Massive Extinct Animals, Ranked By Horror

Size:40 feet long

When They Lived:58 million years ago

Distinguishing Features: This is a very large snake. It grew to 40 feet long. It also weighed more than a ton. These giant snakes ruled the jungle and moved through swamps with ease.It grew to 40 feet in length.It also weighed more than a ton. These giant snakes ruled the jungle and moved through swamps with ease.

Size:50 feet long

When They Lived:400 million years ago

Distinguishing Features:Megalodons were big boys. They measured 50 feet long. They also weighed up to 50 tons.They weighed up to 50 tons.Sharks have cartilage, so they leave no fossils. Researchers use tooth size for comparison instead.

Size:36 feet long

When They Lived:72-83 million years ago

Distinguishing Features:This huge alligator...was an alligator.It weighed about 7 tons and feasted on dinosaurs.It feasted on dinosaurs.Its jaws had enough power to take down a gigantic screaming lizard, similar in size.

Size:26 to 32 feet long

When They Lived:Late Devonian (roughly 360-370 million years ago)

Distinguishing Features: These large, angry fish were built to hunt.They were built to hunt.These fish were some of the meanest predators in the water. Their protected heads made them hard to take down.DunkleosteusIt lacked actual teeth. However, it had giant, sharp bones protruding from its mouth, ready to chomp anything in front of it.

Size:About 3 feet long

When They Lived:Between 6 million and 10 million years ago

Distinguishing Features: Piranhas are scary.Megapiranhawas terrifying. These fish measured about 3 feet long and weighed between 20 and 30 pounds. That is a big fish.Aside from its actual size, the Megapiranha's jaw could generate up to 72 pounds of force.Its jaw could generate up to 72 pounds of force.It could take a huge bite out of any animal that passed by.

Size:40 feet long

When They Lived: 110 million years ago

Distinguishing Features:Prehistoric crocodiles were terrifying. This creature had 132 conical teeth.It had 132 conical teeth.These teeth compare to railroad spikes. Many carnivores have narrow teeth for slashing. Sarcosuchus's teeth were designed to grip its prey.Sarcosuchus's teeth were designed to grip its prey.While Sarcosuchus wasn't flexible, it had bony armor that protected it from enemies.Sarcosuchus

Size:9.5 feet long

When They Lived:800-11,000 years ago

Distinguishing Features: This short-faced bear looks cute, yet it was nearly as tall as a basketball hoop. These bears were bigger than any living bear. Claw marks on cave walls reached 16 feet high.Claw marks on cave walls reached 16 feet above the ground.The bears lived in North America, roaming what is now California.

Size:3 feet long

When They Lived:Late Triassic Period (roughly 250 million years ago))

Distinguishing FeaturesThese were not just giant millipedes. They were among the biggest arthropods to walk the Earth.They were among the biggest arthropods to ever walk the Earth.The average size of a modern millipede is about an inch in length.about an inch in lengthThe arthropod family shrank from unimaginable sizes to something manageable but still gross over hundreds of millions of years.

Size:It measured 20 to 25 feet long.

When They Lived:It lived 270 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features:This terrifying fish hada lower jaw packed with jagged teeth.Its top jaw sat empty. That alone is creepy, but theHelicoprionbottom jaw shaped like a buzzsaw.

Size:It stood four feet tall with a two-foot-long head.

When They Lived: It lived 37-49 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features:These giant hell pigs looked terrifying. Aside from their height, these creatures had wild mouths. Their incisors pointed, andtheir canines were serrated.This means these bad boys would hurt you if they tried to bite.

Size:It reached between 20 and 24 feet long.

When They Lived:It lived from the Callovian through the Tithonian period. It might even have reached the Cretaceous (about 150 million years ago).

Distinguishing Features: Liopleurodonwasan ocean predator.It tore through the seas, eating its prey. Its jaws took up one-fifth of its entire body.Its jagged teethmeasured half a foot long. Flippers sent it soaring through the ocean at an extreme speed. Despite being underwater, Liopleurodonhad nostrils, suggesting researchers think the creature had a sense of smell.

Size:It was 6 feet long.

When They Lived:It lived 467 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features:This extinct creature was a huge sea scorpion that crawled through the water hunting for food.Pentecopterushad a very long head shielded by an exoskeleton. The large scorpion usedmultiple giant pincers to reach out and grab anything it wanted. It looked like a giant crawdad.If you picture a giant crawdad, that is what the creature resembled.

Size:It stood 3-9 feet tall.

When They Lived:It lived 1 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features:These large birds looked somewhat like ostriches, but they hadhuge heads and giant, strong legs. Their claws were massive, allowing them to strike prey, giving them an edge over many land animals.If you combine a Velociraptor and a Tyrannosaurus rex, adding feathers gives you one of these.If you put a Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus rex together and slap feathers on it, you get one of these.These large birds looked somewhat like ostriches, but they had

Size:It measured approximately 20 feet long.

When They Lived:It lived roughly 300 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features:Known as the "scissor-toothed shark,"this creatureis thought to have been one of the scariest animals in the water during its time. LikeHelicoprion, Edestushad tooth whorls.These whorls are spherical sections of the jaw. Because of the jaw's curve, researchers believeEdestusthrashed its victims instead of biting them like a modern shark.

Size:It stood 10 feet tall.

When They Lived:It lived 100,000 years ago.

Distinguishing Features:These giant apes are the closest thing to a real Sasquatch that has ever existed.It stood 10 feet tall.Animals needed much fuel. They ate and ate and ate. They ate so much they foraged themselves into extinction.

Size:24 feet long (wingspan)

When They Lived:25 million years ago

Distinguishing Features:This giant birdhad massive wings.and tiny legs. The wings were so big the bird did not flap them to fly. Instead, it soared as far as it could without any flapping.

Size:About 1 foot long with a 2 foot wingspan

When They Lived:The Paleozoic Era (about 300 million years ago)

Distinguishing Features:Compared to a modern dragonfly,Meganeurawasmassive.Growing up to a foot long, these huge bugs hunted the insect world. They hunted in a hawk-like way, cruising the air and snatching prey from the ground.

Size:3 feet long.

When They Lived:Half a billion years ago.

Distinguishing Features:If any extinct creature looked like a character fromThe Legend of Zelda,it would beAnomalocaris. This long fish looked like a cartoon with small flappers on its sides and a fan-shaped tail. The fish used its square jaws to chomp down on its prey.its square jawsto chomp down on its prey.

Size: Nearly 23 feet tall.

When They Lived:11,000-35 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features: Megatheriumwasa giant ground sloth.That sloth stood as tall as a modern elephant. Imagine a sloth weighing 7 tons—it is horrifying. It likely could not chase you, but it possessed huge claws and teeth capable of causing damage. These monster sloths mostly ate leaves they tore from trees.

Size:4 feet tall.

When They Lived: 8 million years ago.

Distinguishing Features: This huge brown ratweighed 1,500 pounds and stood on its hind legs. It looked like a giant guinea pig with teeth that never stopped growing. The animal often went into the water, and scholars think it ate along the riverbank.