From legendary flying monsters, to giant big cats, here are 8 extinct animals that you'll
be extremely glad arent around today!!
8.
Titanoboa You may not have heard of Cerrejon, Colombia
but if you are interested in fossils, this is the place to be!!
It has some of the world’s richest, most important fossil deposits.
It might just be the only window into an ancient tropical ecosystem.
According to the Smithsonian, after the fall of the dinosaurs, 58 million years ago Cerrejon
was a dense, swampy jungle with about 150 inches of rain per year.
This is just perfect if you are a giant snake that measures between 48 and 50 feet long
and weighs more than 1 ton!!!
The Titanoboa, was the biggest snake to have ever lived.
Paleontologists are working closely with the coal mining company there to extract fossils
at the same time as they are removing coal and they were lucky enough to find an entire
skull!
In the world today, the biggest snake species have been known to grow to about 30+ feet
in length.
Which is massive, no doubt, but even at their biggest they don't stack up to the Titanoboa.
But it's not just the length that’s impressive, and scary!!
The sheer weight and size could easily crush its prey.
It ate all kinds of prey from crocodiles to huge turtles and fish.
The titanoboa could swallow just about anything without much issue.
And yes, that includes humans.
There's also the fact that the Titanoboa could have potentially lived in other areas of the
world, and it would probably do really well in Florida and Hawaii!!
This species could probably easily destroy ecosystems and eat just about everything if
it were still around.
The Smithsonian Channel did a great TV show called the Titanoboa: Monster Snake, if you
would like to learn more!!
7.
Pterodactyls One of the most famous flying creatures of
the ancient world were the Pterodactyls but they often get confused with pterosaurs.
Yet ironically, despite popular belief, they weren't actually dinosaurs, they just happened
to live in similar time periods.
So of course, they had to be included in Jurassic Park films!
Granted, they weren't as big as in those films, they were actually the size of big birds like
eagles, but they were still a threat no doubt.
Most of the fossils have been found in Germany, although more recently some have also been
found in other places in Europe and Africa.
It most likely hunted fish and other small animals.
Their wings were formed by a membrane almost like a bat.
So what would it be like if they were around now?
There would probably be a lot of them!!
There would be huge flocks.
Scientists have wondered how we humans would use these animals.
Would we have them as pets?
Would we farm them for meat or eggs??
Funnily enough several scientists even took this idea further asking, could we ride one
to work??
In theory it could take off with the weight of a person on its back.
It’s hard to say, would we be prey or would we be friends?
It's also important to note that Pterodactyls were both carnivores and scavengers, so they
weren't opposed to getting prey however they could, like vultures.
And maybe they wouldn't feed on humans, but they could feed on other animals, like our
pets, or other birds, and destroy all species.
Another big factor is that there were versions of the Pterodactyl family that were much bigger
than the regular Pterodactyl.
In fact, some were said to be so big that they could rival the size of fighter jets!!!
If this is true, they would cause an even bigger danger to everyone in their flight
range.
Skies better watch out!
6.
Megalania In the Australia during the Ice Age, there
was an Apex Predator so feared that it became a part of the legends of the land.
The Megalania was a monitor lizard, estimated to be about 23 feet long, even bigger than
a crocodile!
Although more recent research argues that it was smaller, but we’ll go with the more
dramatic number!
What's more, it was said to have a mouth full of teeth that were extremely sharp, and its
bite was extremely venomous.
Venom isn't something that a lot of lizards have, so to have a 23- foot-long venomous
monitor lizard around is not a pretty picture, especially when you might be its next meal!!
Megalania means “ancient great roamer” because it moved all over present-day Australia
and would hunt just about anything.
The earliest fossil remains date back to around 50,000 years ago which means that the first
aboriginal settlers of Australia encountered them and greatly respected their power.
They wove stories of the Megalania into their folklore and told tales of it for generations
to come.
It is the largest terrestrial lizard known to have existed and even up until the late
60’s there were reports of cows ripped to shreds with chunks missing and giant lizard
footprints all around.
Against all odds, could this giant lizard still be among us, living in the jungles of
Australia?
Interestingly enough, the Komodo Dragon was only officially documented by the scientific
community in 1910, by a Lieutenant who went to Komodo Island after hearing stories about
giant lizards.
So, maybe there still could be other venomous lizards out there, undiscovered.
5.
Utahraptor The name Velociraptor is synonymous with the
Jurassic Park films, as they were one of the main "villains" in virtually every movie.
But the fact of the matter is...they were about the size of chickens, and might have
even had feathers in real life.
However, there WERE raptors that were big and dangerous, and could easily raise havoc
in the world if they were still alive today, for example the Utahraptor.
This is the largest raptor ever discovered.
Based on bones of the Utahraptor, scientists estimate it at being 18-20 feet long and weighing
1500 pounds.
That is a truly massive raptor that people would not want to have running around!!
Just the claws on the Utahraptor were about 1 foot long, and ironically, the movies did
accurately portray the claws as curved, which allowed the raptors to rip, impale, and otherwise
eviscerate anything that they considered prey.
There's been some debate as to whether these raptors were feathered creatures or smooth-skinned
like the movies have shown them.
But the bones of the Utahraptor seem to indicate that they did have feathers in some places
on their bodies but it’s not very clear where or how much.
The question is, what would it be like if they were still around??
Well, while there is debate about whether the Utahraptor hunted in packs, if it did,
we'd be in trouble.
They could swarm around all of the farms and eat livestock and maybe even attack towns
if they were brave enough, without fear of missing out on something good to eat.
Don't forget they were 20 feet long, and even if one walked into a building, people would
definitely panic!
However like all animals on this list there is always the question of our relationship
with them.
Would we control their populations, or hunt them into extinction?
Our human track record makes us very powerful and very destructive creatures.
No matter how scary or dangerous an animal might seem, it should be more afraid of us,
then we are of them!!
4.
Short-Faced Bear This bear was one of the fiercest predators
to inhabit North America.
It lived about 1-2 million years ago and is estimated to have gone extinct about 11,000
years ago.
This wasn't just a bear, it was a gigantic bear.
When standing on all 4 feet it was about as tall as as a human, about 6 feet tall.
It stood over 13-feet-tall when on its back legs, which is three feet taller than the
biggest bears today.
But their height wasn't the only advantage they had, they had a lot of girth too.
Modern bears can weigh at most around 800 pounds, which is not too shabby.
But the Short-Faced Bear weighed around 2,000 pounds.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the Short-Faced Bears were always hungry to an extent, and
it had the ability to chase down and rip apart bison, buffalo, and more.
It could run too, and fast!!
As anyone who has seen any kind of bear documentary will know, they aren't something to mess with,
and taking them down is very hard.
And that's with a regular bear, the Short-Faced bears were infamous for their aggressive tendencies.
So their very nature would make them major threats to all humans, as well as livestock
and any other animals it would get its eyes on.
Due to its large size, there would probably be veryyy few hikers, especially in California
where it is believed to have been very common.
Wouldn’t want to run into that!!
3.
Tyrannosaurus Rex The Tyrannosaurus Rex is no doubt one of the
most popular and legendary dinosaurs ever discovered.
And while the T-Rex may not have been the largest dinosaur around, it was still a terror,
and there's a reason many movies and TV shows have made sure to include the T-Rex when they
go back to that time period.
Bones found of the Tyrannosaurus Rex estimate it to have been about 20 feet long, and its
height was about the same too, which would definitely be a threat to most people and
ecosystems.
In terms of weight, there's a bit of a discrepancy, the best guess is between 13,000-32,000 pounds.
There's just no way of knowing for sure what the truth is yet because all we have are the
bones.
If the T-Rex were still around?
Well, its size would certainly hurt, and because of the toughness of its skin, there's no doubt
it could plow through buildings and be very difficult to take down.
Just its skull was said to be as hard as titanium, and when it picks up momentum, it could go
up to 25 miles per hour no less.
These guys would probably not be afraid of anything!
Forget giant lizards, just imagine having giant dinosaurs running around!!
While this might sound silly, based on scientific advances in DNA, we might be closer to a real
Jurassic World than you think!!
What do you think would happen if the T-Rex were around??
Let me know in the comments below!!!
2.
Saber-Tooth Cats In our world today, we have cheetahs, lions,
tigers, panthers, and other "big cats", but not a single one of them compare to the Ice
Age wonder that was the Saber-Tooth Tiger.
The Saber-Tooth Cats were fierce, mighty, fast, and had a killer instinct that every
creature in the world feared.
its iconic fangs were nearly a foot long, and it would impale all victims with them
to ensure that the kill was complete.
But don't discount how powerful the rest of their body was.
They were so fast that they could catch nearly any prey, and with their strong hind legs
they could pounce on their opponents, and use their strength and body weight to ensure
that they didn't get away.
Just like modern day wild cats, they would go straight for the throat!!
They would eat elephants, rhinos, and all kinds of giant herbivores.
Saber toothed cats first arose in North America and some more recent fossils have been found
in Brazil, and giant footprints in Argentina.
These cats can be found worldwide and there were about 20 different species of them.
Scientists are also debating on whether to bring back these big cats.
Do you think they should?
What do you think would happen if we had these big cats running around?
Our pets should probably watch out too!!
1.
Megalodon Of course I have to include The Megalodon!
I know it’s been on all of our minds lately since Discovery’s Shark Week and the new
movie The Meg!!
If the Megalodon were still alive today, the world would be in trouble.
This massive shark was one of the biggest terrors the oceans of the world have ever
known.
It was THE Apex Predator of the ancient waters, and for good reason.
The main reason was its size!!
Depending on who you talk to, it could have been anywhere between 50-90 feet long, making
it double what a Great White Shark would be.
Plus they had a very high metabolism and were always hungry!!
It's believed that it had to eat between 1-2 tons of food a day just to survive.
The Megalodon wasn't just a fierce predator, it was an aggressive one.
It would interfere with all kind of ocean transport and traffic and it could hurt the
fishing industry...which I mean, the fishing industry has done immeasurable damage to the
oceans already so you might not feel so bad about that.
Bones of the Megalodon have been found very close to the surface, as well as in deep waters.
Plus, it's unclear where in the oceans they would be, as they were used to warmer waters
in the prehistoric world, but if they adapted?
They could live in virtually any ocean.
Any and all ships would be in danger of attack from a Megalodon.
And there's no doubt that the shark could take them all out without breaking a sweat.
Could humans live today with Megalodons??
We humans are extremely clever predators so even if it were around today, the poor shark
probably wouldn’t stand a chance.
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