It’s amazing how, over billions of years; the world has been populated by all sorts of strange and wondrous creatures big and small. It would have been a blast to see some of these creatures alive today, although IMHO, a scary handful of them seem to be better off sleeping beneath the rock strata, never to rise again.
I’m in a Discovery Channel mood today so I did a bit of research and came up with this list of the biggest, baddest animals that ever flew, swam or walked the earth. Read on:
Largest “Elephant”: Songhua River Mammoth (China)
- Height: 17ft tall
- Length: 30 feet
- Weight: 11 tons
Songhua Mammoth Size Comparison
Here is a size comparison with the African elephant, the largest living land mammal today.
2. Largest Snake: Titanoboa (Algeria/Egypt)
- Diameter: 3.28 feet at it’s thickest part
- Length: 40-50 ft long
- Weight: 2,500 lbs
Titanoboa: the king of snakes
This is one snake you wouldn’t want on a plane…or even outside it.
3. Largest Flying Bird: Argentavis Magnificens (Argentina)
- Wingspan: 5.8–8 m (19 – 26 ft)
- Wing area: nearly 7 m² (75 square ft)
- Wing loading: c. 11.5 kg/m²
- Length: 3.5 m (11.5 ft)
- Height: 1.7–2 m (5.6–6.5 ft)
- Weight: 60–80 kg (140–180 lb)
Argentavis Size Comparison
This is one bird whose eggs you wouldn’t want to steal.
4. Largest Terror Bird: Kelenken (South America)
- Height: 10 feet Tall
- Speed: up to 48 km/h
Feathered Terrorist: Kelenken
This apex predator of South America has the largest known skull of any known bird at 28 inches long, including an 18 inch beak. It has been said that this bird can swallow a medium-sized dog WHOLE. That’s why it belongs to the genus Phorusrhacidae which means “Terror Birds.”
5. Largest Shark Ever: Megalodon (Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, Americas)
- Length: up to 18 meters/60 ft
- Diagonal Teeth height: up to 19cm
Megalodon
Even the biggest Great Whites would look like Nemo compared to a Megalodon.
6. Largest Fish: Leedsichtys (Northern Europe)
- Length: 45 – 72 feet (est.)
The little black smear on the left is actually a human drawn to scale
Biggest Fish that ever lived. The fossils were so hard to put together that it gave rise to its species name of Leedsicthys Problematicus. No joke.
7. Largest Dinosaur : Amphicoelis (USA)
- Length: 190ft
- Height: 30 ft
Weight: 110 tons
The one in red is the Amphicoelias (click to enlarge)
They say the blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived in terms of size and weight. This is the only candidate likely to take both those titles away. Unfortunately, the fossils were LOST. Good job.
8. Largest Amphibian: Prionosuchus (Brazil)
- Length: 30 ft
Prionosuchus
Imagine a salamander that behaves like an alligator, looks like an alligator and occupies the alligator’s niche. You wouldn’t want to skinny dip where it’s at.
9. Largest Mammal: Paraceratherium (China, Mongolia, India)
- Height: 18 ft
- Length: 26 ft
- Weight: 10-20 tons
Paraceratherium size comparison
Imagine Genghis Khan riding in one of these. Uber cool!
10. Biggest Ape: Gigantopithecus (China)
- Height: 10 ft
- Weight: 1200 lbs.
"My pop is this tall!"
Mighty Joe Young? Is that you?
11. Largest Rodent: Josephoartigasia monesi (South America)
· Length: 10ft
· Weight: 1 ton
Josephoartigasia: the one-ton rat
Imagine having a house infested by even just one of these “rats”
12. Largest Flying Reptile: Quetzalcoatlus (North America)
· Wingspan: 40 ft
· Weight: 127 kg
Quetzalcoatlus size comparison
This huge pteranodon, along with the Hatzegopteryx, has the largest wingspan of any animal that ever lived. Its wingspan is bigger than that of an F-14 Fighter Jet. Quite a sight to behold.
13. Largest Land Carnivore: Spinosaurus (Northern Africa)
· Length: 52 to 59 ft
· Weight: 7.7 to 9.9 tons
Spinosaurus size comparison ca. 1915
Sorry, it’s not the T-Rex guys.
14. Largest Arachnid: Pulmonoscorpius
Length: 3.3 feet long
Gaaaa!!!!
Arachnophobes have heart. The largest arachnid ever is not some hairy spider from a horror B-movie. With its large stinger, however, you wouldn’t want this Scorpion within a mile of your backyard.
15. Largest known Land Invertebrate: Arthropleura
· Length: 8.5 feet
· Width: 18 inches
"I'm a kick you with my thousand legs!!"
Essentially a giant millipede, this is one critter you’d hate to find under moist logs or rotting vegetation. This is quite possibly an apex predator because of its gigantic size.
primary source: Wikipedia
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