Five Huge Extinct Versions Of Cute Animals

Huge Extinct Versions Of Adorable Animals - We have covered the topic of gigantic animals before, looking at ancient and terrifying huge versions of snakes and scary carnivorous reptiles. Now we’re going to take a look at ordinary animals that don’t usually make people feel afraid. From adorable pigs to thursty camels, there used to be giant versions of all these animals. No matter how cute their relatives are today, the giant versions are the things of nightmares.

Pigs

oddmygod.com -  Pigs can either be adorable house pets or when riled up dangerous killing machines. Tiny potbellies became the trendiest pet in 2010, when everyone from Victoria Beckham to Paris Hilton was rumored to own a mini-pig. On the other hand, domesticated hogs can be dangerous. In 2012, an Oregon farmer was eaten by his pigs. Pigs are an animal that can easily revert back to their wild state after only a few months of being feral. Tusks will grow, the pigs will get hairy, and they will begin to act extremely aggressive. Pigs will eat anything, making them true survivors, and can weigh over 454 kilograms (1,000 lbs). The largest wild boar doesn’t grow quite as huge, at 272 kilograms (600 lbs) and 213 centimeters (7 ft) in length, but is more dangerous.

Coming face to face with an angry wild boar would be terrifying, but imagine what it’d be like to come up against one that is 365 centimeters (12 ft) long, almost 2 meters (6 ft) tall, and carrying an incredible 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs). Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that today, but if you had a time machine and went back 5–23 million years ago, you could go head to head with the daeodon. The daeodon was one of the largest entelodont artiodactyls that has ever lived. Complete with tusks and giant crushing jaws, these omnivorous monsters were the size of rhinos and perhaps more vicious than their wild hog decedents. The name daeodon comes from its previous name of Dinohyus, which translates from Greek to “terrible pig.” Yikes.

Wombats

oddmygod.com -  Australia is home to all kinds of unique and bizarre creatures. One of the cutest is the wombat. It’s a large and chubby marsupial that lives in Australia and nearby islands. They have a little pouch where their still developing babies mature after being born. Wombats are burrowing animals that grow up to 119 centimeters (47 in) long and weigh a maximum of 36 kg (80 lbs), but these nocturnal tunnel dwellers used to be much, much larger. Their ancestors, the diprotodon, were the largest marsupials to roam the planet.

Diprotodons would have dwarfed their modern descendants, growing up to 170 centimeters (5’7″) to their shoulders, 305 centimeters (10 ft) long, and weighing in at a whopping 2,500 kilograms (2.75 tons). To put that in perspective, that’s a little heftier than modern white rhinos. Their pouches were big enough to fit a grown man. You wouldn’t want to come across a mob of those guys. Roaming Australia’s forests and scrub land, they certainly did not burrow in the ground they instead made their homes among the vegetation that made up most of their diet. These giants went extinct around 25,000 to 45,000 years ago, although they first came on the map 1.6 million years ago. They were preyed upon by another giant animal, a 6-meter (20-ft) prehistoric lizard, the megalania.

Platypus

oddmygod.com -  Another odd animal hailing from Australia’s previously isolated land is the platypus. By all appearances, it is one of the strangest animals alive today. When confronted with stories of the platypus before its official discovery, scientists thought it was a joke an egg-laying, beaver-tailed, duck-billed, poisonous otter. Oh, it’s also a mammal. Only the males are venomous, having a spur on their back feet. Modern platypuses are carnivores. Including their tail, they can grow up to 51 centimeters (21 in) in length and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3 lbs).

Even these bizarre creatures had a megafauna ancestor. Obdurodon lived in northern Australia and there were several kinds. The Obdurodon tharalkooschild was over 91 centimeters (3 ft) long. The oldest evidence of platypuses dates back 26 million years, but they are thought to have thrived 5–15 million years ago. These beasts are known to have inhabited the Riversleigh area of Australia during the early Miocene epoch. The landscape is thought to have caves, waterways, rainforests, and spacious forests. The giant platypus had teeth and probably ate a wider variety of food than modern platypuses, perhaps including big fish and frogs. Other giant platypuses are thought to have lived in South America, going extinct around 61 million years ago. A limited fossil record has scientists still curious about these ancient beasts.

Andean Condor

oddmygod.com -  Andean condors are one of the largest flying birds in the world. They are named after their range, which stretches the mountainous Andes, the vast region of Patagonia, and the coast of South America. These massive birds have wingspans of 305 centimeters (10 ft) and have to carry a weight of 15 kilograms (33 lbs). Condors glide through the air searching for carcasses to scavenge for their vulture carnivore diet. Andean condors perch on rocky cliffs, as the wind that is whipped up in these areas helps to carry their weight. These hygienic and healthy birds have been recorded to live well into their 70s. While they have bald heads, their feathers change in hue in response to emotional stimuli. These modern giant birds are endangered, but there are a number of projects aiming to protect pockets of their habitats.

The biggest bird ever to soar through the sky was the Argentavis magnificens, whose closest living relative is the Andean condor. Argentinavis were truly gigantic, with a wingspan of 7 meters (23 ft) and weighed up to 70 kilograms (155 lbs). They were the size of some small airplanes and soared on hot air like their Andean condor cousins.

Scientists disagree whether or not these massive birds were hunters or scavengers. One argument is that they swallowed small animals like rabbits whole, a theory supported by the fossil record. Other experts suggest that their size and lack of maneuvering skills in the air indicates that they’d have little success when hunting, meaning they’d need to scavenge to support their dietary needs. These scary ancient version of the modern condor, who also lived in South America’s Patagonia region, went extinct some 6 million years ago.

Camels

oddmygod.com -  Camels are ubiquitous in deserts, where they’ve been used as transport animals for thousands of years. They have a remarkable ability to survive 4–5 days without food and water due to the huge deposits of fat in their humps. There are multiple species of camels, some with two humps and others with one. Camels live in hot climates, but they don’t sweat they hold their water in their fat for when it’s needed most. The other major benefit of having so much fat in one place means that they are less insulated, allowing them to stay cool in hot weather. They consume huge amounts of water at a time, upwards of 189 liters (50 gal) when thirsty. Camels are not small creatures, and if you’ve ever seen one run, you know they are hilarious to watch when they gallop. The camels of today vary in weight between 400-1,000 kilograms (900–2,200 lbs) but all of them are between 167–198 centimeters (5’6″–6’6″) in height.

Modern camels are nothing compared to their biggest camel ancestors, though. The Syrian camel lived 100,000 years ago and was discovered deep in the Syrian desert by Swiss scientists. This giant camel would tower over its modern day relatives at a whopping 365 centimeters (12 ft) tall. The area they roamed used to be savanna and was also inhabited by ancient people who hunted these giant dromedary (one-humped) camels. It’s unknown whether they co-existed with Neanderthals or Homo sapiens, as only a few bones have been found so far. As more fossils become uncovered, the mystery of the giant Syrian camel and the evolution of modern camels will become clearer.

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