While talking about extinct giant animals or megafaunas, the first name that comes to our mind, is of course – the dinosaurs. The humongous scaly reptiles, that we have all seen, terrorizing the world in one science fiction movie or another.
Dinosaurs are said to have first appeared roughly about 245 million years ago in the middle Triassic epoch, they thrived for the next 180 million years and then died out at the end of that era. And while these giant reptiles are well known today with an array of fossil records of their different species that had once existed, they were not in fact, the only giant animals to walk the earth at that time.
So, through the course of this article let us imagine about a different world, a world where giant armadillios of the size of a volkswagon car can be seen grazing upon the unending green pastures of South America, or where you can watch the giant scavenger bird of the size of a small jet, flying overhead you, looking for it’s next prey. The senario is just as much exciting, as it is frightening – with the world now filled with, huge and mighty predators.
So, here are 9 other megafaunas that had ruled the world before humans:
1. Glyptodon – ‘The giant armadillo’
We are all familiar with the new world armadillos – rat like animals which are no more than half a meter in length. But their pre-historic relatives- The glyptodons were humongous in size and lived in the swamps of South America some 10,000 years ago. The word Glyptodon means, craved tooth.
These were huge 10 feet long, herbivorous animals that weighed around 3 tonnes with huge dome shaped armoured shells on their back. Their armoured shells were so big in fact, that the early humans settlers in South America used to take shelter underneath them for protection from the harsh weather. They had squat turtle like legs, a short neck and head with spikes.
The most probable cause of their extinction in the late Pleistocene era, is thought to be the climate change and over-excessive human hunting.
2. Megalodon – ‘The giant shark’
Megalodon was not only the biggest shark known till today, but it is one of the largest fish to ever exist on earth. This humongous sea monster was known to have existed some 20 million years ago, dominating the depths of the ocean and feeding on everything from a dolphin to a hump backed whale. Their body length was estimated to be around 52 feet and weighed 3 times more than the modern day shark.
The word Megalodon means ‘Large tooth’ and they were named so, because of their 18cm long teeth fossils that had been found. Their jaw length is said to be around – 3.7 to 4.4 meters, enough to swallow two humans side by side.
In year 2013 a documentary Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives was broadcasted on the Discovery Channel stating a few peculiar evidences, to indicate that the giant monstrous fish still exists in some corners of this earth. But not enough evidences have been found to prove that it’s still alive and thus, such a theory has been rejected.
3. Mammuthus primigenius – ‘Woolly Mammoth’
These giant creatures are one of the best studied extinct megafaunas after dinosaurs, since their intact preserved carcasses had been recovered from the glaciers of Siberia. These 10 feet high mammoths were known to live near the ice cold northern tundra region, adapted well to the ice age with their thick fur covered body, high domed head and a hairy large back.
They had 13 feet long, curved ivory tusk that they used for the same functions as the present day elephants do. The exact time of their extinction is not known, although the fossils suggests that their lineage ended 11,000 years ago during the last glaciation in Holocene epoch either due to extensive human hunting or lack of genetic diversity within their population.
4. Megatherium – ‘The giant ground sloth’
At one time or another – all of us had come to envy these extremely slow moving little creatures, known as the tree sloths. Which were no more than 2 feet in length and who hung to the tree branches all day long and did nothing but rest. Closely related to these are the present day tree sloths. In the early Pleistocene era- giant ground sloths reaching up to the height of 20 feet and weighting 9,000 Lbs, were known to have existed on this earth.
In 1830s Charles Darwin, on his voyage had collected the first fossil remains of these mammals that had now been identified as the Megatherium. Their populations were restricted to the geographical are of the North America where they went extinct 10,000 years ago. The prime reason behind which is the excessive human hunting.
5. Deinosuchus – ‘The terrible crocodile’
Imagine a crocodile – a huge predator almost equal to the size of a bus, that fed upon everything, from sea turtules to huge horned dinosaurs. Indeed such monstrous sea creatures existed around 75 million years ago in the costal swamps of North America.
The word Deinosuchus translates to “Terrible crocodile” in Greek, it is named so- because of it’s giant size of abut 12 meters, and weight around 7 tonnes almost equal to that of an elephant – thus, becoming one of the largest terrestrial predator of that time. And thus, it sat at the top of the food chain.
6. Paraceratherium – ‘The Giant Rhino’
Paraceratherium were the largest known mammal to have ever exist on Earth with a height of about 26 feet and weighed around 15 to 20 tonnes. These animals although so large in size, were completely herbivorous and fed upon shrubs and trees and had prehensile long deep neck but had no horns – unlike their present day modern Rhinoceros relatives.
Their origins lay 35 to 20 million years ago in Eurasia but the reason behind their extinction is not clearly known. Palaeontologist PV Putshkov in his book, states that when the archaic elephants emerged into their habitat and heavily foraged on the trees, they changed the ecosystem in more than one ways, that destabilized the Paraceratherium population and thus, led to their disappearance.
7. Argentavis – ‘The largest flying bird’
The name Argentavis had came from the country Argentina, where these giant scavenger bird existed some 6 million years ago. This is the largest flying bird to have ever existed on earth, weighing around 70 kg and with a wingspan of 7 meters. Thus, equalling the size of a light air craft.
This bird belonged to the group called, ‘Teratorns’ which is translated to the ‘Monster birds’, a close relative to the new world vultures. Some palaeontologists believe that due to the large size of the bird, they were not actually able to fly, but glided through the air like a master para-glider.
8. Megalania – ‘The large lizard’
Megalania was much like it’s present day relatives – The Komodo dragons from Indonesia, with an elongated skull and lizard like body covered with osteoderms.
These 25 meters long giant lizards were found in Eastern Australia in the Cretaceous era and were venomous in nature. Due to it’s scarce fossil record, not much is known about these animals.
9. Pachystruthio dmanisensis – ‘The Giant flightless bird’
Pachystruthio, the giant flightless bird with long powerful legs adapted for running and large beaks existed 10,000 years ago in North America and Asia. Their fossil remains had been found in Crimean Cave that had led the palaeontologists to believe that the bird reached up to a height of 3.5 meters, 3 times the size of modern day ostriches, weighing about 450 kg.
Are humans to blame for the disappearance of these megafaunas?
In 1966, Paul Martin, a world renowned palaeontologist stated in his paper that it was the arrival of modern humans in the different parts of the world that led to the extinction of these giant beautiful creatures due to excessive hunting and killing.
On the other hand some archaeologists like Marvik opposed his theory, and believed that the reason behind the mass extinction of all these creatures was the radical climate change that occurred 2 million years ago. Although, the controversies between these two groups remain as a matter of debate, the fact that humans have, and still are – killing and hunting endangered species can never be neglected. The ill practices of humans are elevating at such an extent that a lot of endangered species have already reached the verge of complete disappearance – much like these megafaunas. And while the past could not be changed, it is important that we humans, learn our lesson from it and work accordingly for the conservation of wild faunas, more for our own sake, than their’s.
Very interesting fact good to know all these
Thanks for the feedback.
So nicely written!