This content highlights lesser-known giant prehistoric animals that are often overshadowed by more popular creatures like dinosaurs, aiming to bring attention to these fascinating and massive ancient beings.
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fierce, giant, and extinct. When I say
those three words, what do people
typically think of? Well, they first may
picture a dinosaur of some sorts,
perhaps a T-Rex or some kind of sarapod.
But then if I say no dinosaurs, one then
might move on to a giant terasaur,
mosasaur, croc, mega shark, a giant from
the ice age, etc., etc. The point is,
when we talk about giant prehistoric
animals, there are a few that pretty
much always come to mind, leading to
documentaries and movies frequently
featuring the same type of animals on
repeat. However, because of this focus,
certain giants on Earth throughout the
years have been found which simply have
fallen to the sidelines, overshadowed
again by the quote unquote fan
favorites. And personally, I think these
forgotten faces need a little love, too.
As if you really look through history,
you'll find that there are many giants
walking about that most people have
never heard of, let alone seen. And I'm
not talking about unknown animals that
belong to groups that are already
wellknown for being huge. Instead, we're
going to be taking a look at animals
that hopefully you didn't know existed
in nearly any sense of the word. as seen
with this specimen, now known as the
beast of Lutu. If you have heard of this
before, your paleo lore is king-like,
and perhaps you don't need even watch
this video, but stick around anyway.
Now, for everyone else, what exactly is
the beast of Lutu? Well, an amphibian
like no other, that's what. For hundreds
of millions of years, from the
Carboniferous all the way up to the
Cretaceous, one could say that the realm
of amphibians was pretty much dominated
by just one group, the Temnospondi, who
had been found all over the world and
came in virtually every shape and size,
with some being teenytiny and others
absolutely giant. And so this order was
extremely diverse with one way of
thinking about them is that they're
pretty much the mammal equivalent of the
placentals. So unsurprisingly there were
multiple large families that made up the
Temnospond and one of them was the
Brachiopeday a family which specifically
emerged during the final days of the
Perian and were quite successful up
until the Jurassic. The members of this
group just like the order varied in size
and location but they were all
carnivores who are believed to have
lived a lot like crocodiles being
opportunistic hunters only restricted in
diet by their size. And for many years,
amphibians from this family were
regarded as having been small to
medium-sized, not massive. Until that
is, a fragmented piece of a jaw was
found in South Africa. That seems to
have changed everything, as this
mouthpiece was huge. Now, it has not
been confirmed if it belonged to an
already identified genus or rather
represents a brand new one, but either
way, it has been classified to have come
from a brachiop. And when comparing this
jaw piece to related members, we come to
the conclusion that this guy might have
reached 7 m or 23 feet long, which for
comparison, the largest amphibian alive
today, the Chinese giant salamander, is
only 1.8 m or 5.6 ft long. So not even a
third of the length. And the beast of
Lutu, as it was aptly named, wasn't just
long, but also ridiculously chunky and
robust, having had a whopper of a mouth
that could possibly swallow even a
humansized prey whole, and also weighed
multiple tons. the body that is not the
mouth. Currently, it's believed to have
lived in the waterways of the Elliot
Formation during the very early stages
of the Jurassic where it might have
terrorized numerous kinds of animals in
need of a drink, including multiple
theropods, smaller sarapotamorphs, and
ornithysians among others. And so far,
it's actually the largest known
carnivore from the entire formation,
dinosaurs included. So, so much so for
this being the age of dinosaurs. But
with this said, I will mention that
obviously the jaw piece is
fragmentaryary. So it remains to be seen
just how accurate its body size estimate
is. However, even if the beast lutu does
turn out to be a bust, it's still fine
because we actually have other obscure
giant amphibians, too. Such as the
possibly longer, albeit lighter built
Prinosucus, which hailed from Perian,
Brazil, or the alligator-headed
Mastadonsaurus from Triacic Europe,
which could have exceeded 6 m or 20 ft
and also held a more robust build and
made a great living by feeding a large
fish as well as others of its own kind.
Seeing that evidence for cannibalism
amongst this two-tonon plus creature is
very much known of. So, the next time a
show or documentary wants to make a
certain area come off as a bit
horrifying, I say we go with a giant
amphibian. They're just that dang cool.
And you know what else is cool? A giant
animal that looks like a dinosaur but
wasn't. And is something most people
have never heard of before. And so, what
am I talking about? Well, none other
than the silos, of course. Now, if
you're an avid watcher, you might
remember this guy, but I still feel like
this is a relatively unknown creature on
the grand scale of things, which is
honestly shocking when you realize that
this was the largest animal to ever
stand on two legs that was not a
dinosaur. And yes, it can be hard to
believe that this was in fact not a
dinosaur, but it really wasn't. Instead,
what you're looking at is a type of
popsoid who were essentially an advanced
clay to pseudouians that were one of the
earth's most abundant animals during
various parts of the triacic and are
generally known for having been a bit
unusual with some having sails, others
being robust quadripeds and then some
like the silosucas walking around on two
legs. The silosucus specifically
belonged to the Papasaur family, the
Chuvasauriday. And perhaps not
shockingly, it was its largest member as
well as being one of the largest
non-dinosaurs of all time. as specimens
show signs of getting up to 10 meters or
33 feet in length, which by the way is
longer than your average fully grown
Allosaurus. And again, just to
reiterate, this was not a therapod. And
what makes this animal even more unusual
is that despite resembling a megaod,
which would thus make you assume that it
ate meat, was really just a friendly
giant. Well, as far as taste buds go, as
it was a beaked, toothless herbivore
that grazed from trees, sort of like a
two-legged sarapod. And coincidentally,
it actually lived alongside sarapods 2,
or at least sarapottomorphs, as this
beast hailed from the triacic Istigualto
formation of Argentina, which was home
to multiple dinosaurs, yet none were
absolute giants just yet, leading to the
psilocus likely being the largest animal
within the environment. And though much
more famous, I should mention that its
more carnivorous relatives could also be
equally massive, as you did have
pseudosukians like the facilucus, which
were just as long, but a tad bit more
toothy and angry, probably specializing
in feeding upon multi-tonon
saropotamorphs. In fact, it even seems
that the Vasilucus might have been the
biggest terrestrial predator ever,
discounting dinosaurs, and the largest
fully land predator to walk on four
legs. And so given its attributes, it's
not that surprising that it recently
even got its own Hollywood debut in the
movie 65. But I should mention that it
didn't actually really live 65 million
years ago, as the movie title would have
you believe. Rather, like the Silosucus,
it lived during the late triacic. But
you know what is still waiting for a
shot to being a movie's big bad? A
creature that I think would make for a
great Jaws replacement, the Noasaurus.
This was just one member of the often
forgotten about order of marine reptiles
which were aptly named the noasaurs and
who lived all across the world's oceans
for much of the triacic period and they
were in many ways superficially similar
to the plesiosaurus having long body
plans elongated necks forlims and grass
out builds and typically they even
shared a similar diet with many members
using needle-like teeth to catch fish
amongst other similar animals yet for
the most part they've remained much more
unknown to the general public than their
distant relatives and I think this has
something to do with the plesiosaurus
being much larger as typically
nothasaurus weren't that big. Usually
maxing out to 2 m or 6.5 ft. So large
enough to give you a heart attack in the
water but probably not large enough to
the point that it would have actually
bothered you. However, this notion about
their size has slowly started to change
after the discovery of massive specimens
which hailed from Triacic China and
Europe. And these new specimens often
made up of portions of the face and
varying teeth show that two species
Noasaurus Gigantius and Jeni could
measure up to 7 m or 23 ft long and were
structurally much more robust than their
fellow kin. Leading researchers to
believe that fish wasn't the only grub
these species were restricted to. In the
case of the Jeang specimen, it's even
thought that the current estimates are
too low and that it really might have
been able to reach greater lengths. Now
admittedly we have been kind of spoiled
in the realm of marine giants thanks to
the likes of the megalodon or predatory
whales but don't forget even at 7 m the
nothosaurus is one of the largest marine
predators that wasn't a whale mosasaur plesiosaurichthosaur
plesiosaurichthosaur
or shark and that might sound like quite
the list of exclusions but remember just
how many groups have lived in the ocean.
And what makes the Nothosaurus a little
bit more crazy is that unlike its
lookalike, the Plesiosaurus, it was
apparently a semi-aquatic creature that
you could find not only in the water,
but also lurking on the beaches. So, if
you don't mind sharing the sand with a
predator longer than a tiger shark,
which also has a face like this, then
the Noasaurus might just be the animal
for you. And like I said, the Noasaurus
hailed from the Triacic period, which
just like a few others talked about so
far. And so I would say that the triacic
as a whole has gone somewhat under the
radar when it comes to giants as it had
more than just a few. And amongst a lot
there was one terrestrial tank that is
almost never talked about despite it
possibly being the largest land animal
ever once to exclude dinosaurs,
probacidians and rhinos. And again
almost no one knows about it. And this
was the Lisa Vicha. Now, a partial
reason to why it's so unknown is that
relative to many other genera, it was
only recently discovered or at least
only described with that happening only
in 2019. However, the bones belonging to
it were actually unearthed a bit earlier
back in 2006 after researchers in Poland
found a variety of different bones
outside the village of Lisa Vitita. And
these bones were massive and were of
such stature that at first the
scientists assumed that they could only
have once belonged to a large
sarapotamorph. Yet after they found over
a thousand more bones, this time with
pieces of skull material, they
understood that in reality they had
stumbled upon a new kind of dicinodon,
making it a member of the extinct
animodant clay. And by the way,
nonmalian synapsided at that. With this
said, this group had been a long known
staple of the triacic and large general
already known from it, such as the
Istalastia, a genus unsurprising from
the Istalasta formation of Argentina,
which I previously mentioned. And this
genus could weigh up to one ton and
stand nearly as tall as a person. Yet
the Lisovvicha was on a completely
different level, making all those before
it appear small with her hips alone
standing at over 2.6 m or 8.5 ft tall,
while its body stretched out for over
4.5 m or 15 ft. And that's the actual
body, by the way, not including the
tail, seeing that, well, it almost
didn't have one, being just pretty much
pure mass. And since that it was
essentially an oversized blob, its bones
were absurdly robust in construction as
well, which altogether put the Lisvicha
possibly 9 tons in weight, making it on
par with modern-day elephants and even
heavier than some of the most famous
dinosaurs such as the Stegosaurus,
Encyosaurus, and obviously more. And
remember, this guy was from the Triacic.
And so, given its size, it's also
considered by some to have been the
largest animal to ever walk up until the
evolution of large sarapottomorphs. So,
pretty metal. But fret not. any would be
time travelers as this guy was not a
carnivorous as like its fellow obscure
giant thesucus. Lisovicha was a
toothless beaked herbivore that use its
beak to snip and chew vegetation. And we
know from located copper lights i.e.
fossilized dung pieces that most of its
diet was composed of softer plants and
conifers. While some of its snacks could
then also be made up of woody material.
But despite being a green lover, I would
still recommend some heavy caution
around this guy as it was once again
built like a literal tank. And at one
thick bony head that I'm sure could dish
out some pretty impressive damage if it
got a hold of you. I mean, if a camel is
able to essentially bite someone's head
off, I certainly don't want to know what
this dicinodon could do. But with that
said, its massive size was not a
foolproof defense during the triacic, as
there are in fact signs this animal's
prayed upon, with bones showing bite
marks that seem to have come from
another somewhat obscure giant, the
smoke vavvelski, which yes, is its
actual name. Now, this was a decently
sized arasaur from the late triacic that
looked like once again it could have
been a dinosaur or perhaps an unusual
row. But for now, we don't know which of
these it actually was, only that it was
quite big for the time, measuring 6 m or
20 ft long, which in fact makes it the
largest known predatory arcosaur from
Europe during not only the late triacic,
but all the way up until the early
Jurassic, too. At this point, everything
I've talked about has not been something
that we are, and that would be a mammal.
And so, this could have you feeling a
bit left out. And truthfully, I do think
finding some obscure malleian giants is
a bit tricky, as many tend to be the
same old same old. I mean, I guess you
could say that the parasaurerthetherum
or the paleoloxidonomaticus are both
somewhat obscure giants being 10 plus
ton behemoths, but one was a probosidian
and the other a rhinoertoid. Two groups
which are not obscure and are very well
known for being big. So, at least to me,
I wouldn't say that they're that
obscure. Then there are also some other
groups that I would say are composed of
obscure genera, but as a whole are
wellknown, which includes many groups
from the ice age like the giant ground
sloths, armadillos, and so forth. Yet
with all of this said, there was one
group that did stick out to me as they
aren't as famous as the ice age animals
and reach sizes that frankly even I
wasn't aware of, and that would be the
Brontoday. If I could sum up this group
of extinct parasidactyl in just a few
words, it would be the rhinos of old.
However, in reality, they only
superficially looked like rhinos, not
being close relatives at all, instead
being slightly more related to horses
with their shared appearance simply
coming down to convergent evolution. I
guess a tank-like body, dense hide, and
a large bony nose horn that you can ram
things with is a pretty useful combo no
matter when you evolve. And as a whole,
just like the rhinos, this group became
highly successful, existing for over 20
million years during the eosene period
and expanding throughout large portions
of Europe, North America, and Asia,
where it's believed they lived in large
herds and inhabited warm, moist, wooded,
and forested areas. Now, those who've
actually researched these animals have
long known that they harbored giants.
And for a good duration of time, the
known top dog or breree was believed to
have been the mega, an obscure giant
amongst its own kind that stood 2.5 m or
8.2 ft tall at the shoulder and was over
15 ft long when you include its albeit
short tail. It specifically hailed from
North America during the late eosene and
was actually one of the first
terrestrial animals on the planet to
reach 5 tons following the demise of the
dinosaurs. And at this size, plus given
the predators that were around, it's
thought that adults might have been
untouchable, having no natural predator.
And I'm sure it certainly helped that
they also looked quite menacing thanks
to their very distinctive double horns.
But here's the real crazy part. Because
despite being absolutely giant for a
mammal, the mega might not even have
been the largest bronto. And it's
possible that it wasn't even close as a
lesserknown gener could have it beat.
And that is the embleum. This was in
fact a very closely related genus that
was actually slightly older than the
megaerapse having lived in Eio Mongolia
about 3 million years before the
megaerops would evolve. And this guy
isn't exactly new. And in fact, it's
always been suspected that the embleum
was a larger bronto. However, the talk
about it being the largest ever only
started happening after the discovery of
a Titanic skull back in the mid70s, as
the partial skull was found that alone
was over 4 feet or 1.2 2 m long,
possibly even a bit longer, making it
not only greater in length than the
skull of modern-day elephants, but also
comparable to certain kinds of large
therapods. So, it was obviously clear to
the researchers that they had a monster
on their hands. And though it's not
impossible to tell just how big the
specimen was without the rest of the
body, some estimates have speculated
that this noggin belonged to a nearly 9
ton individual that was anywhere from 18
to 20 ft long or 5.4 to 6 m. while
standing tall enough that if you're
right next to one, you'd have to look up
straight into the sky to see its face.
And besides being absurdly large,
another interesting trait about this
breree that was a bit unique was its
horn, as it had evolved into one large
structure that more resembled a
battering ram than anything else. And
this originally led to the notion that
like a ram, the amlothereum would use
this structure to bash not only any
threats, but also each other during
interspecific competition. However, when
actually analyzing their rams,
paleontologists noted that compared to
relatives, theirs was actually much
thinner and hollowower, leading to the
new idea that they weren't used as
weapons, but rather means to
communicate, possibly even helping to
resonate certain sounds, whilst their
absolutely gigantic size was likely more
than enough defense by its lonesome. So,
there you have it. One obscure mamalian
giant. But funny enough, the embleum or
even the Bronte as a whole are not the
only ones. There are others. And if we
switch specifically to the realm of
carnivores, one that is quite shocking
is a species that actually has a decent
shot of the title of the largest
mamalian predator of all time. Well,
that isn't a whale. And this mystery
animal is somewhat tied to what I
consider an actual living obscure giant,
and that would be walruses. Now,
obviously, most people have heard of
walruses. I'd hope at least, but many
don't know just how big they truly are.
And so to put their size into
perspective, large males are often twice
or three times the size of freaking
polar bears and have mega tusks that can
each measure up to 100 centimeters or
3.3 ft long. And yet despite being this
massive, living walruses are actually
pretty much the littlest of bros. So you
could say as in reality there was a much
larger now extinct kind of walrus that
once thrived which didn't just outsize
extinct walruses but again is also a
contender for the largest carnivoran to
ever live and its name Pontolus Magnus.
To find this beast you'd have to travel
back to the Masin period some 12 million
years ago. A time when prehistoric
oceans in general were much scarier than
current. housing not only iconic extinct
giants such as the megalodon but also
similarly sized predatory whales that
belong to the fisetia amongst others.
And included in these others was our
protagonist, the Pontilus Magnus, which
was an absolute giant in its own right,
having a body that extended for over 4 m
or 13 ft long while also weighing up to
4 tons, the same as a male Asian
elephant. Whilst larger specimens might
have even exceeded this. However, let me
emphasize this was not an elephant, but
rather a walrus. A 4-tonon freaking
walrus. Additionally, while Asian
elephants like their greens, Pontus
Magnus was pretty much Ron Swanson. Meat
only, having been an active predator.
Yet, as opposed to living walruses that
have their tusks, the Ponus actually
lacked these features, having traded
them out for a Titanic skull that was
twice the size of the head of extant
walruses. And within the Pullis skull,
you would have found them filled with
large powerful teeth that were designed
to pierce and crush megaponal prey. So
this is all to say that Pullus Magnus
was one pinniped that might have taken a
very unwelcome interest to a human,
assuming obviously if we had been around
during its heyday. And if the Pontis
Magnus was still alive, it probably
would be an actual problem. As unlike
extant walruses that inhabit more remote
regions of the world, the Magnus
preferred areas that today are quite
densely populated, having been found
mainly along the western coast of the US
from California all the way up to
Oregon. And in these areas is thought
that it likely hunted other pinnipids
such as seals, along crabs, birds,
smaller citations, large fish,
including, by the way, megalodon pups,
and possibly members of the only extinct
marine order, the Desmosians, who I've
actually made a video about. So if you
haven't seen that, go check it out. And
definitely do not think that just
because it was chunky that he would have
been able to outswim this creature
because remember the walrus also looks
like it wouldn't swim that well. And yet
despite appearing morbidly obese are
capable of swimming in bursts up to 35
km/h or 22 mph which is more than three
times faster than Michael Phelps at its
highest recorded swim speed and quicker
than the average person can sprint. And
we're not talking about Jesus. So on
land that is. And so it's animals like
the Pullis Magnus who really reinforce
the idea that large open expanses of
water i.e. seas and oceans are no bueno.
However, freshwater also has harbored
its fair share of obscure giants.
Multiple in fact I mean have you ever
seen the show river monsters? And one
prehistoric fish that exemplifies this
point pretty well is the rise. Now I
would say this creature somewhat teeters
on the line between obscure and somewhat
known. However, its case is still pretty
interesting as we are talking about a
predatorial freshwater fish that was
larger than a freaking great white and
not, I repeat, not a shark. Instead, it
was a, wait for it, risodonant, a group
of lobe fininned fish, of which the
risodus was the largest member and by a
decent margin at that. With some
specimens of this giant fish apparently
measuring up to 7 m or 23 ft long, while
weighing potentially 1.5 tons, making it
a contender for the largest freshwater
fish of all time. And perhaps not
surprisingly, it was during the
Carboniferous, the age of amphibians and
creepy crawies, when this fish lived,
inhabiting the dense woodlocked rivers
and streams of North America, England,
and Russia. And given its size, it
likely hunted fair-sized fish and
tetropods and would have done so with
the help of some pretty gnarly teeth. As
each risodus came equipped with enlarged
tusks or fang-like teeth that could grow
to be longer than the tooth of a literal
T-Rex and implied that instead of being
limited to swallowing animals whole, the
risodus could absolutely attack, kill,
and then rip prey apart into more
bite-sized bites. And just to make this
giant even scarier, paleontologists
noticed that its frontal fins were in
fact even more developed and powerful
than its back ones, leading to the
notion that even on the water edge, you
would not be totally safe. With the idea
being that much like a crocodile or
alligator, the rise could actually lunge
animals along the shoreline and surprise
attacks. So, one second you're looking
at your beautiful reflection in the
water, and then the next there's a face
as big as your body gobbling you up. So,
just one more thing that makes the
Carboniferous an absolute nope for me.
However, this was not the only time
where freshwater harbored forgotten
giants. As if you traveled to the
Cretaceous, you would have found an even
lesserknown animal that was just as or
possibly even bigger than the risodus.
And that would be the Mononia.
Statistically, chances are you've never
heard of this guy before, but you might
know the group of fish it belongs to,
the celicants, who made some buzz a few
years back for quote unquote reappearing
after having been extinct since the late
Cretaceous. And while we obviously know
that is now wrong to have called this
group extinct, it is still accurate to
say they were better off during the
Cretaceous as along with being more
diverse, they were also more widespread.
And the Mosone in particular is known to
have come from both brackish and
freshwater rivers found throughout South
America, Eastern North America, and
Africa where it actually coexisted with
the infamous Spinosaurus who
statistically you are likely to know and
was one of the largest therapods to ever
live. However, we're obviously here for
the fish, not the dinosaur. And while it
wasn't as big as the spino, the Mosonia
was still giant, measuring up to 5.48 m
or nearly 18 ft long, which is longer
than the average giraffe is tall. And
while this is obviously not as long as
the rise, what might have given Mosonia
the edge and sheer size was its weight.
As opposed to the former, Mosonia was
much thicker all around. And the largest
specimens might have cracked two tons.
And not to mention that some speculate
that given the size variation seen in
celicantss today, a 6 m or nearly
20-footer might be out there too. And so
this all begs the question of what is a
cilacant that weighs more than two polar
bears smashed together eat. And the
answer is we aren't so sure. As based on
recovered teeth, it's possible this fish
had a preference for some crunchy
texture being durapagus and eating
hardshelled animals such as large crabs,
snails, and more. But then there is the
bit more unnerving idea that Mosonia fed
like a Goliath grouper, which basically
means it was an oversized Kirby, using
powerful suction to gobble up pretty
much anything that fit in its mouth. And
considering that the much smaller
groupers have been documented vacuuming
up 5ft sharks, I shudder to imagine what
would happen if a person had swam too
close to the Mosonia. So perhaps just
best to stay far away. And ultimately,
the Mosonia wasn't the only relatively
unknown giant from its environment.
There were plenty more where that came
from. And so this is all to say that
while we all have our fan favorites when
it comes to giant prehistoric animals,
they certainly were not the only ones.
And if this video gets enough likes,
there will certainly be a part two.
Thanks for watching. Until next time on Extinsu.
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