10 boys and giant creatures that once proudly prospered but ended extinct

Speaking of ancient giant creatures, dinosaurs come to mind, but besides dinosaurs there were a number of extinct creatures boasting the largest ever size as the "ancestor" of the living things on the present earth. Ten species of life that was incredibly hugeBBC earthIt is summarized.

BBC - Earth - Ten giant animals that are long since dead
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150507-ten-lost-giants-from-earths-past

◆ 01: Egarocasis · Ben Mura (Aegirocassis benmoulae)


Egarocasis · Ben Muller is a huge shrimp that is thought to have lived in the sea 480 million years ago. It was named for Mr. Mohamed Ben Mura who was the discoverer. A gigantic Egarocasis with a total length of about 2 meters was eating seawater plankton using Ella, which did not suit the big body.

This is the fin of Egarocasis. It was in March 2015 that two sets of fillets evolved into limbs and arms and legs laterNature paperIt is clarified in.


◆ 02: Jaekelopterus (Jaekelopterus)


"Jekelopters" is a huge scorpion-like creature that lived in rivers and lakes about 390 million years ago. It is thought that a gigantic mosa scorpion with a total length of 2.5 meters became enormous in the environment with higher oxygen concentration and enemy absence than it is now.

◆ 03: Arthropleura (Arthropleura)


"Earthropreura", which is believed to be the largest arthropod in the history of the earth, is the ancestor of Yasuda. The body with a total length of 2.6 meters was covered with about 30 shield-like body segments. It is pointed out that it was herbivorous as spores of ferns were discovered from fossils of excrement.

◆ 04: Meganeura (Meganeura)


The biggest insect in Earth history is "Glassesura", an ancestor of dragonfly. I had a lung, not a trachea, because it flutters with a 65 cm long body. It is thought that eyeglasses which became enormous under high oxygen concentration environment disappeared as the oxygen concentration decreased.

◆ 05: Sarcosus (Sarcosuchus)


In 1997, the largest crocodile fossil in history was found on the Niger River in West Africa and named it "Sarkoskus" General ". Sarcoscos with a total length of 12 meters and a body weight of 8 tons is thought to have supplemented fish and small dinosaurs.

◆ 06: Metoposaurus (Metoposaurus)


Only gigantic crocodiles like Sarcoscos are not predators of prehistoric fish. "Metoposaurus" like a huge salamander with a total length of 3 meters adopted a style to prey on fish and small animals in shallow waters and dwell in a wide area on the earth.

This is a metoposaurus fossil with a total length of 2 meters. Unexpectedly, metoposaurus seems to be closer to frogs and newts than salamanders unlike what it looks like.


◆ 07: Megatherium (Megatherium)


Megatorium, a gigantic creature like bear, is the biggest sloth ever. Megaterium, which inhabited South America in 11 thousand years ago, had an overwhelming massive body that is 6 meters long and nearly three times bigger than the brown bear.

It has a huge nail and is a megaterium with a fine skeleton, though movement is thought to be slow and herbivorous,The theory that it was carnivorousThere is also.


◆ 08: Terror Birds


After the extinction of the dinosaurs, huge birds called "fear birds" embarked on the ground to prey on small animals on the ground on behalf of the dinosaurs. The fearful birds that reigned at the top of the ecosystem with the crocodile had a length of 3 meters and could swallow a medium size dog in a bite.

◆ 09: Megalodon (Megalodon)


"Megalodon" is the biggest shark in history with a total length of 3 times the weight of the white shark and a weight of 30 times. It is megarodon thought to have predisposed whales, but it is believed to have been extinct in the middle of the Pliocene (about 6 million to about 2 million years ago). Since the skeleton is made of cartilage, it is rare to be excavated as a fossil.

The biggest brown object in the center of the image is the megalodon teeth and the other teeth belong to the sharks currently living on the earth. Comparing tooth size, you can well imagine how megarodon was huge.


◆ 10: Titanoboa (Titanoboa)


The biggest snake "Titanova" in history was inhabited 60 million years ago. The total length is 14.8 meters and the weight is 1 ton or more. Titanova is an ancestor and boa's ancestor and it is believed that even crocodes were swallowed. Because snakes can not adjust their temperature themselves, Titanovoir is prosperous only in a mild period of mild climate and is thought to be extinct as climate change.