15 Giant Prehistoric Animals That Weren't Dinosaurs

from Terra beds to a prehistoric Loch Ness monster here are 15 giant prehistoric creatures that were not dinosaurs this is throwback Thursdays Matthew knew BEC letting us know that he starts his day off the epic wildlife way a sensible choice to be sure so there's a shout out for you Matthew thanks to you and to everyone for all that great support Cheers number 15 giant shrimp its official name is anomalocaris but it's likely better known as the giant abnormal shrimp it was first described in 1892 and lived more than 500 million years ago at that time there were evidently a lot of these critters swimming about in the world's oceans their fossils have been found widely distributed about the earth it's thought to have been a ferocious predator mainly feeding on trilobite it stood over three feet tall and while that's hardly the biggest creature on the list it would indeed make for a giant shrimp arthropleura this was an ancestor to millipedes and centipedes and could grow up to eight feet long although some sources claim it could grow even larger contrast that size to a modern-day centipede which goes around 10 inches long they could also measure several feet wide which would make for a scary sight to say the least it's thought the creature had few predators despite it being an invertebrate it is in fact the largest invertebrate species ever uncovered and that's by a wide margin arthropleura looked like it could be a predator itself but it was actually a habilis arthropod and fossilized evidence indicates it could move pretty fast across the forest floor swerving to avoid rocks and trees it lived around 300 million years ago throughout present-day North America and Scotland meagan are best described as a giant dragonfly these creatures existed around 300 million years ago and they are in fact related to present-day dragonflies did you know they could be about the size of birds the fossils were initially found in France in 1880 and have since been found in England one genus is thought to have been the largest insect that ever lived with a length around 17 inches and a wingspan exceeding 2 feet can you imagine a dragonfly feeding on prey as big as squirrels of frogs experts say that this critic did just that monster sea scorpion fossils of Jackalope turis indicate that creature lived around 390 million years ago measuring over 8 feet a single pincer was more than 18 inches long no wonder that J Rene knee is thought to be the largest known arthropod the yet discovered the size makes them bigger than Europe turrets a group that is related to the scorpions and land spiders of today today the coconut crab and the Japanese spider crab are among the largest living arthropods in the world haast s-- eagle this is the largest species of eagle that was ever known to exist and the females were significantly larger than the males they could weigh up to 36 pounds with a wingspan approaching 10 feet and were found on the South Island of New Zealand where the birds are commonly accepted as part of Maori legend the Eagles preyed on large flightless bird species including the MOA which was 15 times its weight and struck at speeds up to 50 miles per hour when human hunters arrived in New Zealand they also preyed on the large flightless birds their Hass Eagle became extinct around fourteen hundred years ago after its natural food source disappeared mag Alania priska this prehistoric monster is also known as the giant ripper lizard its remains have been found in Australia dating back around 50,000 years today the Komodo dragon is considered the largest living species of lizard but Meg Alania is considered the largest terrestrial lizard that ever existed researchers estimate the animal could have weighed up to 1,400 pounds and measured up to 23 feet long Quetzalcoatlus this pterosaur is one of the largest flying animals ever known to have existed fossils were first discovered in 1971 in Texas at Big Bend National Park those remains were dated back around 68 million years that fossil indicated a specimen with a wingspan around 30 feet and weighing some 300 pounds experts today think the flying reptiles could have weighed as much as 550 pounds its name was inspired by Quetzalcoatl the Mesoamerican feathered serpent God did you know that researchers have determined these pterosaurs could fly at altitudes of 15,000 feet and that's while traveling at speeds of 80 miles per hour up to 10 days strike elasmosaurus plesiosaurs were characterized by the extremely long necks and elasmosaurus was the biggest of the lot fossils initially discovered in Kansas and found in other parts of North America indicate the creatures lived more than 80 million years ago weighing an estimated forty four hundred pounds and measuring more than thirty feet long it was thought to prey on fish and would have been a slow swimmer some cryptozoologists have noted the resemblance of this creature to descriptions of the Loch Ness monster and that has led to some theories that Nessie is in fact a long-lost plesiosaur what do you think that's Scylla soros during the 19th century fossils of this immense animal was so commonly found in the u.s. that they were used for furniture considered the ancestor of modern-day whales and porpoises these creatures could attain the size of a small ship at more than 60 feet long they were known to have a long tail and flippers not unlike seals experts have calculated they had a powerful bite force to around 3,600 pounds their name basilosaurus is latin for kingless which is a clue that they were initially misidentified as dinosaurs a complete skeleton was not found until 2015 Tara Birds roaming about South America up to two million years ago these birds were indeed big enough to inspire terror wherever they went and they could cover a lotta ground despite the size they could run up to 30 miles per hour the flightless carnivorous Birds stood upwards of 10 feet tall and could devour animals the size of a dog in one single bite and they used the huge eagle like beaks to make critical strikes on the prize or they would simply grab smaller prey and smash it against the ground the fossils were first found in South America in the 1800s but it's still unknown exactly what caused the birds to go extinct [Music] sarcosuchus Imperator this monster did resemble and is related to the modern-day crocodile and it's one of the largest such reptiles that ever lived it inhabited what is now South America and Africa around 112 million years ago and its remains were first found in the Sahara the saltwater crocodile is the largest reptile living in the world today measuring more than twenty feet and weighing over a ton but this prehistoric beast could weigh some eight tons and measure around 39 feet long that's about the size of a truck given its size the animal likely preyed upon the dinosaurs of its time gorgonopsids these creatures were on the scene long before dinosaurs ruled the earth it was a fast and vicious predator measuring up to ten feet long from nose to tail thanks to its enormous canines measuring nearly 5 inches the animal was a key predator in southern Africa during the late permian around 260 to 254 million years ago they likely used those big teeth to dine on the herbivores of the time Dayne etherium from the look of this creature you might guess it's a prehistoric relative to modern-day elephants and you know what you'd be right this big beast first appeared in the middle miocene and lived until the early Pleistocene awhile its elephantine appearance didn't change much over time it had a shorter trunk and its tusks were downward curving and attached to the lower jaw unlike present-day pachyderms weighing over 15 tonnes and standing around 15 feet high this was one of the largest land animals that ever existed its fossils have been found in Asia Africa and in Europe Dunkleosteus now here's a prehistoric fish you would not want to reel in it went about 20 feet long was armored and weighed around a ton so this monster would catch you not the other way around and bear in mind some sources claim the animal could have been even bigger Dunkleosteus was considered to be a hyper carnivores apex predator that means it was at the top of the food chain and had an overwhelming hunger for me hyper carnivores are usually defined as having a diet in excess of 70% meat but although it wasn't about meat eater the animal didn't have teeth two pair of plates in its mouth formed a beak like structure which could exert a powerful bite force by some estimates it could be in the range of a crocodiles exerting some 8,000 pounds per square inch of pressure on its victims they lived in the late devonian period around some 360 million years ago and before heading to the number one spot let's take a look at a couple of honorable mentions and the likely familiar names if you check out epic wildlife regularly Megalodon is the legendary prehistoric shark that measured up to 60 feet long and weighed around 65 tons but some estimates put those numbers even higher did you know scientists have calculated this ancient predator could have exerted a bite force of more than 18 tons and titanoboa was a huge prehistoric snake fossils of which have been found in Colombia and they indicate the creature could have measured over 40 feet long and weighed some 2,500 pounds that's a pretty big snake they would have been found slithering about some 60 million years again [Music] Mosasaurus like plesiosaurs these were marine reptiles not technically dinosaurs but going nearly 60 feet long this was thought to have been about the biggest of the law experts say that the carnivorous critter would have resembled an immense crocodile and would have been one of the deadliest creatures alive during that Cretaceous period mosasaurs are closely related to lizards of today like the Komodo dragon the creatures were believed at chase down prey by using the powerful shark like tails and they were evidently well traveled animals as well the fossils have been found on every continent including Antarctica you might recall this creature being one of the breakout stars of Jurassic world in 2015 although some experts said too many liberties were taken with the animals portrayal [Music]

Channel: Epic Wildlife

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Rating: 4.6976023 out of 5

Keywords: giant, prehistoric, creatures, that, weren't, dinosaurs, dinos, huge, birds, loch ness monster, monsters, actually exist, real, true, evidence, archaeological, found, incredible, wildlife, jungle, ocean, sea, underwater, past, ancient, wild, large, creature, top, best, most, list, ever, in the world, ancient creatures, giant creatures, big creatures, huge ancient animals, giant prehistoric animals, you won't believe, still exist today, scary prehistoric animals, biggest prehistoric creatures

Id: AJ14RdbGVYU

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2017