From massive snakes to 100-ton sharks, here are 10 terrifying animals you’ll be glad
are extinct!
10.
Titanoboa
Titanoboa means “titanic boa” and that is not an exaggeration.
This ancient serpent could reach lengths of 40 feet (12 m) and weigh over a ton.
It lived in South America, 58 million years ago in the Paleocene era, making it slightly
younger than the dinosaurs.
The swamp where it lived received twice as much rainfall as today’s Amazon.
Not only were the trees larger but so were the animals.
It makes sense that there would be a predator to eat turtles that were twice the size of
manhole covers and crocodiles over a dozen feet long.
The titanoboa looked like a modern-day boa constrictor, but acted more like a water-dwelling
anaconda.
The thickest part of its body would have been as tall as a man’s waist.
It was also the largest snake ever to exist.
To give you a little more perspective on how massive this creature was, it could swallow
a crocodile whole.
It was at the top of the food chain and probably attacked its prey in dramatic fashion, using
its powerful jaws to crush the windpipe.
For the titanoboa, we would probably have been a delicious snack on its way to a better
meal.
9.
Cameroceras
Cameroceras means “chambered horn”, which does not sound so bad, even though it’s
not really clear what it is.
The horn was a large shell inhabited by the largest cephalopod ever.
Cephalopods include octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.
These are all predators, but Cameroceras was the top ocean predator during its time.
It lived in the middle Silurian period, about 24.6 million years ago.
Its shell, the chambered horn, was around 6 meters (19 feet) long.
Tentacles grew from the base of the head, much like a cuttlefish, and it would have
used those to seize its prey.
Its hard, keratinous beak would have bitten into the bodies of its prey, capable of crunching
straight through hard shells and armored exoskeletons.
‬Within the beaks of modern cephalopods, a ‘‬toothed’ ‬tongue is used to rasp
out soft tissue from within the prey’s shell.
Though it is not known for certain if Cameroceras had this feature, scientists assume it did
because the tentacles, size, and beak weren’t scary enough.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Its fossils have been found in mainland China, Europe, and North America.
So, during its heyday, there wasn’t a safe place to hide from this monster.
8.
Kaprosuchus
Ever wondered what a wingless dragon would look like?
Look no further than Kaprosuchus.
Discovered in 2009, this Cretaceous period reptile could have been 3-6 meters long (9-19ft).
Its name means “boar crocodile” and comes from three sets of teeth that resemble boar’s
tusks.
All we have so far is the skull, so things like size and overall look can only be speculated.
However, that speculation is pretty terrifying.
It has a bulky nose, which suggests a horn or growth of some kind that could have been
used as a battering ram.
Its jaws have notches in the bone to allow this creature to close its mouth.
Otherwise, its huge teeth would have forced it to keep its mouth open all the time.
I’m not sure which image is more frightening.
The only fossil of this creature has been found in Africa.
Despite the lack of knowledge about this creature, the idea of it thoroughly captured the public’s
imagination and you can encounter Kaprosuchus in the video game, ARK: Survival Evolved.
7.
Arthropleura
Arthropleura, whose name means “jointed ribs”, is not the kind of animal a bug hater
would want to encounter.
Living 323 to 299 million years ago in the Carboniferous era, it was a millipede.
A seven-foot long (2.3m) millipede.
This makes it the largest arthropod ever!
At the time it lived, there was more oxygen in the atmosphere and larger amounts of precipitation
in rain forests, helping animals to get larger and larger.
Because of its size, it left deep trackways that have since fossilized which we can see
today.
Scientists have discovered it lived in eastern North America and modern day Scotland.
Luckily, it was an herbivore most of the time, but probably also ate insects and other invertebrates.
So, unless you’re made of leafy green vegetables, Arthropleura posed no threat to you.
Unless it ran you over.
And even if you survived that, the fact that so many legs crawled over you would be enough
to fuel a thousand nightmares.
6.
Pulmonoscorpius
When we think of scorpions, we think of an insect with an exoskeleton that can be fierce,
but is rather small.
Well, that wasn’t always the case.
Enter the Pulmonoscorpius, or the “breathing scorpion”.
Like the Arthropleura, it lived in the giant rainforests of the Carboniferous era, where
everything was bigger and scarier.
This scorpion transitioned from an aquatic to a land creature, taking up the burrowing
lifestyle of its present-day descendants.
Unlike its descendants, the Pulmonoscorpius could reach lengths of 70 cm (3 feet)!
No one is sure what this creature ate exactly but it isn’t much of a stretch to think
it dined on other insects and tetrapods.
Scientists feel safe in guessing this scorpion’s poison was very potent, given its size.
Fossils of the Pulmonoscorpius have only been found in Scotland.
What the heck?
Who knew Scotland had so many scary bugs!
5.
Argentavis Magnificens
Six million years ago, in present day Argentina, Argentavis Magnificens prowled the skies.
It is the largest flying bird ever discovered.
While its name points to Argentina, it is possible it had a much larger range.
This ancient bird’s wings spanned 23-30 ft (7-9 m).
This is twice as big as an albatross or the California condor.
Because of its size, scientists don’t think it flew in the traditional, flapping sense.
It also couldn’t launch itself into the air through a running take-off.
Scientists believe it used the same method albatrosses and hang gliders use today: sloping
ground and headwind.
Once airborne, these birds glided rather than flapped its wings.
What did something this large eat?
Because it has been extinct for millennia, it is hard to say but scientists believe it
ate carrion as well as small animals.
Small when compared to an Argentavis Magnificens, which would probably include us humans.
It has been hypothesized that when Argentavis actively hunted, this monster bird scooped
up its prey and ate it without stopping.
4.
Deinosuchus
Deinosuchus is an extinct genus related to the alligator that lived 80 to 73 million
years ago during the late Cretaceous period.
The name translates as “terrible crocodile” and it certainly lived up to it.
The first remains were discovered in North Carolina in the United States in the 1850s
but the dinosaur was not named and described until 1909.
Deinosuchus was far larger than any modern crocodile or alligator, with the largest adults
measuring 35 feet (10.6 meters) in total length.
However, it looked fairly similar to its smaller descendant, the present day alligator.
Deinosuchus was an apex predator and among the largest of its time.
It was probably capable of killing and eating large dinosaurs.
Héctor Rivera-Sylva and colleagues described hadrosaur bones bearing Deinosuchus toothmarks
from Mexico, and similar finds have been reported from Texas.
It may have also fed upon sea turtles, fish, and other aquatic and terrestrial prey.
3.
Megalania Prisca
Megalania Prisca was a giant monitor lizard living in Australia between 4 million and
30,000 years ago.
This could mean that the first human inhabitants of Australia encountered this gigantic lizard.
No complete skeleton of Megalania has been found, only fragments.
The first fragments were discovered in the 19th century by anatomist Richard Owen.
He estimated that this giant lizard grew to be 20 feet (6 meters) long!
It was nicknamed the “ripper” because scientists believe it tore into its prey and
ripped it apart.
However, some controversy exists regarding this lizard.
Scientists today say that the bones resemble another giant lizard species.
In fact, many now refer to Megalania as Varanas priscus and estimate its length to be about
eleven feet.
That’s still nothing to scoff at, especially since Megalania was most likely poisonous.
What’s more, many people think Megalania might still live in some unexplored part of
Australia’s bush because there are eyewitnesses who claim to have seen it.
As if Australia wasn’t scary enough.
2.
Entelodon
Interestingly, this creature’s name means “perfect teeth”.
It existed 37 to 27 million years ago in the late Eocene to early Oligocene eras.
While some people have taken to calling these creatures “killer pigs”, they are more
like hippos than swine.
So, how big was it?
About the size of a modern day cow, about 9 feet (3m) long and taller than a man.
Entelodons are widely regarded as omnivores that ate plants and scavenged dead animals,
though it sometimes supplemented its diet with live prey.
Its bite strength was phenomenal.
Scientists discovered a pile of Oligocene camels that had been bitten in half.
Skulls have been unearthed bearing evidence of head-butting matches with members of its
own species.
Somewhat confusingly, this animal has lent its name to a whole family of similar megafauna:
the Entelodonts.
The Entelodon belongs to this family.
The reason why it gave its name to this megafauna is because the Entelodon was the first of
its kind to be discovered.
1.
Megalodon
This enormous, extinct shark species has become one of the most renowned prehistoric predators,
perhaps second only to the T. rex.
The biggest species of shark to have ever existed, the megalodon is generally thought
to have looked similar to today’s great white.
However, while a great white shark can grow to be 20 feet long (6m) and weigh over 7,000
pounds, the megalodon was estimated to be 60 feet in length, weighing anywhere from
50 to 100 metric tons.
Its teeth were so massive that when people began finding fossilized Megalodon teeth,
they thought they were dragon tongues.
Megalodons died off about 1.6 million years ago, though some people like to wonder if
it still wanders the ocean.
If it did die off when scientists believe it did, this means that it often ate animals
that are still around today—like giant sea turtles, porpoises, and even whales.
Its fossils have been found all around the world, suggesting it had a wide range.
There is no direct evidence that Megalodon still exists.
There are fake documentaries and fake footage everywhere, so scientists are waiting to find
either the carcass of the creature itself, a carcass bearing its tell-tale bite mark,
or one of its teeth to wash ashore before they even consider the notion.
Whenever a previously thought extinct animal is found, like in the case of the megamouth
shark, people can be forgiven for letting their imaginations get away from them.
You just never know...
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