Brilio.net/en - Blue whale is the biggest and heaviest animal on Earth today. But as we know, our planet once was a home to many other giants that we never get to see in flesh. Some are a huge version of animals we are familiar with today, while others just as appealing, thanks to their super-size and bizarre appearance.
Here are particularly breathtaking extinct giants ever walked (or swam/flew) on Earth:
1. Aegirocassis benmoulae
No wonder if weve never seen anything as weird as this creature. It appears just like an offspring of a whale and a lobster, in an enormous size.
With body as long as 2 meters, it lived around 480 million years ago, and was a family member of extinct marine animals called anomalocaridids.
The alien-looking creatures were early arthropods. Until 1985, paleontologists thought that its spiky head resembles shrimps body, its toothed mouth like jellyfish and its long body featuring sea cucumber.
Despite of their eerie appearance, just as modern whale, this gentle giant ate krills or planktons.
2. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae
Its an ultimate nightmare for arachnophobes. This 2.5 meters giant sea scorpion has claimed the title of the largest arthropod have ever lived.
Actually it wasnt really a scorpion, and crept about on lake or river floor rather than the ocean about 390 million years ago; and spent its free time chopping up fishes.
Paleontologists found a 46 centimeters spiked claw in a quarry in Prm, Germany, back in 2008. Sadly, that was all remained of this monstrous river giant.
But no one knows why ancient creepy-crawlies were super-sized. Some scientists suggest it was due to something in atmosphere, while others highlight a lack of backboned predator, such as fish, to control their size.
3. Arthropleura
Another nightmare came all the way from fantasy into realm: a giant millipede. This ancient creature named Arthropleura lived between 340 and 280 million years ago, and reached 2.6 meters long.
However, paleontologists have never discovered its complete fossil. 90 centimeters long remains of its body were founded in south-west Germany, and some parts of same animal have been discovered in Scotland, the US and Canada. It seems Arthropleura bodies were constructed by over 30 jointed segments, covered with side plates and a central plate.
Arthropleuras are kinda popular amongst film makers.
4. Meganeura
If insects would drive you off, youre kinda lucky to live on Earth at this present time and eliminate the chance to share same air with this giant dragonfly-like creature.
These ancient insects buzzed about around 300 million years ago, feeding on amphibians and other smaller insects. With gigantic wingspans of up to 65 centimeters, they were among the largest flying insects ever flew our air.
Whats made insects like them so big in the past? In Carboniferous Period, about 359 to 299 million years ago, as much as 35 percent of the air was oxygen. This richness allowed Meganeura to gain more energy and keep them flying even when they grew huge.
They failed to survive into later period, where oxygen levels fell.
5. Sarcosuchus imperator
At 1997, paleontologists were stunned with discovery of a fossilized crocodile jaw-bones as long as a human in Niger. It was the first encounter of a prehistoric giant patrolled the banks of tropical rivers in northern Africa, about 110 million years ago.
Nicknamed Super-Croc, it grew as long as 12 meters and weighed over 8 tons. Thats twice as long and four times as heavy as the largest modern crocodiles.
Narrow 1,8 meters jaw, with more than 100 teeth, made it appears peculiar and a bit alien-like. Not to mention its titling eyes and large bony swelling on the tip of its snout. It would have resembled the critically endangered crocs of modern India and Nepal.
Lately, a group of paleontologists also founded its marine-dwelled sibling, called Machimosaurus rex, a giant with body over 10 meters long and man-sized head.
6. Megalodon
It was reported that there are massive sharks ripping apart the ocean, three times bigger as great white and 30 times as heavy. Take it easy! They were extinct a long time ago.
This incredible sea-predator called Megalodon, and its exact size remain unknown. Like all sharks, its skeleton was made of cartilage rather than bone, hence didnt fossilize well. We only have teeth, a few bits, and pieces or vertebrae to measure its size.
Recent estimates put it at 16 to 20 meters long; significantly longer that biggest fish alive in this present, the whale sharks, which only reach 12.6 meters long.
Scientists believe Megalodon swam the ocean from 16 to 2.6 million years ago. Its position as biggest animal in the ocean has taken by whales, according to 2014 study.
7. Titanoboa cerrejonensis
What would you do if you encounter a 14.6 meters long snake with over 1-ton weight? Relax, it wont happen as this kind of creature has long ago extinct.
Around 60 million years ago, shortly after the demise of the dinosaurs, a snake evolved that was twice as long as the biggest modern snakes.
Titanoboa cerrejonensis was described in 2009, after fossilized vertebrae and skulls were found in a coal mine in Colombia.
Paleontologists believe that the creature are distant relative of anacondas and boa constrictors, which crushed its prey to death before ate it. Its victims may have included crocodiles.
A life-size replica of this slippery beast can be seen at at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., USA.