15 Terrifying Prehistoric Animals We’re Glad We Never Had to Encounter

1. Jaekelopterus

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Sea scorpions have roughly the same body structure as land scorpions, except they had paddles, and could grow to about 8 ft… They were top predators in the Middle Devonian period, around 390 millions years ago.

2. Helicoprion

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This isn’t actually a member of the shark family – sharks have pretty much remained the same for the past 400 million years. The helicoprion was a survivor – having lived through the Carboniferous period, the Permian period, and even the largest extinction event in history (where 90% of life was wiped out), and went extinct in the early Triassic period.

3. Fasolasuchus

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This monstrous 33 ft cousin of crocodiles is one of the largest non-dinosaur carnivores to have ever lived. It’s hard to imagine anything hunting a dinosaur, but these were the fellas to do it.

4. Kelenken

Phorosrachids ruled South America some 15 million years ago. Dinosaurs had all died out, and these guys were the new thing about town. They moved on two legs, they were extremely agile, and they could have beaks as long as 18 inches.

5. Therizinosaurus

The killer claws of raptors are nothing compared to those of the therizinosaurus. The 33 ft animals had claws as long as 3 ft. Despite this, the animal was actually mostly herbivorous, so those claws were used for weeding more than anything. Still badass.

6. Sauroniops

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These giants stood tall at a whopping 42 ft. They lived in Morocco around 100 million years ago, and they’re absolutely terrifying!

7. Deinosuchus

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Like its cousin the fasolasuchus, the deinosuchus were crocodiles who hunted dinosaurs. What a world. 42 ft long and always ready to strike, the Texas natives were around, kicking ass, around 80 million years ago.

8. Dunkleosteus

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Okay, this is insane. The dunkleosteus, with its guillotine-like mouth actually had no teeth. Those blades you see were actually a part of their skull. They were over 30 ft, and hunted sharks for about 20 million years.

9. Livyatan

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Named after Leviathan, these enormous whales were fearsome shark hunters. With teeth up to 1 ft long they were ruthless, unstoppable beasts. They were an outrageous 57 ft long. They conquered the megalodons, who ruled the sea for millions of years. They were badass.

10. Mosasaurus

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The Late Cretaceous period may very well have been the most dangerous for ocean dwellers, and its precisely because of these guys. Mosasaurus was one of the largest aquatic predators that had ever evolved, at over 60 ft long. They didn’t just hunt sharks, they hunted pretty much anything they could lock their jaws on (and they could pretty much lock their jaws on anything)

11. Deinotherium

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These are the largest prehistoric relative of modern-day elephants. They arrived in the Middle Miocene and survived until the Early Pleistocene, changing very little along the way. Their remains were discovered at major hominid excavation sites near Lake Turkana, Kenya. They’re also known as “hoe tuskers”.

12. Epidexipteryx

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These are the earliest known representation of ornamental feathers in the fossil record. They were a genus of small paravian dinosaurs.

13. Hallucigenia

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These were less than 3 millimeters long, and had bulbous round heads connected to their cylindrical trunk. It was initially thought to walk on its spines, but it was later discovered that its tentacles were feet.

14. Tanystropheus

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Tanystropheus is the Greek word for “long necked one”. They were 20 feet long, with a narrow neck that was often longer than its body and neck combined. They emerged in the Middle Triassic period.

15. Opabinia

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These are one of the most bizarre creatures to have ever existed. They had 30 legs, 30 flippers, a nose like an elephant’s trunk, and a lobster-like claw. There were no signs that they had jaws, so they presumably fed on small, soft creatures.