Homo sapiens is a newcomer to the planet: our Earth is already 4.6 billion years old, and the first humans appeared only 200 thousand years ago. For you to be able to read this text today, our ancestors had to survive among animals that inspired real terror. In our selection - 10 terrible neighbors of primitive man.
Columbus's mammoth
One of the largest mammoths ever to exist on earth, a relative of the more common woolly mammoth. The remains of Colombian mammoths have been found on the way from Canada to Mexico. The famous woolly mammoths left their traces in North Asia, Russia, Canada. Their main difference is that Colombian mammoths were practically not covered with wool, which brings them closer to modern elephants, and their tusks were much larger than those of woolly mammoths.
The growth of Colombian mammoths was approximately 3-4 m, and their weight reached 5-10 tons. Colombian mammoths are the owners of the largest tusks among the elephant family. 3.5 in length, rounded, incredibly strong, they were used to fight all predators, including humans.
Giant sloths
Promotional video:
Today the sloth is one of the cutest creatures, photos with which are gaining millions of "likes" on social networks. Their ancient ancestors did not seem so charming.
Several species of giant sloths are known. Those that lived in the territory of North America were about the size of rhinos, and ancient people may have often dined with them. However, the largest of the giant sloths, megatheia, lived in South Africa about 10,000 years ago and were no less than an elephant in size. About 6 m from head to tail, weighing 4 tons, with sharp teeth and long nails, sloths seemed to be quite formidable animals. Moreover, there is speculation that they were predators.
The last species of giant sloths lived in the Caribbean about 4.2 thousand years ago.
Gigantopithecus
The largest primate ever to stomp the ground. This relative of the orangutans earned its name: the three-meter animal weighed 500 kg and was huge even for the prehistoric world. Interestingly, the gigantopithecus is very similar to the images of the yeti. True, gigantopithecus became extinct 100 thousand years ago. In addition, if then the giant primates did not even think to hide from people, then hardly any of them are now hiding in the highlands, frightening tourists under the guise of Bigfoot.
Gigantopithecus lived on Earth for about 6-9 million years, feeding on the fruits of Southeast Asia. But with climate change, rainforests turned into arid savannas, and gigantopithecus began to die out from lack of food.
Cave hyena
She reached 1 m in height at the shoulders and weighed from 80 to 100 kg. According to calculations based on fossil studies, the cave hyena was able to knock down a 5-year-old mastodon that weighed a ton.
Cave hyenas lived in flocks, sometimes consisting of 30 individuals. This made them stronger hunters: together they could attack a 9-year-old mastodon weighing all 9 tons. Needless to say, a man hardly dreamed of meeting a flock of hungry hyenas.
The population of cave hyenas began to decline 20 thousand years ago and finally disappeared 11-13 thousand years ago. As one of the reasons that influenced the extinction of cave hyenas, scientists suggest the fight with man for the cave space during the last ice age.
Smilodon
An extinct genus of saber-toothed cats, contrary to stereotypes, which has little in common with saber-toothed tigers.
For the first time, saber-toothed cats appeared 42 million years ago. There were many species of them, most of which became extinct even before the appearance of man. However, at least two species of saber-toothed cats could have met primitive man in America. They were about the size of a modern African lion and weighed as much as an Amur tiger.
Smilodon was an incredibly strong animal - he could calmly attack a mammoth. Smilodon used special tactics: at first he waited for prey, imperceptibly approached and attacked swiftly.
Despite its "saber-toothed" nature, smilodon has not the most powerful bite among cats. So, the bite of a modern lion is perhaps three times stronger. But on the other hand, the mouth of Smilodon opened wide by 120 degrees, which is half the capabilities of the current lion.
Dire wolf
No, "terrible" is not an epithet here, but the name of a species of wolves that lived in North America. Dire wolves appeared about a quarter of a million years ago. They are similar to modern gray wolves, but much more resilient. Their length reached 1.5 m, and their weight was about 90 kg.
Dire wolf bite power was 29% stronger than gray wolf bite power. Their main diet was horses. Like many other carnivores, the dire wolf went extinct 10,000 years ago during the last ice age.
American lion
Despite the name "lion", he was closer to the modern panther than to the lion. American lions settled in North America about 330 thousand years ago.
The American lion is the largest known wild cat in history. On average, the individual weighed about 350 kg, was incredibly strong and easily attacked a bison. So even a group of primitive people would not be thrilled to meet one of the American lions. Like previous comrades, American lions became extinct during the last ice age.
Megalania
The largest lizard known to science - lived in Australia and began to disappear about 50 thousand years ago, that is, at the same time as humans began to populate the continent.
The size of megalania is a subject of scientific controversy. According to some sources, its length reached 7 m, but there is an opinion that the average length was about 3.5 m. But not only size is important: megalania was a poisonous lizard. If her victim did not die from blood loss, then she would certainly die from poisoning - in any case, hardly anyone managed to escape from the jaws of megalania alive.
Short-faced bear
One of those types of bears that primitive people could encounter. The ancient bear was about 1.5 meters in the shoulders, but as soon as he stood on his hind legs, he stretched up to 4 m. If this does not sound scary enough, then add the following detail: thanks to the long limbs, the bear developed a speed of up to 64 km / h. This means that Hussein Bolt, whose record is 45 km / h, would easily have gone to him for dinner.
Giant short-faced bears were among the largest carnivores in North America. They appeared about 800 thousand years ago, and died out 11.6 thousand years ago.
Quincans
Land crocodiles appeared quite a long time ago - 1.6 million ago in Australia. The giant ancestors of crocodiles reached 7 m in length. Unlike crocodiles, quincans lived and hunted on land. In this they were helped by long powerful legs to catch up with prey at long distances, and sharp teeth. The fact is that crocodiles use their teeth mainly to grab a victim, drag her water and drown it. The teeth of the land quincana were intended to be mortified, gnawed and literally cut the victim. Quincans became extinct about 50 thousand years ago, having lived about 10 thousand years side by side with primitive man.
Natalya Polytsya