- This is a story about a time when Polly wanted raw flesh instead of a cracker.
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover — or an animal by what it looks like today. There are many creatures out there in the wild that are small and, honestly, kind of pathetic.
But they weren’t necessarily always that way. Many creatures living on the planet now had ancient versions of them that were bigger.
Much, much bigger. Some of them were straight-up monsters.
Here are 7 horrifyingly big ancient beasts whose descendants still live today — they’ve just become much smaller.
1. Carbonemys (Tortoises)
Although some tortoises can grow to respectable sizes — the Aldabra tortoise can have a 4-foot-long carapace — the Carbonemys leaves them in the dust. This huge land turtle lived some 60 million years ago.
The Carbonemys’ shell could grow to be around six feet long. In size, it rivals the still-living leatherback sea turtles.
According to researchers, the Carbonemys had gigantic jaws that they could use to eat crocodiles. And they sure needed them, because they shared the planet with…
2. Titanoboa (Snakes)
Carbonemys wasn’t the only one eating crocodiles back in its day. The Titanoboa is the largest snake species ever discovered.
These snakes could grow to be an estimated 42-47 feet long and weigh up to 2,500 pounds. At that size, it could devour pretty much anything it came across.
Fortunately for everything else living on the planet, it probably didn’t. Recent discoveries have shown that the Titanoboa likely specialized in eating fish.
I hate to think of the size of the fish it ate, though.
3. Terror Bird (Parrots)
Parrots are pretty fun birds — they crack nuts, imitate people, and make video calls. But there’s nothing funny about their ancestors, the aptly named terror birds.
These flightless monsters were up to 10 feet tall and were the apex predators of their time. And unlike the Titanoboa, they did eat pretty much whatever they felt like.
In the fossilized feces of terror birds, scientists have found bones belonging to everything from small rodents to deer-sized and deer-like herbivores. And in all likelihood, the terror bird swallowed its prey whole.
4. Meganeura (Dragonflies)
Bugs — even the biggest ones aren’t that big, even though some are way bigger than they need to be. Turn the clock back 300 million years ago, though, and the real horror begins.
That’s when the Meganeura lived, for example. This behemoth of a dragonfly had a wingspan of more than two feet.
Its body alone was about the length of your forearm. Scientists believe it was predatory and ate other insects, so it could probably deliver one nasty bite to boot.
5. Megatherium (Sloths)
Sloths are slow, stupid, and pretty sad creatures. Their ancestors, like the Megatherium, were much more intimidating, though.
The Megatherium (which translated to “giant beast”) was an enormous ground sloth that lived around 5 million years ago. It weighed up to 9,000 pounds and was 20 feet long and six feet tall.
If those numbers mean nothing to you, it was the size of an Asian elephant. Despite its monstrous size and name, the Megatherium was a gentle giant that are mostly leaves and fruit.
It did have mean claws, though, so I wouldn’t suggest getting one of them mad.
6. Castoroides (Beavers)
After the Megatherium kicked the bucket, another giant furry creature emerged. Castoroides, a giant version of modern beavers, lived in the Pleistocene era that follow Megatherium’s days.
These beavers grew up to be around seven feet long and weighed up to 276 pounds. Unlike modern beavers, though, they didn’t eat wood but underwater plants.
They also most likely didn’t build dams like their descendants. Which is probably for the better — imagine the flood these things would’ve caused.
7. Gigantopitchecus (Orangutans)
I wanted to write the Gigantopithecus is a giant version of you, I really did. But sadly, advancing research has shown that this giant ape is not our ancestor.
Instead, this 12-foot-tall sasquatch-lookalike is related to today’s orangutans. So, take an orangutan and triple it in size, and you’ll have something resembling the Gigantopithecus.
It might be tempting to think the Gigantopithecus might be behind the myths of Bigfoot, the yeti, and other similar creatures. That’s unlikely, though, since these massive apes were gone long before anything resembling a human hit the scene.
Or perhaps they weren’t and they’re still lurking out there, somewhere.
Hits: 0
