Prehistoric animals (41 photos). The most famous prehistoric predators Historical animals BC

Millions of years before the appearance of the first Homo Sapiens, many amazing creatures lived on our planet: dinosaurs, mammoths, pterodactyls, and so on. Some of them were simply huge, much larger than any animals in our time. We present you the most impressive extinct creatures.

15 PHOTOS

1. Moschops.

A representative of tapinocephals, who lived during the Middle Permian period, weighed about a ton.

Extinct marine reptiles of the squamous order. The average length of individuals of this species was 15-20 meters, and their weight was 14 tons.

A giant inhabitant of the early Cretaceous period, a representative of the genus of marine reptiles. According to the reconstruction, the length of the kronosaurus reached about 13 meters, and the weight was 10 tons.

An extinct genus of giant crocodilomorphs that lived in what is now Africa. It was 9-12 meters long, and its mass was approximately 8 tons.

The largest representative of the order of pterosaurs, its wingspan is estimated at 12-15 meters, and its weight could reach 250 kilograms.

One of the largest giants of the late Jurassic period. According to researchers, the dimensions of diplodocus could reach 54 meters in length, and weigh 113 tons.

A genus of dinosaurs that lived in the late Jurassic period in what is now North America. It had a length of 20-23 meters and a weight of about 30 tons.

A genus of herbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period. The length of the dinosaur, according to experts, was 14-15 m, and the weight was 25 tons.

The most famous of the dinosaurs, a large predator of the Cretaceous period. The length of individuals reached 9-12 meters, and weight - 9-10 tons.

Large carnivorous dinosaurs that lived in the Upper Cretaceous. The length of these predators was approximately 13 meters, and the weight was about 14 tons.

A species of dinosaur that lived in Africa during the Cretaceous Period. It had a length of 15-17 meters and a weight of more than 7 tons.

A genus of dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic period in the United States and Zimbabwe. According to the reconstruction of the skeleton, the average length of the amphicelium was 50 meters, and the weight reached 120 tons.

One of the largest dinosaurs in South America, its length was about 35 meters, and its weight was about 100 tons.

Your attention is invited to a large overview of prehistoric animals that lived on Earth millions of years ago. Big and strong, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, terrible birds and giant sloths. All of them have disappeared from our planet forever.

Lived about 15 million years ago

The remains of Platybelodon (lat. Platybelodon) were found for the first time only in 1920 in the Miocene deposits of Asia. This animal descended from Archaeobelodon (genus Archaeobelodon) from the early and middle Miocene of Africa and Eurasia and was in many ways similar to an elephant, except that it did not have a trunk, which was occupied by huge jaws. Platybelodon died out by the end of the Miocene, about 6 million years ago, and today there is no animal with such an unusual mouth shape. Platybelodon had a dense build and reached 3 meters at the withers. He probably weighed about 3.5-4.5 tons. There were two pairs of tusks in the mouth. The upper tusks were rounded in cross section, like those of modern elephants, while the lower tusks were flattened and spade-shaped. With its spade-shaped lower tusks, Platybelodon rummaged through the ground in search of roots or tore the bark from trees.

Pakicet

Lived about 48 million years ago

Pakicetus (lat. Pakicetus) is an extinct predatory mammal belonging to the archaeocetes. The most ancient of the now known predecessors of the modern whale, adapted to search for food in the water. Lived in what is now Pakistan. This primitive "whale" was still amphibious, like a modern otter. The ear had already begun to adapt to hear under water, but could not yet withstand a lot of pressure. It had powerful jaws that betrayed a predator, close-set eyes and a muscular tail. The sharp teeth were adapted to grasp slippery fish. He probably had webbing between his fingers. The cranial bones are very similar to those of whales.

Bighorn deer (Megaloceros)

Lived 300 thousand years ago

Megaloceros (lat. Megaloceros giganteus) or big-horned deer appeared about 300 thousand years ago and died out at the end of the Ice Age. Inhabited Eurasia, from the British Isles to China, preferred open landscapes with sparse woody vegetation. The bighorn deer was about the size of a modern elk. The head of the male was decorated with colossal horns, greatly expanded at the top in the form of a spade with several processes, with a span of 200 to 400 cm, and weighing up to 40 kg. There is no consensus among scholars as to what led to the emergence of such huge and apparently inconvenient jewelry for the wearer. It is likely that the luxurious horns of males, intended for tournament fights and attracting females, pretty much interfered with everyday life. Perhaps when forests replaced the tundra-steppe and forest-steppe, it was the colossal horns that caused the extinction of the species. He could not live in the forests, because with such a “decoration” on his head it was impossible to walk through the forest.

Arsinotherium

Lived 36-30 million years ago

Arsinotherium (lat. Arsinoitherium) is an ungulate that lived about 36-30 million years ago. Reached a length of 3.5 meters and was 1.75 m high at the withers. Outwardly, it resembled a modern rhinoceros, but retained all five fingers on the front and hind legs. His "special feature" were huge, massive horns, which did not consist of keratin, but of a bone-like substance, and a pair of small outgrowths of the frontal bone. Remains of Arsinotherium are known from the Lower Oligocene deposits of northern Africa (Egypt).

Astrapoteria

Lived from 60 to 10 million years

Astrapotherium (lat. Astrapotherium magnum) is a genus of large ungulates from the Late Oligocene - Middle Miocene of South America. They are the most well-studied representatives of the Astrapotheria order. They were quite large animals - their body length reached 290 cm, their height was 140 cm, and their weight, apparently, reached 700 - 800 kg.

Titanoides

Lived about 60 million years ago

Titanoides (lat. Titanoides) lived on the American continent and were the first truly large mammals. The area where the Titanoides lived is subtropical with a swampy forest, similar to modern southern Florida. They probably fed on roots, leaves, tree bark, and also did not disdain small animals and carrion. They were distinguished by the presence of frightening fangs - sabers, on a huge, almost half a meter skull. In general, they were powerful beasts, with a weight of about 200 kg. and body length up to 2 meters.

Stilinodon

Lived about 45 million years ago

Stylinodon (lat. Stylinodon) is the most famous and last species of teniodonts that lived during the Middle Eocene in North America. Teniodonts were among the fastest growing mammals after the extinction of the dinosaurs. They are probably related to the ancient primitive insectivorous animals, from which they apparently originated. The largest representatives, such as Stylinodon, reached the size of a pig or a medium-sized bear and weighed up to 110 kg. The teeth had no roots and had constant growth. Teniodonts were strong muscular animals. Their five-fingered limbs developed powerful claws adapted for digging. All this suggests that teniodonts ate solid plant food (tubers, rhizomes, etc.), which they dug out of the ground with their claws. It is believed that they were the same active diggers and led a similar burrowing lifestyle.

Pantolambda

Lived about 60 million years ago

Pantolambda (lat. Pantolambda) is a relatively large North American pantodont, the size of a sheep, who lived in the middle of the Paleocene. The oldest member of the squad. Pantodonts are related to early ungulates. Probably the diet of pantolambda was varied and not very specialized. The menu included shoots and leaves, mushrooms and fruits, which could be supplemented with insects, worms, or carrion.

Quabebihyraxes

Lived 3 million years ago

Kvabebigiraksy (lat. Kvabebihyrax kachethicus) is a genus of very large fossil hyraxes of the pliogiracid family. They lived only in Transcaucasia, (in Eastern Georgia) in the late Pliocene. They were distinguished by their large size, the length of their massive body reached 1,500 cm. Perhaps it was in the aquatic environment that the quabebigirax sought protection at the moment of danger.

Coryphodon

Lived 55 million years ago

Coryphodons (lat. Coryphodon) were widespread in the Lower Eocene, at the end of which they became extinct. The genus Coryphodon appeared in Asia in the early Eocene epoch, and then migrated to the territory of modern North America. The height of the corphodon was about a meter, and the weight was about 500 kg. Probably, these animals preferred to settle in forests or near water bodies. The basis of their diet was leaves, young shoots, flowers and all kinds of marsh vegetation. These animals, possessing a very small brain and characterized by a very imperfect structure of teeth and limbs, could not coexist for a long time with the new, more progressive ungulates that took their place.

Celodonts

Lived from 3 million to 70 thousand years ago

Celodonts (lat. Coelodonta antiquitatis) are fossil woolly rhinos that have adapted to life in arid and cool conditions in the open landscapes of Eurasia. They existed from the late Pliocene to the early Holocene. They were large, relatively short-legged animals with a high scruff and an elongated skull bearing two horns. The length of their massive body reached 3.2 - 4.3 m, the height at the withers - 1.4 - 2 meters. A characteristic feature of these animals was a well-developed woolly cover that protected them from low temperatures and cold winds. A low-set head with square lips made it possible to collect the main food - the vegetation of the steppe and tundra-steppe. From archaeological finds it follows that the woolly rhinoceros was an object of hunting for Neanderthals about 70 thousand years ago.

Embolotherium

Lived from 36 to 23 million years ago

Embolotherium (lat. Embolotherium ergilense) - representatives of the detachment of odd-toed. These are large land mammals that were larger than rhinos. The group was widely represented in the savanna landscapes of Central Asia and North America, mainly in the Oligocene. Growing from a large African elephant under 4 meters at the withers, the animal weighed about 7 tons.

Palorchesta

Lived from 15 million to 40 thousand years ago

Palorchest (lat. Palorchestes azael) is a genus of marsupials that lived in Australia in the Miocene and became extinct in the Pleistocene about 40 thousand years ago, after the arrival of man in Australia. Reached 1 meter at the withers. The muzzle of the animal ended in a small proboscis, for which the Palorchests are called marsupial tapirs, to which they are a bit similar. In fact, palorchest are quite close relatives of koalas.

Synthetoceras

Lived from 10 to 5 million years ago

Synthetoceras (lat. Synthetoceras tricornatus) lived in the Miocene in North America. The most characteristic difference between these animals is the bone "horns". It is not known whether they were covered with a cornea, as in modern cattle, but it is clear that the antlers did not change annually, as in deer. Synthetoceras belonged to the extinct North American family of calluses (Protoceratidae), and is believed to have been related to camels.

Meriterium

Lived from 35 to 23 million years ago

Meriterium (lat. Moeritherium) is the oldest known representative of the proboscis. It was the size of a tapir and apparently looked like this animal, having a rudimentary trunk. Reached 2 meters in length and 70 cm in height. Weighed about 225 kg. The second pairs of incisors in the upper and lower jaws were greatly enlarged; their further hypertrophy in later proboscideans led to the formation of tusks. Lived in the late Eocene and Oligocene in North Africa (from Egypt to Senegal). It fed on plants and algae. According to recent data, modern elephants had distant ancestors who lived mainly in the water.

Deinotherium

Lived from 20 to 2 million years ago

Deinotherium (lat. Deinotherium giganteum) - the largest land animals of the Late Miocene - Middle Pliocene. The body length of representatives of various species ranged from 3.5-7 meters, growth at the withers reached 3-5 meters, and weight could reach 8-10 tons. Outwardly, they resembled modern elephants, but differed from them in proportions.

Stegotetrabelodon

Lived from 20 to 5 million years ago

Stegotetrabelodon (lat. Stegotetrabelodon) is a representative of the Elephantidae family, which means that the elephants themselves used to have 4 well-developed tusks each. The lower jaw was longer than the upper, but the tusks were shorter. At the end of the Miocene (5 million years ago), proboscideans began to lose their lower tusks.

Andrewsarchus

Lived from 45 to 36 million years ago

Andrewsarchus (lat. Andrewsarchus), perhaps the largest extinct terrestrial predatory mammal that lived in the era of the middle - late Eocene in Central Asia. Andrewsarchus is represented as a long-bodied and short-legged beast with a huge head. The length of the skull is 83 cm, the width of the zygomatic arches is 56 cm, but the dimensions can be much larger. According to modern reconstructions, if we assume relatively large head sizes and shorter legs, then the body length could reach up to 3.5 meters (without a 1.5 meter tail), height at the shoulders - up to 1.6 meters. Weight could reach 1 ton. Andrewsarchus is a primitive ungulate, close to the ancestors of whales and artiodactyls.

Amphicyonidae

Lived from 16.9 to 9 million years ago

Amphicyonids (lat. Amphicyon major) or dog bears are widespread in Europe and western Turkey. In the proportions of the Amphicyonids, bearish and catlike features were mixed. Its remains have been found in Spain, France, Germany, Greece and Turkey. The average weight of Amphicyonid males was 210 kg, and that of females 120 kg (almost the same as modern lions). The Amphicyonid was an active predator, and its teeth were well adapted for gnawing bones.

giant sloths

Lived from 35 million to 10 thousand years ago

Giant sloths - a group of several different types of sloths, distinguished by their especially large size. They originated in the Oligocene about 35 million years ago and lived on the American continents, reaching a weight of several tons and a height of 6 m. Unlike modern sloths, they did not live on trees, but on the ground. They were clumsy, slow animals with a low, narrow skull and very little brain matter. Despite its great weight, the animal stood on its hind legs and, leaning its front limbs on a tree trunk, took out succulent leaves. Leaves were not the only food of these animals. They also ate cereals, and, perhaps, did not disdain carrion. Humans settled the American continent between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, and the last giant sloths disappeared from the mainland about 10,000 years ago. This suggests that these animals were hunted. They were probably easy prey, because, like their modern relatives, they moved very slowly.

Arctotherium

Lived from 2 million to 500 thousand years ago

Arctotherium (lat. Arctotherium angustidens) is the largest short-faced bear known at this time. Representatives of this species reached 3.5 meters in length and weighed about 1,600 kg. The height at the withers reached 180 cm. Arctotherium lived in the Pleistocene, on the Argentine plains. At one time (2 million - 500 thousand years ago), he was the largest predator on the planet.

Wintatherium

Lived from 52 to 37 million years ago

Wintatherium (lat. Uintatherium) is a mammal from the order dinocerate. The most characteristic feature is three pairs of horn-like outgrowths on the roof of the skull (parietal and maxillary bones), more developed in males. The outgrowths were covered with skin. Reached the size of a large rhinoceros. It fed on soft vegetation (leaves), lived in tropical forests along the shores of lakes, possibly semi-aquatic.

Toxodon

Lived from 3.6 million to 13 thousand years ago

Toxodon (lat. Toxodon) - the largest representatives of the Toxodont family (Toxodontidae), lived only in South America. The genus Toxodon formed at the end of the Pliocene and survived until the very end of the Pleistocene. With its massive build and large size, Toxodon resembled a hippopotamus or a rhinoceros. The height at the shoulders was about 1.5 meters, and the length was about 2.7 meters (excluding the short tail).

The marsupial saber-toothed tiger or tilacosmil (lat. Thylacosmilus atrox) is a predatory marsupial of the Sparassodonta order that lived in the Miocene (10 million years ago). Reached the size of a jaguar. On the skull, the upper fangs are clearly visible, constantly growing, with huge roots continuing into the frontal region and long protective “lobes” on the lower jaw. The upper incisors are absent.

Presumably hunted large herbivores. Thylacosmila is often called the marsupial tiger, by analogy with another formidable predator - the marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex). It died out at the end of the Pliocene, unable to withstand competition with the first saber-toothed cats that settled the continent.

Sarcastodon

Lived about 35 million years ago

Sarkastodon (lat. Sarkastodon mongoliensis) is one of the largest land mammal predators of all time. This huge oxyenid lived in Central Asia. The skull of a sarcastodon found in Mongolia is about 53 cm long, and the width at the zygomatic arches is about 38 cm. The length of the body, excluding the tail, apparently was 2.65 meters.

Sarcastodon looked like a cross between a cat and a bear, only under a ton of weight. Perhaps he led a bear-like lifestyle, but was much more carnivorous, did not disdain carrion, driving away weaker predators.

Fororakosy

Lived 23 million years ago

Terrible birds (as the fororakos are sometimes called), who lived 23 million years ago. They differed from their counterparts in a massive skull and beak. Their growth reached 3 meters, weighed up to 300 kg and were formidable predators.

Scientists created a three-dimensional model of the bird's skull and found that the bones of the head were strong and rigid in the vertical and longitudinal-transverse directions, while the skull was rather fragile in the transverse direction. This means that the phororacos would not be able to grapple with struggling prey. The only option is to beat the victim to death with vertical blows of the beak, as if with an ax. The only competitor of the terrible bird, most likely, was the marsupial saber-toothed tiger (Thylacosmilus). Scientists believe that these two predators were at the top of the food chain at one time. Thylacosmilus was the stronger animal, but the paraphornis outran him in speed and agility.

Giant minorcan hare

Lived from 7 to 5 million years ago

The hare family (Leporidae) also had its own giants. In 2005, a giant rabbit was described from the island of Menorca (Baleares, Spain), which received the name Giant Menorcan Hare (lat. Nuralagus rex). The size of a dog, he could reach a weight of 14 kg. According to scientists, such a large size of the rabbit is due to the so-called island rule. According to this principle, large species, once on the islands, decrease over time, while small ones, on the contrary, increase.

Nuralagus had relatively small eyes and auricles, which did not allow him to see and hear well - he did not have to fear an attack, because. there were no large predators on the island. In addition, scientists believe that due to the reduced paws and stiffness of the spine, the “king of rabbits” lost the ability to jump and moved on land with an exceptionally small step.

megistotherium

Lived from 20 to 15 million years ago

Megistotherium (lat. Megistotherium osteothlastes) is a giant hyenodontid that lived in the early and middle Miocene. It is considered one of the largest land predator mammals that has ever existed. Its fossil remains have been found in East and Northeast Africa and South Asia.

The length of the body with the head was about 4 m + the length of the tail, presumably 1.6 m, the height at the withers was up to 2 meters. The weight of megistotherium is estimated at 880-1400 kg.

woolly mammoth

Lived from 300 thousand to 3.7 thousand years ago

Woolly mammoth (lat. Mammuthus primigenius) appeared 300 thousand years ago in Siberia, from where it spread to North America and Europe. The mammoth was covered with coarse wool, up to 90 cm long. A layer of fat almost 10 cm thick served as additional thermal insulation. Summer wool was significantly shorter and less dense. They were most likely painted in dark brown or black. With small ears and a short trunk compared to modern elephants, the woolly mammoth was well adapted to cold climates. Woolly mammoths were not as huge as is often assumed. Adult males reached a height of 2.8 to 4 m, which is not much more than modern elephants. However, they were much more massive than elephants, reaching a weight of up to 8 tons. A notable difference from the living Proboscis species was the strongly curved tusks, a distinctive outgrowth on the top of the skull, a high hump, and a steeply sloping hindquarters. The tusks found to this day reached a maximum length of 4.2 m and a weight of 84 kg.

Columbian mammoth

Lived from 100 thousand to 10 thousand years ago

In addition to woolly northern mammoths, there were also southern ones without wool. In particular, the Colombian mammoth (lat. Mammuthus columbi), which was one of the largest representatives of the elephant family that ever existed. The height at the withers in adult males reached 4.5 m, and their weight was about 10 tons. It was closely related to the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and was in contact with it at the northern border of its range. Lived in the wide expanses of North America. The northernmost finds are located in southern Canada, the southernmost in Mexico. It fed mainly on grasses and lived like today's elephant species in matriarchal groups of two to twenty animals led by a mature female. Adult males approached the herds only during the mating season. Mothers protected mammoths from large predators, which was not always successful, as evidenced by the finds of hundreds of mammoth cubs in caves. The extinction of the Columbian mammoth occurred at the end of the Pleistocene about 10 thousand years ago.

Cubanochoerus

Lived about 10 million years ago

Kubanochoerus (lat. Kubanochoerus robustus) is a large representative of the family of pigs of the artiodactyl order. Skull length 680 mm. The facial part is strongly elongated and twice as long as the medulla. A distinctive feature of this animal is the presence of horn-shaped outgrowths on the skull. One of them, a large one, was located in front of the eye sockets on the forehead, behind it were a pair of small protrusions on the sides of the skull. It is possible that fossil pigs used this weapon during ritual fights between males, as African wild boars do today. The upper fangs are large, rounded, curved upwards, the lower ones are trihedral. In terms of size, the Cubanochoerus exceeded the modern wild boar and weighed more than 500 kg. One genus and one species are known from the Middle Miocene Belomechetskaya locality in the North Caucasus.

Gigantopithecus

Lived from 9 to 1 million years ago

Gigantopithecus (lat. Gigantopithecus) is an extinct genus of great apes that lived on the territory of modern India, China and Vietnam. According to experts, Gigantopithecus had a height of up to 3 meters and weighed from 300 to 550 kg, that is, they were the largest monkeys of all time. At the end of the Pleistocene, Gigantopithecus may have coexisted with humans of the species Homo erectus, who began to enter Asia from Africa. Fossil evidence suggests that the Gigantopithecus was the largest primate of all time. They were probably herbivores and moved on all fours, feeding mainly on bamboo, sometimes adding seasonal fruits to their food. However, there are theories that prove the omnivorous nature of these animals. Two species of this genus are known: Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis, which lived between 9 and 6 million years ago in China, and Gigantopithecus blacki, which lived in northern India at least 1 million years ago. Sometimes a third species is distinguished, Gigantopithecus giganteus.

Although it is not entirely known what exactly caused their extinction, most researchers believe that climate change and competition for food sources from other, more adaptable species - pandas and humans - were among the main reasons. The closest relative of the living species is the orangutan, although some experts consider the Gigantopithecus to be closer to the gorillas.

marsupial hippopotamus

Lived from 1.6 million to 40 thousand years ago

Diprotodon (lat. Diprotodon) or "marsupial hippopotamus" is the largest known marsupial that has ever lived on Earth. Diprotodon belongs to the Australian megafauna - a group of unusual species that lived in Australia. Diprotodon bones, including complete skulls and skeletons, as well as hair and footprints, have been found in many places in Australia. Sometimes the skeletons of females are found along with the skeletons of the cubs that were once in the bag. The largest specimens were approximately the size of a hippopotamus: about 3 meters in length and about 3 meters at the withers. The closest living relatives of diprotodons are wombats and koalas. Therefore, diprotodons are sometimes called giant wombats. It cannot be ruled out that the appearance of man on the mainland was one of the reasons for the disappearance of marsupial hippos.

Deodon

Lived about 20 million years ago

Deodon (lat. Daeodon) is an Asian entelodont who migrated to North America around the end of the Oligocene era. "Giant pigs" or "hogwolves" were four-legged, land-dwelling omnivores with massive jaws and teeth that enabled them to crush and eat large animals, including bones. With a growth of more than 2 meters at the withers, it took food from smaller predators.

Chalicotherium

Lived from 40 to 3.5 million years ago

Chalicotherium. Chalicotheriaceae are a family of equids. They lived from the Eocene to the Pliocene (40-3.5 million years ago). Reached the size of a large horse, which they probably were somewhat similar in appearance. They had a long neck and long front legs, four-toed or three-toed. The fingers ended in large split talons, which were not hooves, but thick claws.

barylambda

Lived 60 million years ago

Barylambda (Barylambda faberi) is a primitive pantodont. It lived in America and was one of the largest mammals of the Paleocene. With a length of 2.5 meters and a weight of 650 kg., Barilambda moved slowly on short powerful legs ending in five fingers with hoof-shaped claws. She ate shrubs and leaves. There is an assumption that barylambda occupied an ecological niche similar to ground sloths, while the tail served as a third fulcrum.

Smilodon (saber-toothed tiger)

Lived from 2.5 million to 10 thousand years BC. e.Smilodon (meaning "dagger tooth") reached a height at the withers of 125 cm, a length of 250 cm, including a 30-cm tail and weighed from 225 to 400 kg. With the size of a lion, its weight exceeded the weight of the Amur tiger due to its stocky build, which is atypical for modern felines. The famous fangs reached 29 centimeters in length (together with the root), and, despite their fragility, they were powerful weapons.

A mammal of the genus Smilodon, which is incorrectly called a saber-toothed tiger. The largest saber-toothed cat of all time and the third largest member of the family, second in size only to the cave and American lions.

american lion

Lived from 300 thousand to 10 thousand years ago

The American lion (lat. Panthera leo spelaea) is an extinct subspecies of the lion that lived on the American continent in the Upper Pleistocene. Reached a body length of about 3.7 meters with a tail and weighed 400 kg. This is the largest cat in history, only Smilodon had the same weight, although it was smaller in linear dimensions.

Argentavis

Lived from 8 to 5 million years ago

Argentavis (Argentavis magnificens) is the largest flying bird in the history of the Earth, which lived in Argentina. It belonged to the now completely extinct family of teratorns, birds that are quite closely related to the American vultures. Argentavis weighed about 60-80 kg, and its wingspan reached 8 meters. (For comparison, the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan among existing birds - 3.25 m.) Apparently, the basis of its diet was carrion. He could not play the role of a giant eagle. The fact is that when diving from a height at high speed, a bird of this size has a high probability of crashing. In addition, the paws of the Argentavis are poorly adapted to grasping prey, and are similar to those of the American vultures, not the Falconiformes, whose paws are well adapted for this purpose. In addition, Argentavis probably sometimes attacked small animals, as modern vultures do.

Thalassocnus

Lived from 10 to 5 million years ago

Thalassocnus (lat. Thalassocnus) is an extinct genus of sloths that led an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle in South America. Apparently, these animals fed on seaweed and coastal grasses, using their powerful claws to hold on to the bottom of the sea while feeding - in the same way that marine iguanas now behave.

The law of nature “Survival of the fittest” and human activity have led to the extinction of very amazing species of animals, which, unfortunately, we will never be able to see with our own eyes again.

1. Megaladapis (koala lemurs)

Koala lemurs (lat. Megaladapis Edwarsi) as a species were identified only in 1894. They lived on the island of Madagascar from the end of the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Some scientists considered megaladapis to be the closest relatives of modern lemurs. However, according to the results of the studies carried out, there is absolutely no connection between small lepilemurs and extinct koala lemurs, which had a skull the size of a gorilla.

The growth of adult megaladapis reached 1.5 meters, and their weight was approximately 75 kilograms. Their front legs were longer than their hind legs. They jumped badly because of too much weight and probably spent most of their lives on the ground.

The first people on the island of Madagascar appeared about two thousand years ago. During this period, seventeen species of lemurs became extinct, the most notable of which - due to their huge size - were megaladapis. Radiocarbon dating shows that koala lemurs became extinct almost 500 years ago.

2. Wonambi

Wonambi (lat. Wonambi Naracoortensis) lived in Australia during the Pliocene era. "Wonambi" from the language of the local aborigines is translated as "rainbow snake". Unlike more developed snakes, the jaws of the wanambi were inactive. Some scientists believe that wonambi, from an evolutionary point of view, were a cross between lizards and modern snakes.

Wonambi body length reached more than 4.5 meters. They had recurved teeth but no fangs. Most scientists agree that the Wonambi became extinct 40,000 years ago.

3. great auk

Great auks (lat. Pinguinus Impennis) are bizarre black and white birds that could not fly. The growth of flightless auks, which were nicknamed the "original penguins", reached about one meter. They had tiny wings about 15 centimeters long. Great auks lived in the northern waters of the Atlantic Ocean near countries such as Scotland, Norway, Canada, the United States and France. They only come to land to breed.

Great auks began to be highly valued in the early 18th century. Their expensive feathers, leather, meat, butter and thirteen-centimeter eggs attracted hunters and collectors. Ultimately, wingless auks were threatened with extinction, but this only increased the demand for them.

On July 3, 1844, Sigurdur Isleifsson, together with two comrades, went to the Icelandic island of Eldey, where at that time the last colony of wingless auks lived. They found a male and a female there incubating the egg. The men hired by a wealthy merchant killed the birds and crushed the egg. It was the only pair of great auks in the world.

The last representative of the wingless auk species was seen in 1852 in the waters of the Great Newfoundland Bank (Canada).

4. Deer Schomburgka

Once upon a time, hundreds of thousands of Schomburgk deer (lat. Rucervus Schomburgki) lived in Thailand. The animals were described and identified as a species in 1863. They were named after the then British Consul in Bangkok, Sir Robert Schomburgk. According to scientists, they became extinct in the 1930s. Some believe that Schomburgk deer still exist, but scientific observations, unfortunately, have not confirmed this assumption.

The Thai people believed that the antlers of the Schomburgk deer had magical and healing powers, so these animals were often hunted and sold to people practicing traditional medicine. During floods, the reindeer of Schomburgk congregated on the higher ground; for this reason, it was not difficult to kill them: in fact, there was nowhere for them to run.

The last wild Schomburgk reindeer was killed in 1932, domesticated in 1938.

The last time representatives of the Jamaican giant (or sinking) gallivasp (lat. Celestus Occiduus) were seen in 1840. The body length of the Jamaican giant gallivasps reached 60 centimeters. With their appearance, they inspired fear and horror in the locals. Their extinction appears to be related to the introduction of predators in Jamaica, such as the mongoose, for example, and to human factors.

Jamaicans believe that gallivaspas are poisonous animals. According to legend, whoever gets to the water first - the gallivasp or the person he bit - will live. However, the islanders do not need to worry about the giant gallivaspas now, as they have been extinct for over a century. Very little is known about this species. Jamaican giant gallivaspas, judging by the available information, lived in swamps, fed on fish and fruits.

6. Argentavis

The Argentavis skeleton (lat. Argentavis Magnificens, literally - "the majestic Argentine bird") was discovered in the rocks of the Miocene in Argentina; this suggests that representatives of this species lived in South America six million years ago. It is believed that these are the largest flying birds that have ever existed on Earth. The growth of Argentavis reached 1.8 meters, and the weight reached 70 kilograms; its wingspan was 6-8 meters.

Argentavis belonged to the hawk-like order. This also includes hawks and vultures. Judging by the size of the Argentavis skull, they swallowed their prey whole. Their life expectancy, according to various estimates, ranged from 50 to 100 years.

7 Barbary Lion

Barbary lions (lat. Panthera Leo Leo) lived in North Africa. They roamed not in packs, but in pairs or small family groups. The Barbarian lion was quite easily recognizable by the characteristic shape of its head and mane.

The last wild Barbary lion was killed in Morocco in 1927. The Moroccan sultan had several domesticated Barbary lions in captivity. They have been transferred to local and European zoos for further breeding.

Barbary lions are known to have participated in gladiator fights during Roman times.

8. Laughing owl

Laughing owls (lat. Sceloglaux Albifacies) lived in New Zealand. They became endangered in the middle of the 19th century. The last laughing owl was seen on the island in 1914. According to unconfirmed reports, this species existed until the early 1930s. The cry of a laughing owl was like a terrible laughter or the laughter of a distraught person. It was comparable in volume to the barking of a dog.

Laughing owls nested on rocks within the forest boundary or in open country. There were people who tried to domesticate these birds, and in principle they did quite well. Laughing owls, even living in captivity, laid eggs without stimulation. Habitat destruction has forced laughing owls to change their diet. From birds of fairly decent size (for example, ducks) and lizards, they switched to mammals. Apparently, this, along with factors such as grazing and slash-and-burn agriculture, led to their extinction.

9. Blue Antelope

The name of this antelope was given by the bluish reflection of its black and yellow coat. Blue antelopes (lat. Hippotragus Leucophaeus) once lived in South Africa. They ate grass, as well as the bark of trees and shrubs. Blue antelopes were social and most likely nomadic animals. Before the appearance of people, they were hunted by African lions, hyenas and leopards.

The population of blue antelopes began to noticeably decline about 2000 years ago. In the XVIII century, they were already considered an endangered species. Predators, climate change, hunters, diseases and even proximity to animals such as sheep are the main factors that led to the extinction of blue antelopes. The last representative of the species was killed by hunters in 1799.

10 Woolly Rhino

The remains of a woolly rhinoceros (lat. Coelodonta Antiquitatis), who lived 3.6 million years ago, were found in Asia, Europe and North Africa. The huge horn of one woolly rhinoceros was initially mistaken by scientists for the claw of a prehistoric bird.

Woolly rhinos lived in the same territory as woolly mammoths. In France, archaeologists have discovered caves on the walls of which were depicted drawings of woolly rhinos, made 30 thousand years ago. Primitive people hunted woolly mammoths, so these animals became the subject of cave art. In 2014, a spear was found in Siberia, made from the horn of an adult woolly rhinoceros more than 13,000 years ago. The woolly rhinoceros is believed to have died out at the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago.

11. Quagga - half zebra - half horse, completely extinct in 1883

The quagga is one of the most famous extinct animals of South Africa, which was one of the subspecies of zebras. Quaggas were very trusting and easy to train, which means they were instantly tamed by humans and got their name from the word "Koi-Koi", with which the owner called his animal.

In addition to being extremely friendly, quaggs were also very tasty, and their skin was worth its weight in gold. It was these reasons that caused the complete extermination of these animals. By 1880, there was only one Quagga in the world, which died in captivity on August 12, 1883 at the Artis Magistra Zoo in Amsterdam. Due to a lot of confusion between different species of zebra, the Quagga became extinct before it was clear that it was a separate species. By the way, Quagga became the first extinct animal whose DNA was studied.

12. Steller's cow, completely died out in 1768

This species of sea cows lived near the Asian coast of the Bering Sea. These unusual animals were discovered by the traveler and naturalist Georg Steller in 1741. The gigantic creatures immediately struck Steller with their size: adults reached 10 meters in length and weighed up to 4 tons. The animals looked like huge seals and had massive forelimbs and a tail. According to Steller, the animal never left the water on the shore.

These animals had dark, almost black skin, which looked like the bark of a cracked oak trunk, the neck was completely absent, and the head, planted directly on the torso, was very small in comparison with the rest of the body. Steller's cow mainly fed on plankton and small fish, which she swallowed whole, due to the fact that she had no teeth.

People valued this animal because of its fat. Because of him, the entire population of this unusual animal was exterminated.

13. Irish Deer - a giant deer, extinct 7,700 years ago

The Irish Deer is the largest artiodactyl that has ever existed on planet Earth. These animals lived in huge numbers in Eurasia. The last found remains of a giant deer date back to 5700 BC.

These deer reached 2.1 meters in length and had huge antlers, which in adult males reached 3.65 meters in width. These animals lived in the forest, where, due to the size of their horns, they were easy prey for both any small predator and humans.

14. Dodo, completely extinct in the 17th century

The Dodo (or Dodo) was a type of flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius. The dodo belonged to the pigeon-like, but differed in its huge size: adults reached up to 1.2 meters in height and weighed up to 50 kg. Dodos ate mostly fruits that fell from trees and built nests on the ground, and given that their meat was tender and juicy from a fruit diet, they became a real delicacy for anyone who could get to them. But, fortunately for the Dodos, there were no predators on the island of Mauritius. This idyll continued until the 17th century, when Europeans landed on the island. Dodo hunting has become the main source of replenishment of ship supplies. With people, dogs, cats and rats were brought to the island, which gladly ate the eggs of helpless birds.

Dodos were helpless in the truest sense of the word: they did not know how to fly, they ran slowly, and hunting for them was reduced to chasing a fleeing bird with a leisurely gait and hitting it on the head with a stick. In addition to everything, the Dodo was trusting like a child and as soon as people beckoned him with fruit, the bird itself approached the most dangerous predator on planet Earth.

15. Thylacine - Marsupial Wolf, completely extinct in 1936

The thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger (because of its striped back) and also as the Wolf of Tasmania. The marsupial wolf was extirpated from the Australian mainland thousands of years before the Europeans settled the continent, but survived in Tasmania, along with other marsupials (such as like the famous Tasmanian Devil).

Thylacines had disgusting meat, but excellent skin. Clothing made from the skin of this animal could warm a person in the most severe frost, so the hunt for this wolf did not stop until 1936, when it turned out that all individuals had already been exterminated.

16.Passenger pigeon

One example of human-caused disappearance is passenger pigeon. Once millions of flocks of these birds flew in the skies of North America. Seeing the food, the pigeons rushed down like a huge locust, and when they were satisfied, they flew away, completely destroying fruits, berries, nuts, and insects. Such gluttony irritated the colonists. In addition, the pigeons tasted very good. In one of the novels by Fenimore Cooper, it is described how, when a flock of pigeons approached, the entire population of cities and towns poured into the streets, armed with slingshots, guns, and sometimes even cannons. They killed as many pigeons as they could. Pigeons were laid in glacier cellars, cooked immediately, fed to dogs, or simply thrown away. Even pigeon shooting competitions were organized, and towards the end of the 19th century, machine guns were also used.

The last passenger pigeon, named Martha, died at the zoo in 1914.

16.Tour

It was a powerful animal with a muscular, slender body, about 170-180 cm high at the withers and weighing up to 800 kg. The high set head was crowned with long sharp horns. The coloration of adult males was black, with a narrow white “belt” along the back, while females and young animals were reddish-brown. Although the last tours lived out their days in the forests, earlier these bulls kept mainly in the forest-steppe, and often entered the steppe. In the forests, they probably migrated only in winter. They fed on grass, shoots and leaves of trees and shrubs. Their rut was in the fall, and the calves appeared in the spring. They lived in small groups or alone, and for the winter they united in larger herds. The aurochs had few natural enemies: these strong and aggressive animals easily coped with any predator.

In historical times, the tour was found almost throughout Europe, as well as in North Africa, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. In Africa, this beast was exterminated in the third millennium BC. e., in Mesopotamia - by about 600 BC. e. In Central Europe, tours survived much longer. Their disappearance here coincided with intensive deforestation in the 9th-11th centuries. In the XII century, tours were still found in the Dnieper basin. At that time they were actively exterminated. Records about the difficult and dangerous hunting of wild bulls were left by Vladimir Monomakh.

By 1400, aurochs lived only in relatively sparsely populated and hard-to-reach forests on the territory of modern Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. Here they were taken under the protection of the law and lived like park animals in the royal lands. In 1599, a small herd of aurochs, 24 individuals, still lived in the royal forest 50 km from Warsaw. By 1602, only 4 animals remained in this herd, and in 1627 the last tour on Earth died.

17. Moa

Moa is a flightless bird that looks like an ostrich. Lived in the islands of New Zealand. It reached a height of 3.6 m. After the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers on the islands, the number of Moa began to decline rapidly. Too large, slow birds could not hide from hunters, and by about the 18th century Moa completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

18.Epiornis

Epiornis were birds very similar to Moa, with only one difference - they lived in Madagascar. Over 3 meters tall and weighing over 500 kilograms, they were real giants. Epiornis lived in Madagascar quite safely until the moment when people did not begin to inhabit it. Before people, they had only one natural enemy - the crocodile. By about the 16th century, the Epiornis, they are also Elephant birds, were completely exterminated.

19. Tarpan

Tarpan was the ancestor of the modern horse. It is hard to believe it, but back in the 18-19 centuries it was widely distributed in the steppes of the European part of Russia, a number of European countries and in the territory of Western Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, tarpan meat was very tasty and people exterminated them for this very reason. The main culprits for the disappearance of tarpans are Catholic monks, who, being horse-eaters, exterminated them in large numbers. Eyewitnesses of these events wrote that the monks mounted fast horses and simply drove the herds of horses. As a result, it was possible to catch only colts that could not endure a long race.

20.Japanese Hondos wolf

The Japanese wolf was distributed on the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu of the Japanese archipelago. He was the smallest among all wolves. An epidemic of rabies and extermination by people brought the wolf to extinction. The last Hondo wolf died in 1905.

21. Falkland fox (Falkland wolf)

The Falkland fox was tawny in color with black ears, a black tail tip, and a white belly. The fox barked like a dog and was the only predator in the Falkland Islands. Nothing foreshadowed her disappearance, since she had plenty of food. Even then, in 1833, Charles Darwin, describing this wonderful animal, predicted its disappearance, as it was uncontrollably shot by hunters because of its thick and valuable fur. In addition, the fox was poisoned, allegedly it posed a great threat to sheep and other domestic animals.

The Falkland wolf had no natural enemies and he naively trusted people, not even imagining that they were the worst enemy. As a result, in 1876 the last fox was killed.

22. Baiji- Chinese river dolphin.

The Chinese river dolphin, which lived in the Yangtze rivers of Asia, was not hunted by people, but was indirectly involved in its extinction. The waters of the river were overflowing with merchant and cargo ships, which simply polluted the river. In 2006, a special expedition confirmed the fact that Baiji no longer exists on earth as a species.

Reminds me of a penguin. Sailors hunted them, as their meat was tasty, and the production of this bird was not difficult. As a result, in 1912, the latest information about Steller's Cormorant was received.

Millions of years ago the world was different. It was inhabited by prehistoric animals, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Dinosaurs, marine predators of monstrous size, giant birds, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers - they have long disappeared, but interest in them does not fade away.

The first inhabitants of the planet

When did the first living beings appear on Earth? More than three and a half billion years ago, unicellular organisms arose.

As much as two billion years passed before multicellular living organisms appeared. Approximately 635 million years ago, the Earth was inhabited and at the beginning of the Cambrian period - vertebrates.

The oldest remains of living organisms found to date belong to the late Neoproterozoic.

In the Cambrian period, life existed only in the seas. Trilobites were prominent representatives of prehistoric animals of that time.

Due to frequent underwater landslides, many living organisms were buried in the silt 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 life.

The prehistoric animals are actively developing on land and in the sea. The first inhabitants of wet places on the Earth's surface are arthropods and centipedes. In the middle of the 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.

Meganeura - belonged to the genus of dragonfly-like insects. Its wingspan was up to 75 centimeters. She was a predator.

They are perfectly preserved in their original transparent sarcophagi to this day. Thanks to amber, into which petrified resin has turned, today anyone can admire the ancient inhabitants of our planet.

Prehistoric sea animals - dangerous giants

The first marine reptiles appeared during the Triassic period. 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 limbs - the marine inhabitants had fins or webbed feet.

Nothosaurs were the first to appear, reaching a size of 3 to 6 meters, and placoduses, which had three types of teeth. Plakodus were small in size (about 2 meters) and lived close to the coast. Their main food was shellfish. Nothosaurs ate fish.

The Jurassic period is the era of the giants. Plesiosaurs lived during this time. Their largest species reached a length of 15 meters. These include Elasmosaurus, which had a surprisingly long neck (8 meters). The head, in comparison with the massive body, was small. Elasmosaurus had a wide mouth armed with sharp teeth.

Ichthyosaurs - large reptiles, reaching an average of 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 lived Basilosaurus - an ancient whale of enormous size. The length of a male individual could reach 21 meters. He was the largest predator of his time and could attack other whales. Basilosaurus had a very long skeleton and moved with the help of curvature of the spine, like a snake. He 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 for the animal's enameled teeth. It is assumed that the distance between the open jaws of megalodon reached two meters. It could easily accommodate two people.

No less dangerous predators were prehistoric crocodiles.

Purussaurus is an extinct relative of modern caimans that lived about eight million years ago. Length - up to 15 meters.

Deinosuchus is an alligator crocodile that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period. Outwardly, it was not much different from modern representatives of the species. The length of the body reached 15 meters.

Worst: Ancient Lizards

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric sizes continue to amaze It's hard to imagine that such giants once reigned on the planet.

The Mesozoic era is the time of the 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 striking. Among them were land and aquatic individuals, 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 for its size. The length of his body was from 14 to 18 meters, height - eight meters. With outstretched jaws, it looked like modern crocodiles. Therefore, it is assumed that he led an amphibious lifestyle. Spinosaurus was characterized by the presence of a spine that resembled a sail. It made him look taller. Paleontologists believe that the sail was used by the animal for thermoregulation.

ancient birds

Prehistoric animals (photo can be seen in the article) were also represented by flying lizards and birds.

In the Mesozoic, pterosaurs appeared. Presumably, the largest of them was ornithocheirus, which had wings, the span of which was 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 pangolin from the Cretaceous period.

Among prehistoric birds, gastornis struck with its size. Two meters tall, individuals had a beak that easily broke bones. It is not clear whether this extinct bird was a predator or a plant eater.

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. Which extinct prehistoric animals of that time were the most interesting?

Megatherium is the largest mammal of that era. It is assumed that he was a herbivore, but it is possible that Megatherium could kill other animals or eat carrion.

Woolly rhinoceros - was covered with thick reddish-brown hair.

The mammoth is the most famous extinct genus of elephants. 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 due to permafrost. By historical standards, these majestic giants died out quite recently - about 10 thousand years ago.

Of the predatory prehistoric animals, the most interesting is the smilodon, or saber-toothed tiger. It did not exceed the size of the Amur tiger, but it had incredibly long fangs, reaching 28 centimeters. Another feature of Smilodon was a 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.

Documentaries about prehistoric animals

Among them are such as "Sea Dinosaurs: Journey to the Prehistoric World", "Mammoth Land", "The Last Days of 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 TV series Walking with Dinosaurs. He talks about how a perfectly preserved skeleton of an allosaurus was found in the USA, which received the name Big Al from scientists. The bones showed how many fractures and injuries the dinosaur suffered, and this made it possible to recreate the history of his life.

Conclusion

Prehistoric animals (dinosaurs, mammoths, cave bears, sea giants) that lived in the distant past still amaze the human imagination. They are clear evidence of how amazing the past of the Earth was.

The modern world with its inhabitants is so familiar to a person that the events of a century ago are perceived as a 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 along them, but huge prehistoric predators, one of which was a gigantic short-faced bear. 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. With powerful jaws, this monster was able to bite through 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, whose powerful weapons were giant 20-centimeter fangs, menacingly sticking out even with their mouths closed, did not survive to this day. They were similar to dagger-shaped blades and resembled sabers (hence the name of the predator). In combination with enormous strength 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 in appearance, so scientists hesitated for a long time 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 the 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 with high speed of movement in the water and excellent maneuverability. On land, Deinosuchus became clumsy and moved jerkily on the earth's surface 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 the destruction of the natural habitat and the disappearance of the moa birds, which became the prey of the settlers of New Zealand.

Terrestrial prehistoric bird fororakos

Of the flightless winged prehistoric period, scientists are interested in the so-called terrorist bird (fororakos), which was the largest predator in 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 while 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, huge prehistoric predators also existed in the water element. 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.