10 Terrifying Animals That Lived Alongside
Prehistoric Man 10. The Columbian Mammoth Columbian mammoths were one of the biggest
mammals to ever walk on Earth, and they were cousin to the more famous
woolly mammoths. Columbian mammoths were found all the way
from modern-day Canada to Mexico, while woolly mammoths, who were smaller, were found in
northern Asia, Russia, and Canada. Another major difference is that Columbian
mammoths had much less hair, so they looked closer to modern day elephants, but bigger
with much longer tusks. Columbian mammoths were 12 to 14 feet tall
and weighed anywhere between 5.5 and 11 tons. The Columbian mammoth also had the biggest
tusks out of the elephant family. They were, on average, 12 feet long, spiraled,
and very strong. They would have been used to fight off predators,
including humans. 9. The Ground Sloth We know that this list is about terrifying
animals, and sloths are anything but terrifying. However, their ancient ancestors, ground sloths,
were a bit more intimidating than their modern day counterpart because they were some of
the biggest mammals to ever live. There were several different subspecies of
ground sloths and the ones that lived in North America were the size of rhinos and humans
most likely dined on them. However, the biggest ground sloths, the Megatherium,
which lived in South America up until about 10,000 years ago, were as big as an elephant. From head to tail, they were 20 feet long
and weighed up to four tons. Also, because they had sharp teeth and long
claws, there is some speculation that they may have been carnivores. Ultimately, the last species of ground sloths
lived until about 4,200 years ago on the Caribbean islands. When humans arrived on the islands, it was
the final death blow to the ground sloths. 8. Gigantopithecus The biggest known primate to ever walk the
earth was the Gigantopithecus, which is a relative of orangutans. They were 10 feet tall, and they weighed around
1,100 pounds. One thing you may notice is that the Gigantopithecus
looks a lot like the mythical Sasquatch. However, before anyone begins to speculate,
the Gigantopithecus died out 100,000 years ago. So unless a group of 10-foot, half ton apes
actively hid themselves from humans for one thousand centuries, it doesn’t seem likely
that people have seen Gigantopithecus and thought it was Bigfoot. The reason they died out after living on Earth
for six to nine million years is because they needed a lot of food, like fruits, to sustain
their giant bodies, which wasn’t a problem when their home in Southeast Asia was tropical
forests. But then, because of weather changes their
forests started to disappear and they became dry savannas, meaning there was less food
and the giant primate just died out. Of course, Gigantopithecus may be familiar
to those people who saw the very excellent live adaptation of The Jungle Book, because
King Louie is a Gigantopithecus. 7. The Cave Hyena Cave Hyenas, also known as spotted coyotes,
were about double the size of their relatives, the laughing coyote. They weighed up to 285 pounds, they were about
three feet tall, and were nearly five feet long. According to calculations based on fossils,
one cave hyena was strong enough to take down a 5-year-old mastodon that weighed a ton. However, they lived in packs, sometimes consisting
of 30 coyotes. These made them much more effective hunters,
and they could take down a nine-year-old mastodon that weighed nine tons. Needless to say, a small family of humans
would not want to come across a pack of hungry hyenas. Their population started to dwindle about
20,000 years ago, before going extinct somewhere between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago. One reason may have been humans, because we
competed with hyenas for cave space during the last ice age. 6. Smilodon Saber-toothed cats are often given the very
misleading title of saber-tooth tigers. It’s misleading because while they are part
of the Felidae family, they weren’t closely related to tigers. Saber-toothed cats first appeared 42 million
years ago. There were many species of them and most of
them had died before humans first appeared. However, it’s believed that humans living
in the Americas could have come across two different species of saber-toothed cats, Smilodon
fatalis and Smilodon populator. They ranged in size and they could be as big
as an African lion, which is the biggest wild lion living today. They also could weigh as much as the biggest
subspecies of tiger, the Siberian tiger. With their size came great strength. The smilodons could take down much bigger
animals than themselves, like mammoths. Often, they would wait for prey to get close
and then launch a surprise attack. Out of the feline family, the smilodon didn’t
have the strongest bite. According to calculations, it only had about
one-third of the bite strength of modern lions. However, it had a really flexible jaw and
could open its mouth 120 degrees, compared to a lion, which maxes out at 60 degrees. The smilodon also had fairly weak teeth, but
researchers think to compensate for that, they developed the strongest forearms of all
cats. It’s believed that they used this strength
to hold down their prey and then stabbed their fangs through the prey’s neck. Another theory is that the Smilodon repeatedly
stabbed the prey with their fangs after it was held down. No matter how they killed their prey, a human
did not want to find itself under the forearms of a smilodon. 5. The Dire Wolf Fans of Game of Thrones may recognize Dire
Wolves, but unlike many other animals on the show, Dire Wolves were real. They first appeared about a quarter of a million
years ago. They were similar to modern-day gray wolves
but sturdier. The gray wolf, which is the largest living
wolf, is about 4 feet to 6.6 feet long and weighs 40 to 170 pounds, while Dire Wolves
were about 5 feet long and weighed up to 200 pounds. Dire Wolves, which were found all over North
and South America, had a bite force that was 29 percent stronger than gray wolves. Their diet consisted of mostly horses. They became extinct like so a lot other carnivores,
at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. 4. The American Lion Like a lot of other animals on this list,
the American Lion is horribly named because it’s not a lion at all. Its scientific name is Panthera atrox, and
as it suggests, the American Lion is more closely related to panthers than lions. One part about their name that is correct
is that they lived in modern-day America starting about 330,000 years ago. One notable aspect that our ancient ancestors
would have noticed right away if they encountered an American Lion is that it was huge. In fact, it is the biggest known wild cat
in history. On average, they weighed 772 pounds, which
is 25 percent larger than an African Lion. The American Lion was also incredibly strong. They were powerful enough to bring down a
bison, meaning a small group of humans would have been in trouble had they encountered
one of these lions. They died around 11,000 years ago around the
end of the last ice age. 3. The Megalania Megalania was a monitor lizard, which is the
same lizard family as the Komodo dragon, and it lived in Australia until about 50,000 years
ago; around the same time that humans migrated there. The size of Megalania is a highly debated
topic. Originally, it was thought to be 23 feet long,
while other estimates put its size more in the range of 11 feet long. Regardless, they were bigger than Komodo dragons,
but like the Komodo dragon, the Megalania also had poisonous glands. It would simply bite its prey and if it didn’t
die of blood loss, then it would be slowly poisoned to death and the Meaglania would
feast on its carcass. Today, Komodo dragons are considered a very
dangerous animal. They are fast, strong, and poisonous. They are also on average 6.5 feet long. The Megalania could have been four times that
size; not exactly something a human, either prehistoric or modern, would want to bump
into. 2. The Short-Faced Bear Bears first appeared about 40 million years
ago, and several subspecies have evolved over the years. One that our prehistoric ancestors would have
encountered is the short-faced bear. Short-faced bears (Arctodus pristinus) were
five feet tall at shoulder height, but when they stood up, they were 12 feet tall and
with its arms raised it was 14 feet tall. It also had the ability to run on two legs. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, the short-faced
bear also had long limbs, and could run faster than a grizzly, possibly reaching speeds of
40 miles per hour. That means even Usain Bolt, who was clocked
in at 28 miles per hour, would be dinner for this beast. The Giant Short-Faced Bear was one of the
biggest carnivores in North America. They first appeared about 800,000 years ago
and they became extinct about 11,600 years ago. 1. The Quinkana According to fossils, the Quinkana first evolved
about 1.6 million years ago and they lived in modern day Australia. They were huge members of the crocodile family
and they could grow to be 23 feet long. Just for some perspective, the longest crocodile
in captivity was Lolong and he was 20 feet long. A major difference between the Quinkana and
many other crocodiles is that they were land dwellers. Since they lived on land, there was two major
physical traits that the Quinkana developed. The first was that it had long, powerful legs. It would hunt its prey by chasing after them
for long distances. The second difference is that crocodiles use
their teeth to latch on and drag their prey into the water and drown it. The Quinkanas’ teeth, on the other hand,
were much sharper and they were used for cutting. They died out about 50,000 years ago, about
10,000 years after humans first arrived in Australia.
