Living in the 21 at century, while we complain about mosquitoes and lizards, we never realize how sadistic and scary the world was millions of years ago. A place where every breath was taken at the expense of another creature’s death. Let’s meet some of these creatures that could very well inspire the bravest among us to run away with fear. Here are the deadliest prehistoric animals on planet Earth,
Prehistoric Animals
1. Jaekelopterus
Considered to be the largest scorpion to have ever lived, the gigantic creature was around 8 feet in length. It also possessed one of the largest pincers ever attached to aam anthropoid, an amazing 18 inches long. It’s named is derived from the famous German Paleontologist Otto Jaenkal and the Greek word ‘petron’ which means wings. Ironic that this creature never contained wings. Its ghastly appearance makes it a character out of a Stephan King novels, but this creature had existed at one point on this planet.
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2. Anomalocaris Canadensis
Even though it’s size is not as impressive as the ones mentioned before, this anthropoid nevertheless was one of the scariest creatures to have ever existed. Literally called the Abnormal Shrimp, this organism was known to have been a very subtle predator, mostly focusing on the smaller fishes. It would literally chew them(bones and all), by tightening its razor-like jaw and clamping unto its a victim. It had no fins and hence propelled itself forward by using its segmented body much like the modern-day cuttlefish.
3. Phorusrhacidae
The proud owner of the largest beak that has ever existed on this planet, this horrendous flightless bird was over 3 meters tall in length and very, very strong. The interesting aspect of that bird was the use of its beak. Its beak was used as a sledgehammer to puncture the beating heart of its victim and eventual killing them. One of the deadliest prehistoric animals was called the terror bird, doesn’t its description terrify you?
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4. Titanoboa
This could be guessed by the name of this creature. The Titanoboa was a whopping 48 feet long in length and weighed more than 1.12 tonnes. To get a gist of its size, the longest modern-day snake ever found was around 10 meters Long. That means that the Titanoboa was nearly four times its length! Roaming around in the jungles of the Amazon, there would have been very few creatures to not have been intimidated by this fearsome creature. It was probably the largest land-living vertebrate to have existed since the demise of the dinosaurs. A famous movie by Amazon was screened titled Titanoboa: the Monster Snake, after a life-sized model of this creature was exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum.
5. Sarcosuchus
Sarcosuchus literally means ‘flesh crocodile’ in Greek. But after a National Geographic documentary, it has been knowing as Supercross in pop culture. The Supercross was well over 40 feet in length, as compared to the longest current crocodile which is around 25 feet ( the Saltwater Crocodile). The ferocious animal was said to grow throughout its lifetime and had an armor-like skin, called osteoderm. This animal was capable of killing the Spinosaurus thought to be the largest meat-eater to have ever existed, by its the sheer length of its jaw. It also had a depression-like snout on the tip, called a bulla, which is supposed to be used as a device to attract potential mates. Oh, and they were to have lived in what is now the world’s largest desert, the Sahara Desert.
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6. Livyatan melvillei
Named after the sea monster in the Bible named Leviathan and the albino sperm whale in the book Moby Dick, this ferocious creature was nearly 44 feet long and weighed up to 57 tonnes. Other than it’s impressive size, it was said to possess the largest tusks that any animal has ever possessed on this planet. Referring to modern-day Sperm whales, it’s hunting strategy is supposed to be somewhat similar. They hunted in groups, chasing the victim around till it was tired or worn out, and then systematically proceeding to kill and eat it. It had a huge snout on its skull which is supposed to have exited for various purposes like fighting for mates, decapitating prey and using to emit echoes to determine the position of its prey.
7. Smilodon
The ancient ancestor to lion and cheetah, but if you look at its picture, you might feel like it’s the ancestor to the tiger, so freaky is the resemblance between them. Smilodon comes in the list because of its superfast agility and foot-long teeth. It’s said that the Smilodon was a very brutal animal indeed when it had caught its prey, (usually hunting from treetops), it would sink its long tusk-like teeth into the neck or another vulnerable part of the victim’s body. Then leaving the prey to bleed, it would come back to eat the prey after the prey had bled to death. Even though its teeth look very ferocious, they were in fact very weak and brittle and could even break off if not used wisely, with a really hard chance of never growing then back! Talk about the tooth fairy!
8. Spinosaurus
They were one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs on the planet, they surpassed even the Trex in their brutality and their size. These lurking creatures were not someone you would like to meet on an adventure. It is one of the scariest prehistoric animals in the world.
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9. Helicoprion
This fish existed at least some 270 odd million years back. Said to have been existed from the stuff of nightmares, this fish, had an entire row of serrated 150 teeth in its lower jaw called whorled jaw. It’s said that when it caught its prey, it would curve its jaw towards the inside. The jaw would then systematically slice through its prey, crushing even the bones in the process. It was around 13-25 feet long and weighed 1000 pounds. It name literally means the Spiral Jaw.
10. Dunkleosteus
Named after the famous paleontology curator, David Dunkle, this humongous creature was considered to be the largest placoderm to have ever existed in the face of this planet. With a height measuring up to 6 m and around 1.1 short tonnes in weight, it was a ferocious creature, possible of instilling fear in even the bravest of all hearts. Its name is derived from the Greek word, Osteosis, which means ‘bones’, perhaps the reason for this name was because this fish, had an entire armor of bone all over its body. It’s armor extended tills it’s a skull, adding fangs to it. It’s ironic that the most ferocious fish had no real teeth! It’s assumed that the fangs of this fish overlapped each other, in such a manner that they were constantly getting sharpened, making it one of the scariest chompers a fish could possess.
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These are the deadliest prehistoric animals on Planet Earth. Kindly share and do post your comments.
