Prehistoric Predators: The Biggest Carnivores of the Prehistoric World
Introduction For as long as there has been life there have been predators For most of the last 3 8 billion years those predators have been single cells that fed on other cells Only with the origin of animals about 600 million years ago did things start to get really interesting In an explosion of life animals evolved eyes to see limbs to grasp mouths to crush and other body parts that allowed them to better catch and consume prey But of all the predators to have ever lived the greatest have evolved over the past 275 million years They came in a nightmarish variety of forms Some such as our own protomammal cousins had sails on their backs and mouths full of teeth like nails They were eventually replaced by the great ruling reptiles including the dinosaurs that ranged from chicken-sized ant-eaters like Linhenykus to the carnivore heralded as the greatest of all time Tyrannosaurus rex And the age of predatory prowess did not end with the extinction of the non avian dinosaurs In the 66 million years since an asteroid strike changed the course of life on Earth saber-toothed cats hell pigs and terror birds evolved to carry on the carnivorous tradition These fantastic long lost meat eaters hunted a variety of prey Some like the great Giganotosaurus were the apex predators of their time taking down prey as large as they could handle and scaring scavengers away from their kills Others like the pterosaur Dsungaripterus specialized in crushing through the shells of invertebrates and other small morsels And not all prehistoric predators roamed the land The prehistoric gar Atractosteus snapped up unsuspecting fish in ancient lakes while Carcharocles megalodon the largest shark of all time ripped into early whales and prehistoric seals 4
CENOZOIC 66 million years ago present HOLOCENE 0 01 million years ago to present PLEISTOCENE 2 6 0 01 million years ago We can no longer see these predators in action The carnivores presented in these pages died out at different times in the past long before there were any humans to see them or be eaten by them All we have is what remains in the rock bones footprints gut contents and tooth marks on bone But through paleoart the beautiful combination of science and imagination we can visit with these predators and envision them in their lost world In our dreams and nightmares prehistoric predators can live again PLIOCENE 5 3 2 6 million years ago MIOCENE 23 5 3 million years ago OLIGOCENE 9 33 23 million years ago EOCENE 56 33 9 million years ago PALEOCENE 66 56 million years ago CRETACEOUS 145 66 million years ago JURASSIC 201 145 million years ago TRIASSIC 252 201 million years ago PERMIAN 299 252 million years ago Tyrannosaurus rex 5
Permian 299 252 MILLION YEARS AGO Period As the sun rises in prehistoric Texas 275 million years ago predators set about getting their breakfast While a sail backed Dimetrodon nabs the shark Xenacanthus far right the giant amphibian Eryops makes off with a boomerang headed Diplocaulus far left
