What did the world look like in those days when man did not yet exist? modern people judged by films like "Park Jurassic" However, cinema does not always show real pictures to please the viewer. Nature and fauna have changed a lot over many centuries, and not every animal of those times can be recognized as a predecessor modern species, and some even look like horror movie characters. Sometimes, looking at ancient extinct animals, one feels sincere joy because the animals that filled the planet thousands and millions of years ago do not live in the neighborhood.
Thanks to paleontologists and geneticists, people can now see the restored appearance of many extinct species and even learn details about their existence and habits, body structure and life expectancy. 3D models have been created showing prehistoric monsters, predators and harmless animals, forever lost in the process of evolution.
The most big birds Sanders' pelargonis have been capable of flight throughout the history of the Earth. The wingspan of representatives of this prehistoric appearance reached up to 7.4 m.
The fossil remains of these birds were discovered not so long ago: in 1983, during the construction of the next airport terminal in South Carolina. Restored in detail appearance and described pelargonis only by 2014. The name of the fossil animal was given in honor of Albert Sanders, an employee of the local museum who led the excavations.
After scientists created, based on fossilized remains, computer model, it turned out that the weight of the ancient giant bird could be about 40 kg. With such parameters, Pelargonis Sanders did not have the ability to take off from level ground, so it had to take off by jumping down from sharp slopes. It was most likely impossible to even flap the wings during flight with such parameters, and the flight involved gliding along oncoming air flows. It was feathered sea predator, flying at a speed of 60 km/h and grabbing fish and squid swimming on the surface of the sea with its powerful paws.
The time when such ancient birds could be found everywhere on Earth dates back to 25 million years ago. It is believed that the last representative disappeared from the face of the planet 4 million years ago. Unfortunately, eggs and feathers of the Sanders pelargonis could not be found, although it is possible that this will be possible in the coming years, since active excavations are underway in the area where the remains of the extinct bird were dug up.
Eat special forms irrational fears such as arachnophobia and insectophobia. People belonging to the first group are afraid of spiders, and representatives of the second group experience panic fear in front of insects. It’s hard to even imagine how horrified they would be if they met Ephoberia, a prehistoric centipede that did not survive evolutionary progress.
This ancient centipede lived in Europe and North America, where it was quite common. Scientists are still arguing about its weight, but its body length was almost a meter. A huge arthropod moving all its legs at the same time was not a picture for the faint of heart: having suddenly encountered such a meter-long monster, modern man I could not only acquire a couple of new phobias, but also go completely crazy.
Zoologists have not decided whether Ephoberia can be considered a predator. Its modern relatives are much more modest in size (about 25 cm in length) and feed on bats, birds and snakes. It is likely that this ancient centipede ate reptiles or even mammals, but it is also possible that this creature behaved harmlessly and fed molds or small plants.
Another ancient extinct monster belongs to the order of scorpions. The name pulmonoscorpius is translated from Latin as “breathing scorpion.” The remains of this prehistoric animal were first found in 1994 in Great Britain. He lived here about 300-330 million years ago.
Dimensions adult reached 0.7-1 m. It had a poisonous sting on its tail impressive size, which contained a decent amount of toxin. Such a concentration of poison can kill a fairly large enemy, so meeting such a scorpion looking for prey meant inevitable death. The favorite delicacy of the extinct predator were frogs and lizards, which he tore into pieces with the help of powerful claws on his forelimbs. The pulmonoscorpius itself was reliably protected by a dense and thick shell, due to which it had few enemies capable of resisting or repelling the monster.
The restored appearance of an ancient prehistoric scorpion looks so impressive that it was made one of characters British popular science series “Prehistoric Park”, which aroused great interest among viewers.
Learning the history of individual ancient species that disappeared from the face of the earth, you begin to realize what damage the appearance of man caused to nature. A sad fate befell the flightless bird species, the dodo. These pigeon-like creatures lived serenely on the island of Mauritius, where they had plenty of plant food.
Adult dodos grew up to 1.2 m and weighed 50 kg. They couldn’t fly with such a decent weight, but they didn’t need it, because natural enemies they didn’t have any on the island, but the birds ate overripe fruits falling to the ground from the trees. They also built nests for living and raising chicks on the ground, since there were no predators in Mauritius at the time of their existence.
Everything changed in the 17th century, when Europeans arrived on the island. They tried dodo meat, and it turned out to be very tender and tasty, so all the ships sailing past Mauritius stopped here to replenish the provisions on the ship. Since dodos were very clumsy and slow, they could not escape from hunters, and people just had to walk up and hit the bird on the head to kill it. In addition, dodos were curious and extremely trusting, so they themselves approached people holding out fruit to them.
In addition to people, dogs that had escaped from ships began to attack them, and cats and rats, feeding on eggs and chicks, began to destroy their nests. This caused a rapid decline in the number of defenseless animals, which soon completely disappeared from the planet.
One of the largest extinct warm-blooded animals, Paraceratherium, did not abuse its size and was distinguished by its friendly disposition. He lived in ancient tropical thickets about 300 million years ago. From an evolutionary perspective, it was nature's experiment in protecting itself from predators through terrifying size. While the most large predators At that time they barely reached 2 m, Paraceratherium grew up to 5 m in height and 7.3 m in length. The body weight of this ancient animal, according to paleontologists, was 15-20 tons.
To feed itself, Paraceratherium had to constantly chew leaves and grass, which formed the basis of its diet. The ancient animal was in many ways reminiscent of dinosaurs that had become extinct by that time, but had one significant difference: dinosaurs had a tail to balance their huge bodies when walking. Paraceratherium did not have a tail, but the balancing function was taken over by powerful neck muscles, which made its entire appearance stocky. These warm-blooded giants most often lived in small families, and the females took care of the offspring, and the males protected their family from possible danger.
The extinction of the ancient warm-blooded animal was caused by the spread of the ancestors of elephants across the Earth, trampling and knocking down those trees that served Paraceratherium as food. Due to lack of food, the species gradually reduced its numbers until it completely disappeared.
This ancient creature is considered the largest of the flying animals of the prehistoric world, although it belongs not to birds, but to reptiles. Quetzalcoatlus appeared approximately 70 million years ago, and its remains were discovered in North America.
Paleontologists have long tried to determine its wingspan. This caused difficulties due to the fact that the found remains could not be assembled into a single model, since only individual fragments of the skeleton were discovered. At first it was decided that the wingspan reached 15 m, but after detailed studies this figure was reduced to 12 m. For comparison: many jet aircraft have such a wingspan modern aircraft. Quetzalcoatlus weighed 250 kg.
Scientists believe that the main food of this ancient extinct monster was small vertebrates and carrion, but when hungry, it could catch a 30-kilogram baby dinosaur. It’s good that quetzalcoatls did not survive to this day, otherwise they could easily carry away human children.
The dangerous and cruel extinct predator was the ancestor of modern domestic cats. Xenosmilus was a large saber-toothed cat, reaching 2 m in length. Elegance and grace were present in this species no less than in modern pets, but their disposition was completely different.
The feeding habits of these prehistoric animals can be judged by the characteristic shape of their teeth. The upper sharp fangs had special notches, which indicate to paleontologists that the xenosmilus did not kill its prey, as felines do now, from domestic cats to lions, but while alive, it quickly gnawed out a huge piece of meat from the doomed animal. The cruel predator began to slowly eat this piece, while the unfortunate victim died nearby from loss of blood and pain, writhing in convulsions.
Europe is favorite place holiday for millions of tourists from all over the world. Their number would be much smaller if Meganeura, a dragonfly-like animal that lived here about 300 million years ago, had survived there to this day. This type is considered the most large insects throughout the history of the Earth. The wingspan of this flying relic was 70 cm, and during the flight the strong noise of this natural “helicopter” could be heard from afar.
Meganeura was a predatory animal that ate not only insects that were smaller in size, but also amphibians. No less interesting were its larvae, which lived on the ground and attacked small animals in order to provide themselves with the protein necessary for rapid development.
Since the discovery of this extinct insect species, scientists have been interested in the question: why can’t modern insects reach this size?
The explanation for this is quite simple: hemolymph, an analogue of mammalian blood, cannot carry oxygen to the organs of insects.
Oxygen nutrition in these animals occurs through the trachea, which does not work intensively enough. IN Carboniferous period the proportion of oxygen in the air was much higher than now, so oxygen could quickly reach even the deep layers of the body, but now this mechanism, due to the changed composition of the atmosphere, no longer works, so insects need to be small to survive.
Titanoboa
An extinct relative of the modern boa constrictor is Titanoboa, the largest prehistoric snake that lived on Earth 60 million years ago. Its dimensions are impressive: length 15 m and weight about a ton, which is twice the parameters of a modern reticulated python. Titanoboa lived in a hot climate at 30-35°C. Its habitats were the coasts of water bodies, since the basis of the diet of this prehistoric animal was fish.
Paleontologists around the world paid a lot of attention to the study of Titanoboa, which resulted in the development of the current mechanical model animal. This model was presented to the public at Grand Central Station in New York in 2012, which aroused great interest among ordinary people, taking pictures en masse against the backdrop of a huge snake.
Ancient animals of the Earth are animals that became extinct for some natural reasons before the appearance of humans. They are sometimes called prehistoric animals. Some of them continued to exist even after the advent of humanity and became extinct through our fault.
The dodo or dodo is a large flightless bird. Its modern relatives are birds of the order Pigeonidae. At one time, dodos densely populated the island of Mauritius, ate plant foods, and the female dodo laid a single egg directly on the ground. The dodo disappeared only in the 17th century due to the fault of people and the animals they brought to the island.
The most famous ancient animals on Earth are mammoths. This species of elephant lived on our planet about 1.5 million years ago. Judging by the fossil remains, mammoths were larger than their modern relatives and their body was covered with wool. Mammoths ate exclusively plant foods and were desirable prey for primitive hunters. There is no consensus on why mammoths became extinct.
Smilodon or Saber-toothed tiger disappeared from the surface of our planet more than 2 million years ago. Smilodon was larger than modern tigers, and the long saber-shaped fangs on the upper jaw allowed it to hunt thick-skinned rhinoceroses and elephants.
Giant ground sloth Megatherium lived about 2 million years ago on the American continent. The length of his body was 6 meters. Megatherium fed on the shoots of young trees, bending them to the ground with long front paws equipped with curved claws.
Another large flightless bird of antiquity with strong three-meter hind limbs is the moa. Moa lived in New Zealand until the 17th century and were completely destroyed by people.
The bird apiornis, also not flying, weighed up to 450 kilograms, and its height reached 3 meters. According to assumptions, the eggs of these birds could weigh up to 10 kilograms. Back in the 19th century, apiornis could be seen in Madagascar, but due to deforestation tropical forests and merciless extermination today, these ancient birds have become completely extinct.
Chalicotherium is an ancient animal of the Earth with a horse's head and claws instead of hooves. Scientists attribute it to the order of equids. In attempts to reach a highly located plant foods, chalicotherium could on powerful hind limbs reach a height of 5 meters.
An ancient animal of the Earth that is probably lucky to survive to this day is the marsupial wolf. The body length of this ancient mammal is up to 1 meter, plus the length of its half-meter tail. He lived in Australia, but by the time the continent was discovered by Europeans, it survived only on the island of Tasmania (sometimes the wolf is called Tasmanian). Since the beginning of the 20th century marsupial wolf No one saw him alive, but he is still listed in the Red Book.
And the most mysterious and numerous ancient animals of the Earth are dinosaurs. Their name is translated as “terrible lizards.” For 200 million years they almost everywhere inhabited the earth's land and mysteriously died 60 million years ago. Most probable cause extinction of dinosaurs - a collision of our planet with an asteroid, as a result of which the Earth's climate changed in a manner destructive for dinosaurs.
For many millions of years our planet has been inhabited by living beings, changing and adapting to environment habitats, due to which new species appeared. Most of These creatures remained in the past, having disappeared from the face of the Earth for some natural reasons long before the advent of man. Such living creatures are also called ancient or prehistoric animals.
flickr/James Loesch
However, many representatives of the animal world managed to survive to this day. Moreover, they were able to preserve their original appearance unchanged, the same as it had been for many, many centuries. Such animals are considered true "living fossils", compared to which Homo sapiens, who appeared only about 200,000 years ago, may well be considered an inexperienced "newcomer".
Ants
Ants (lat. Formicidae) are considered the most ancient creatures living on Earth - about 130 million years old.
flickr/Haentjens Raphaël - Macropixels
These insects have managed to survive to this day, practically retaining their original appearance. In addition, ants are also considered one of the smartest and strongest animals on the planet. Probably like this extraordinary abilities and allowed the ants to survive.
Platypuses
The platypus (lat. Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a mammal that belongs to the only modern representative of the platypus family and is one of the most ancient living creatures.
flickr/aus-blick
Although the platypus is classified as a mammal, it has similarities with reptiles. These animals have existed for about 110 million years and during this time they have changed little, maybe just become a little larger. As scientists have established, platypuses lived in South America and from there (by swimming) we reached Australia.
Echidna
Australian echidna (lat. Tachyglossus aculeatus) is another representative (like the platypus) from the order of Monotremes.
flickr/crijnfotin
Externally it resembles a porcupine. There are only 3 genera in the echidnova family, one of which is already extinct. The remaining representatives of two genera (prochidnas and true echidnas) inhabit Australia, the islands of New Guinea, Tasmania and some small Bass Islands. Echidnas, like platypuses, have remained virtually the same over the 110 million years of their existence.
Golden spider
The golden spider (lat. Nephila) is the most ancient spider living on Earth.
flickr/Clicksy
These arthropods appeared on our planet about 165 million years ago. They became famous thanks to their strong and large golden web. The golden weaver is a resident of Australia, Asia, Africa, Madagascar and America.
Hatteria
Hatteria, or tuatara (lat. Sphenodon punctatus) is a medium-sized nocturnal reptile (about 75 cm in length), the only modern representative the oldest order of beaked heads (lat. Sphenodontida).
flickr/f0rbe5
Externally, this lizard looks like a large iguana. Hatterias are very few in number and survive only on some of the small islands of New Zealand. Over the 220 million years of its existence, this ancient inhabitant remained unchanged. It is worth noting that the hatteria loves to live in the same hole with the petrel. When the bird returns “home” to roost for the night, the tuateria goes in search of prey.
Shchiten
The shieldfish (lat. Triopsidae) is a small (from 2-3 to 10-12 cm in length) freshwater crustacean from the branchiopod class.
flickr/Costan E
Its history of existence is quite impressive - it appeared about 220-230 million years ago, i.e. along with dinosaurs. However, despite such an impressive period, shield insects remain poorly studied. Take his nauplial eye, for example - its function is still unknown to this day.
Crocodile
Crocodile (lat. Crocodilia) – ancient reptile from the class of reptiles.
flickr/e_monk
Crocodiles appeared on Earth approximately 250 million years ago (Triassic period) and have remained virtually unchanged since then. We can say that the crocodile and the dinosaur are relatives, cousins. Among living creatures, birds are considered their closest relatives. Greek name"κροκόδειλος", which translates as "pebble worm", was obtained by crocodiles due to their hard, bumpy skin.
Cockroach
Cockroaches (Blattoptera, or Blattodea) are insects from the order Cockroaches.
flickr/lerlind
One of the oldest insects living on our planet - about 320 million years old. Today there are more than 4,500 species. Interestingly, the remains of cockroaches are the most numerous (among insects) in Paleozoic deposits.
Coelacanth
Coelacanth (lat. Latimeria chalumnae) is a fish belonging to the only modern generation lobe-finned fish.
This is the oldest animal that appeared on Earth about 300-400 million years ago. It hasn't changed much since then. The arrangement of organs, unusual for modern species, makes coelacanth a unique and even relict animal. And its network electro-sensory system is characteristic only of this type of living beings.
Neopilina
Neopilina (lat. Neopilina) – the oldest cephalopod, which appeared about 355-400 million years ago.
Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1896
And all this time they appearance remains unchanged. Scientists were able to establish that these living creatures did not become extinct only in the middle of the 20th century. These mollusks live at depths from 1800 to 6500 meters in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
Horseshoe crab
Horseshoe crabs (lat. Xiphosura) are a marine arthropod, which got their name from the long spine that is located in the back of its body.
flickr/The Uprooted Photographer
Appeared on our planet approximately 450 million years ago. The body length of the horseshoe crab is 70-90 cm. It lives in equatorial and tropical waters. Horseshoe crabs are rightfully considered “living fossils.”
Earth - old planet, but life began quite recently. If the history of the Earth is compressed into one day, and 24:00 is the time of its formation, life began at approximately 4 am. The first forms of life were just collections of proteins that had some chemical reactions. First cellular organisms appeared at about 2 p.m., and multicellular life did not begin until 6:30 p.m. Humans, as the latest form of life, appeared at 23:58:43, just a few seconds ago.
VseZnaesh.ru compiled a list of the oldest animal species still found in the world.
15. Echidna
The echidna can be called the same age as the platypus, because it has inhabited the Earth for 110 million years. Echidnas look like hedgehogs. They boldly guard their territory, but when in danger they burrow into the ground, leaving only a bunch of needles on the surface. The echidna does not have sweat glands. In hot weather they move little; in cold weather they can hibernate, thus regulating their heat exchange. Echidnas are long-lived. In nature they live up to 16 years, and in zoos they can live up to 45 years.
14. Platypuses
Platypuses have lived on Earth for more than 110 million years. Scientists suggest that at first these animals lived in South America, but then reached Australia. In the 18th century, the skin of platypuses was first seen in Europe and was considered... a fake.
Platypuses are excellent swimmers; they easily obtain food from the river bottom using their beaks. Platypuses spend almost 10 hours a day underwater. Platypuses could not be bred in captivity, but in wildlife Today there are quite a few of them left. Therefore, animals are listed in the International Red Book.
13. Ants
Ants are amazing animals. It is believed that they have lived on our planet for more than 130 million years, while practically not changing their appearance.
Ants are very smart, strong and organized animals. We can say that they have their own civilization. They have order in everything - they are divided into three castes, each of which does its own thing.
Ants are very good at adapting to circumstances. Their population is the largest on Earth. To imagine how many there are, imagine that there are about a million ants per inhabitant of the planet. Ants are also long-lived. Sometimes queens can live up to 20 years! They are also amazingly smart - ants can teach their fellows to look for food.
12. Spiders
Spiders have lived on Earth for more than 165 million years. The oldest web was found in amber. Her age became 100 million years. A female spider can lay several thousand eggs at a time - this is one of the factors that has helped them survive to this day. Spiders have no bones; their soft tissues are covered by a hard exoskeleton.
The web could not be made artificially in any laboratory. And those spiders that were sent into space spun three-dimensional webs. It is known that some spiders can live up to 30 years. Biggest famous spider has a length of almost 30 cm, and the smallest is half a millimeter.
There are still some creatures living on our planet that appeared long before the dinosaurs. Some of them have changed significantly in the process of evolution, others have remained practically unchanged, and it is with these amazing organisms we'll get to know each other further.
Cyanobacteria
Fossils of cynobacteria dating back 3.5 billion have been discovered in Western Australia. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, is a type of bacteria capable of photosynthesis. It is believed that this played a role in the formation of the Earth's atmosphere and made it suitable for life.
Sponges
Sponges appeared 580 million years ago. Such ancient representatives were found in Australia, China and Mongolia.
Jellyfish
Jellyfish appeared 505 million years ago and belong to the group of coelenterates. Corals also belong to this group. sea anemones and other inhabitants of the seas.
Horseshoe crabs
Appeared 450 million years ago. Horseshoe crabs are considered living fossils. These arthropods live in shallow ocean waters with soft sandy or muddy bottoms.
Coelacanth
This rare fish appeared 400 million years ago. The last specimen was caught in 1998.
Ginkgo
Originating 270 million years ago, Ginkgo is the only living member of the ginkgo plant. Geological disasters almost completely wiped out this species from the face of the Earth.
Nautilus
Another living fossil, born 235 million years ago. Nautilus came at the end Triassic period. Nautiluses are found in the western part Pacific Ocean.
Sturgeons
Sturgeons appeared 200 million years ago and are also among the living fossils, although they have changed during the process of evolution.
Martialis Heureka
This one is the most primitive look ants arose 100 million years ago and have remained virtually unchanged during all this time. The species was discovered in the Amazon in 2000. Ants live underground.
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