Most Terrifying Animals in Existence:Sometimes distinguishing between furry cuteness and pure destruction is not an easy task. In fact, many of the animals kingdom’s cutest critters also happen to be its most prolific killers. You think that cute little puffer fish is adorable? Will you hold your breath as you reach to pet it? The answer is yes. Forever. So keep that in mind as you read through our list of the worlds most dangerous animals.
Most Terrifying Animals in Existence
1.Titanoboa
Meet Titanoboa: She’s longer than a bus, eats crocodiles for breakfast and makes modern anacondas look like a garter snakes.
If the movie Anaconda terrified you (and not because of J.Lo’s acting), you might want to skip this one. Simply put, Titanoboa is the largest snake that ever existed. It grew over 40 feet long and could weigh up to 2,500 pounds.
To put things in perspective,
that’s almost as much as a grown giraffe weighs. Titanoboa appeared not long after the dinosaurs went extinct, perhaps filling a niche left open by the disappearance of the world’s former top predators.
But had Titanoboa and the dinosaurs coexisted, here’s how a battle between the massive snake and a T. rex might have went:
2.Liopleurodon
Liopleurodon is a genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of the short-necked plesiosaurs. Two species of Liopleurodon, L. ferox and L. pachydeirus, lived during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic Period (c. 160 million to 150 million years ago mya), while the third, L. rossicus, lived during the Late Jurassic. It was an apex predator of the Middle to Late Jurassic seas that covered Europe.
3.Sarcosuchus
Sarcosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of the Gavialidae that lived 112 million years ago. It dates from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now Africa and South America and is one of the largest crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. It was almost twice as long as the modern saltwater crocodile and weighed up to 8 tonnes.
4.Mosasaurus
Mosasaurus is a genus of mosasaurs, extinct carnivorous aquatic lizards. It existed during the Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period, between about 70 and 66 million years ago, in western Europe and North America. The name means “Meuse lizard”, as the first specimen was found near the Meuse River (Latin Mosa + Greek sauros lizard).
5.Megalodon
terrifying prehistoric creatures megalodon
Actual megalodon tooth compared to teeth from a great white shark. Image Source: Wikipedia
This enormous, extinct shark species has become one of the most renowned prehistoric predators, perhaps second only to the T. rex.
By far the biggest species of shark to have ever existed, the megalodon is generally thought to have looked similar to the modern great white. However, while a great white shark can grow to be 20 feet long and over 7,000 pounds, megalodon was estimated to be 60 feet in length, weighing anywhere from 50 and 100 metric tons.
Megalodon only died off about 2.6 million years ago. This means that he often interacted with (and by “interacted,” we mean “ate”) animals that are still around today—like giant sea turtles, porpoises, and even whales.
Check out Shark Week’s coverage of the monstrous megalodon:
6.Quetzalcoatlus
terrifying prehistoric creatures quetzal
On the ground, Quetzalcoatlus was about the size of a giraffe. Image Source: Go Pix Pic
Let’s quickly dispel a myth: despite being featured in every dinosaur movie and TV show ever, the pterodactyl was not a dinosaur. It was a pterosaur, a completely different order from dinosaurs. But even the pterodactyl wasn’t the most dangerous thing in the skies. That honor goes to quetzalcoatlus, the largest creature ever to fly.
The problem is that due to poor fossil records, we don’t know exactly how big it was. Modern estimates place its wingspan at around 35 feet (while earlier estimates were much more generous, at over 60 feet).
Weight is even more difficult to measure, but scientists think they weighed between 450 and 550 pounds.
7.Gorgonops
terrifying prehistoric creatures gorgonops
While dinosaurs get all the attention, our planet was full of scary monsters before they ever came along. A prime example is gorgonops, an animal that lived 260 million years ago, way before dinosaurs became the dominant predators. At around six to ten feet in length, gorgonops was a fast and vicious predator, allowed it to rise to the top of the food chain. Of course, it also helped that gorgonops had massive canines so large they nearly protruded beyond its lower jaw.
8.Phorusrhacidae
terrifying prehistoric creatures terror
Reconstruction of a terror bird on the left. Source: Phys.org
Their scientific name is neither particularly intimidating nor easy to remember, so let’s just refer to these large, flightless, carnivorous birds by their colloquial name: terror birds.
They grew to between three and ten feet long, stood up to ten feet tall, could run at speeds of 30 miles per hour, and had a giant, curved beak, like an eagle’s. The only living relative of the terror bird is the seriema, a 35-inch bird that’s about as threatening as a butterfly.
Nevertheless, don’t underestimate the terror bird, a top predator for almost 60 million years.
9.Megatherium
terrifying prehistoric creatures megatherium
Despite its size, megatherium was probably an omnivore or herbivore.
A sloth isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of deadly monsters. But the megatherium was more like the modern sloth’s giant, angry grandpa. It behaved like a sloth, sort of looked like a bear, and was about the size of an elephant.
Unlike an elephant, though, megatherium also had giant claws and could stand on its hind legs to appear even more massive. And unlike all other animals on this list, there’s a pretty strong chance that humans interacted with this monster–megatherium died out as recently as 10,000 years ago.
10.Thalattoarchon
terrifying prehistoric creatures thalatto
Thalattoarchon is the new kid on the block, having only been discovered a few years ago and officially classified as a genus in 2013.
It was an ichthyosaur, another group of marine reptiles commonly and incorrectly believed to be dinosaurs. Thalattoarchon were 28-foot-long apex predators whose massive jaws allowed them to hunt prey almost as big as they were.
With this beast only being discovered five years ago, it begs the question: What other unimaginable beasts lurk beneath the ground and the sea, waiting to be discovered?
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