radius of 9 kilometers. The last representatives of short-faced bears, according to scientists, died out about 20 thousand years ago, and most likely this happened due to their inability to adapt to strong environmental changes.

Prehistoric Predators: The American Lion

The prehistoric American lion is one of the most bloodthirsty predators on the planet. Unlike his modern descendants, he weighed almost half a ton. The body length of this animal was almost 4 meters. The habitat of the largest cat in history was North and South America.

Saber-toothed tiger

Also, such prehistoric predators as saber-toothed tigers have not survived to this day, powerful weapon which had giant 20-centimeter fangs, menacingly sticking out even with their mouths closed. They were similar to dagger-shaped blades and resembled sabers (hence the name of the predator). In combination with huge force and lightning-fast reaction, these animals, who lived about 20 million years ago on the territory of Eurasia, North America, Africa, terrified their potential victims. A powerful torso, short massive legs, frightening fangs - an appearance that is best seen in the pictures. The richest source of fossils of these animals are located in the heart of Los Angeles. It was here that in prehistoric times there were tar lakes - deadly traps that killed thousands of animals. Topped with foliage that stuck to their surface, they misled careless herbivores and predators into a sticky morass.

Prehistoric Predators: Bear Dog

Dog bears (otherwise - amphicyonids) are active predators that were widespread in Turkey and Europe from 17 to 9 million years ago. These prehistoric predators got their name for the mixed features of a bear and a dog during appearance, so scientists hesitated for a long time as to which group to attribute strange animals to. As a result, they were isolated in a completely separate family. Dog bears were stocky animals with short legs, a long body (about 3.5 meters), a huge head (the length of the skull was 83 cm), a one and a half meter tail and a weight of about 1 ton. Their approximate height was approximately 1.8 meters.

There is an opinion that the bear dog led a semi-aquatic lifestyle and could live on sea coasts. The skull of a predator was remotely similar to the skull of a crocodile, and powerful jaws could crack through the bones and shell of a turtle. Its diet was varied: from small living creatures to large individuals. The dog-bear, of course, was a hunter, but most often he was satisfied with the role of a scavenger. He could easily eat a wounded, but still alive victim.

Deinosuchus - the largest crocodile on the planet

About 60 million years ago, a Deinosuchus (from Greek - “terrible crocodile”) lived on the planet, whose length was about 12 meters, height - 1.5 meters, and weight - about 10 tons. The streamlined shape of the body provided him high speed movement in water and excellent maneuverability. On land, Deinosuchus became clumsy and earth's surface moved jerkily on curved thick legs.

With a huge head (about 1.5 meters), massive wide jaws, large teeth designed for crushing, a back covered with armored bone plates and a thick tail, it fed on fish and large dinosaurs.

Haast eagle - winged monster

Prehistoric birds of prey were also impressive in size. For example, the haast eagle, which lived in New Zealand, weighed 16 kg, and its wingspan was 3 meters. This predator was able to reach speeds of 60-80 km / h, which allowed him to successfully hunt flightless moa birds that weighed 10 times more and were unable to defend themselves against a sudden powerful impact force.

The predator was able to grab and hold prey in flight, and the latter could be an order of magnitude larger than it. According to the legends of the inhabitants of New Zealand, these monsters with a red crest on their heads abducted even small children and killed people. Nests of winged prehistoric predators have been found 2 kilometers above the ground. The extinction of the eagles caused destruction natural environment habitat and disappearance of moa birds, which have become the subject of hunting by the settlers of New Zealand.

Terrestrial prehistoric bird fororakos

Of the flightless winged birds of the prehistoric period, scientists are interested in the so-called terrorist bird (fororacos), which was the largest predator South America and lived more than 23 million years ago. Her height ranged from 1 to 3 meters, and her favorite food was small mammals as well as horses. The predator killed prey in two ways: it lifted it into the air and hit it on the ground, or delivered precise blows with a massive beak to important and vulnerable parts of the body.

The beak and massive skull of a three-meter giant weighing about 300 kilograms distinguished him from other winged creatures. Powerful legs allowed him to develop considerable speed when running, and a curved 46-centimeter beak was ideal for tearing apart the extracted meat. In an instant, the predator swallowed the caught prey.

Megalodon - a huge shark

Millions of years ago in water element there were also huge prehistoric predators. Megalodon ("big tooth") - a giant shark that had 5 rows of huge 20-centimeter teeth in the amount of about 300 pieces. The total length of this monster was about 20 meters, and the weight was supposedly 45 tons. What can we say about modern sharks eating seals if megalodon hunted whales.

For many years, the teeth of this giant shark found in the rocks were mistaken for the remains of dragons. According to scientists, this animal died out due to oceanic hypothermia, falling sea levels and the depletion of food sources.

One of the largest predators of centuries ago was the mosasaurus. Its length was more than 15 meters, and the head was similar to a crocodile. Hundreds of razor-sharp teeth killed even the most protected opponents.

There are many living in the oceans today scary creatures- these are man-eating sharks, and huge squids, and mysterious deep sea fish. But still, the creatures found in the depths of the waters in their parameters did not come close to those giant creatures that lived in the seas of the past.

Then you could meet huge sea lizards, shark monsters and even dangerous killer whales. If today marine life seems to us mainly as a source of food, then in those days the person himself would become food. Let's talk about the 10 most scary monsters that lived in the oceans in prehistoric times.

This creature is obviously the most famous one on the list. Its name itself is translated as "big tooth". Many find it difficult to imagine fossil shark the size of a school bus. Popular science sources, like the Discovery Channel, help to bring the monster to life with the help of computer technology. The shark was 22 meters long and weighed about 50 tons. It was one of the most large predators throughout the existence of the earth. The bite force per 1 sq. cm was up to 30 tons. Although it seems that such a creature lived in the age of dinosaurs, megalodons lived on the planet 25-1.5 million years ago. Consequently, giant sharks missed the last dinosaurs by about 40 million years. By the way, it is quite possible that megalodons managed to meet with the first human ancestors. Megalodons lived in warm oceans, hunting whales. But after the beginning of the ice age in the Pliocene, the currents and the temperature of the ocean changed. Under the new conditions, giant predators could no longer exist. Today, their closest relatives are white sharks.

These animals were typical pliosaurs, representatives Jurassic. They were first described on the basis of a single tooth found in France in 1873. At the end of the same century, a skeleton was also found. They were creatures from 6 to 25 meters long, with a large narrow head. Scientists believe that it could reach a length of 4 meters! Huge teeth reached half a meter. The creature swam with the help of huge flippers, rising to the surface for air. It could dive long and deep. Based on the remains, scientists have modeled the body of Lioprevrodon. It turned out that he was not so much fast as very flexible. The inhabitant of the sea made quick jerks, attacking prey. There is no doubt that liopreprodons were viviparous - such sizes simply did not give them the opportunity to crawl ashore to lay eggs.

Despite his unusual view, this creature is not a reptile at all. This is a whale, and by no means the scariest one on our list. Basilosaurus are the predatory ancestors of today's whales. In length, they reached 21 meters, and lived on the planet 45-36 million years ago. In those days, basilosaurs inhabited all warm seas planet, being one of the most big predators. The whale is actually more like giant snake, as it had a long sinuous body. Its victims were large creatures, including dorudons. Today, just the fantasy of swimming in the ocean, where the alligator-snake-whale creature lives, can permanently kill interest in water procedures. Basilosaurus physical data suggests that they were deprived of the cognitive abilities of modern whales. They did not possess echolocation, practically not plunging to great depths. They also had practically no social skills, the whales were loners. As a result, the monster was quite primitive and could not pursue its prey if it got out onto land.

The name of this creature does not sound too scary. Meanwhile, it was one of the largest arthropods of all time. Racoscorpions lived 460-250 million years ago, reaching a length of 2.5 meters. Only their claw was up to half a meter in length. In those days, the level of oxygen in the atmosphere was higher, which was the reason for the appearance of giant cockroaches, scorpions. The scorpion remains marine life, although many of his relatives in those days began to explore the land. These creatures became extinct even before the dinosaurs, it is not even clear now whether they were really poisonous. However, the structure of their tail resembles the structure of the same part of the body in scorpions, which makes it possible to assume an attacking function of the tail.

These animals belong to the duck-billed dinosaurs. They lived on the borders of water and land. Mayasaurs could jump into the water to escape predators. In length, these creatures reached 7-9 meters, their weight was about 2-3 tons. Mayasaurs lived 80-73 million years ago. With a flat, wide, toothless beak, the animals plucked vegetation or collected algae. Mayasaurus's neck is made up of many vertebrae, which implies its flexibility. There was a small crest on the skull. The hind legs were strong, supporting the weight of the body. Mayasaurs could defend themselves with the help of their powerful tail. Animals laid eggs, babies about half a meter long emerged from the eggs. Mayasaurs lived in herds, as evidenced by the large number of skeletons found next to each other.

This creature can be called a real carnivorous tank. The ferocious predator reached a length of 10 meters, and its body was covered with plates that acted as armor. There is an explanation for this - the dunkleostei hunted both their fellows and other predators. They did not have bones in the usual sense, their role was played by sharp bony ridges, like those of a turtle. But the bite force was 8000 pounds per square inch, which is comparable to the bite of a crocodile. The predator's skull was equipped with powerful muscles, which made it possible to draw food inside, like a vacuum cleaner, in a split second. The advantage of the dunkleosteus was that the jaws were powerful and fast. The hunter at high speed opened his deadly mouth, capturing the prey with great force. Almost none of the inhabitants of the ocean at that time had a chance to escape. Dunkleosteus - the most dangerous monster in the ocean at that time. These armored fish lived 415-360 million years ago.

This pliosaurus is one of the best known to the public and the largest in this family. For a long time there were disputes about the true size of this inhabitant of the depths. As a result, scientists proved that the Kronosaurus reached a length of 10 meters. In this case, only the skull reached 3 meters. The massive mouth contained abundant teeth, up to 11 inches long. Kronosaurus became famous as the "king of the ancient seas" and even the "t-rex of the ocean." It is no coincidence that the name of the predator was given in honor of Kronos, the king of the Greek titans. Kronosaurus lived in the southern polar seas, which could be very cold in those days. For the first time, the remains of an animal were found in Australia. The flippers of the animal are somewhat reminiscent of turtles. Perhaps the kronosaurs crawled ashore to lay their eggs. You can be sure that no one dug their nests, so as not to anger the formidable predator. Kronosaurus lived about 120-100 million years ago.

The length of these sharks reached 9-12 meters. At the same time, their uniqueness lies in the possession of a dental spiral on mandible. Such a formation could reach a diameter of 90 centimeters. A mixture of a circular saw and a shark was a real marine horror. The animal's teeth were serrated, implying its carnivorous nature. It is unclear only where the spiral was located - in front of the mouth, or deeper. The latter option involves a different diet, softer (jellyfish). The structure of the body remains unknown. But the fact that Helicoprion was a rather intelligent creature is beyond doubt. The predator was able to survive after the Triassic extinction, perhaps due to its habitat in the deep layers of the ocean.

This ancient predator was something between the current killer whale and the usual sperm whale. In 2008, the remains of a whale were found that hunted other whales. Its teeth were the largest for eating of any animal. Although the tusks of an elephant are larger, they are not intended for this. The diameter of the teeth was 12 centimeters, and their length was 36. The body of the ancient sperm whale was up to 17.5 meters long. Interestingly, the sperm whale lived about 13 million years ago, which means that it competed in the ocean for prey with megalodon. The head of a predatory whale reached 3 meters in length, there are signs that it contained echolocation organs, like modern toothed whales. Therefore, under the conditions muddy water Leviathan could navigate effectively. The animal was named after Leviathan, the biblical sea monster, and also after Herman Melville, author of the novel Moby Dick (which featured a giant sperm whale).

In diameter, this fish has reached 5 meters, besides, it is poisonous. The stingray is strong enough to pull a boat full of people. In this case we are talking about a prehistoric super fish whose descendants still lurk in the fresh and brackish waters of the Mekong River and northern Australia. Here, no one is surprised by two-meter slopes with a weight of three centners. These fish are already several million years old, the structure of their body allowed them to stay alive. giant fish could even survive glacial period. For its size and unusual appearance, the slope received the name " sea devil". In front of the body are small eyes, behind them are gills and a toothed mouth. Interestingly, there is a sensitive area on the skin around the mouth and nose that allows the stingray to pick up electrical and magnetic fields other living beings. This greatly facilitates the search for food. The freshwater predator has a terrible weapon - 2 powerful and sharp spikes on the tail at once. The largest of them acts as a harpoon, entering easily into the victim and being held inside due to notches. The force of the blow is so great that even the bottom of the boat cannot stand before it. The length of the spike reaches 38 centimeters. The second spike is smaller, it is designed to inject poison. This substance is deadly to humans. The stingray feeds on fish, mollusks and invertebrates. The female stingray is viviparous.

Flexible, fast, smart. Vertex the food chain: plants - herbivores - predators. It is not easy to obtain living food, and this defined them complex behavior, perfect design. At the very beginning of the Cenozoic, real predators descended by several trunks from primitive creodonts. Several trunks - this means that several groups of creodonts at once reached such a level of organization that they received the right to be called real or higher predators. Huge tiger, eating only meat, and no less huge bear, but omnivorous, fast dogs and a small weasel, even a domestic cat that destroyed mice in the barns of the ancient Egyptians - all these are predators. The ancestors of dogs belong to one of the oldest branches, they are related to bears and diverse group marten. Hyenas and felines related to each other stand apart.

284. A fearsome-looking cave bear ate almost exclusively vegetable food and, apparently, was destroyed by an ancient man who needed its meat and warm skin. Numerous skeletons of the cave bear (Spelaearctos spelaeus) have been found in many caves in the Urals and North Caucasus in deposits of the beginning of the Quaternary period

285. The way of life of mustelids is varied. Ferrets, ermines, martens, wolverines, badgers, otters... These are just a few modern ones, there were many more extinct ones. An excellent collection of various mustelids was collected in the clays of the Tertiary period, which make up the high cliff of the Irtysh, in a place called Goose Flight. Small, graceful skulls of martens (Martes sp.)

286. An excellent collection of various mustelids was collected in clays of the Tertiary period, which make up the high cliff of the Irtysh, in a place called Goose Flight. Here are found solid, durable, respectively, the appearance of the reconstruction, parataxidea badgers (Parataxidea crassa)

287. Parataxidea badger (Parataxidea crassa)

288. Perhaps the most interesting find is the skull of a huge marten Perunium (Perunium ursogulo), which has preserved a brain cast made by hardened sandstone