zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 #1 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Giant Sloth The giant ground sloth (Megatherium) was one of the enormous creatures that thrived during the ice ages. Looking a little bit like an oversized hamster it probably fed on leaves found on the lower branches of trees or bushes. The largest of these ground sloths was Megatherium which grew to the size of a modern elephant with a weight over five tons. Giant Crocodile The prehistoric Sarcosuchus (pronounced SAR-koh-SOO-kiss, and meaning "flesh crocodile", nicknamed the SuperCroc) from the early Cretaceous of Africa is one of the largest giant crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. It was almost twice as long as the largest modern crocodile, and weighed up to 10 times as much. Giant Squid Giant squid, once believed to be mythical creatures, are squid of the Architeuthidae family, represented by as many as eight species of the genus Architeuthis. They are deep-ocean dwelling squid that can grow to a tremendous size: recent estimates put the maximum size at 10 m (34 ft) for males and 13 m (44 ft) for females from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the Colossal Squid at an estimated 14 m, one of the largest living organisms). The mantle length, though, is only about 2 m (7 ft) in length (more for females, less for males), and the length of the squid excluding its tentacles is about 5 m (16 ft). There were reported claims of specimens of up to 20 m (66 ft), but none had been scientifically documented. On September 30, 2004, researchers from the National Science Museum of Japan and the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association took the first images of live giant squid in their natural habitat. The photos were released a year later. Giant Spider The Megarachne a giant mygalomorph spider(‘tarantula’) and, with its body length of 339 mm, the largest known spider ever to have lived on Earth. Giant Komodo The giant Komodo (Megalania) is an extinct giant monitor lizard. It was one of the megafauna that roamed southern Australia, and appears to have become extinct around 40,000 years ago. Once thought to belong to a distinct genus called Megalania prisca (which means “ancient giant butcher”), it is now recognized as a species in the genus Varanus, which encompases all monitor lizards. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia may have encountered living Megalania. Megalania was a giant lizard, reaching lengths of 5 to 6 metres (about 17 to 20 feet). Megalania was the largest lizard that ever lived, and was a fearsome predator, with heavily built limbs and body and a solid skull full of short blade-teeth. Due to its size and similarities to the Komodo Dragon, a relationship between the two species has been suggested. In reality however Megalania's closest relative is the perentie, Australia's largest extant lizard. Giant Flying Dino The giant flying dinosaur Quetzalcoatlus, named after the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America (Campanian - Maastrichtian stages, 84-65 ma), and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a group of advanced toothless pterosaurs. Skeletal remains of two species have been recovered from the Big Bend Region of Texas; the larger of the two (Q. northropi) had an estimated wingspan of up to 12m (39 feet). There is still considerable debate as to the upper limit of Quetzalcoatlus wingspans. The largest remains, on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota, are somewhat scrappy, and may indicate an individual with a wingspan as large as 18m (59 feet). Such a wingspan, however, may violate fundamental structural limits imposed on biological fliers; some scientists favor a wingspan closer to 9m (30 feet) in light of these arguments. The largest Pteranodon individuals with 6 metre (20 foot) wingspans were once thought to represent the size limit in biological fliers before the discovery of Quetzacoatlus, so the matter is clearly still open Saber Tooth Cat Smilodon (Greek: "Knife-Tooth") is an extinct genus of large machairodontine saber-toothed cats that are understood to have lived between approximately 3 million to 10,000 years ago in North and South America. They are the only known successors to Machairodus. Smilodon means knife tooth, an entirely appropriate name given its enormous fangs. The smilodon species are also known as Saber-Toothed Cats (which is imprecise because there are other, unrelated saber-toothed "cats") or Saber-Toothed Tigers (which is inaccurate, as they were not tigers) A fully-grown Smilodon weighed approximately 200 kilograms (450 pounds) and had a short tail, powerful legs and a large head. About the size of a lion, smilodon was extremely powerful. Its jaws could open 120 degrees. Its fangs were about 17 cm (7 inches) long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAMURAI-X Posted June 14, 2006 #2 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Isn't there a legend that the gaint komodo is still alive in australia? Wouldn't want to run into that guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paquetboy1 Posted June 14, 2006 #3 Share Posted June 14, 2006 I like the crocidile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celumnaz Posted June 14, 2006 #4 Share Posted June 14, 2006 The Megarachne a giant mygalomorph spider(‘tarantula’) and, with its body length of 339 mm, the largest known spider ever to have lived on Earth. If I saw a spider with a "Body" over a foot long I'd probably have a heart attack, easy meal. With legs and all that would be like 20 inches... pretty dang big! ew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #5 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Isn't there a legend that the gaint komodo is still alive in australia? Wouldn't want to run into that guy. never heard of that one...have any stories about that subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #6 Share Posted June 14, 2006 If I saw a spider with a "Body" over a foot long I'd probably have a heart attack, easy meal. With legs and all that would be like 20 inches... pretty dang big! ew LoL...come on, you cant be serius, or are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Propellerhead Posted June 14, 2006 #7 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Why is it that in the past all living animals were supersized?...i do not understant why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celumnaz Posted June 14, 2006 #8 Share Posted June 14, 2006 LoL...come on, you cant be serius, or are you? haha well... I dunno till it happens Thinking about how it could probably drag me across a room... seen spiders take on some pretty big things comparitively... And then seen the regular ones jump... dang... one that big... Even if I didn't have a heart attack, I'd probably still have to change my chonies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #9 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Why is it that in the past all living animals were supersized?...i do not understant why... Well im not an expert on that subject, but i think it was that in that era the bigger the better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoszerg Posted June 14, 2006 #10 Share Posted June 14, 2006 LoL...come on, you cant be serius, or are you? here you go http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...cial_s%26sa%3DN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandricius Posted June 14, 2006 #11 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Why is it that in the past all living animals were supersized?...i do not understant why... Your question is a good one...and has not been answered. Some say that it had to do with the food quality - and some say it was a defense against predators. ...both are guesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverinno Posted June 14, 2006 #12 Share Posted June 14, 2006 When you look at things, not all dinosaurs were big. Life started off small, and as time went on and the world become poplulated with life. What is happening is how well they adapt to their surrounds and how evolution changes them. The Earth's climate is always changing in order for the animals to survive they need to adapt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #13 Share Posted June 14, 2006 When you look at things, not all dinosaurs were big. Life started off small, and as time went on and the world become poplulated with life. What is happening is how well they adapt to their surrounds and how evolution changes them. The Earth's climate is always changing in order for the animals to survive they need to adapt. She did not mean dinosaurs only, she meant all living creatures, not only dinosaurs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avinash_Tyagi Posted June 14, 2006 #14 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Possibly it had something to do with the plants, which allowed the herbivores to grow bigger, which in turn allowed the carnivores to grow bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #15 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Possibly it had something to do with the plants, which allowed the herbivores to grow bigger, which in turn allowed the carnivores to grow bigger. Good theory...but what exactly was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle john Posted June 14, 2006 #16 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Arctodus simus (Cope-1897), the Short Faced Bear, became extinct approx 11,000 years ago. This individual died approx 28,000 years ago and was found in Alaska. Other specimens have been found in several locations from Mexico to Alaska. These bears were extremely large and weight estimates have been in excess of 1300 lbs. It is thought that they could have easily hunted man and is considered the largest predatory mammal to have roamed the earth. This specimen was approximately five feet at the hip and stood about 12 feet tall. We are grateful to the Babiarz Institute of Paleontological Studies for the opportunity to cast this individual. The photo shown here was taken at one of our exhibits. Post-cranium parts available. Please inquire. Our standerd mounts are shown on the left. As with all of our skeletons, custom mounting is available, please enquire. See Associated Products Below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nxt2Hvn Posted June 14, 2006 #17 Share Posted June 14, 2006 (edited) haha well... I dunno till it happens Thinking about how it could probably drag me across a room... seen spiders take on some pretty big things comparitively... And then seen the regular ones jump... dang... one that big... Even if I didn't have a heart attack, I'd probably still have to change my chonies... I'd be right there with you Celumnaz!!!.... I am terrified of spiders oh... and Camel Crickets... I swear those things are not of this world... (if you look closely.. they do resemble the aliens in the break room on the movie Men In Black) - Camel Cricket - Men In Black Alien And I know they will not hurt me... but boy can they make me hurt myself!!! Edited June 14, 2006 by Nxt2Hvn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle john Posted June 14, 2006 #18 Share Posted June 14, 2006 (edited) The huge Indricotheres “Indrik beast” of the Oligocene were the largest land mammals ever to have lived standing 4.5 meters at the shoulder and weighing 15 tons. They were just larger than the Colombian mammoth, and the largest of the Deinotheres. Although they are members of the running rhino family, they became adapted to browsing the tops of trees like modern giraffes. Their whole body was stretched upwards to do this, with very long legs and a long neck. They roamed across most of Eurasia, the largest being found in Mongolia The fossils show that males were slightly bigger than females, with slightly more domed and reinforced skulls, suggesting that the males fought rather like modern giraffes. 00 years ago). Edited June 14, 2006 by uncle john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogfish Posted June 14, 2006 #19 Share Posted June 14, 2006 (edited) Megafauna mainly existed in the Continent of Autstralia, although some did exist in N. America. The Denziens of the Deep are missing! Where's kronosaurus, Basilisaurus, Liopleurodon, Megalodon, Xiphactinus, and the others? Edited June 14, 2006 by frogfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Posted June 14, 2006 #20 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Why is it that in the past all living animals were supersized?...i do not understant why... Lots of animals from the past were a lot bigger than the ones we see today, but not all of them. There have been many different small animals, even in the age of the dinosaurs, they just aren't well heard of. In the future, there will most definetely be a return of giant animals. After the extinction of the dinosaurs, only the smaller animals survived as they required less nutrition (which meant mammals became very successful), so almost all life on Earth at the moment evolved from the smallest animals of that period. Also one more reason why animals in the past have been bigger is the smaller supply of oxygen. More oxygen = bigger animals, and during different periods of the Earth's history there have been much larger amounts of oxygen than we have today. So yeah, there have been many different animals in the past (big and small), and in the future there will be many more big and small animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarvirus Posted June 14, 2006 Author #21 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Lots of animals from the past were a lot bigger than the ones we see today, but not all of them. There have been many different small animals, even in the age of the dinosaurs, they just aren't well heard of. In the future, there will most definetely be a return of giant animals. After the extinction of the dinosaurs, only the smaller animals survived as they required less nutrition (which meant mammals became very successful), so almost all life on Earth at the moment evolved from the smallest animals of that period. Also one more reason why animals in the past have been bigger is the smaller supply of oxygen. More oxygen = bigger animals, and during different periods of the Earth's history there have been much larger amounts of oxygen than we have today. So yeah, there have been many different animals in the past (big and small), and in the future there will be many more big and small animals. I see, but why in the present there arent any giagantic animals like the dinosars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogfish Posted June 14, 2006 #22 Share Posted June 14, 2006 I see, but why in the present there arent any giagantic animals like the dinosars? Because the environment today cannot support such large terrestial animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitSith Posted July 8, 2006 #23 Share Posted July 8, 2006 I found one, they say that the Teratorn only died off slowly, after the megafauna. I guess after their were no more herds of giants to eat. Giant birds of prey, the Argentinian Teratorn (argentavis magnificens),were as large as a man, weighing 170 - 200 lbs but with wingspans of over twenty-five feet and individual wing feather lengths as long as five feet, flew within recorded history. A twenty-five foot plus wing size would limit such a bird to more open areas such as the South American pampas or the North American great plains (Thunderbirds), as maneuverability around trees and shrubs would seem difficult. Feather size is estimated to have been 1.5 meters long (60 inches); and 20 centimeters wide (8 inches), I wonder why no one has put it together that the megafauna flourished in the Ice Age when their was obviously more land mass for them to roam on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogfish Posted July 8, 2006 #24 Share Posted July 8, 2006 megafauna flourished in the Ice Age when their was obviously more land mass for them to roam on. That's not a reason Many Megafauna where held to Australia, which was isolated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitSith Posted July 8, 2006 #25 Share Posted July 8, 2006 Although megafauna were abundant in Austrailia they were a world wide phenomenon, they still are in Africa and southern Asia. Even on isolated islands, Madagascar had its giant lemurs and in the UK the giant elk. It just seems to me that with more land to spread out in there was more room to grow... Kind of like a gold fish or an iguana, keep them in a smaller tank and they will stay small for years, but as soon as you move them to a bigger area they start to grow. I'm not saying that is happened all at once, but over generations. When the sea level rose and land mass smaller, competition for food drove the larger animals, who needed more nourishment, into extinction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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