‘Leviathan Whale’ bigger than megalodon and 122ft Patagotitan heavier than FIVE buses – Earth’s gigantic lost creatures
TODAY’S mega-fauna, Earth’s largest animals, pale in comparison to the giants that used to roam the Earth.
Though that is likely welcome news to most of us humans.
Leviathan Whale
The great Leviathan Whale has been likened to the ‘Jaws’ of the Miocene Epoch.
After finding fossil remains in Peru, experts believe the Leviathan Whale inhabited the southeastern Pacific Ocean some 13 million years ago.
The Peruvian specimen is the only known remains of the Leviathan, a gigantic beast with teeth nearly the size of a 2-litre bottle of Coca Cola.
Based on the size of the 3metre (10ft) long skull, experts reckon the Leviathan had a body length of between 13 and 16metres (45 and 60ft).
The mouth alone was approximately 6ft long and 4ft wide – three times the size a killer whale’s mouth, and large enough to fit an adult human.
While it’s head and skeleton is similar to the modern sperm whale, it’s teeth are much larger and were found to be up to 14inches long – more than double the size of a T-Rex’s gnashers.
The diet of this sea beast is not clear.
Thought its robust snout and massive lower and upper teeth suggest it feasted on prey larger and tougher than squid.
Patagotitan
The Patagotitan weighed in at around 70tons – the equivalent of around five buses.
It ate its way through towering forests in today’s Patagonia about 100 to 95million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.
This 122ft herbivore belongs to a group known as titanosaurs, which are known for their colossal size.
It is one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered.
Its thigh bone, or femur, alone was 2.38m long – far taller than the average human.
How or why the Patagotitan vanished is unknown, with their extinction predating the infamous extinction-level meteor strike by about 34million years.
Spinosaurus
The Spinosaurus is understood to be the longest carnivorous dinosaur to have roamed the land, stretching an enormous 14metres from head to tail.
That’s around three times the length of an African elephant, and more than 20 per cent heavier.
The 7.5ton creature scampered around Earth between 95 and 70million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period.
It is well characterised by the large sail-like hump on its back, which experts believe could have been used for mating displays, body temperature regulation or even the intimidation of other animals.
While it was largely a land-roamer, it’s possible the Spinosaurus had a semi-aquatic life, hunting for fish while fully submerged in water.
Although this idea has been contested by some scientists.
The Spinosaurus died out 30million years before the T-Rex showed up.
It’s unclear exactly how they perished, as some paleontologists believe a flood wiped them out, while others say it was a drought.
Titanboa
If you’re afraid of snakes, avert your eyes – because this is the biggest of the bunch.
Due to the fragility of snake bones, little is known about the long-extinct Titanboa, or Titanoboa cerrejonensis.
What remains of the beast suggests it could have been a snake between 45 and 50ft long, with the thickest part of its body coming up to a human’s waist.
The Titanboa knew a version of the Earth, where the Amazon rainforest now resides, that was incredibly swampy.
During this period around 58 to 60million years ago, known as the Paleocene era, it rained more than 150 inches of rain per year, compared with 80 inches for the Amazon now.
This giant snake reigned a few million years after the fall of the dinosaurs, which were wiped out by a cataclysmic asteroid strike.
It was this blast that birthed the tropical rainforests along the equator that exist today.
The Titanboa, revered as the largest snake to have ever lived, thrived alongside other enormous species like 13-foot crocodiles and 8-foot turtles.