My last weird and awesome skull post was really popular, so I decided to do one about something else I’m excessively interested in: Megafauna! This isn’t at all a comprehensive list of the coolest ones, not by a long shot, so you should definitely look up some of the BBC docs on Youtube or google ones from your continent!
The cave bear! (N. America)
Hell Pigs (N. America) Dat sagittal crest amirite
The Stag Moose (N. America’s only known Cervalces!) Hard to tell size in this pic, but it stood over 8 feet tall
Platybelodon (widespread) Google artist renditions of these guys, you won’t be disappointed
Barbourofelis! (N. America) Like a smaller smilodon, with much cooler teeth. Look at those incisors!
Megatherium (S. America) Primitive sloths the size of elephants!
Titanus Walleri (N. America) Other continents had equally large if not larger ‘terror birds’
Paraceratherium (Eurasia) One of the largest terrestrial mammals we’ve ever discovered. It was actually a species of hornless rhino! Google artist recs of these guys, too
Diprotodon (Australia) The largest known marsupial, which was the size of a hippopotamus and stood 6 feet tall
I saved Glyptodon (S. America) for last, because these things have some of the weirdest skulls I’ve ever seen. They were technically armadillos, but reached the size of a Volkswagen Beetle!
It would be nice to give proper credits,some photos are copyrighted and it is difficult to retrieve sources. I know megafauna is cool,animals are cool but it is also cool to give credits to licensed photos.
Reblogging for sources!
Oh man, I apologize, it hadn’t occurred to me that I should source photos of museum specimens if I wasn’t making a profit somehow.
FYI guys, search back your photos to find the original source, because I had no idea two of these originally came from pages selling fossils.
Also check for copyrights/creative commons even if it’s everywhere; Many of these these ask that you credit the photographer and they’ve just been hijacked so it’s difficult to find the original photographer’s name or terms.
Thank you for taking the time to find the sources, I’m sure that took a while. I’ll be sure to source everything properly in the future!
Reblogging for sources – it’s a good habit to get into.
Aw Yiss 