# Animals That Were Scarier Than Dinosaurs - Part 2

An episode of [Be Amazed](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1687637469), 3 Apr 2026, 27 min.

Audio: https://audio4.redcircle.com/episodes/9ddc962d-f421-44f1-b09a-e9c781a84b8a/stream.mp3

Our prehistoric planet was a terrifying place, thanks - predominantly - to the rampaging reptiles that once ruled here: dinosaurs! These monstrous creatures dominated the land for some 160 million years! But they weren’t alone. There were other beasts from back then, and a little while after, that could have given even the biggest dinosaurs a run for their money. From massive monstrosities lurking beneath the waves, to huge human-like goliaths that haunted the forests… here are even more animals that were way, way scarier than the dinosaurs. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Our Prius' historic planet was a terrifying place, thanks predominantly to the rampaging reptiles that once ruled here.
[0:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Dinosaurs!
[0:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These monstrous creatures dominated the land for some 160 million years.
[0:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: but they weren't alone.
[0:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were other beasts from back then and a little while after that could have given even the biggest dinosaurs a run for their money.
[0:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: From massive monstrosities lurking beneath the waves to huge human-like gliance that haunted the forests, here are even more animals that were way, way scarier than the dinosaurs.
[0:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Coming face-to-face with a 700 pound grizzly bear nowadays is a pretty terrifying scenario.
[1:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So just imagine what it was like to have a million years ago when Arctitus roamed the earth.
[1:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A bear that was almost three times the size of the modern grizzly.
[1:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Nicknamed the giant short-faced bear or bulldog bear, estimates have these beasts weighing in at more than 2,000 pounds at their largest.
[1:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They stood some 5 feet at the shoulder and over 12 feet tall on their hind legs, towering over early humans who stood on average at just 4 feet tall.
[1:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yep, this bear only died out about 11,000 years ago due to habitat changes during the Ice Age, which means that some early humans actually encounter this beefy bear in the flesh not so long ago, and that's not even the half of it.
[1:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With its long limbs, especially evolved to help it chase its prey, Arctidus would have been the fastest running bear ever, reaching a top speed of 40 miles an hour, despite its incredible weight.
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With a good sense of smell and superb eyesight, it was a savage hunter.
[2:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Regularly sinking its four and a half inch long canines into giant bison and ground sloths.
[2:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not only that, it's large jaws could extend a bite powerful enough to crush bones, all to obtain the juicy marrow within.
[2:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sounds delicious.
[2:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's estimated that Arcadeus had a bite force of 2,000 pounds per square inch when chowing down on its prey.
[2:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For comparison, an average grizzly has a bite force of just 1,160 pounds per square inch.
[2:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So that's three times the size and twice the bite force.
[2:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I thought regular old Grizzly Bears were terrifying.
[2:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Lizards aren't scary.
[2:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, they're small, they're scary, and they're usually more afraid of you than you are of them.
[2:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But two and a half million years ago, that would definitely have been the other way around.
[3:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because in Australia, during the Pleistocene era, the largest
[3:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Megalania.
[3:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It could reach a colossal 23-feet loan and wait up to 43-hundred pounds.
[3:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So at its biggest, it weighed the same as an average car.
[3:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The youngest fossil remains found so far date back to 50,000 years ago, which means, from that the first Australian settlers might
[3:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: rather than me.
[3:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: From its stocky-sized archaeologists believe Megalania would have chowed down on large animals and marsupials, but it wasn't picky.
[3:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Being little to the ground it would have also snacked on ground nesting birds eggs and chicks too.
[3:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hunting was hardly a problem either, with its errated blade leg teeth and heavy-scent limbs.
[4:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Though short, the width of its shoulders offered at great stability and even greater speeds with it being able to sprint up to 10 feet per second.
[4:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's even a possibility that Megaleneo was actually scarier than it already sounds.
[4:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know, seems unlikely, right?
[4:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But some closely related species of this lizard have been found to possess an incredibly potent venom inside jaw glands, which, if Megaleneo had them, would have acted as a nasty, any coagulate.
[4:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That means that it would have increased the
[4:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As my millennia was a member of the Anigua Morpha group, also aptly known as the Venom Clayed, containing other Venom's lizards such as Komodo Dragons, it could also have been violently Venom's.
[4:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if so, that would have made it the largest vertebrae of this kind ever.
[4:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's right, a huge fast, fleshyding Venom injecting lizard.
[5:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay, I've changed my mind, lizards are scary.
[5:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: is it so damn scary?
[5:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Nothing sends chills up your spine like feeling a huge shadow moves suddenly across your body.
[5:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What could it be?
[5:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A falling tree, a crashing plane?
[5:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, about 6 million years ago, there's a good chance it would have been a bird, a real big bird.
[5:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: appropriately named Arjun Davis, this carnivorous creature was native to Argentina, and it's believed to be the largest bird ever to take to the air.
[5:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: At 154 pounds it was as heavy as a human, but with a wingspan of a staggering 22 feet long.
[5:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This thing was only slightly smaller than a light aircraft.
[5:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In fact its skull was so big it was longer than the average human
[5:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here probably wondering if it was so big, how could it have flown?
[5:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It turns out the graceful Argent Davis was a glider, much like today's Eagles.
[6:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Six million years ago, the Myocene climate was much hotter and so constant rising columns of hot air were able to keep these gigantic birds in flight.
[6:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It most likely died out due to lowering temperatures with their gliding abilities
[6:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, Argentina was part of a group of predatory birds called territory, which, to no surprise, translates to, much to birds.
[6:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These deadly creatures could reach speeds of up to 43 miles per hour, scan large swaths of land and little time and locate their prey from more than 2 miles away.
[6:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Imagine the massive silhouette of this bird circling above you, and gulving you in shadow getting rid of swooped down on you at any moment with its razor-sharp beacon giant talons.
[6:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Hanominus feeling is definitely scarier than a dinosaur's roar.
[6:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With a cute name like Duryaespis, this creature might sound harmless, but trust me, it's actually horrific.
[7:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Unlike our little blue-pout dory from finding Nemo, the Dory Asbest was a jealous nightmare from the Devonian period, over 350 million years ago.
[7:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And this period fish were typically slow swimmers and had armored bodies protecting themselves from predators.
[7:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite this Dory Asbest sported, an oddly terrifying elongated spike snout just under its mouth.
[7:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: called a rostrum, which had used a root out its crustacean prey, so Satan's version of a swordfish, but with added spikes?
[7:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hell no, I wouldn't want this wish-wemming anywhere near me.
[7:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These spikes were also lined across its fins, spiking and slicing up anything in its path.
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The thought of them tearing into, well, anything makes me feel seasick.
[7:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What's worse, at a size of only one foot long and around one pound in weight, they would have been so small you'd have barely been able to see them coming.
[8:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: giving them the perfect opportunity to stage a sneak attack, as I'm sure their crustacean prey knew all too well.
[8:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This period was commonly known as the Age of Fish and boy am I glad it's over.
[8:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's something about stories of massive marine monsters that dwell in lakes and ponds which have captivated and terrified us in equal measure for centuries.
[8:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Tales of creatures with huge teeth, mega malls, and those dumb enough to go chasing ever them, never to be seen a kid, never gets old.
[8:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like you've probably heard of the Loch Ness monster, but we all know that it's not real, right?
[8:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Big scary lake monsters don't exist, right?
[8:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well back in the early Permian period around 299 million years ago, they definitely did.
[8:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they look like this.
[9:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sickeningly slim, weirdly elongated with a mouthful of razor sharp needle-like teeth.
[9:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is the Mesosaurus.
[9:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite the word source and its name, the creature wasn't a dinosaur, it was an early relative of reptiles, one of the very first marine reptiles on the planet.
[9:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's rows of terrifyingly sharp teeth in that narrow mall evolved to pierce the scaly skin of its prey with its long narrow tail and web feet allowing it to quickly shift direction in the water and an instant.
[9:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The very thorn of this thing launching out of the water to attack ships and sailors is harrowing.
[9:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When lucky for us, Mesosaurus rarely grew past three feet long and
[9:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Still, the idea of messing with a mouthful of needles while on the open waters and have to make me glad they're all dead.
[9:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Messy and all.
[9:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay, sloths are cute.
[10:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Fact!
[10:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's no way you can look at this slow-moving big ad, fuzzy little baby at a basket at Nazi when at the most adorable creatures on the planet.
[10:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, that isn't until you see their giant predecessor!
[10:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh my god!
[10:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is the Megatiria.
[10:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Native to South America, it was a truly gigantic mammal that lived from the early plamsine, some 5 million years ago, through the end of the place to scene Arrow about 2.5 million years ago.
[10:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it was an elephant-sized species.
[10:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Megatarium Americana was one of the largest of its kind, weighing up to 8,800 pounds and growing as long as 20 feet from head to tail, and almost 7 feet at the shoulder.
[10:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As it was able to stand and walk on its hind legs, it's the largest bipedal mammal of all time and was roughly 800 times the size of modern day sloths.
[11:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: that is intimidating.
[11:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: At some point in time these creatures diverged in their evolution producing a smaller, cuter species.
[11:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This might be because smaller variants could climb further up trees and so no longer had to keep competing for food with their much bigger cousins who were stuck on the ground.
[11:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Eventually, the smaller species looked out and were somehow spared disease and extinction, unlike Megatherium.
[11:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a good job they were actually herbivorous, too, because it's astronomical size alone could have crushed anything in its way, specifically me.
[11:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thank you, they survived by their much smaller descendants.
[11:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's no basket on earth that can make those mega mammals look cute.
[11:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Are you more of a dog person or a cat person?
[11:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, whatever you are, I bet that you're not a gorgonops person.
[11:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite being on the smallest side, this stocky brutish therhapsid, or early mammal was a predator from the late Permian period around 254 million years ago.
[12:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It kind of looks like Satan descended to combine a dog, a lizard, and a sapper tooth tiger.
[12:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While having lived 50 million years before the age of dinosaurs, Gorgonops is like the great, great, great, great daddy of all terrifying land mammals.
[12:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Although it was only six feet in length and stood around two feet tall at the shoulder, this animal was one of the key predators in southern Africa during this period.
[12:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thanks to those large canines, which were some five inches long and protruded almost below their jaws.
[12:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They looked incredibly fierce, but not only did they make them look scary, they used them to rip through the tough hides of their prey, and thanks to their height, reach up and puncture their windpipes.
[12:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hmm, uh, nice demonic doggy.
[12:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Due to its semi-direct gated, could travel at higher speeds than other animals at the time meaning its chosen prey rarely ever stood a chance.
[13:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The creature eventually met its end in the Permian Triassic extinction event, a disaster which also wiped out 90% of all animal life.
[13:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For a while there though, Gorgon apps really was tabbed on.
[13:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So what's the scariest fish you can think of?
[13:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A great white shark?
[13:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, around 20 feet long, great whites are one of the biggest fishiest predators in the ocean.
[13:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, with Unart's skeletons measuring in at 66 feet, the long extinct, Ikea sore was the undisputed king of the seas during the middle Triassic period, some 240 million years ago.
[13:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, one of the biggest genus of Ike theosaur, the Dalat or Akon, had giant blade-like teeth measuring four inches long.
[13:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These were double-edged and razor sharp, which is strange.
[13:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Most fish eating predators of the time had needle-like conical teeth evolved to pierce through the slippery skin of octopus and fish gals, but these teeth were designed to slice strewery through the muscle of other marine life.
[14:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite being an Iktia sore, the Lato-Arcon's teeth show a much greater resemblance to massive marine reptilian monsters like Mosesor's, some marine crocodilians, and large pliyosor's.
[14:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This earned at the title of macro predator, which means a relatively large predator, possibly the biggest in its environment at the time.
[14:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, you've got to be a pretty big deal to earn that title, especially in the ruling dinosaur age.
[14:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the latter arc got rightfully deserved it, weighing in at almost five tons, many believed that it was large enough to hunt down other
[14:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With skeletal remains showing its skull was twice the size of its prey and its large jaws of dent the boop, Palotto Arcan is believed to be the oldest marine reptile to have been an apex predator.
[15:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Whoa!
[15:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Great way, who?
[15:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Perunas are dangerous fresh water fish equipped with a row of serrated teeth and powerful jaws that can take a chunk out of your flesh.
[15:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it's ancestor was much bigger, much scarier, than much, much biteier, the Megaparana.
[15:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Where modern piranhas reach around 10 inches in length on average, this 10 billion year old fish was a terrifying 28 inches long and weight 22 pounds.
[15:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Summer main suggests they may have been able to grow up to 50 inches long.
[15:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It could deliver a serious blow to its prey with its exact teeth, able to pierce flesh, and its powerful jaws able to deliver enough brusher to crush through bone.
[15:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's thought that Megapurana fed on hard-shelled animals like turtles and armored catfish, though it could have attacked animals much larger than its own size when part of a school swarming the animals suddenly.
[16:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now the largest modern species of this fish, the Black Parana, has a top bite force of around 75 pounds per square inch.
[16:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is a force that equates to around 30 times its own body weight.
[16:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By contrast, the Mega Parana holds the heavyweight championship with a force of up to 1,000 pounds per square inch.
[16:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's about 50 times its body weight.
[16:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that's okay, I had never wanted to step
[16:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So we've explored quite a few prehistoric predators lurking deep down in the world's waters, but there's one that puts all the others to shame.
[16:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Leoplerodon.
[16:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This carnivorous marine reptile from the middle to late Jurassic period was a real beast, once so huge that at its largest it would have been able to fit an entire human in their mouth with ease.
[16:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As in apex predator living in the seas of what's now Europe, it's believed it could grow up to 30 feet long and could weigh in at some 10 tons at its largest.
[17:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With a skull roughly a fit the length of its body, this beast he had a bite that scientists believe was stronger than that of a T-Rex.
[17:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now that's a fight I'd pay to see.
[17:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The strong paddle-like limbs on either side of its body made it a supreme swimmer.
[17:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The specially adapted limbs gave it an unparalleled ability to accelerate quickly in the water, meaning, basically, if you'd ever found yourself face to face with a laplura down in the ocean, it was no swimming away from this monster.
[17:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite this though, Liaoplur and on were not fish.
[17:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They had lungs, not gills, so they still needed to visit the surface for air-like whales and seals due to day.
[17:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For all this information scientists aren't sure exactly what their diet consisted of.
[17:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Some scientists have pointed to squids, other plants, ors, and even ectiasaurus.
[18:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But what we do know is that it was the apex predator of the sea's some 160 million years ago.
[18:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: looking for those land-locked T-Rexes, sporting a giant sale-like protrusion on its back that Jurassic Park 3 fans among you may be thinking that this guy looks suspiciously like a Spinosaurus, but this ancient beast, the Dima Troton, is a primitive Sinapcita mammal.
[18:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Dinosaur's in contrast were Sorapcita.
[18:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Dima trod on live from about 206 million to 270 million years ago with fossils found primarily in North America.
[18:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This current never-is-be-screwed a link of over 11 feet and had a large sale of skin on its back supported by bony spines that experts believe was used for regulating its temperature.
[18:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Its teeth were different sizes making its jaw a jagged cavern of horror.
[18:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And even worse, as the creature evolved over the years, so did its jaws.
[19:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They developed even sharper teeth, which kept growing larger and larger and larger.
[19:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Its razor canines were located in the front of its snout, making them ideal for digging.
[19:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Digging into what U.S. that'd be the poor prey it just got.
[19:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Its back teeth also got involved able to easily grind up tough muscle and bone.
[19:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They weren't just scared to look at, but in numbers, too.
[19:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Over 20 types of Dima Trotons have been found since its remains were first discovered in 1878, who knows how many more of these scary killing machines once were on the earth.
[19:41] \[UNKNOWN\]: Ugh!
[19:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Existing for a crazy 25 million years in total, Yena Dawn was a long lasting beast that, from its skull alone, you can tell was not a creature to be messed with.
[19:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Living in what's now Eurasia and North America, these vicious dog-like creatures dominated the lands 40 to 20 million years ago.
[20:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In Eurasia, especially, they preyed on primitive horses like brontotharies, early camos and even early rhinos.
[20:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Other species went one step further and preyed on other large carnivores, with their
[20:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Some species of Hinadan were among the largest terrestrial carnivorous mammals of their time.
[20:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The biggest of them aged gigas weighed in in a staggering 830 pounds and was able to reach more than 10 feet long.
[20:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: sheer size aside, what made Hyna Dom such a formidable predator was its oversized jaws.
[20:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were so heavy they needed to be supported by extra muscle at the top of their necks.
[20:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And speaking of necks, these beasts would have likely snapped the ones belonging to their prey in half with a single bite.
[21:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Then using the slicing teeth they possessed at the back of their jaws ground down their meal into smaller chunks of flesh that were easier to swallow.
[21:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, I can definitely say I'm glad these massive dog shaped meat granders lasted for the 25 million years where I was in a round.
[21:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We all know that the building-sized ape king Kong is a fictional creature?
[21:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: At least I always assumed he was until I learned about the existence of this massive prehistoric nightmare.
[21:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Known as the gigantic pithicus blackie, this massive ape colossus lived in the place to scene e-book about 2.6 million years ago.
[21:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When stood on two legs it reached about 10 feet tall and was a horrifying 1100 pounds in weight.
[21:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: making it officially the largest hominid ever to stop the earth.
[21:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But because of that incredible weight, this thing rarely traveled like us by-petal humans, instead it supported itself on all fours like most modern apes.
[22:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're lucky this herbivore only ate plants, though, because Giganto Pithicus had powerful jaws and huge teeth that were designed to grind down to a plant matter.
[22:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, it made look like a massive ancestor of our modern apes.
[22:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It actually died out some 300,000 years ago when it's native China.
[22:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, some believe that it survived until 100,000 years ago, meaning it could have come across our early human ancestors homo erectus.
[22:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ha ha!
[22:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's even believe that Gigantopithecus formed the inspiration for another iconic creature that's a baton Yeti, also known as Bigfoot.
[22:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As the stuff of urban legends and horrifying childhood nightmares had saved to say, I'm very glad this big old ape no longer exists.
[22:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now let's talk about your worst nightmare, sarco-sucous imparator, native to West Africa also humbly known as,
[22:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the flesh crocodile emperor.
[23:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He sits on a different bridge of the tree of life the modern crocodile is a bit like a second cousin once removed.
[23:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well modern saltwater cranks are the largest living species of reptile currently at nine feet for females and 19 feet for males.
[23:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Estimates have the flesh emperor reaching up to an ungodly 40 feet long.
[23:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's more than double the length of a large saltwater crock.
[23:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and it weighed up to a deadly nine tons.
[23:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With numbers like these, it's the largest crocodilian to have ever lived.
[23:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was so big, it's believed it would have taken some 60 years for them to grow to their full size.
[23:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think they were no humans around during this time.
[23:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And once this happened, they would have been a predator of anything.
[23:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I mean anything.
[23:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm using their huge backwards facing teeth, appears the scales of large fish in the water, to lunging out and attacking unsuspecting dinosaurs drinking from their waters.
[24:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Luckily, there's no evidence of this monster swimming around in our river systems today.
[24:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think I just heard a collective sigh of relief coming from West Africa.
[24:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And use the moment you've been waiting for.
[24:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's explore the mighty Megalodon.
[24:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Megalodon means giant tooth and trust me.
[24:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's no exaggeration.
[24:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The largest fossilized teeth from this beast found so far of measured in at some 7 inches long.
[24:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's estimated that it had a bite for so powerful it was more than 10 times that of a great white shark and three times that of the T-Rex at some 180,000 newtons.
[24:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And at more than twice their size, Megalidon make great whites look like clown fish.
[24:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There are means of these beasts have been found in every continent bar Antarctica, and are believed to have roamed the seas from the Myocene, which began 23 million years ago, to the end of the plyocene 2.5 million years ago.
[25:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: During this time, they were the Apex Predator, ruling these waters and chowing down on anything dumb enough to take a swim in them.
[25:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They prayed upon fish, whales, and seals with no predators of their own.
[25:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This allowed the largest oldest megalodone remains found to reach up to some 60 feet long.
[25:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But some scientists believe they could have measured up to 80 feet.
[25:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: with a body mass of some 70 tons, even most dinosaurs pailed in comparison to the sheer size of this sea monster.
[25:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, trapping sea levels destroyed their breeding grounds, which were located close to shores and alongside increased competition with great whites for food, this big fish eventually went belly up.
[25:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Estiminal such as, which means crown crocodile and Greek, isn't actually your typical crock.
[25:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For a start, it's an omnivores that wraps it, aka a reptilian mammal that eats both meat and plants that live during the Middle Permian around 267 million years ago.
[26:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They also, unlike Crocs, possess some very distinctive horns.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These frame-air faces and were probably used for display rituals or to deliver one seriously killer headbutt.
[26:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Their squat-hulking bodies could reach more than 10 feet long and their skulls were positively huge, measuring up to 26 inches in length.
[26:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's large for truding features would certainly have been alarming if not downright terrifying to look at.
[26:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's at a lone looks like a cross between a moose, a wolf, and a lizard, living in the woodlands of what's now Eastern Europe, it's hard to believe it was a real animal.
[26:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Coming across it would make you double-take for a sure.
[26:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A 10-foot crocodile like mammal with antlers?
[26:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Huh.
[26:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hard past, thanks.
[26:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And there we have it.
[26:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Even more prehistoric creatures that make that dinosaurs look cute.
[27:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Which did you find the most terrifying?
[27:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And are there any others you think belong in the next part of this series?
[27:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Make sure to check out part one for more animals that were scarier than dinosaurs.
[27:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And thanks for listening.
[27:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You don't listen to what you've been past.

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